BOD San Jose and Bass Lake

18-30 October

C.J. hiking to Fresno Dome

18 Oct, Wed – We left in light rain and chilly temps around 0830. Gas in Covington (2.599). We didn’t run out of the wet until we were almost to Oregon. There was hardly any slowdown as we passed through Portland. We stopped at a couple of rest area and at a McDonalds in Woodland, WA, around 1130 to get me a mocha frappe since I was falling asleep. C.J. did some Google searching and found out that there was a frozen custard shop in Grants Pass. We stopped for gas in Roseburg (2.399) and then found Tommi’s in GP on 4^th next to the RR tracks. They have six flavors

freshly made each day, plus coffee. There’s also the scrapings which go into their cheap shakes. I got one of those and Tommi threw in a scoop of coffee so I could try it – that was a lot of frozen custard. C.J. got a scoop of good pumpkin spice frozen custard. Then it was only another 25 miles or so to our hotel, The Ashland Hills, just off the freeway in eastern Ashland. We had dinner at the Luna Café which was quite good, soup and salad for me and a lamb pita with a Luna salad for C.J. Back at the room we caught up on stuff and talked to Chris A about where the profits, if any, from the Chelan events were going.

19 Oct, Thu – Breakfast was at 0700 so I got up at 0630 to shower. Breakfast was quite good; there were a couple of Belgian waffle makers and a vat of sausage patties as well as the usual cereals and oatmeal. There was also, lots of fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs and some mini cinnamon banana muffins. We were on the road before 0745. The fall colors were muted but colorful as we passed over the Siskiyous. A big cloud bank covered most of Shasta although the top and bottom were occasionally visible. Shasta Lake level was down a bit from the last time we saw it but nothing like the lows of past years. Some smoke was noticeable in the northern area of the state but it was not so hazy as we got farther to the south. When I wandered off the lane for the second time, we stopped for another McDuck’s mocha frappe in Willows. After that I didn’t really feel like I needed any lunch. We stopped for gas near Dunnigan at Pilot and got a 5-cent discount using our Good Sam membership card. Then we drove on all the way to San Jose. Strangely, our GPS sent us to the south of SJ to the Wyndham Resort. We had to backtrack up 101 to I-880 before reaching 1350 N 1^st St and the Holiday Inn-Silicon Valley. We checked in around 1500 and went to the RRRG presentation by Mark Forbes. Around 1730 we walked a few blocks to Yamadaya, a ramen shop which had so-so ramen but good kar-age chicken. When we got back we went to the Bay Area flying weather presentation by Evan Cohen (and Honza via conference call).

20 Oct, Fri – Up early enough to both shower and get to breakfast. We didn’t think there was any reason to go to the Strategic Planning committee meeting (but it turned out that almost everyone was at that meeting as it was dealing with how to decrease the size of the USHPA board…maybe eventually to seven people). We had vouchers for 50% off the buffet breakfast. It was a really good buffet with made-to-order omelets, bacon, sausage, pastries, fresh fruit, hot chocolate with whipped cream, etc, etc. However, it turned out that we should have received a voucher for free breakfast as guests registering through the USHPA deal. We were able to pick them up at the front desk and the clerk said she would take the breakfast charge off our room tab. C.J. and I went to the Insurance-Finance Committee meeting chaired by Mark Forbes. He was pretty surprised to see so many people trying to fit inside the small room he had chosen. There was a lot of discussion but what we were there for was to find out about the requirement for insurance at an ACE (a non-comp event like a fly-in) event or the landowner would not be covered (even though the club had insured the site for the year. We found out that it was a new requirement based on RRRG rules (and it had

Jayne and Donnita Hall

not been the case that in prior years our landowners were not covered). C.J. had a lunch meeting/interview with Donnita Hall, the retiring Exec Dir of the FFF.  I had had enough food for lunch so just ate a Greek yogurt in the room while getting ready for my Awards Comm. Meeting at 1330. The only attendees were C.J., Jug and Mark F. We quickly chose recipients and changed the IOTY requirements by adding a requirement of a recommendation by a fellow instructor and/or instructor administrator.  We attended some other committee meetings (not too memorable, eh?). Around 1800 we gathered in the lobby and paired up people with cars with those needing a ride to the icebreaker. Jayne DePanfilis and David rode with us to Steins in Cupertino, a busy beerhall/pub. There was some snack-y food laid out on a long table and I got a flight of dark beers. Janneka (?) had name tags to match up for prize bags (My tag said Pot.ter and I found my match in a guy whose tag read “Hairy” and got me a led flashlight and a pair of fuzzy gloves, all item from Daiko Japanese 100 yen store). Later I got a seat at a table next to Russ Locke (still recovering from a paralyzing injury sustained in a crashlanding at Yosemite). And ordered a Stein Burger which C.J. and I shared. We got out of the noisy place around 2100 and the GPS worked fine to get us home to the Holiday Inn.

21 Oct, Sat – Up early enough to get the breakfast buffet again and still get to the USHPA membership meeting at 0800. At 0930 the BOD General Session began. It looked like the

Association’s finances are looking pretty good but our membership has dropped sharply to below 9000. I gave my report after a long report from the AIRS committee. Afterward I found out that I had lost a nomination somewhere for Bill Soderquist from Dan DeWeese. And Chris Santacroce and Paul Murdoch asked me about what we could do for Frank Gillette, the former Reg. 5 Director who recently died. I didn’t have a good solution if they wanted something awarded this spring. Mark gave us a ride to Goodies Ice Cream which had interesting flavors of handmade ice cream – perfect for a decadent, traditional lunch: two sundaes. Back at the general session, I asked the board to amend the awards comm. report by adding Bill Soderquist for a commendation and Frank for a FAI Hang Gliding Diploma. After finishing up the reports, Randy Leggett did a Q and A on the RRRG. The meeting ended early around 1730 and C.J. invited Calef Letourney, a new RD from Vermont to join us for dinner at the Smoking Pig on 4^th Ave. He was a good conversationalist and we learned a lot about flying in Vermont (and nearby Quebec). He also has been running trips to Valle and only charges $1100 for 9 days incl. airport pickup, transportation and lodging. Dinner was BBQ pulled pork and brisket, beans, and a corn muffin which C.J. and I shared, plus a beer and cider. Back at the room I wrote in my journal while C.J. did another Spanish lesson.

C.J. at Ed Levin 300-ft Hill

22 Oct, Sun – We slept in a bit and then had another excellent buffet breakfast. I got the hotel to take the charge for the first breakfast off our bill. We checked out and set the GPS for Ed Levin County Park. It took us to somewhere in a light industrial zone nowhere near Ed Levin. Resetting to another option we followed directions to the actual location where Wally was teaching and paid our park entrance fee. C.J. got packed up and we walked across the LZ to the NW corner where Wally was picking up his “critters”. Aaron and Omi were waiting and we all rode up with Wally to the 300-ft hill launch. There were several other instructors (Jeff Greenbaum, Jesse Meyer) both hang and para. I volunteered to drive and made several trips up and down the hill to pick up the students and C.J. By around 1300 the wind had switched to more west and picked up and the lessons were ended. C.J. had gotten in two flights. We drove north on 680, and 580 then east on 140 through Tracy to Manteca where we stopped at Costco to buy a rotisserie chicken, a pineapple and a bag of oranges. We also filled up the gas tank (2.639) (good thing since the gas prices near Bass Lake were all over $3). The last hour of the 3.5 hr trip was on winding mountain roads east of Mariposa through a lot of burned forests. We stopped in Oakhurst to buy some groceries at Vons. The GPS took us right to the Worldmark at Bass Lake and we got checked in to our unit. C.J. made a salad and we had some of the chicken for dinner. I contacted Ron Jones, the site coordinator for the nearby (sort of) Tollhouse launch and got an invitation to come down and fly. It sounded like he would drive us up so Wally would not have to bring his big truck.

23 Oct, Mon – After breakfast we decided to go to the local ranger station to get info about local hikes. I thought we might do the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway so I just threw my hiking pack in the car and wore cotton clothes. The ranger station was closed so, after a quick look at the Mono Trail, we drove over the ridge to Oakhurst to go to the TI. We picked up a bunch of brochures and then decided to go to Glacier Point in Yosemite and maybe hike somewhere. On the way we stopped at the Sugar Pine Railroad, a tourist steam engine narrow gauge ride. There was quite a bit of recent fire damage (Railroad Fire) on the way to the park entrance. Once there we had to wait for 15-20 min for a one-lane construction area between the entrance and the (closed for restoration) Mariposa Grove. We drove past Wawona on Rte. 41 and continued to the turnoff to Glacier Point. There was a fire on the right side below the road but fortunately the wind was from the west and was blowing the smoke away. When we reached Sentinel Dome, the parking lot was full and we had to join other people who had parked alongside the road. After a short wait to use the single outhouse we started off on the 1.1 mile trail to the base of Sentinel. The trail then went around to the NE side and steeply up for another 0.1 mi to the summit. We had lunch on the granite slabs looking out at Half

Half Dome from the base of Sentinel Dome

Dome and the High Sierra peaks. Behind us was Yosemite Valley and Yos. Falls and El Capitan. There was a peak identifier on the summit and we were able to pick out all the mountains in the clear air. Having decided to do the whole 4.9-mile loop to Taft Point, we started down and then turned left descending through the woods to Sentinel Creek and Roosevelt Point where there was a different view of El Cap and the valley including the field in which we thought we had landed when we flew from Glacier Point on our hang gliders back in the 80’s. It was a long uphill walk to the next

C.J. at Taft Point, El Cap

intersection where we went right 0.5 mi to Taft Point, all downhill. Taft had several deep (2000’!) fissures, one with chockstones. At the edge was a small metal railing and then a dropoff that seemed to go all the way to the floor of Yosemite Valley. It was dizzying. We started back up to the parking lot around 1630 and made it up the mile by 1700. It seemed a bit faster returning south on 41 and we would have reached WM by 1830 but once we got back in cell phone range we heard from Ginny and Wally who were planning to stop in Oakhurst for pizza. We met them at Raleys Grocery and then went to Me’n’Eds for dinner. It must have been close to 2100 when we got back to the resort and C.J. and I certainly felt ready for a shower.

24 Oct, Tue – Ginny made a scramble for breakfast and there was special bacon, orange juice and C.J.’s pumpkin spice cream cheese muffins. Ginny had some work to do so we didn’t get started on our hike until after noon. Then we drove the short distance to the Willow Creek trail head on the upper road around Bass Lake. We got on the trail about 1300 and almost immediately lost the trail since we figured that it would be along the creek. Instead the trail climbed steeply up a rocky slope while we bushwhacked along the south bank of the stream. Eventually we crossed over to the other side and found a trail there while I mostly walked on the granite slabs on the side of the stream. We reached Angel Falls and had lunch in the shade. There was a large diameter pipe that started above the falls – probably the water source for the community of Bass Lake. [There was a building at the trailhead noted on the map as the Bass Lake Chlorinator.] We continued upstream on the left side and finally climbed up far enough to hit a fire road. A quarter of a mile up the road (or less) we took the right fork to get back to the creek. It was a good place for Ginny and C.J. to soak their feet. A hiker showed up coming along the right bank of the creek, crossed where we were and told us that the main trail was along the south bank. So, when we started back down we followed the well-trod path on the south. We were out of the woods by 1545 having covered 2.5-3 mi. We took the scenic route back going on the lower road through the town of Bass Lake – not much to see except a lakeshore crowded with mansions and one day-use park (USFS?). Back at the condo C.J. and I went over to the pool and hot tub. The pool was much warmer than the creek, but enough to cool us off. Later C.J. made chicken with pesto and served it over angel hair pasta along with a spinach and fruit salad. Ginny gave C.J. an assortment of lotion and creams for her birthday and served an assortment of cheese cake slices for a birthday cake. Later I signed waivers  online and paid our day-use fee to the Central California HP Club online.

25 Oct, Wed – Wally and Ginny went out to breakfast at the Pines (Ducey’s) while we had our usual. Since they had decided to walk, they weren’t back until after 1130. Around 1150, Ron called to say he’d like us to get to the LZ around 1330. We managed to get everyone out the door by 1215 and took the KIA. Ginny had decided that her time was not best spent in long drives and waiting around while we flew so she stayed behind. [Later she drove down the west side of the lake through North Fork and then down to the San Joaquin River Gorge where she had a good walk along the river and returned home just as we arrived back at WM.] Our route took us through North Fork and across the gorge of the San Joaquin River, then up through Auberry (spelled “Au-beary” on their sign perhaps in honor of all the carved bears in the small town) and on to Tollhouse. We were a bit early so had time to get our boots on and gear arranged before Ron arrived promptly at 1330. He took us across the street from the cemetery parking lot to the huge LZ and pointed out where the launch was and how people usually flew the site. Then we loaded our gear onto the back rack of his old Jeep and we headed up the many switchbacks of the old toll road to the summit. There we turned SE onto Burroughs Mountain Road, a rough, 4WD track, and went a couple miles to the launch. It was an excellent launch with shade for set up and a clear, mowed grassy area for takeoff. We got more information about possible house thermals and cross-country routes. I launched at 1600 and immediately climbed above launch, but not too far. I was out of shape with respect to thermal turbulence, so I didn’t get much higher than a bit over the top of the mountain (4200). Wally and C.J. seemed to get somewhat higher but not the thousands of feet above that we thought might be possible. After working the area around launch for a while, I started off to the NW and found quite a bit of sink. It wasn’t until I got almost across to a ridge extending down from where Rte. 168 (“the four-lane”) crossed the Burroughs ridge that I found a nice mellow thermal and was able to core it back up over 4000. Meanwhile Wally had gone out to the LZ and landed. I faded back toward where the old toll road zig-zagged up the mountain below “Squaw Tit”, now called “the bump” or something else innocuous. I was careful to avoid the area to the right which was a deep canyon often with a lot of sink and a headwind when trying to get out. I didn’t find much over the ridge below the four-lane and had to head toward the LZ. I made a wide circle before coming in to land into the light breeze. (0:44) C.J. followed a similar route and landed sometime after me. Ron was already in the LZ to greet us and make sure we got down safely. We packed up and got going around 1730 and retraced our route back to WM Bass Lake arriving around 1835. Wally and Ginny took us out to dinner at Ducey’s, an upscale restaurant in The Pines Resort. The soup, salad, lamb shank, duck breast and my petite filet mignon were all excellent.

26 Oct, Thu – Wally and Ginny were leaving today so we had only the morning to do something. We drove over to the west side of the lake and walked the Trail of the Mono which had information about the Native Americans who lived here before the Europeans arrived. The trail led past a granite outcrop which had depressions that had been ground out by stone pestles for grinding of acorns to flour, the basic food of the Mono people. When we returned to the KIA, we continued south along the lake past Millers Landing Resort and the rock and earthen dam to North Fork.  We checked out the USFS ranger station which was really nice and had lots of things to buy as well as some free Smokey Bear stuff. Then we spent an hour at the Sierra Mono Indian Museum and had a really good docent explain some of the intricacies about the basketmaking and the materials used (like deer grass and bark of the redbud tree). We got back to the condo around noon and Wally and Ginny got packed up and out sometime after 1300. We ate some chips and hummus for lunch and then headed off to have some ice cream at Reimers in Oakhurst. We also browsed through the outdoor sports and souvenir shop next door, Sierra Nevaqda Trading Post. Thinking that might go for a drive up the Sky Ranch Road past the (closed due to cleanup from the Railroad Fire) Nelder (Giant Sequoia) Grove, we stopped at the TI and checked to see if the road was open as far as the Beasore Road so we could make a loop of it. The head counsellor said that it was but that the road was very rough. We went anyway and the pavement did stop near the entrance (2 miles down the road) to the Nelder Grove but it wasn’t all that bad – certainly nothing like the Burroughs Mtn Rd. We stopped at a somewhat obscured view of Fresno Dome, then farther up the road there was a better view. Finally we took a left fork leading to Fresno Dome CG (also closed) and got a really good view of the granite dome (7540’). Backtracking to the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway which we had been following we continued up and over a 7300’ high point and then down another mile (for a total of 20 mi) to the paved Beasore Road. There was a rest area and a 700’ trail to Cold Springs Meadow there. So, we took a break before heading back down the very wind-y road to Bass Lake and our condo at Worldmark (around 1730). We’re down to 5/8 of a tank so we’ll pick up gas in North Fork before doing the rest of the SVSB on Friday. For dinner we had the leftover lamb shank, leftover potatoes from the Newhall’s weekend, and a fresh salad.

27 Oct, Fri – After breakfast we took our hiking gear and drove into North Fork to get gas at Vons (3.299) so that there would be no chance of running low while we were out in the boonies. We stopped at the ranger station to ask about identifying the trees with reddish, deeply-fissured bark, and flattened cedar-like foliage, but they were “busy” so we looked in a guidebook then left. Our plan was to do the whole 100 miles of the Sierra Vista National Scenic Byway. The weather was cooperative – it was another beautiful fall day, if a bit warm, especially in the sunshine. We skipped the chance to see the geographical center of CA a few miles SE of North Fork down Italian Bar Road near Redinger Lake, but we did stop at an overlook to look down at Redinger and the San Joaquin River Gorge. The cycles were blowing up on what looked like a perfect launch (no place to land, of course, but the TO looked great). We stopped several miles farther up the road at a junction with a road that went down to the river and a powerhouse. I got the binoculars and spotting scope out so we could see the many penstocks and waterfalls. Next, we stopped at the Jesse Ross log cabin. It was built in the 1800’s using continental methods so, the logs were all hewed square in x-section. The inner walls were covered with vertical boards and then those were covered with newspaper or wallpaper. We reached about 5300 ft at the Mile High Vista where we ate lunch while looking down at Mammoth Pool, a reservoir which was much lower than usual, and out at the Sierra Crest (Mt Ritter, Minarets, Mammoth, et al.). In the middle distance were several granite domes, Balloon Dome and Fuller Rock. About 20 minutes beyond the turnoff for Mammoth Pool, we stopped at Arch Rock, a small, granite erosion arch. Shortly afterward we ran out of pavement and the road got rough. Thinking that we might do a hike, we drove the 1.5 mi in to Piyau Dome Trailhead. The trail was indistinct, we didn’t know the length or elevation gain of the trail, and it was already 1400 so we drove back to the road. We stopped to walk a short path out to Jackass Meadow, and again at Portugese Overlook to look up at the big granite domes above the road. All along the route we had seen trailers and tents in dispersed camping areas, but we didn’t see any people around, hunters maybe? One of the hits of the trip was the stop at Globe Rock which was a huge granite boulder sitting on a pedestal, appearing to be delicately balanced. The road was paved the rest of the way from Globe Rock. We closed the loop (from yesterday) at Cold Springs Summit and then headed down and down the rest of the way to the upper road at Bass Lake and home to Worldmark. Snacks ensued and then dinner – a casserole with the original rotisserie chicken cooked with onion, corn and beans. Later I paid the remainder of our trip balance online to OAT for the Machu Picchu and Galapagos trip. I also researched the hiking trail to Fresno Dome and found it was only 1.5 mi with an elevation gain of 311 ft. Sounds like a plan for Saturday.

28 Oct. Sat – Up at just after 0700 and out on the road by shortly after 0900. We re-traced our Thursday drive up Sky Ranch Road and then along FS 10 to Fresno Dome CG and another couple of miles to the unexpected and impressively-signed trailhead for Fresno Dome. No one else was parked there and a pickup pulled out through a puddle of indeterminate depth just as we arrived. Knowing that there was a solid bottom to the puddle we pulled in and parked near the start of the trail. It was nice and cool so we could wear long sleeve shirts all the way to the summit, about 1.5 mi and 350 ft elev gain, at 7540 ft. The trail through the pines was well-trodden and pines themselves were aglow with bright green lichen as the sun struck them. The back of the granite dome was easy to ascend since it was much less steep than the south face which is where the climbers go (although we never found a climbers path leading from the road). After we had enjoyed the summit for a half-hour or so, more people started to arrive. The first party of six from Montana knew two old hang glider pilots that we also knew: Steve Aden and Ron Enck, a real coincidence. Another party of four and a couple more followed them up as we started back down. I had used my spotting scope with the very light tripod I usually carry for my camera, and it wasn’t very stable. But, I could look out into the valley and also off to the NW to a fire tower on a high ridge. At the parking lot I considered continuing around to the Sierra Vista National Scenic Byway on FS 10, but we wanted to stop in Oakhurst so we returned the way we had come. There were quite a few vehicles on the road now that it was the weekend and we saw some of the people in the dispersed camps as we went by (unlike the previous day when we saw almost no one). Also on the way in we saw our first large mammals when three deer crossed the road ahead of us. One of the people we met on the trail told us that this weekend was the end of the hunting season (but I might have gotten that wrong). In Oakhurst we stopped at the Sierra Nevada Trading Post and C.J. got a Yosemite coloring book and a black bear coaster. Then we hit Reimers again and C.J. got a scoop of pomegranate blueberry gelato and I got a coffee-chocolate shake. We headed right back to Worldmark and were there in time for the annual party thrown by the management for the staff and guests. We got free burritos from the Sonora Taco Truck, a drink and plenty of fruit and desserts. The kids were having a good time in the inflatable bouncy house and later when they smashed a large piñata filled with candy. We got caught up on our journals and started to organize stuff for packing up later when we could move the car nearer to the condo unit. Once I got the car under the parking area covered with solar panels, we loaded our wings and some miscellaneous stuff. We had dinner, salad and the left over burritos, around 1900. After that we watched “Sully”, a film about Chesley Sullenberger; much of it was about the NTRB investigation of the water landing in the Hudson in January of 2009.

29 Oct, Sun – Up at 0630 and on the road shortly after 0800. Another beautiful day. We drove through the foothills on 47 and 120, followed freeway 99 through the flatlands of the San Joaquin Valley and continued north to Sacramento where we got gas at Costco (2.499). We hooked up with I-5 and soon enough we were at Dunnigan and back on our usual route. We stopped again in Redding to get a Costco frozen mocha for me and after that I was much more alert, but that may have been because we were leaving the Sacramento Valley and heading up into the hills leading to Shasta. Great views of an almost-bare Shasta in the clear air although we could see occasional tendrils of smoke in the valley to the west. We reached Ashland right around 1700 and checked into The Ashland Hills for the night. After asking at the desk and looking at Yelp, we decided to eat at the Luna Café again. I even had the same chili and Caesar salad while C.J. had the Special, a Chef’s Burger, with a bowl of seasonal vegetables. We shared a pear cider.

30 Oct, Mon – Got an early enough start that we didn’t run into any traffic slowdowns even in the usual places like Portland and near Olympia. We stopped for gas in Roseburg and Covington. I was supposed to be on a low-fiber diet in prep for the colonoscopy on Wednesday. We got home around 1630, early enough to pick up our mail at the post office. There were lots of leaves covering the lawn and driveway, nice and dry, but there were still more remaining on the trees. The house seemed cold, but that may have been due to having been in sunny California for so long. Apparently we missed some serious rainy weather while we were gone. It was going to be hard to adjust to the normal rainy-cold Northwest autumn.

Baldy Butte Fly-in

22-24 September 2017

G and C.J. near Baldy north take-off

Tough decision whether to go to The Can-Am at Black Mtn or the Fly-in at Baldy. But
the Baldy site needed more support to stay open, and our friends were going there, too. C.J and I thought we’d leave Friday – and we did, but not before getting a flight at Tiger. 

22 Sep, Fri - Unfortunately, the bright blue sky with burgeoning cumulus clouds had morphed into high overcast by the time we were ready to launch. I had an abort on the upper takeoff and then had a mushy launch (someone said, “not like George, at all” which made me feel a bit better). I went around the north side of the Dome and scratched for a while, then flew back south to the Yaher Wall where there was very little lift. Soon I was setting up with another pilot who took the left while I went right. (:15). C.J. also had a short flight and we were packed up and on our way home by 1700. Since we only had to put the last items in the trailer and car, we were out the driveway by 1800. It was dark when we pulled into Lmuma Rec Area after 1930 and we were surprised to find that there was an open campsite. After setting up we had a late dinner then crossed the barbed wire to the camping area for the Fly-in. This year the organizers (mostly Rick and Karen Ely, helped by Randy Lettau) were allowing attendees to drive down into the camping area, but no trailers per Mr. Eaton’s request. Someone had a small campfire going (despite the statewide fire ban) and we hung out for a while before returning to the Aliner. We were careful to not turn on a light inside until we had the door closed, however, once the lights were on we were swarmed by tiny flying bugs. We wondered if they were coming in through gaps in the weatherstripping, but we soon found out that they were small enough to get through the window screens. Bummer! We swatted a few thousand with towels, etc. and we tried removing the vent screen and turning the fan on high to suck them out. That worked but more just came in so we finally gave up and shut the lights off and went to bed. It was pretty chilly, and the bugs quieted down as soon as the lights were off.

23 Sep, Sat – We didn’t get up early but when we did we had to sweep up the bug carcasses before we could make breakfast. Later we drove over to the fly-in site and parked in the shade. Registration was once again at the entrance near “the rock” and there were already 40-50 pilots signed up who had arrived early to fly on Friday. After registering we ran into Randy Sprague who was taking a bunch of RPC guys up (Griz, Wayne, Joe Stermitz, and ?). He offered us a ride so we didn’t have to wait for one of the shuttles. There were a lot of people standing around up near the towers waiting for it to get a little stronger. I watched for a while then decided that I’d rather go early than wait in line for what might be strong conditions. The sky had become partly overcast but I pulled up on a steep slope after C.J. and flew left in lift (!). I should have stayed there (photo above) but I continued west and sank below the ridgetop. I reversed course and returned to the bowl below launch and worked light lift but not enough to get up to the pilot flying a BGD who had stayed in the lift near launch. Eventually I decided to head out along the north spine to look for lift: Not much, and then serious sink. My GPS was saying that it was a 5:1 glide to the LZ but the best I was getting was 3:1. I was thinking that I would be landing in the sagebrush and hoping that I wouldn’t end up in a gully, when I ran into some decent lift which seemed to be centered over a couple of apparently dead cows. I was able to gain some altitude and widen my circles. Now the LZ was within an easy glide and when the lift quit, I headed in to land (:20). C.J. was already packing up. We grabbed some lunch stuff from the trailer and then hooked up with Randy to go back up. I wasn’t too keen to fly in midday conditions so I volunteered to drive. Randy took us down to Big Pines CG to see if Wayne had landed there, but he was still in the air to the south. We picked up a load at the HQ and I drove Randy’s big Dodge Ram up to launch. By then people were mostly launching to the SW, but some were still getting off to the north. Peter launched to the north in his hang glider, the only hang at the fly-in, and got up and stayed high. C.J. decided that she didn’t want to fly for various reasons, a headache being the main one, so we drove down. Back at the LZ we hung out with Patricia and Penny until it got late enough to start setting up for dinner. We brought the “bluebarb” crisp over and added it to the potluck items. Rick had a full-size gas grill which he used to cook up a bunch of chicken and bratwursts; someone else (maybe Karen) brought a big pot of pulled pork. There were two kegs of Iron Horse ale; the one I had was really good, Mocha Death (even better than their Irish Death). There weren’t too many homemade desserts and C.J.’s got all eaten up, even before the cheesecake slices were gone. Sitting around the (illegal) fire we got to hear about all the great flights – some out toward the west, others flew triangles; everyone seemed to get nearly to cloudbase at 7-8000 ft. Sometime after 2000 we drove back to the trailer and endured another episode of the bug infestation from Hell. It wasn’t as cold as it had been the previous night.

24 Sep, Sun – After sweeping up the bugs and having breakfast outside at the picnic table we packed up the trailer and moved it up near the rock (a BLM official was telling other campers that there was going to be maintenance work done on the CG and there would be a lot of dust. We took a shuttle ride up with Rick Ely. This time the preferred launch was the more typical south-facing one. After waiting a while for conditions to improve (no one was staying up) I took off after Christel. There was lift right at launch, then more spotty lift over the ridge crest to the west. It wasn’t friendly enough for me to continue working it, so I just headed north across the river to the ridge that people had followed up on Saturday. It wasn’t working on Sunday and I headed toward the LZ while I was still high enough to make it easily (apparently it did not appear that way to some observers). The LZ was soarable so I circled my way back up a few hundred feet and drifted across the highway remembering that there had been lift near the dead cows the previous day. Not so much this time so I did not get up as high as Christel, nor as far away from the LZ as she was. I returned to the LZ to land to the SE which appeared to be into the wind, but as I approached the ground the wind must have switched so I ended up skidding across the ground on the seat of my harness – no damage (:16). I wasn’t watching Christel while I was packing up but when I looked up I saw a few people going over to help her where she had landed on the other side of the road in a rocky area. Tom drove his truck over to help her get back to the camp area. After C.J. got packed up after her short flight we hung out for a while before deciding to see if there would be another shuttle. Craig’s wife, Shirleyann (?), offered to drive us up with Patricia, and Peter who needed to retrieve his truck. On the way up, Peter met his truck being driven down. Not long after 1500, just as we were arriving at the top of the butte, Randy Lettau ran into a dustdevil when he was taking off from the south launch. I did not see the accident but other witnesses said his wing took a big collapse on the left side (others said the right side) and he was spun to the left and then dropped about ten feet to land on the rocky ground on his left side. (Randy thought that he had landed on his feet first). There was a ding in his helmet over his forehead, and he reported hearing/feeling cracking in his neck area. The only pain he was feeling was high on his neck, he was able to move all extremities and there seemed to be no bone or joint damage according to Matt, a local pilot and EMT on the scene. Karen Ely, an ER nurse, also checked Randy over. Soon afterward, Mark Larson, an ER doctor and pilot from Olympia, arrived and agreed with Matt’s assessment. He removed Randy’s helmet and we got the harness disconnected (Randy Sprague cut just the tip of one strap so we could unthread it from the buckle.) Meanwhile, medical aid had been requested and two Kitsap County fire/aid units responded within an hour. The commander of the unit took into account the injury and the roughness of the road and called for a helicopter evacuation. Randy had a c-collar applied and was carefully rolled onto a backboard; a head-bed kept his neck from moving. C.J. and I drove back down with Rick and Matt before the helicopter arrived (in fact, we were back at the LZ before it got there). After watching the helicopter land on the ridge in a big cloud of dust, load Randy on board and take off again, we drove down to Big Pines CG to meet up with Chris, waiting there for Patricia who had hiked down from launch with Sabrina. We hung out with the RPC gang and even got to try Wayne’s Ninebot, an electric unicycle, definitely a challenge to ride. Griz had an even larger one which I understood to be considerably more expensive than Wayne’s $600 one. After giving Sabrina a ride to the LZ, we drove into E-burg and got gas at Circle-K (2.929) on the way to the Yellow Church Café. Chris and Patricia helped drive Randy’s Jeep to Rick’s home and then joined us at about 1930. We had a good dinner of pork street tacos, Caesar salad and Thai shrimp stirfry in a green curry sauce (and a local ale). During dinner we received word that x-rays indicated that Randy had sustained a fracture of C-2 and was being flown to Harborview in Seattle for treatment. [Later Randy reported that the fracture was “very stable” and would require only a neck brace for three months.]  We He also had some bruising on his heel so it appears that he did hit feet first.] We headed home about 2030 and traffic was minimal. We made a pit stop at Snoqualmie Pass just after we noticed that there was a little mouse running around just below our windshield in the windshield wiper area. We couldn’t remove it even after we opened the hood. He was still there when we arrived home around 2200 and parked out in front of the hedge. We hadn't got awesome flights but there's more to a fly-in than the flying. It was a good time to visit with people we don't see all that often.

Eclipse Road Trip

19-26 August

The once-in-a-lifetime total eclipse of the sun visible from Oregon to South Carolina was scheduled for my birthday. Fortunately, months ago our friends Chris and Patricia invited us to join them at Patricia’s family’s homestead in Midvale, ID, right on the path of totality. This was a very good thing because other locations on the path of totality were going to be crowded with eclipse chasers and charging high prices for lodging, camping, even parking.

Crescent-shaped shadows

19 Aug, Sat – We got an early start and joined up with Chris and Patricia at Indian John Rest Area on I-90 east of Cle Elum. We traveled more or less together (although, we took the 15-minute-slower route through the Yakima Canyon. We met up for lunch at the first rest area in Oregon, got gas at the casino east of Pendleton and exited I-84 at the Weiser Exit. We met up again at the Midvale Ridge rest area and followed them to the only family farm on Hopper Road. Dave Hopper, Patricia’s father got our trailer situated in the shade of a mobile home and we soon joined the extended family for dinner. In addition to Dave and Liz (Patricia’s stepmom), there were her sister, Lynn, and family: husband Barry, and kids Erika and Bevan, plus at least one uncle and maybe others. I don’t remember exactly when our paragliding friend, Andre Akakine, arrived with his five-year-old daughter, Katie, from the Bay Area.

20 Aug, Sun – After breakfast with the family – Dave’s sourdough pancakes - most of us spent time preparing various viewing devices for the eclipse the next day and setting up for the family potluck in the evening. I think someone said we had 37 people (a little short of the 50 that Dave had originally expected). There was lots of food including pulled pork and sliced beef, salads, rolls, bread, dips, tomatoes, and more. The dessert centerpiece was Lynn’s offering of four lemon meringue pies. 

21 Aug, Mon – Eclipse Day. After breakfast (Dave and Liz served biscuits and gravy and a baked egg dish with fresh fruit) we all got our viewing projects set up. I got my spotting scope out and Bevan kind of took it over using his phone to record photos of the progress of the eclipse. Andre put together a big box with a monocular at one end to focus the sun on the far end. There were several pinhole shoebox and larger size cameras, but the best gizmo was one Lynn put together with cardboard, a pair of binoculars, a tripod, and a screen. It produced a nice large image that was easy for a group of people to all see at once. Of course, everyone had eclipse glasses for individual viewing. The moon started taking a bite out of the sun around 1010; totality lasted for around two minutes; and the whole thing was over by 1148 (?). I used my 10x binoculars during totality. It got quite dark and cool and the light near the horizon
was like that of a sunset. It was a really fantastic experience. We had more potluck for lunch with fewer people. Afterward we all hung around as people packed up and started to head for home. After everyone but Dave, Liz, Chris and Patricia and we had left, Dave took us up the hills behind the homestead in his truck and pointed out the historic sites and places Patricia had gone to when she was staying in Midvale during the summers. Back at the trailer, we had a light supper before going to bed.

22 Aug, Tue – We got a later start than we thought we would so we didn’t get to McCall until after 1130. Then we drove out along Warren Wagon Road to the north end of Payette Lake and beyond the North Beach part of Ponderosa State Park into the State Endowment Lands where dispersed camping was permitted. We stashed the trailer in a big snowmobile parking lot with an outhouse, then drove back to McCall. We had no trouble finding the McCall RV Resort where Davis

Bronze at the McCall Library

and Belinda stay when they are not in Boise. Belinda made a nice lunch of cold cuts for us. Later we walked into town so everyone could get an ice cream at the shop in the alley. I skipped that and walked over to Albertsons where there is a Starbucks upstairs, and got my free birthday Frappuccino. After hanging out at the waterfront park for a while we walked back (Davis rode his bike, of course) to the RV resort and sat around visiting. Later I spotted a pickup with two hang gliders drive into the resort. We all wandered over to find out who it was and it turned out that it was Steve Baran, of Inkler Fly-in fame; he had flown No Business Mountain with Doug Ratkovich (Debbie) earlier in the day after doing the eclipse watch at Smiths (?) Ferry the previous day. Around 1930 we drove into town to have dinner. The McCall Brewpub was not open so we went to the Salmon River Brewery. We had a 15-minute wait but then we got a good table on the deck. C.J. and I shared a Thai Beef Salad and a Black and Bleu Elkburger (which wasn’t very bleu). We stopped for gas at Maverik  so we wouldn’t have to do it with the trailer in the morning. It was way after sundown when we drove back to the snowmobile lot and set up our trailer; at an elevation of just over 5000 feet, it was nice and cool. On the way back along Warren Wagon Road we saw a fox (we think) flash across the road with its bushy tail drifting behind it.23 Aug, Wed – We got up after 0720, had breakfast and hit the road around 0830. We took a bathroom break in Cascade where Davis and Belinda had watched the eclipse. Then we continued steeply downhill along the whitewater of the Payette River to Banks where we turned east toward Lowman on the Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway. At Lowman we stopped at the USFS ranger station then continued on with a couple of short stops, one at the 7000ft summit and another near Stanley Lake where we walked out on a nature trail. At Stanley we turned north on 95 following the Salmon River. We stopped at an overlook above the abandoned dam used to run the turbines to produce power for mines up the Yankee Fork. At Salmon we stopped for gas at a Sinclair station then turned SE into the Lemhi Valley. It was about 30 miles to the Lee Creek turnoff that took us up on a bench above the valley and to Chris’s parent’s homestead. We had dinner with Don and Judy, brother Tim and two young nieces, Eva and Zoe Wong. Chris pointed out where he thought we could fly in the morning if the winds were light enough.

24 Aug, Thu – Up at 0630 so we could head over to the local flying site while the winds were light. But the leaves were already shaking on the trees we could see through the skylights. After some discussion we decided to have breakfast and then do something else like look for fossils or crystals. After fruit, scrambled eggs w/cheese, and Tim’s cheese bread the conditions seemed to have gotten light so we took two cars to the LZ on the other side of the valley. We used Chris’s 4WD to get to the top over a couple of steep spots and some rutted track – probably not easy for the Sorento. The sky was just beginning to get smoky from the NW as we got ready to launch. I went first from the 7500ft take off and found lift just in front of the launch. There were some small, sharp-edged thermals and I pretty much flew through them into the accompanying sink. I flew to the left and went over the rocky ridge then out toward the LZ which was also on a ridge. The wind streamer that we had left in place showed variable directions and speeds, but I lined up with the length of the ridge pointing toward the highway in the main valley. Landing was easy but I was able to kite right afterwards with my back to the north. C.J. was next off and she had about two minutes longer than my 08:42, saying that she didn’t like the looks of the building clouds. Apparently, neither did Chris because he spiraled down; Patricia saw that and landed, too. Chris’s father showed up and was able to use his truck to get Chris back up to launch to retrieve his vehicle. We went back to the ranch with Patricia and hung out until lunchtime when Chris and John got back. Later, Chris suggested several things to do: go looking for crystals, hunt fossils, or drive the mountain roads to the other side of the range and loop back. Naturally we opted for the drive. Chris started up Lee Creek Road which climbed up behind the Amonson Ranch (huge!) and up FS 010 past the turnoff that would lead up a rough 4WD road to the dam on Mill Lake that needs repairing. We stopped occasionally to walk to places that Chris remembered visiting as a boy and young man while repairing fences or “pushing” cattle, or just riding his motorcycle or ATV. We found some currant bushes which were done bearing but we also found a few raspberries. At one place on the divide before descending into the Hayden Creek drainage we spotted three pronghorn, about the only critters we saw. Near the bottom of Hayden Canyon, past the Bear Valley Road we turned up into

Chris with niece Eva, mother Judy, and C.J.

Basin Creek just to see if it still looked like Chris remembered. It was hard to see the surrounding mountains with all the smoke that had come in during the afternoon. We got back to the main highway around 1830 and then it wasn’t far back to the ranch. Tom and Robin, Eva and Zoe’s parents (Robin is Chris’s sister), had returned from their first vacation without the kids. They had gone to Fairmont Hot Springs near Butte for two nights. Tom had barbecued up a bunch of pork chops and we ate those along with some baked potatoes and asparagus. C.J. cooked up some of her fresh beans, too. And she brought out the blackberry kuchen for dessert with whipped cream; the kids had probably never seen whipped cream in an aerosol can before. As we were eating outside with Patricia (avoiding the TV that was on in the cookhouse), there was a lot of thunder and a little shower, just barely enough to send us back inside. It was a good impetus to get me packing up the stuff that was outside.

25 Aug, Fri – We got up around 0800 and fixed our own breakfast then started seriously packing up. We were out of the ranch shortly before 1000, but stopped at the Sacajawea Monument and Interpretive center soon after in Salmon. The interpretive building was quite small but the grounds around it with tepees, sweat lodges, brush, willow and woven mat lodges was pretty large. We missed out on the class on cordage held in the red barn which we didn’t see until later. We left around 1130 and headed up US 93, the Salmon River Scenic Byway (and Lewis and Clark route), eventually crossing Lost Trail Summit; a 7000ft pass, and entering Montana (ski area name?). We lost a lot of elevation following the Bitterroot River down to the plains. The biggest town we went through was Darby (Sorry I didn’t stop for a photo of the Welcome To Montana’s Bitterroot Country and Darby sign, Darby, but I got one using Google). We passed through Lolo and were surprised that Route 12 was not closed right there because of the fires (maybe it was closed farther up before you got to Lolo Pass). We could see fires burning even on the nearby hillsides. Missoula was kind of slow, traffic-wise and smoky, but we got to Costco eventually and filled up with the cheapest gas we had seen all trip (2.419) and bought a berry sundae to share. [If we had been a little more patient we would had run into a Freddy’s Frozen Custard place at the intersection of 93 and I-90.] It was about an hour to Quartz Flat USFS campground east of Superior. We had considered going on to Sloway CG, another 16 miles, but since there were good sites available, we stopped early, not long after 1600. The campground is on a bench maybe 150 steep feet above the Clark Fork River. We found a trail that appeared to start in our site and followed it east a ways and then down a gentler grade to the river. Back at camp we relaxed with a drink and some chips and hummus before catching up with our journals. Since we have run out of ice for our cooler, we needed to eat up some of our veggies. So we had cooked spinach and fried sausage. It cooled off nicely for sleeping but a couple of vanloads of people across the road stayed up late talking loudly, and that kept C.J. from getting to sleep early.

26 Aug, Sat – We got up around 0800 and were on the road by 0930, another sunny day with quite a bit of smoke in the air. We stopped for gas at Costco in Coeur d’Alene (2.479) after passing over Lookout Pass, driving through Mullan (same population as Wallace (?) but hardly any historic features), and crossing the lower Fourth of July Pass. The wind seemed to be light east as we drove through Spokane and I considered calling Steve Baran to see if he was down at Steptoe Butte, but flying there would have entailed midday conditions in Eastern Washington, at a new site - too many negative variables. We stopped at the rest area west of the one near Sprague Lake and then drove into E-burg to get a scoop of Winegar’s ice cream. CWU must not be in session yet because we were able to park in Jerrol’s Bookstore lot. There was a lot of smoke as we approached the Cascades. It appeared that there was a fire up toward Salmon La Sac. But there was no smoke in North Bend when we got home shortly after 1600. There was still a good crop of berries on the blueberry bush in the north garden and C.J. couldn’t pick all the green beans that were ripe. I got a bowlful of blackberries, too. We unpacked and spent some time cleaning up. I even scoured out the porta-potti, a job that had been put off for too long if the stain in the lower section was any indication. I left it to soak overnight with some cleaner, laundry detergent and bleach. We were gone only a week but we covered a lot of territory and met lots of new and fascinating people. It was a unique experience to watch the total solar eclipse with Patricia’s family and then get to meet Chris’s family…and we even got a flight from a new site!

Oregon Coast and FFFF at Woodrat

7-13 August 2017

Barbara (Summerhawk) Yates invited us to be part of the Fun-Feast-Float-Fly-Friends event once again. This time it was a bit earlier than her birthday (one day before mine, this year falling on the day of the total solar eclipse). C.J. had been having some issues with her paraglider launches so we decided that maybe we could combine the FFFF with a trip to the Oregon Coast where Brad Hill and Maren Ludwig teach paragliding on the beach.

7 Aug, Mon – Brad and Maren already had relatively new students to train on the weekend and continuing into Monday. At first they said to meet at 0900 at Sunset Beach. But, later, the weather forecast was for fog, so the meeting was changed to 1000 at their shop in nearby Warrenton. Therefore, we could get up at 0430, instead of even earlier, and get out of the driveway at 0600. We had already loaded the car, stocked the trailer and hooked up the night before. It was foggy all the way down, through Longview and along Rte. 30 to Astoria and down 101 to Warrenton. Our new GPS showed us the right turn onto 104 but we missed the immediate left onto Deerfield. Fortunately, we were able to turn around at the next intersection. After a very short distance on Deerfield we turned onto Cheri which looked like a gravel driveway and followed it to the end at the Discover Paragliding shop. Upstairs over the three-car garage there was a large open room with tables and chairs set up for instruction; there was also a washroom and a room full of paragliding equipment for sale. We met Kate Eagle, Rebecca (or, rather re-met, since we had seen them at the Rat Race) who are beginning the instructor certification course. The students were Brent, Sam, Christina and Jamie. While the students and C.J. were doing instructional kinds of stuff, I took the trailer over to Fort Stevens State Park, about four miles away. It’s a huge place with over three hundred campsites. I got to registration certainly before noon only to find that all sites were reserved and nothing was available. That was quite a setback, but Brad and Maren came through with permission to camp in their driveway and even left the class bathroom unlocked for us. By noon classroom work had been completed and we all drove our vehicles over to Sunset Beach. When Brad and Maren got there after getting gas, we followed them through a gap in the dunes and through some deep sand onto the firmer sand near the ebbing tide. We went at least a mile south of the entrance road to a place that looked no different from the rest of the wide beach with a low, sea-grass-covered dune behind. The students practiced inflations and running, both into the wind and zig-zagging cross wind. Later Brad set up his truck for towing with his payout (and pay-in!) winch. Everybody got two or three tows right up to the base of the fog which had risen to maybe 300 ft. Surprisingly, almost all of the tow launches, flights and landings were good. It was probably 1700 or later when we quit as the fog was thickening to almost a “mizzle”. We went back to the shop, cleaned up the vehicles and rested for a while. Around 1900 we followed Brad, Maren and Kate to Nisa Thai Restaurant in Warrenton for an excellent dinner.  After we ate C.J. and I drove to Fred Meyer to get gas, peaches, a cantaloupe and some tonic water. Back at Discover Paragliding the temperature was just right for comfortable sleeping.

8 Aug, Tue – We slept until about 0730 and Brad didn’t get C.J. up to the shop until 1015 since he and Maren had slept late. He had C.J. working on improving her use of As and Cs to control the glider when preparing to launch. Brad had a pretty neat simulator for that. About noon C.J. and I were on our way south on 101. Not only were we concerned about where we would find a place to camp but we kept running into slow traffic, especially as we drove through the beach resorts of Seaside, Lincoln City and Newport. Every State Park we passed had a bright yellow sign announcing “Camp Full”. Later the few USFS CG we passed were also full. We did make a short stop in Tillamook at the very busy Tillamook Cheese (and ice cream) factory for our traditional 3-scoop dish. We tried calling the number for the Cape Perpetua USFS CG but the office had closed at 1600, 20 minutes before. We had hopes that a SP not too far north of Florence would have space since it was one of the few first-come-first-served camp grounds, but it was full, too. Finally, just five miles before Florence (where we had planned to turn inland and find a rest area or Walmart to park in overnight), Alder Dune USFS CG had a “Open” sign out and several campsites that looked good to us. We chose a nice level, back-in site and paid for two nights then we went for a hike through the tree-covered dunes around the campground and small lake. Back around 1900 C.J. used the leftovers from Nisa Thai to make another good meal. Tomorrow we are considering going back north on 101 to the scenic area south of Yachats.

9 Aug, Wed – We slept in until quite late and didn’t get going until after 1030 when we drove into Florence. We found the Chamber of Commerce/TI and got some material that included the top ten short hikes on the Oregon Coast. There was only one hike to the north where we wanted to go, Hobbit Beach Trail, so named because the trees closed in over the trail making it seem like a tunnel. On the way out of Florence we drove through the Old Town along the Siuslaw River, lots of tourist-oriented businesses. The parking lot at Hobbit Trail, just a couple of miles north of the Heceta Head lighthouse appeared full so we drove past and turned around in the Carl G. Washburn State Park day use area. When we got back there were a couple of new parking spots so we grabbed one and geared up for a short (0.5mi) hike down to the beach. The trail was all downhill and matched the description. Once on the sandy beach, we walked south to the headland where waves were crashing then back to the trail. When we reached the trailhead again I grabbed my pack so that we could carry our lunch then we started off on the trail over the headland to the Heceta Head lighthouse. It was a roller coaster trail so, although we started at 250 ft and reached only 500 ft, we had a cumulative elevation gain of 650 ft (according to the trail sign). I used Backcountry Navigator to keep track of our progress even though there was no cell coverage. The total distance was only 2.5 mi round trip but it was a scenic short trip despite the fog that was blowing through the trees. Approaching the lighthouse from above we had a great view of the light with its Class One (largest) Fresnel Lens, the only one in a west coast lighthouse made in England; the rest were made in France. We didn’t get a tour of the oil house attached to the lighthouse because there was a large tour group of lighthouse enthusiasts from all over the US taking up all the available volunteers. It was pretty chilly out in the wind so we decided to do lunch up the trail a short distance where we still had a good view of the lighthouse and the sea stack just to the south covered with birds and bird droppings. We skipped the lighthouse keepers house completely (I think it’s now a B and B anyway so we probably could not go inside). Most of the visitors did not take the roller coaster trail that we did; instead, they parked in a fee lot down near the bridge and walked in on the old lighthouse supply road, about 0.5 mi. Just before we reached the car C.J. saw a car pull out of the parking lot and a daypack roll off the roof onto the road. Although she waved and yelled, the car occupants continued to drive away. There was no ID obvious and no cell phone to help contact the losers so we dropped it off with a ranger who had just arrived. Then we drove north to Cape Perpetua and visited the Visitor Center. By that time we had decided that we had had enough hiking for the day. The fifty-year-old visitor center was mildly interesting and had a great view of the cove and crashing waves. If there had not been such thick fog we might have seen farther out and spotted a whale, since a daily listing showed at least one seen almost every day. We got out just before closing (4:30) with lots of ideas for future explorations. On the way back to Florence we stopped at Neptune State Park, a parking lot with some stair connecting to the beach and rocky tidepools. We also stopped at the Muriel O. Ponser Wayside which had an impressive entrance but no explanation. Since it was getting on towards dinner time, we drove into Florence and bought some sausages, spaghetti sauce, more peaches, salad mix and some cheese (all on sale, 12.45). I gassed up at the lowest price so far this trip (2.389) which included a FM discount. C.J. checked her email and found an urgent request from Nick to get the photographer for her article to remove the watermark signature from all his photos. We hung out in the FM parking lot while she called Nick and sent him the photographer’s contact info.  Back at camp around 1800 C.J. prepared another great meal, and then we caught up on our journals.

10 Aug, Thu – Up at nearly 0800 and out of camp around 9-something, still foggy (all the way down to Port Orford). We stopped at Walmart in Coos Bay to get some whipped cream in a can; we also picked up some Swiss Miss and some generic instant oatmeal (12.65). At Bandon we took the scenic drive along the waterfront with views of sea stacks and needles. Along the drive we stopped at a state park wayside for a view of Face Rock. At Cape Blanco we detoured six miles to visit the farthest west lighthouse in Oregon. A very nominal fee (2 ea) got us a tour

of the lighthouse including the lens room where two 1000-watt bulbs (a main and a backup) shown through an eight-sided Fresnel class two lens. The rotation (by electric motor) gave it a period of two sec on and 18 sec off. It was after lunchtime by then but it was too chilly in the wind and fog to eat outside at the lighthouse. We drove back to 101 and south a few miles to Port Orford where we found a place in the sunshine with a view of the strange port and the nearby sea stacks. Since there really was no sheltered harbor, the fishing boats are hauled up each night onto a high concrete wharf. Down the road we passed the first State Park CG with a “vacancy” sign: Humbug Mountain SP. Down the road a ways, thinking there would probably be a restroom, we pulled into the Geisel Memorial State Park. There was nothing there but a tiny cemetery with the grave marker for Geisel and his two young sons who were massacred by Indians. Just before Gold Beach we turned off 101 and followed the Rogue River to the east intending to go over Bear Camp Summit and drop down near Galice, not too far from Grants Pass. It wasn’t until we were an hour up the road that there was a sign telling us that Bear Camp Road (NF23) was closed and we would have to take a detour (NF 2308), a narrow, winding road that became gravel after a few miles out of the 15 or so before returning to NF23. Fortunately, the views of the steep canyons and sharp ridges were great even if pretty smoky. The Sorento and the trailer handled the bad road and steep grades very well without overheating; of course, the gas mileage suffered, dropping to 18 mpg. The detour added something like 40 minutes to our arrival time putting us at the yurt around 1830. [Because I was kind of rushing to get there in time for dinner with Barbara, Debbie, Teri, Geoff and Megan, I didn’t stop for gas in Grants Pass and arrived with 1/8 of a tank.] When we got to Barbara’s driveway which had just been graded and graveled we decided to walk in and see if we could find a place for the trailer. The parking looked like a challenge so we went back down the driveway and up the road to Teri and Geoff’s. They opened their gate for us and let us park in their pull-thru driveway so we didn’t have to do any maneuvering at all. We set up and tied down the roof because of what looked like an imminent thunderstorm. C.J. took some food back to the yurt while I finished up with Geoff plugging into 120V. Then I threw a bunch of stuff in the car that I knew we would need in the yurt and drove back there. Dinner was ready and we ate the fish tacos in the yurt although the rain and wind held off. We had peach pie for dessert on B’s deck with some lightning but no rain. I had to go back over to the trailer to turn on the fridge and get some more stuff to put in the yurt refrigerator. It was pretty hot but the air temp cooled down later and the oscillating fan helped, too.

11 Aug, Fri – Up At about 0700 when C.J. went to take a bath; I did the same thing around 0730 since B doesn’t usually get up until eight. We had our usual breakfast, then got ready to do a float trip on the Applegate River. Barb and Debbie had done a float from Cantrall-Buckley to the Applegate Store, but this time Barbara wanted to do a stretch she had not done before from somewhere upriver to C-B. C.J. and I were a little skeptical of the plan because we had no idea what kind of rapids we might encounter. Debbie said she had looked at the route on Google Earth and seen only one extended stretch of whitewater just downstream of the bridge near where the Eastside Road takes off. After getting a tank of expensive gas at the Applegate Store we drove there to eyeball said rapids and they looked “interesting” but not beyond our skills we thought. The problem was that there was no public river access nearby. Fortunately, Debbie was able to schmooze the owner, and he let us park in his driveway and even got his pruning shears to help clear an old path down to the river. Mary Beth had joined us at Cantrall-Buckley where we left her car and Debbie’s for retrieve. I had already inflated our Sevylor Tahiti K 79, Debbie had her sit-on-top kayak, and Mary Beth and B were using a 4-person inflatable raft that Barbara had just bought, used. We were into the first rapids very quickly and made it through although we took on some

water. A mile or so down the river one of the flimsy plastic paddles for the raft broke, then the raft overturned while trying to avoid some overhanging blackberries. In the excitement, one of the plugs was popped open and the main air compartment deflated and Barb and MB had to beach the now unusable raft. They decided to bushwhack to the nearby road and hitch back to the cars and meet us at C-B. Debbie and we continued down the river which had several more exciting bits. We had to line our boats under a bridge where we couldn’t see what was beyond it. At another rapid we stopped to scout it and found the right had a sharp drop at the bottom and the left side had a curving chute with a rock at the bottom on the left. We had just about decided to portage around the worst of it (no helmets and a kayak that was not terribly responsive), when some tubers and a guy with an inflatable Solstice kayak came along. They said that the left chute was “fun” and was the right way to go. We watched and they did okay. Debbie went and we could hear some loud plastic clunks, but she made it through. We were doing fine until the rock on the left near the bottom trapped us. Fortunately one of the tubers was there and pushed us off so we made it down, too. There were some more riffles where we bumped through in the low water, but on one we missed a turn and fetched up against a rock. Both of us were spilled out but managed to hang on to our paddles and the boat. C.J. was tangled up in the strap that we used to secure her seat from sliding back and crowding me out, so we had to get her untangled. Then we pulled the boat up on the rock and drained it, got back in and continued down. From there it wasn’t far at all to the take-out at Cantrall-Buckley. Mary Beth and Barbara were already there and B gave me a ride back to where we put in so I could recover my vehicle. C.J. picked a bunch of blackberries while she was waiting, then we headed back to the yurt where we had a bit of late lunch. We all met again at the newly-opened Wood-fired Pizza place across from the Applegate Store at 1730. Dan Wells and Rick joined us. Good thin crust pizza but the banana pepper slices were too spicy for C.J. The beet salad was good, though. After dinner we stopped at the library where we could access the internet even though the library was closed. I made a reservation for Ft. Stevens for Sunday night; no other nights were available (16 sites out of 478 were available for Sun night!).

12 Aug, Sat – Up at 0715 so I could get a bath before breakfast. We left early so C.J. could use the wifi at the Ruch library to check for new edits. We met the rest of the group at the bailout LZ (Hunters) at 1000; Rick Ray had volunteered to drive so that Debbie could get a sledder in her new Delta 3. Rick was to meet three of Kevin’s almost P-2s to mentor them for a flight off the upper launch. Barb, C.J. and Debbie flew, and I passed on the chance for a flydown and then packup again before going to Upper. Conditions were light on both launches but the west wind was picking up in the valley. Barbara launched first and headed straight out to Longsword, her usual plan. I followed and found lift worth circling in just north of Squires. There was plenty of altitude to get to the next field beyond Longsword and then fly back over the grapevines and land in somewhat gusty and strong conditions (13 min). C.J. launched later and caught some lift and some bigger sink and ended up having to land at Hunters, where Barbara picked her up. Even later Rick and Debbie took off and got above launch but still came out to land at Longsword. We ate some lunch while Barbara went back to the river and then home. We went to the library again and C.J. worked hard on replacing the captions on her article; I got the librarian to help me print out the supposedly time-saving pre-registration for our reserved campsite at Ft. Stevens. After that C.J. downloaded the Alpha2 to edit and we went through that together, almost finishing by 1600 when the library closed. C.J. got the whole thing uploaded to the server working outside the doors of the library. We returned to the yurt to get cleaned up a little before heading to Dan and Mary Beth’s for a delicious dinner and drinks. On the way home C.J. checked with Brad to see if Monday was going to work for flying or at least training on the coast. It looks like we are going to at least stay over on Sunday night and see what Monday brings.

13 Aug, Sun – Up at 0715 for a hairwash, breakfast and packing. We were able to leave Barb’s (new) driveway at 0917. Then we had to get the trailer from Teri and Geoff’s driveway, so it was going on 1000 before we were on Rte 238 and heading for Grants Pass. It was cloudy but as we got farther north the sky got more blue; thankfully, it was nowhere near as hot as the previous few days. We stopped for gas at Costco in Eugene. As we approached Albany, we ran into slow traffic and Google Maps sent a message that the faster route would be along Rte 22 from Salem to Hebo where we’d get on US 101 (the original plan was to exit I-5 at Tigard and take Rte 26 to 101 at Seaside). So we got off the freeway, drove through Salem and then it was smooth going along OR 22, if a bit wind-y when it turned north through the Siuslaw National Forest. We stopped to use the rest rooms at Ft Yamhill and saw what must have been a pow-wow arena for the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde. [All the local natives had been promised their local land in treaties but they all ended up lumped together on a steadily shrinking reservation around Grande Ronde. By 1959, it was down to five acres! It wasn’t until 1983 that they began to press for the lands they had been promised.] C.J. called Brad and found out that they were having classes on Monday and were looking forward to having her take part again. We made another ice cream stop in Tillamoo and then drove the rest of the way along the coast to Ft. Stevens State Park. There was hardly any traffic, not what we had expected on a Sunday afternoon. I-5 is definitely a route to avoid on Sundays, especially in the summer. We checked in at the registration building and then drove the short distance to our site (055 on C Loop). After setting up we drove to the parking lot on the beach nearest to the wreck of the Peter Iredale and walked the short distance to it passing a couple who had three flop-eared bunnies with them, two in what looked like a playpen, and one on a leash – therapy bunnies! We tried climbing the compass-grass- covered dune to reach the trail but there was no trail on top of the dune, at least where we were. On the way out we noted that the trail seemed to run farther inland, maybe in the woods behind the dune. Next, we went to Battery Russel which looked a lot like Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, WA, but without

a 10” disappearing cannon. Since the sun was setting, we drove quickly to a parking lot on the beach (Area A) and got to the top of the dune just before the sun sank into a low bank of clouds. Back at the car a few minutes later, the GPS clicked over to night mode indicating sunset (Shortly after 2015). We headed back to camp and C.J. whipped up some pasta to go with the leftover sauce from a few nights ago. We also had a bag of fresh, home-grown tomatoes from Teri and Geoff. By the time we had finished cleaning up it was 2150 and we spent only a short time writing in our journals before getting ready for bed.

14 Aug, Mon – Up at 0700 so we could meet Brad and Maren at 0900. We ate breakfast, packed up the trailer and moved it to the Coffenbury Lake parking lot where we left it with a taped-on note giving my Special Access Pass number (in lieu of the required day use fee). We checked in with the ranger at Registration just so they knew about the trailer. An exchange of texts (no cell service) had us first heading right to the beach, then going to the Discover Paragliding shop to wait until the fog burned off. It was probably around 1030 when we went to the beach about four miles south of the Sunset beach access. Four students, Sam and Brent (whom we had met last Monday), Dan, and Dave (an almost new student) practiced reverses and forwards; Sam even climbed up on the dune grass and made a couple of short hops. After a short break Brad began towing. The tide was coming in and the wind was getting stronger so by 1500, everything was getting packed up. C.J. worked on pulling her wing up without using her hands, and even kited, with Maren’s help, while lying on her back (no hands!). She had one big tow with Brad, getting to 2200 ft according to her Flymaster. When we left we drove south about a mile to the DelRey Beach access and then went back to Ft Stevens State Park to retrieve our trailer. We stopped for gas at Costco (2.439) in Warrenton and then drove through a little slow traffic entering Astoria. We had had only a light lunch so we were looking for a place to eat. We didn’t find anything until we reached I-5 at Kelso-Longview. Although the GPS did not indicate a Five Guys on our route until Tacoma, a sign on the freeway showed one in Longview. It was a bit of a drive, especially since we had taken Industrial Way around Longview instead of our usual route through the city. The regular bacon burger was huge with two beef patties and we got the regular fries which filled a container and then part of the meal bag. Much refreshed, but a bit stuffed, we got back on I-5 after negotiating a poorly marked detour and headed north. We got home around 2000 to temperatures in the 60s, a welcome change from the heat around Woodrat.