Lakeview 2008

19 July - 24 July

19 July, Saturday – After Barbara left for the road cleanup work party at 0830 we continued to pack up our gear. We got on the road by 1000 and used the GPS to find Kevin Lee’s house where we picked up a couple of PTT buttons to repair C.J.’s PTT. Backtracking a short distance along Hwy 66, we took Dead Indian Memorial Hwy up a long series of switchbacks and over a pass into pine forest and past Lake of the Woods to Rte 140. In Klamath we stopped for gas and a bit later stopped at a rest area for lunch. We pulled into Lakeview around 1530 and spent some time at the Chamber of Commerce downloading email. It was 1700 or so when we were driving along the forest road in towards Lassen Creek CG that we got a big puncture in the right rear tire. I changed the tire and then we tried to call Les Schwab to see if they had a replacement or would have to order it but we couldn’t get any cell coverage even in front of Sweet-n-Low. It was later than we had planned when we pulled in to the campground which was full of rockhounds, there for their annual gathering. Fortunately, Ginny offered to prepare a dinner of stew for all of us. Our quilt and down comforter were barely adequate for the chilly night.

20 July, Sunday – Wally and I went down to Canby to help Debbie and Roger move a heirloom piano from the U-Haul truck to the shop area of the strawbale house. We stopped in Alturas on the way back to pick up some groceries and an 8-liter water container. In the evening we went up to Sweet-n-Low with some sandwiches made by Ginny and found very light conditions. After an hour or so I set up just to kite a little and see how it felt. But as soon as I was ready, the wind picked up to 15 plus and I bundled it back up. Wally, however, set up and launched heading out at 5 mph while climbing. He slid south and then came back, turned N and flew to FS 30 about 0.5 mi from Hwy 395. C.J. and I drove down in his truck to retrieve him. Roger and Dirk, who never set up their hang gliders, drove down later also. We saw a fantastic, bright red sun set behind the western horizon before heading back to camp. It was a bit warm with some cloud cover during the night.

7/21, Monday – C.J. and I went in to Lakeview so I could either get the tire repaired or a new one. I’d like to put sturdier tires on to decrease the puncture probability down here in obsidian country. Les Schwab took a look at my tire, called it unrepairable and gave me a couple of options – replace the rear tires (low tread depth on both) for about $300 or put truck tires on all four wheels (different size and different number of plies – can’t mix and match) for over $800. Pretty easy choice since the front tires aren’t really worn down that much. C.J. hung out at the Chamber and Caro talked to her about the low turnout of paraglider pilots at the “Umpteenth Annual Festival of Flight”. Lakeview people seem to think the reason is that the Rat Race started on the second day of the festival weekend. C.J. showed Caro her t-shirt quilt and Caro gave her (and me) this year’s t-shirt. Just as we were leaving, Ginny and Wally showed up. Conditions didn’t look good for flying – it had actually rained a bit! We had lunch and headed back to camp while Wally waited for Ginny to finish an online workshop. He radioed us from Blackcap that it didn’t look like a soarable day and returned to camp with a stop to check Sweet-n-Low which didn’t look flyable. We had an early dinner of Wally’s Mexican spaghetti.

22 July, Tuesday – I really wanted a chance to fly the Sport 4 that Wally had brought with him so we went up to Sugar around 1000 and conditions were pretty good with the cycles just beginning to get stronger. I got ready quickly and launched first and was able to soar above launch and to the left. Then I headed over to the right and worked the north point even around to the north side. C.J. launched then two more guys showed up and Wally took time to brief them on the site before he launched. We weren’t getting high and there was a lot of up and down but we were staying in the air which is not always the case for Sugar in the morning. I finally broke through the inversion (?) and got to 8000 ft and asked Wally about trying to cross the gap. He thought we needed 9000 or more. I sank down some, and Wally was much lower and had to go out to the quarry to get back up again. I got to 8200 but couldn’t get any higher without drifting too far behind the ridge. However, the next time I got near 8000, I decided to see how far I could go and headed north over toward Sweet-n-Low. I hit some lift on the way but mostly I was crabbing until I passed S&L and turned NE, then I was racing along downwind at 35 mph. It wasn’t enough and I ended up landing just short of the Lassen Creek canyon in a good field. Wally flew over my head on his Mustang and made it to Four Corners and landed on the road just beyond. C.J. had decided that the wind was too strong and she had gone out to land at the bail-out LZ. After packing her wing, she got out her “Pilot Needs Ride” sign and the first car stopped for her and took her all the way to Four Corners where Ginny picked them both up then came for me. We just hung out around camp the rest of the day and ate an early supper (1700) so we could go back to S&L for the glassoff. Unfortunately the wind direction was too north even though the velocity was not bad, so we went back to camp and started packing for tomorrow’s departure.

23 July 2008, Wednesday – We packed up camp and were out by 0945. C.J. and I went to the Lakeview CofC and collected email and checked the weather. Then we drove the scenic USFS road 28 through the mountains to Silver Lake. There was a particularly nice campground on Campbell Lake (near Deadhorse Lake) but it was in the midst of an infestation of bark beetles so it was going to be closed for logging starting on 28 July. In Bend we stopped to shop at the Outlet Mall and C.J. got some new walking shoes and a discounted t-shirt. We grabbed some early dinner at Costco and then drove out to Pine where we were the first to arrive (about 1730). However, soon others began arriving, lots of others. We were among the first to launch although Steve Wright warned us that it might still be thermally. C.J. got up quickly and was able to go far out in front of launch, toward Frankie’s Flying Farm and Steve and Nona’s place, come back to launch and go back to Pine HG launch and then fly out to land at Steve’s where we spent the night. I took much longer getting up and didn’t get as high as C.J. who reached 7400 ft. I made the same triangle as C.J. – but may not have tagged the spots – have to look at our track logs to see (later: I actually got out a little farther than C.J.). Steve showed us around his three cabins (all legally under 200 sq ft) built a campfire for us and then left us to sleep in his guest cabin while he went back to his home in the city.

24 July, Thursday – After breakfast at the “Stenona Station”, we followed the Garmin Street Pilot detour around the “strip” in Bend and intersected US 97 on the way to Redmond. The GPS was confused in Redmond because there is a recently completed bypass that is not in its memory. We stopped for lunch at Brooks State Park beyond Goldendale, got gas in Union Gap (Costco) and drove through the Yakima Canyon to check out the new campground that has displaced our southern LZ at Baldy. We got home about 1530 and picked up mail, unpacked and did some cleanup. Glad to be home where there is a real shower.

Beyond the Rat 2008

13 July - 18 July

13 July – We got to the LZ around 1015 (after a stop at Ruch store to buy yogurt for our granola) just as the shuttle was about to take a couple of guys up to mid-launch. We hooked up with Christian, a tandem pilot, and his passenger/student and a driver, so we drove the Trooper up. There were quite a few folks up on launch including Gail and Mike Hailey who was taking a girl tandem for her birthday. A number of people launched early but we waited around until it was clearly soarable and then launched about 1250. After landing in the LZ, I drove over to Longsword Winery to pickup C.J.. We stuck around for some cold water and then the wine tasting. After buying a bottle of chardonnay, we drove out to Applegate Lake and had lunch on the far side of the dam at French Gulch (?) trailhead. Then we drove back around to the other shore and found a rocky beach near a boat launch for a swim in the relatively warm water. On the way back to the yurt we stopped at the Ruch store to get a piece of meat and some potato salad for dinner, and milk and raisin bran for breakfast. We had a good stir fry with carrots and a green pepper.

14 July – It was a bit warmer last night, i.e. we didn’t need the quilt on top of the down comforter. After breakfast we drove in to Jacksonville to see the quilt show. Instead, we stopped in the quilt shop and talked to Marge, the owner for quite a while. Afterwards we wandered through several of the eclectic shops and skipped the quilt show itself. A gas price site on the Web indicated that the cheapest gas around was in Medford at Costco (What a surprise!) so we drove in, got gas and a Costco lunch and returned in time to see Debbie ? landing her Summit 3 at the LZ. Montana had landed earlier so we spent some time talking to them before heading over to chat with Gail for a while at HQ. C.J. spread out her wing in the basement to change a frayed line but had misplaced the line so we’ll have to do that some other time. We stopped at the Ruch Country Store and bought a roasted chicken for dinner, stopped to look at a place to get wet along the river, then returned to Humbug. It was too hot to go in the yurt so we set up our chairs and read in the shade until it was cooler and time for dinner (the chicken had stayed nice and hot in the roof case on the car). At some point in the afternoon, a big wave of smoke from the fires down in California arrived and turned the sun dark red. After dinner and a shower we walked over to talk to Teri and got Barbara’s arrival time at the airport for pickup tomorrow.

15July, Tuesday – It was still smoky in the morning (In fact, a car horn had sounded for what seemed like several minutes during the night and we wondered if it was the signal for an evacuation due to a nearby fire. Guess not since there is no fire nearby today). We decided not to fly today, although we saw someone landing around 1045. The volunteer at the Ruch Tourist Info place (one of the guys who had been providing lunch at launch) gave us some ideas about other things to do and we headed up to Applegate Lake again. We stopped at McKee Bridge which is a restored 1917 covered bridge with an adjacent picnic area – looks like a good swimming/wading place except for the cold water. Continuing up the road we stopped at the trailhead for the Collings Mtn. Trail where there was a nest with two young ospreys which the mama osprey was trying to convince to take their first flight. After observing for a while, we took the trail up about a mile to where some students had constructed a Bigfoot Trap back in the 70’s – thick planks bolted to large posts and fitted with a steel drop gate. Next we drove to the end of the lake and took a gravel road along the east shore to a good lunch spot. Applegate Lake is pretty quiet on weekdays. Our final exploration was back across the dam and about 8 miles up the washboard road to Squaw Lakes. We walked the mile or two around the lake past all the walk-in campsites stopping for a swim in the relatively warm water. By then we were on schedule to get to the airport and pick up Barbara Summerhawk (Yates) who was arriving back from Japan. We would actually have been early but we made a detour at a gelato place in Jacksonville and got to Barbara after she had already picked up her checked luggage. On the way back we stopped at the Ruch Store so Barbara could buy some basic foods for the next few days. Then we raided Teri’s garden for salad ingredients and had a great supper of roast chicken, bread and salad.

16 July, Wednesday – After our usual breakfast we got together with Barbara around 1030 and drove up Woodrat, leaving her truck in the LZ. We all flew in the beautifully blue sky with a sprinkling of cumulus clouds. Barbara had a quick flight to the LZ while C.J. got pretty high and I managed to get a few hundred over launch. I sank out after 20 minutes (?) or so and asked Barbara if she would fly again if we all went back up. She thought she would, so I asked C.J. to land and we all went back up in her little Toyota pickup. By now there were stronger cycles but Barbara eventually launched. She was down quite a bit before we got the cars back to the LZ because it was indeed pretty strong for her. We picked up some cold drinks and stuff at the store and then went to the Cantrall-Buckley picnic area along the river. Barbara had made sandwiches for us from last night’s chicken so we had a good lunch. Then C.J. and Barbara braved the cold water of the Applegate and rode the swift water through a chute under the bridge. It was too cold for me but I got cooled off anyway. Back at the store we picked up some ice and another baguette and went back to the yurt to prepare a picnic dinner to take to the RVHPA meeting out at the Purcell goal LZ (at the owner’s house, Phil ___). The meeting was interesting and one decision made was to commission C.J. to make a t-shirt quilt for the senior Hunters, owners of the Woodrat LZ. A couple of the paraglider pilots (?) and Jim Tibbs on his HG landed at or near the meeting site after launching from Woodrat. On the way back Barbara stopped at Terri’s and found that her missing quilt was safely stored there. It looks like we are going to get to do a raft trip on the Rogue River tomorrow with Geoff and Terri. Maybe we can fly the glassoff later. The Lakeview trip seems less and less likely as Ginny is convinced that it will be smoky and C.J. is leaning toward going home to the garden anyway.

17 July, Thursday – Around 1100 Barbara, C.J. and I in our car, and Geoff and Dan in another, drove through Grants Pass to Galice on the Rogue River below Hellgate. Barbara and Geoff arranged the rental of a raft, paddles, PFD’s and the shuttle return ($65 + $5 per person for a half day). We put in just below the store and ran several small riffles and saw a bear on the bank just before Chair Rapid. Going down Chair with Dan in the rudder position we got turned sideways and went into a hole behind a rock. Dan was catapulted out of the boat and we chased him downstream. He disappeared beneath the surface at one point but managed to get to the bank on his own. We caught the paddle and his hat but his glasses slipped off and were gone. The rest of the float was fun but not as exciting. We stopped at a narrow spot with high rocks on either side, and C.J. and Barbara jumped off the 15-ft high rocks into the river. As the afternoon progressed the wind up the river increased and we had to paddle more. The takeout point at Graves Creek (just above the class 3 rapid) was marked by the only bridge across the river below Hellgate. Beyond this point the Rogue is restricted to 120 people per day (60 reserved for commercial float outfitters) and is known as the Wild and Scenic Rogue River. It took us about 4 hrs to cover the seven miles from Galice to Graves Creek. The Galice Resort shuttle took us back to the store where we spread out our wet stuff in our cars and headed back. When I stopped for gas at the Arco in Grants Pass ($4.17) I couldn’t find my wallet. C.J. eventually found it for me in my tote bag where I had already looked – don’t look for dark items in a black bag while wearing sunglasses. We picked up some sparkling water and Umpqua ice cream at Ray’s in Murphy and went to dinner at Teri and Geoff’s. She made a delicious pasta dish with angel hair and a cream sauce, chicken and veggies.

18 July, Friday – We slept in until almost 0900 then went in to see if the Ruch library had internet access – it was open only Tue, Thu, and Sat. We used the grassy area in front however to replace C.J.’s frayed brake line. C.J. called Kevin Lee about the broken switch on her PTT and found out that he was still returning from Seaside, CA but would leave a replacement switch on his porch tomorrow. After a cold drink stop at the Ruch Store, we drove in to Medford following the GPS to Big 5 where I returned my broken Field and Stream watch and got a Swiss watch replacement for $5. We also bought a couple of pool floats for use on Applegate Lake later. We stopped at Bank of America to use the ATM ($60) then went to Costco for cereal, bread, guacamole and skin care products. We also bought a half-dozen nectarines at a fruit stand. The rest of the afternoon we spent at the Copper boat launch at Applegate Lake. We met Barbara and a bunch of locals for the “glassoff” around 1800 but didn’t launch from “Mid” until 1900 when the wind had moderated some. I managed to get up over the upper launch with two other pilots but everyone soared for as long as they wanted. By the time we were packed up it was almost 2100 and when we went to the Magnolia Grill intending to buy Barbara’s dinner, it was already closed. The owner felt sorry for us and gave us a big bag of good rolls so, with those and some salads that Barbara had, we had a pretty good dinner in the yurt.

Rat Race - 2008

5 July - 12 July

5 July, Saturday – C.J. and I left home by 0830, bought gas in Ridgefield and got to the yurt in Humbug Creek valley by 1630 or so. After dropping some stuff off and making up a bed, we drove over to the Rat Race HQ just north of the Woodrat LZ. We checked in and signed the long waiver and paid for our Woodrat flying fee. We got our t-shirts and goodie bags and then attended our respective meetings. C.J. went to the required pilots’ meeting while I went upstairs to the volunteers’ meeting. I didn’t get stuck with the garbage detail this year and ended up putting my name down just for several days of helping out on launch and serving at the meal the first night. Then there were margaritas!

6 July, Sunday – First day of the Rat! With the price of gas and the inconvenience of retrieval, we decided to ride the bus to launch. It wasn’t much of an inconvenience and it made it possible for me to bring my wing and fly each day either as a wind tech or after everyone launched. And! – if I got out on course I could get a ride with the official retrieval vans and/or buses. But I got ready to launch too late and had to wait for the comp pilots to go. Then the air was too crowded and it seemed pretty turbulent so I didn’t get very high and only barely crossed the road toward Rabe’s Ridge before turning back to land at the LZ. After the evening mentoring class (Len Szafaryn did a debrief on the day’s task), we ate dinner with Mark Forbes at the Magnolia Grill before heading back to the yurt.

7July, Monday – I was actually a real “wind tech” today. I gulped down my launch potato lunch and launched before the task was called, scratched around a bit and got up over launch, then I sank and thought I was landing in the LZ when I caught a good one and climbed up enough to get to Rabe’s Ridge for the first time. On the ridge, I worked back further up the ridge and deeper in, far enough that when /I looked back, I realized that I wouldn’t be getting back to the LZ unless there was a better climb somewhere. Fortunately, there was and I got to 5500 ft and tagged Rabe’s peak while watching the comp gaggle over launch (and below my altitude). On the way out I cut across China Gulch toward the LZ but then turned left (north) to go to Burnt Ridge to avoid the oncoming gaggle. I didn’t gpo far enough along the ridge to tag the turnpoint and turned back to land in the thermally LZ before the afternoon winds kicked in. The mentoring session was by Bill Belcourt who covered start cylinders and strategies. We picked up some BBQ meat and a salad at the Ruch Store for dinner.

8 July, Tuesday – The task was canceled today and C.J. and I rode down in the school bus. We took advantage of the swimming pool at HQ to stave off the 100 deg plus heat. Rob Sporrer did his equipment talk at the mentoring session. We got tapped for collecting tickets at the door of the La Fiesta Restaurant for the Mexican buffet. It was a pretty easy job and we ended up getting comped for our $13 tickets. Thanks, Gail!

9 July, Wednesday –Janice from Bamboo Chutes talked about recycling old wings into tote bags at the morning pilots meeting. I helped out on launch today, spreading wings for the competitors so I didn’t takeoff until later. I climbed over launch to 4770ft and glided to Burnt where several gliders were scratching and climbing above the ridge. I arrived right about the top of the ridge and gave up too soon thinking I had to make it back to the LZ. I couldn’t make it that far anyway so I landed with John Clifford in the field above Bishop Creek Rd (which the locals call “the old folks home”). In retrospect, I should have worked the light lift longer and not worried about getting back to the usual LZ. After checking in (C.J. had landed in the same field as me but earlier), I think we stuck around at HQ after the mentoring (Dave Wheeler covered speeds-to-fly) and had a grilled hot dog/hamburger for dinner.

10 July – After a big taco lunch, I worked as wing fluffer again on launch today and didn’t takeoff until all the comp pilots had launched, so I was flying during the mid-day thermals and it was definitely turbulent. After landing and packing up I walked back to HQ with Martina and her SO. It was hot but not as hot as the previous day. Later I drove out past Longsword Winery to pick up C.J. and Randy Campadore from the field she had landed in while going backwards. After the mentoring program (Brian Webb presented “Raising the Bar – A Competition Pilot Model” and in the morning continued with some goal-setting exercises) and cleaning up and changing clothes, C.J. and I went to the Backyard BBQ to collect tickets for the dinner that night. About 75 pilots and volunteers showed up to eat the barbecued chicken, sausages, coleslaw and beans. Gail decided that C.J. didn’t have to pay for her ticket because she was working so refunded both the La Fiesta and the BBQ payments (Yay!).

11 July – Brian Webb from Bright, Australia, continued his mentoring session on goal setting for competition pilots at the a.m. pilots meeting. Light east wind on launch again today. Several wind techs launched and then around 1255 I got ready to go. Mike H suggested that it would help the most if I went around to the right from the north launch and worked the ridge combination over there. So I did that and found lift over the launch for a while before sinking back down about when Wade, this year’s garbage removal volunteer, launched and went scratching around the treetops in the same area. I went out to the spine and got up to 4200’ and crossed almost to Rabe’s Ridge but turned back when I was getting low without any lift. The valley wind was strong from the north and the LZ was bubbling with lift. I got back a bit too far and found myself stuck over the powerlines and had to slide east to get away. I was considering getting my hands on my C-risers when I took some big surges and decided to just fly with my brakes as usual. Landing turned out to be uneventful and I folded up in the shade. None of the wind dummies wanted to go back up to fly in the rough air (especially at the LZ) and eventually Mike called the day. C.J. got a ride down. After the mentoring session (Chris Galli of XC Skies presented “the Next Generation of Local Forecasts”) we picked up some baby back ribs and tortellini salad from the Ruch store and prepared dinner outside the yurt.

12 July – This was the last day of the Rat Race so Mike got all the thank-you’s out of the way at the morning pilots meeting. After a tasty chicken wrap lunch, I helped fluff wings again until everyone had launched then I flew and got up above launch, crossed and scratched up on Burnt, left at 5500 ft when the big boys in the lead gaggle caught up to me, and didn’t find anymore lift all the way to Poorman’s (the longhorn LZ) where I landed all by myself. I caught a ride in the Civil van to Donato’s, the goal LZ, stopping along the way to pick up one pilot who landed along Griffin Cr. Rd at a wedding. The closing party/BBQ was excellent, and the amazing Magic Mike performed his incredible sleight-of-hand for everyone who had not already left for home. Mike and Gail presented the awards afterwards and C.J. got recognized as fifth place in the women’s division (Melanie was first). Marty DiVietti was Open Class winner, Brad G in second place, and local pilot Paul Murdoch was the Regional Champion.