22 July 2017

Inkler’s Point Fly-in




14-17 July 2017

We had heard about the new site near Chewelah in Eastern Washington over two years ago. And C.J. had even written an article about it for the magazine. But we hadn’t managed to get over there and see it for ourselves. When Steve Baran of Center of Lift announced a fly-in to be held there, we put it on our calendar.

14 July, Fri – We originally wanted to get started on Thursday but the part I needed to get the trailer tail lights working wasn’t supposed to arrive before the 13th (As it happened, the T-One wiring harness by Tekonsha showed up on the 12th and I got it installed the same day replacing the Curt wiring harness which had malfunctioned). We got going around 0830 and took I-90 all the way to Spokane where we got off near the airport to go to a Walmart to get a collapsible water container to replace the one I had left in the garage. We ended up with four one-gallon bottles of water instead of a 5-gal jug of questionable quality (and a bag of delicious red cherries). Then we drove through Spokane on US 395 and stopped at Costco for gas (not the usual Costco we have stopped at on previous trips in Spokane Valley). The traffic was pretty slow on a Friday afternoon but we got to the LZ and camp area sometime after 1600. No one was there and we were out of cell phone reception for ATT. Still, Steve must have seen us arrive from the upper launch and drove down to welcome us. Conditions for flying for the mostly hang glider crowd was “not soarable” but Don Croft flew his paraglider and managed a soaring flight and another PG also flew but did not soar. [Later Don did a little scooter towing] Since the newly bulldozed road to upper launch was serious 4WD, we couldn’t go up to check out conditions so we just hung out meeting and visiting with the local pilots and those from Canada (Simon Mitchell and others) and Montana (Paul Roys, Mike Zuchetto, and others). No one else showed up from western Washington. We set up our Alps Mountaineering shade structure to add to the market umbrella Steve had erected at the tables he was using for registration ($25 each plus 2 t-shirts @ $10 ea). Overnight it cooled down and we had a spectacular thunder and lightning show with just a little rain. I got up in time to put the solar panel in the car before the controller got wet.

15 July, Sat – About eight of us went in to Valley, a small town just a mile or two to the south, at the end of the Inkler ridge. We found Mama’s Café which turned out to be quite nice. After breakfast Steve took us on a tour to the upper launch at Inkler’s and then down through the Wuesthof’s compound and out their paved driveway to CR 231. Later, Steve decided that we should give Parker Mountain, just a few miles away, a try. We drove over to the LZ (1670’); I left our vehicle there and we rode up with Steve and others. We had to pass through a gate (birth-7, same as the combo at the LZ) but the road was 2WD. [From the LZ on Cottonwood Road, head east on 2888 for one mile, just before a rocky cliff on the right take a right fork and drive through the forest breaking out in a clearing below launch (possible bailout below road), after re-entering the woods, turn left uphill just before another clearing. Launch is a large clearing at about 2950’ big enough for setup and launching two gliders at once]. The sky showed dark clouds with virga in the distance but coming toward us and we did get showered on. Almost everyone set up but only Steve flew and he had a sledder. We drove down with Tony Policani and headed back to camp and the LZ (1670’). Later we rode up to Inkler’s upper launch (2360’) with Steve, and C.J. managed to launch before the wind picked up. I packed up (difficult on the moon dust-covered surface). A bunch of hang gliders (6?) launched and soared in the strong winds. I was ready to head down, but just before sunset the wind moderated and launch conditions improved. I had a scenic sunset flight pushing farther to the north each time until I was soaring over the lower launch and even got to the NW end of the ridge overlooking Rte. 231. After returning to the upper launch I tried going south as far as I could, almost to Valley, then back to the LZ where C.J. was holding our wind streamer for me as I came in over the hang gliders (about 22 min). The high 90 deg temperatures dropped as the sun set again.

16 July, Sun – We prepared our own breakfast (although Steve and Susan went a few miles up the road to the Chewelah Casino and found a Sunday brunch which he said provided enough food for three meals). Later Steve took us up to see the lower launch (2160) which has less parking and set-up room than the upper launch. Then continued up to upper launch where conditions did not look good. We returned to the LZ passing the Wuesthof’s (Shawn and Stephania) house. Later Lance Stafford showed up with his PG and we rode up to the TO with him. Conditions looked light enough for paragliders (all the hangs were waiting for it to get “better”) so I laid out and took off. I was more confident about the site this time and was able to get above the takeoff to 2700’ and boat around for 17 min before landing in strange conditions. It felt like I was on a conveyor belt as I flew and flew staying less than 10 ft above the ground before landing. Lance had a very short flight while I was in the air. C.J. did not launch until conditions improved later, but she had a short (5 min) flight. Her landing was also strange with her getting dumped from a few feet up and the wing blowing over her head as though she was landing downwind. Later we noted some dust devils, so weird things were happening. I finally got around to putting the tiedown on the trailer as it got gusty. We had been thinking that maybe we would stay the night and then head back via US 20 over Sherman Pass the next day, but Steve asked us if we’d like to spend the night at his house. A shower sounded good so we agreed. Meanwhile, Tony had some food left over and proposed a trial run on a group barbecue for the next Inkler Fly-in. Conrad Agte and John ___ were still around although Susan had taken off earlier. I was still thinking that conditions might improve for another evening flight but the gusts or dust devils continued and by 1700 we were thinking that the flying was over. On consideration, it didn’t make sense to drive 33 miles back toward Spokane making our trip on Monday even longer, so we decided to take a rain check on Steve’s offer and start west as soon as we could get packed up. It was probably after 1800 when we headed north through Chewelah and along the Colville River valley to Colville and then Kettle Falls where we crossed the Columbia River and entered the Colville National Forest. In ten miles or so we found a Forest Service Campground at Canyon Creek. There was no water or trash but there was a trail that went along the creek which made for a pleasant walk. Plus, there were huckleberries for the picking. We had already had dinner so we settled for a bit of dessert before bedtime in the cool forest air.

17 Jul, Monday – We got a reasonably early start and stopped just up the road a short distance at an old CCC camp where a stream had been dammed to form a small lake for recreation. More recently the silted-in lake had been undammed and the streambed made to look natural again. We stopped at Sherman Pass CG and info, and at an information overlook about the White Mountain fire. We stopped again in Republic for information at the Ranger Station. Then we drove down to Tonasket and south on 97 to Omak where we got gas (2.749). We left 97 at Okanogan and drove over Loup Loup Pass on US 20 which appeared to have had some pretty bad washouts that were being repaired. Hank’s Grocery in Twisp provided us with a good buy on red cherries and ice cream cones (4). That meant we didn’t have to worry about finding parking for the car and trailer in Winthrop. We stopped at the overlook at Washington Pass and walked the loop trail which has wonderful views of Liberty Bell and Early Winters Spires. Our next stop wasn’t until we reached Burlington where we got gas at Costco (2.549) and bought some oranges and a replacement headlamp for C.J. Traffic was surprisingly light passing through Everett and Bellevue and we were home around 1900.

18 Jul, Tues – We attended Tai Chi class at the Senior Center as usual. I picked a ton of berries; we’re running out of space in the freezer already. C.J. had forgotten that there was a NWPC meeting in the evening but we got ready to go with time to spare to pick up Wheely at Meadowbrook where he had landed. We dropped him off at the LZ and then got to Pogachas around 1900. Paul and Martin Palmaz were there doing a USHPA info Q and A session on the insurance issue. In addition, Ian talked about choosing a harness and showed some video about deploying a reserve when there is a lot of g-force (simulator near the LZ in Annecy). After the meeting I talked with Kim Smith about the fatal accident at Dog (he wasn’t there) and found out that Jerry Devlin had had a serious-injury crash while landing midday at Bremer.

19 Jul, Wed – The trailer brakes were not working (not unusual) and showed that they were not connected according to the Tekonsha brake controller on the trip to Inkler’s. I pulled off the right hub and everything looked okay, but the left-side brake magnet was totally unconnected. I checked with eTrailer.com and didn’t find magnets available but the whole brake assembly didn’t seem to be any more expensive than I remember the magnets to be. So, I ordered a pair. Later I managed to remove the four fasteners that hold the brake assembly to the axle using various wrenches including 11/16” sockets, crowfoot, and adjustable wrenches (I don’t have any 18mm wrenches which is probably the size I need).

20 Jul, Thu – Tai Chi. A little rain in the late morning. I finally got around to responding to a couple of nominations for USHPA awards. There haven’t been very many this year.

No comments: