2016 Paragliding National Championship at Chelan

8-17 July 2016

Launching on Green Monster is often a challenge

(all photos from CXCC 2015, by D. Masuda)

Matty Senior had asked C.J. and me while we were on his trip in Thailand to help out for a few days at the PG Nationals he was running in July. We said that we’d be there. As the date approached, the weather was looking iffy but we figured that with the trailer to sleep and cook in, we could survive a few days in Chelan. It turned out that there weren’t as many volunteers as had been expected so we stayed for the whole meet. One strange thing was that the weather was unusually cool for Chelan in July, and we had two days with some rain.

8 July, Fri – We left early enough to get to Beebe Bridge Campground before noon (checkout time was 1300) so we could snag a campsite. We weren’t terribly surprised to see the “Camp Area Full” sign; we had seen that before and there had been sites available. This time all sites really were full. We pulled into one of the sites Matty had reserved the day before. But before we had even started setting up C.J. found someone who was leaving anyway and who wouldn’t mind getting out of our way so we could park in the pull-thru. Later Chris Ammonson moved his tent over to share the site with us. After setting up we paid ($20/night for the State Disabled Veteran passholders, $30 otherwise) for 4 nights and went up to HQ to see if we were needed for anything. Since there was nothing for us to do we went to the Chelan Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center and picked up some pamphlets on local hikes. One was way up near Twisp but it was in the area between Lake Chelan and the Methow where we had never been before. So even though it was kind of late, we drove up to Twisp and then northeast along the Twisp River approx. 24 miles to the Twisp Pass Trail. The trail was good and the hike pleasant although there were no wide views until we had gone more than two miles, crossed the N Fork of the Twisp River and climbed up onto a rocky area, about 2½ or 3 miles from the trailhead parking lot. There was a steady gain of elevation from 3600 to about 4700 ft. We saw patches of snow on the mountainside to our south and snowy peaks west of Twisp Pass (another couple of miles farther). It was well after dinnertime by the time we reached the car and we decided to catch a burger in Twisp at a saloon and café. The food was surprisingly good, which was fortunate because there did not appear to be many other choices even on a Friday night. Despite stopping for an hour for food (and 99-cent cherries at the local grocery) it was still light by the time we reached Beebe. Chris and Patricia were not there yet and we did not hear them arrive around midnight.

CJ(B) and C.J.

9 July, Sat – Practice day with no task and no retrieve. We had breakfast in camp with Chris and Patricia then drove up to help out on launch. Back down in town we hung out and had lunch at the Beebe Springs Natural Area. There were some interesting large iron sculptures of Native Americans. Then we went to the Visitors Center to help set up for the pilots meeting at 1900. We had the VC reserved starting at 1800 but pilots were filling up the place an hour earlier since flying had not been great. The organizers provided chips and salsa and at least one keg of local beer (Stormy Mountain Brewery). After the meeting we helped take all the chairs down and then went back to camp for dinner – well, maybe not exactly dinner. But C.J. had brought her famous blueberry pie and needed to get enough people together to eat it at one sitting. Susan, CJB, Derek, Laura and Jerry (from Mexico), Josh and Michelle, Francisco Henriquez, Brian Franklin, Alderik, and maybe a few others brought stuff to eat and drink to our picnic table and we ended up having enough.

10 July, Sun – First comp day. But it was windy and there was a strong possibility of rain so the task was canceled. Susan proposed a potluck party at her place 25 miles away in Orono. We rode over with Chris and brought something(?), bread and maybe a fruit salad, but there was plenty of other things to eat. CJB had made a lasagna, Frank had brought his barbecue grill and people had brought meat. Federico Wood from Venezuela and Frank from Argentina did a nice job cooking the meat. Tom Ceunen was there with his semi-official daily Nats video. Federico had a trailer for the movie he and his team are making about a year-long adventure in Africa and ? Bruce Goldsmith and his son, Tyr, were there (I think, although I hadn’t yet met him).

G with a neck cooler

11 July, Mon – The first task was a doozy! Since the wind was forecast to be from the west all day, the task committee sent the competitors pretty much straight west with turnpoints at WTHPIX and DRYFAL, and goal at the Davenport airport. Heather convinced us to drive out there so there would be someone to welcome the pilots into goal. So, after we finished helping get everyone launched, we drove the 2+ hours to Davenport. At Wilbur we stopped to wait in the shade while we checked XCFind, a livetracking program for the Spot and DeLorme satellite trackers. That showed us that some, at least, were likely to make it to goal. So we drove through Creston and found the airport in Davenport. We were the only ones there besides a few locals working on their planes in a nearby hangar. We hadn’t seen anyone in the sky or on XCFind but suddenly we got a radio call from a pilot who was approaching and did not see anyone at the goal. Josh Cohn was first in (He hadn’t turned his DeLorme on so we didn’t know he was close.), followed by Francisco Montares (winner of this year’s Rat Race) and Robert Vandenbegine(?) from The Netherlands. It was pretty gusty and Francisco got dragged a bit, even getting his reserve parachute pulled out of its container. The pilots were excited to have made the task but wanted their “goal beer” so I ran into the nearby Safeway and got beer and Gatorade. By the time I had returned, two more had landed and Matty had arrived with the official beer. He still paid for the drinks I had bought (and previously, he had paid for the campsite fees as well). We jammed three guys and their wings into the back of the Sorento and headed back sometime after 1830 – goal closed at 1900. We passed at least three guys (including Mike Steed and Cody Mittanck) within 30 miles or so of goal. And last we had heard, Chris was still in the air. (Yay!) Back at camp we cooked up some spaghetti for dinner and saved some for when Chris returned late.

12 Jul, Tue – The task was canceled after the launch window was opened but within an hour. People were already packing up as the first raindrops fell. Later it stopped raining and a number of people free-flew. We bought a rotisserie chicken at WalMart and shared it with Chris for dinner.

13 Jul, Wed – Task 3 sent the pilots in a new direction across Lake Chelan to Fourth of July Mountain, then to the Airport and up the Columbia and beyond to Omak.

14 July, Thu – Task 4 was Butte to Withrow, then exit from a 10 km cylinder around Withrow, back to Withrow, then Farmer, then north to Leahy and east to H17BRK. Lots of pilots got stuck on the rim. Brian F., for example, spent two hours soaring in front of and above and below the pyramid houses before giving up and landing in the soccer field.

15 July, Fri – The BIG day: Once again the wind was pretty strong from the west so the task committee called a long task to the small town of Fairfield almost at the Idaho border - about 228km with the turnpoint at Odessa (6km cyl). Almost exactly half of the pilots made the goal, an amazing accomplishment for a task that is the longest ever called at a PG comp. Among others, Chris made it so we didn’t wait dinner for him. I think we just grabbed a sandwich at Safeway.

16 July, Sat – Originally, Saturday was not looking like a good flying day but it cleared up and a “barbecue task” was called keeping pilots and drivers relatively close to Chelan. Early on Mike Steed caught a downdraft on the edge of a cloud, had his wing collapse irretrievably and had to throw his reserve. He was right over the Butte so we all got a good view of his bright red reserve as it dropped him down to the north of the towers. The task was a 2km exit from the Butte, Bump-in-the-road, south to Douglas (east of Farmer), north to the Airport and then to goal at the soccer field. After getting everyone launched C.J. and I hung out at the soccer field and ate lunch. We didn’t have long to wait before the first pilots began to arrive. All was going well until Brad Gunnuscio took a collapse close to the ground and hit pretty hard. He got up but complained of ankle pain and then back pain. Someone must have called 911 because soon we had four emergency vehicles. [Brad had no med insurance so refused an ambulance ride to the hospital, but after Zak, our safety director, checked him over, his friend offered to pay for the diagnostics and he went to the hospital. He must have been okay because he was at the awards ceremony and dinner later.] Lots of pilots made it to goal again. We went back to camp for showers and then around 1730 went out to the airport where the party was to be held (next to the SkyDive Chelan hangar) to help set up. There wasn’t much to do apart from setting up a few chairs. C.J. laid out the awards on a table in front of a big banner. There were lots of bottles and cans and two kegs of Stormy Mountain porter and IPA. The cold water ran out early though. Matty did a good job announcing winners and handing out the trophies. Afterward there was a raffle for some really good prizes – Bruce Goldsmith had donated a paraglider (!) [Susan won], Matty and Graham had given a trip to Thailand including airfare [Owen’s girlfriend Maggie got that], two DeLorme SEs, lots of wine (we got three bottles and two big ciders, and a T-shirt). While I’m writing about prizes, I should mention that Matty treated the volunteers really well. He provided a lunch every day and gave most of us a nice, small Ozone backpack. At the pilots meeting on the Butte each morning he had prizes for the winning pilots but also gifts for the volunteers. We got probably the most valuable gift – two punch cards for the Tiger Shuttle [Thank you, Michael, for donating those!].  The Overall winner was Josh Cohn with Jared Anderson from Woodrat next and Brad G third. Jared became the US National Champion (since Josh had not competed in the other comp that determined national standing – the Rat Race), Tyr Goldsmith was the Sport Class winner and his father, Bruce, took third place. Igor Tolsky (CAN) was second. [I guess those new BGD gliders are pretty good.] Bianca is the Women’s National Champion, first US pilot out of the ten women who competed. [Kari Ellis from AUS was first, Nicole McLearn from CAN was third.] While there were dark clouds all around, the weather held for the dinner (catered by Chelan Catering Kitchen, and very good) and the awards ceremony. But during the night it rained pretty hard…

17 Jul, Sun – …and was still raining in the morning so we got up relatively late. Chris took us out to breakfast with Patricia at Riverwalk Inn. It was really good and not just because it was a nice break from oatmeal and fruit again. By the time we got back to camp it was clearing off and there were sunbreaks. We packed up and drove down to Lone Pine Fruit and Espresso (and ice cream, which we had indulged in on two afternoons). We bought a box of peaches and Chris and Patricia got a box of apricots, then we shared them so we each had half a box of each. We stopped to get gas near Wenatchee while Chris and Patricia were getting more fruit (real Bing cherries) at their favorite fruit stand just south of the roundabout. Since the weather looked too unstable in the mountains for hiking we stopped at Peshastin Pinnacles State Park for a scramble up the north side of the crags and down a ridge. Next time we’ll have to try the more well-beaten switchbacks on the south side. There were hardly any other climbers or hikers there – strange for a Sunday. We found out where everyone was later when we hit I-90 – they were all on the road. It took an extra hour at least to get home in the slow traffic. We got home just at 1800 and picked some blueberries for Chris and Patricia before waving goodbye.

Matty and Graham did a great job organizing and running the 2016 Paragliding Nationals. Teague Block of Lake Rider Sports provided the headquarters at 510 Woodin Ave, along with his local connections. Roger Brock was the volunteer coordinator. Tom Keefer kept the vehicles (mostly vans purchased via craigslist by Matty) staffed with volunteer drivers, and Susan Brockway’s many jobs included matching up vans-and-drivers with landed pilots using XCFind. [This year each retrieve van had a DeLorme InReach in addition to a radio and cellphone. General communications also were carried out using WhatsApp which required connection to mobile data or Wi-Fi.] She also oversaw the lunches for the volunteers and did the checklist for launching pilots. Zak was the launch and safety director and we worked with him fluffing wings. There were no serious accidents – hopefully Brad is not badly hurt – but there were three or four parachute deployments. The Nationals team is already considering whether to do another one next year or the year after.

Chelan XC Classic – v.2015

1-4 July 2015

1 Jul, Wed – We left around noon so we could meet                               who lives in Peshastin, for an interview for an article C.J. is working on. He said something about milepost 111 so we were looking at the road markers as we hit US 2. It turned out that he was actually referring to a brewpub called Milepost 111 located just across the bridge in Cashmere. We had a beer in the air conditioned pub and talked for an hour and a half. By then it was getting on toward 1600 and it was still hot with the thermometer near 100 deg F. I decided to go for gas at Costco ($2.959) in E Wenatchee as drove through Wenatchee itself to see the extent of the Sleepy Hollow fire which had burned the hillsides as well as a couple dozen houses and some businesses. With a full tank we headed toward Chelan along the west side of the Columbia since we hadn’t used that route for a while. Lori wasn’t in when we arrived but she showed up not too much later and invited us to join Tom, Aaron Rinn and Maria for dinner. Fortunately C.J. had brought salad makings and snap peas to share. It was hot at night but an oscillating fan helped keep it cool enough to sleep.

2 Jul, Thu – We drove up the Butte early to get there for the nominal time of the pilots meeting (1100) and got a briefing from Meet Head Lenny Baron for our launch director job. It really wasn’t much of a job with only 30 pilots in the meet. The PGs launched early and the HGs went later. There were a few free-flyers, but no hassles. After everyone had taken off, we checked XCFind.com and saw that there were big flights from Rampart: Owen and TJ had gone SSE to Quincy (123 km), and Brian Franklin had headed E and then NE and had passed Leavenworth and was heading for Chelan! We drove down to the Chelan Falls LZ and were there (along with Jeff and Cherie Slotta) when Brian arrived. He was dehydrated and headachy, but very exhilarated by his flight. His driver, Chris Irish, arrived within minutes and after packing up, they headed back to retrieve Brian’s car at Rampart. We went directly to the house Lenny had rented for the Baron clan and joined the other volunteers for a tasty dinner of BBQ skewers, salads and drinks.

3 Jul, Fri – Same schedule, same job. After getting everyone launched conditions still looked doable so C.J. got her wing out. But shortly after, the wind picked up and she packed back up. We drove down to the soccer field LZ to try to give Aaron, the scorekeeper, his computer so he could get started scoring the last day’s results. He was still out flying a good triangle (which would have given him first place if Jeff Beck hadn’t flown 10 miles farther ending up just beyond the Idaho border in Rathdrum). To kill time we went over to the north end of the Chelan Falls Park where the Dog pilots hang out and got in the relatively warm, but fast-moving water to cool off. Later we gathered with the rest of the CXCC folks for a taco dinner and award ceremony at the picnic shelter. Lenny stretched the awards out overly long so everyone who didn’t leave early (most of the PG had left) missed the Chelan fireworks. We caught the end of them around 2210 as we drove through Chelan. Lori had hooked up a portable air conditioner in our room and it worked very well – we had a comfortable night.

4 July, Sat – We were on our way by 0930 and home shortly after noon. We rested up and C.J. made the ice cream “batter” for use in the old White Mountain hand-cranked ice cream maker. Around 1600 we drove to Susan and Reed Brockway’s house on the E shore of Lake Samammish to join CJB in her quest to blow up everything that floats. There were lots of guests and only a few were pilots but we got to meet lots of new people, especially when C.J. got the ice cream maker cranking. (Unfortunately, either we didn’t have the right mixture of ice to salt, or the container was too full of the batter because the ice cream never got to the thick and frozen stage.) As it began to get dark fireworks displays could be seen all up and down the lakeshore and across the lake. This despite the city ordinance prohibiting fireworks. No one came to arrest anyone as CJ and her fellow ordnance experts blew up several small boats, a large model of the Shell drilling rig, and a large three-masted model. We left around 2300 and when we got home fireworks were still being shot off. No fires, thank goodness!

Chelan Cross-country Classic 2014

 July 2-6, 2014

Quinn Dickenson's design for the meet t-shirt

 Just back from the Rat Race, we spent a few days cleaning up and caring for the garden, then headed out to Chelan to help Meet Director Lenny Baron with the launch. There were only two days left in the XC Classic and then the Chelan Flats PG National Championship competition began - a whole different operation with 117 competitors compared to the two dozen or so signed up for the Classic.

2 July, Wed - After completing my annual dermatology exam at Seattle VA (six minor growths frozen off) I picked up gas at Costco and hurried home so we could make a late start (1600) over the passes to Chelan. We encountered little traffic (the I-90 widening east of Snoq. Pass appears to be mostly completed) and stopped only to buy some $1.69/lb cherries at Lone Pine and eat a picnic dinner at Beebe Bridge park. We stopped again to visit with Susan, Debbie and Julie at Mom's Motel.  Lori and Tom let us stay in their house as volunteers (I think a room was available because Lenny was staying in his new RMC, Rolling Man Cave, parked in the driveway); Scorekeeper Aaron Rinn, his wife, Maria, Lenny's two sons, Kevin and Andrew, and Lori Baron were also staying with Tom and Lori.

3 July, Thu - We drove up to launch around 1000 for the 1115 (postponed to 1130) pilot meeting. Conditions were "windy from the SW" and few people flew. Later we spent a little time checking out the Thursday evening Farmers Market in Riverwalk Park without buying anything. Around 2000 we had a salmon dinner at Tom and Lori's with roast veggies along with C.J.'s fresh bread and her queen cake. C.J. and I passed on a chance to go to the Vogue for a performance by Val because we were worn out from the sun and wind.

4 July, Fri - Last day of the Classic. Conditions were better and there were a bunch of paragliders who wanted a flight before the official practice day. Most launched before 1400 when the majority of Classic competitors took off. Zac Majors had already sewn up the topless hang glider class and Len Szafryn the same for the PG open class with long flights earlier in the week. After getting everyone launched, even a couple of people who came vack up to do a second flight, C.J. and I went back to help Lori B load up her car with the food and drinks for the closing BBQ at the Chelan Falls soccer field LZ. People were already gathering for the 1900 BBQ although it was just after 1800. There as a little tension because Lenny had invited everyone who was flying on the 4th to the BBQ, but there really wouldn't have been enough food if a hundred of the PG Nats folks had shown up. But they didn't and we had a very good 4th of July picnic of handmade burgers, Johnsonville brats, Debbie's potato salad recipe, other salads, watermelon and condiments. Danny Uchytil and his new bride, Angie McMinn, brought a big tub of drinks left over from their recent wedding party. Following the dinner, Lenny awarded the trophies (lasered glass beer mugs) to the winners (and to Aaron R, Lori L, and himself, in addition to his second-place trophy). Julie Spiegler introduced herself and described some of the projects she is working on as the new USHPA programs manager. [Julie was staying in her trailer at Mom's Montlake Motel along with Debbie Vosevich and Susan Kent, as well as Rick Ray and Sam Crocker from the RVHPA, plus several more pilots.]

5 July, Sat - We packed up our stuff and moved it all to the car so that Tom and Lori's house would be ready for a bachelorette party that Kelly was hosting for six or eight of her friends. To explore some new trails we took a hike from a trailhead located near the top of the road up from Chelan Falls. This gave us a view down to the Columbia and up to the Butte and the lake. We detoured to check out a flag on a pole and later found it was Buck's wind flag just above his house. Today was the practice day for the PG Nats. Kimberly Phinney, meet organizer, Kari Castle, meet director, and some of the safety officials like Pete "Reaper" Michaelmore and Dave "Preacher" Norwood held a meeting on the Butte and then a few folks flew in the windy, Green Monster conditions. C.J. and I watched for a while and then went downtown to get an ice cream at Sojourners. Later we walked up to Mom's and hung out with Rick Ray, Deb and Susan for a while until it was time for them to register (1800) at the Stehekin Rm in Campbell's Resort. Then we got back together for a dinner of Local Myth pizza at a sidewalk table. Just to see how the organization was going to work for the Nats, we sat in on the mandatory pilots meeting at 2000. Right afterward we took Chris Ammondson and Susan, C.J. Brockway's mother, to the house that Chris and Patricia were renting along with almost a dozen other pilots. It had a great view of the Chelan fireworks which were launched from a barge in the bay about 1000 ft out from the Don Morse City Park. It must have been close to 2300 before we got out of Chelan with Susan who had invited us to stay with her, C.J.B. and Derek at her 1200 sq ft summer house on the Columbia just S of Orondo.

6 July, Sun - We got up round 0700. C.J. B. and Derek needed to get to the meet HQ early because Derek was the driver coordinator and C.J. was competing; Susan could go later as her volunteer job was to receive and answer retrieval texts. We had hot chocolate from her Keurig machine and a scone and then got on the road. We were home around 1111 so there was time to do laundry, always necessary after a summer Chelan trip.



The rest of the meet - On the first two days tasks of over 100 km were called, then,on the next day, a 204 lm task was set all the way to St. John west of Odessa. Even Chris A and Preacher who landed twelve km short of goal flew for eight hours and did not get back to Chelan until 0100. Another day there was an out-and-return task to Sims corner, and the last day a 103 km task that resembled a cross centered at the McNeil-Mansfield junction (?), extending as far as Mansfield, and going equally as far north and south.

Results: Nick Greece is the new National Champion, with Josh Cohn and Eric Reed second and third. In the women's division, Seiko Fukuoka, the Japanese pilot flying an Ozone R12, was far away the winner. However, open class gliders were not scored so the women's winners were Nicole McLearn, Meredyth, and Debbie Vosevich. That makes Mer the US Women's National Champion!

Beach'N Weekend 2014

2, 3, 4 May 2014

From the top of Steamboat Rock

The end of April had a string of days with summer-like temperatures in the lower 80s. The weekend, however, was predicted to be rainy and cold again. Not so Eastern Washington and Chelan. Unfortunately for flying, the winds kept us on the ground and and on the desert trails. Of the almost thirty pilots who braved the "breezy" forecast, many got in flights either on Friday or Sunday, with a very few sneaking in a flight between even higher gusts on Saturday.


2 May, Friday - C.J. and I finished packing the car and trailer with almost everything (I forgot my hiking backpack this time, and we both left our cameras home.) and were off at 0930. We had no trouble finding a pull-through site at Beebe Bridge PUD campground for the off-season (and senior) rate of $15/night. After setting up, filling the water tank and hooking up electricity and water, we set off for Banks Lake and Steamboat Rock. (We had already checked with Steve Wilson who had flown

Split Boulder on Steamboat Rock

earlier, and he had not recommended the conditions.) It was about 1 hr 15 min to the State Park and trailhead for Steamboat Rock. Leaving the car parked at the rest room of the Dunes campground, we walked up the wide gravel trail through a sea of mostly bright yellow arrow-leaf balsam root flowers. The next bit of trail was a scramble on steep loose rock followed by a second not-quite-as-steep scramble to a trail junction. We took the left branch leading southerly and then another left to a third climb to the high point and the southern edge of this basalt erosional remnant. A trio of hikers followed us to the viewpoint and gave us some information about where to go for even better views. [The Desert Hikes guidebook showed a loop trail but the Best Wildflowers Hikes book showed no such thing.] We set off along the edge of the 600 ft high cliff and talus until the herd path petered out and then we cut cross-country to descend to the next section of the Rock. A short climb brought us to a boulder split vertically into several pieces, an obvious landmark. From there we

Six hundred feet to the surface of Banks Lake

ran into a more defined path along the edge of the cliff with great views to the west. We could see Barker Canyon across the lake where we had launched our kayak for a couple of paddle trips in previous year. We were glad not to be paddling today in the very

Shadows at Steamboat Rock

strong winds. In fact, we we glad that we were not walking on the very edge of the cliff, and that the wind was southwest and not easterly. The trail continued more or less along the cliff edge gradually closing the loop around the southern end of the Rock and skirting the eastern side. All along the way there were lots of wildflowers, some we recognized and some that were new to us. Eventually we descended to the trail junction we had left at the top of the steep "trail". Going down was tricky and our hiking poles were put to good use. Our hike of between five and six miles had taken about four hours. Instead of driving back through Grand Coulee and Leahy to Mansfield and camp, we headed south from Steamboat Rock SP along the eastern shore of Banks Lake to Coulee City where we hoped to find a place for dinner. The one restaurant was closed and the two bars didn't look promising so we continued on arriving an hour later at camp for a good meal of marinated fish, polenta and salad.

4 May, Sat - after a relaxed breakfast of pancakes with plum jam, we drove up to Lakeside Park to register for the fly-in with Lori Lawson. There were only about ten names on the list at that time, but more signed up later. Although we had seen three or four paragliders flying - most to the Chelan Falls soccer field rather than to the beach at Lakeside, we had decided that the winds were too strong to consider flying. Desert Hikes had several more hikes that were not too far away and Lori told us about some new trails right in the Chelan area. We decided to go for a hike in Moses Coulee near Jameson Lake, a nature preserve centered on Dusty Hills Falls (Dutch Henry Draw), about four miles north of US 2.  [On the way we drove through Waterville which must be the county seat of Douglas County. The courthouse is there as well as a museum and a hotel, and Shockers Snack Shop (the local high school team is "the shockers").] Unlike Steamboat

Dusty Hills "Falls"

Rock, there weren't many wildflowers and there was no climb at all. Dusty Hills Falls was not roaring or even flowing - dripping water was feeding a small pond at the base, fouled by cow pies. We headed south along a cattle trail which kind of disappeared in the forest of head-high sagebrush. Eventually we crossed the dry McCarteney Creek (all the dripping water must have percolated into the sandy soil) and came out into a meadow that looked to have been formed by a long-ago fire burning off the sagebrush. Another half hour of walking took us to a cleft in the wall of the coulee and a good, scenic lunch spot. We returned on the west side of the dry creek and found the trail much more defined. Back at the car we turned north to visit Jameson Lake, a long, narrow lake populated by somnolent fisherfolk in folding chairs and small boats. There appears to be a large DNR dry-camping area beyond the resort's RV park. It was pretty empty on this May weekend. On the way back to camp via McNeil canyon, we spotted the Jorgensens and followers at the old gravel pit/training hill and stopped to say hi. Later we heard that the wind was too crossed to be good for training. Back at camp we took showers while it was nice and warm and then rested until it was time to go

Pool below falls

back to Lakeside for the pizza feed. [When we got back to camp I noticed that the towbar was missing its 5/8 in. pin and was starting to pull loose. We stopped at Walmart to get a replacement on the way to

Spotlanding on the Lakeside beach

Lakeside. Did someone steal our pin? Did the safety pin get pulled off somehow?] Lori had ordered ten pizzas from Valerie's (after getting the "We're too busy to be helpful" feeling at Local Myth) and received eleven so there was plenty to go around. In the wind, the pizzas didn't stay hot very long - the usual problem in early May. Lori had also provided a nice Caesar salad, and watermelon as well as bottled water. We stuck around until 1930 then went back to the trailer to read and rest.

4 May, Sun - While we were eating breakfast we saw three paragliders flying down to the soccer field and one soaring. Since we had no idea how many more might be flying on the Lake side, we didn't waste too much time. Still we had to pack up the trailer and haul it up to the park where we found a place to park on the right side of the road. Rather than disconnect and drive up we asked Lenny Baron if we could ride up with him and he came back to pick us up after he dropped his son and friends off at the junkyard to hike to the top. It was pretty chilly and breezy on top and I pulled my flightsuit on over my fleece jacket. We watched a few people take off and the  hangs were doing fine but the paras had rough going as they flew through the rotor right off launch. We both decided not to fly as did Kevin White who we drove down with. Gene Beaver, Mark Rogers (a new pilot, student of Steve W) and Steve Wilson. When we arrived at Lakeside we found that Steve had landed in the lake, Ron had landed in shallow water and other folks had also found big sink just before landing and barely made it to shore. Mark had gone to the soccer field, Gene had flown across the lake to his lodging near the city park. C.J. and I hung out with the other pilots and had lunch before leaving around 1420. We ran into rain on the way to Wenatchee and more rain on and off the rest of the way home. It was still raining lightly in North Bend (around 1650) but we got unloaded and the trailer inside before it started raining harder.