The Dogfather's 85th Birthday at Dog Mountain

13 Sep 2014

Old photo of Dog Mtn launch

The level of Riffe Lake had dropped so that Dogpatch was landable and camp-able again. Unfortunately, the weather forecast was for east winds all weekend. Therefore we didn’t haul the trailer down and went  for just the day. We aimed to get to Dog a bit earlier than usual because the potluck was set for 1300 rather than in the evening – maybe to accommodate Ralph’s schedule. While the morning started off cool, the sun quickly warmed up the lakeshore and we were glad to have several pop-up shelters to create some shade. Dave and Diane Auman trucked in a load of their folding picnic tables as well as a large 8-sided shelter; Kenny brought his trestle table and the BBQ. The wind stayed east throughout the afternoon until well after everyone had eaten their fill of hot dogs, fried and rotisseried chicken, baked beans, salads and many other potluck dishes. No one goes hungry at a Dog potluck! Besides the Costco birthday sheetcake, there were many delicious desserts. The most unusual (not counting C.J.’s chocolate bread pudding made with a couple of leftover hotdog rolls from Frostbite) were cupcakes/brownies containing two Oreo cookies in each one. Debbie's fresh baked pies were excellent.

By mid-afternoon the windsocks were showing that the wind was clocking around to the north and a few folks went up to launch. As more folks began loading up their rigs to go, C.J. and I drove up as well. We all spent a long time waiting for conditions to get “just right”, but at first the cycles were coming up the front (west) and then it got really light and barely trickling up the north. By 1700 it looked like conditions were not going to improve so a few people launched and flew down. That cleared up the north launch area (even though lots of people were set up and waiting) so after Kerie launched, after waiting for a while for even a light puff of air, I laid my wing out for a forward inflation. I was fortunate to catch a little bit of a cycle and my wing inflated evenly for a good launch. I tried going straight out to see if there were any thermals farther out, but nothing was there. I turned back to the west face about the time Aaron launched. Over on the south edge I found enough to turn in and gained a little. I stayed in close and milked the light lift and finally worked up to launch level (2150?) and above. Once there it was easy to stay up and I circled in light lift along the north face eventually reaching 3100 ft. At that altitude I was able to set off across the gap toward the microwave hill. There was no lift while crossing but I stuck with it (thinking that I could probably make it back to the north field LZ…or maybe to Kenny’s property) and once I was pretty close to the m/w towers I ran into some lift again, enough to keep me going, if not enough to get me high. I returned to Dog via the “Back Bowl” and noted that almost everyone had taken off, but that no one had been able to maintain. I sank down to launch level about the time Dave took off in his PG, and while I was able to climb back up to 2700', he worked his way down the hill to land in pretty strong sink and east wind. Last of the group to take off was Diane and just before she did, around 1820, the lift I had been in just quit and I started sinking out. There was nothing lifty all the way out to the point and I headed over to the LZ setting up for a landing in the exact opposite direction of every other Dog landing in my history. I overflew the parking area and the potluck and landed within the outer ring of the spot. My vario log indicated 1hr 12min. Great conditions for a paraglider, and a lucky thermal that got me through the probable inversion made my flight one of my best Dog flights. C.J.’s flight had been short but her Aaron-modified harness had allowed her more use of her legs for running when landing and taking off. She had a good launch and her landing was nearly perfect (partly due to a chorus of “Flare!” from Aaron and Kerie at the exact right moment earlier than she would have expected).

C.J. had already gotten a ride back up to retrieve the Sorento by the time I landed, so I wasn’t too sorry that I had made only a cursory attempt to topland. By the time she got back and we got her wing on the car the biting bugs had gotten bad and we wanted to get out of Dogpatch. Taking up Tina and Larry’s invitation we drove over to their property where there were no bugs and they could have a campfire. Only Jazzy and Justin were at the property with a few friends when we got there. They were cooking up dinner for the group that was going to gather (at least a half-dozen trailers and motor homes parked there). We had so much to eat at lunch time that we weren’t hungry and it was already dark at 2000. Since we weren’t going to overnight, we made our goodbyes and left just missing Tina and Larry, et al. who were just getting there. It was after 2230 when we got home. We're hoping that Tina collected enough in spotlanding entry fees to add a chunk on money to her "F*ck Cancer" fund. Its purpose is to help out those in the flying community with cancer who need some financial assistance.

Hazel and the Earwig, Aaron, Kerie, Grandma Tina