25-26 September
Just in time the weather shifted from rain and gloom (unusual for September) to glorious fall. We dusted the spider webs off the Aliner and hitched it to the Baldy-capable Trooper for the trip, the first time we've had the trailer out since May. [first two photos from an article in the Yakima Herald (http://sportsyakima.com/2010/09/paragliding-an-air-raising-experience/)]
9/25/10, Sat - Getting out of the driveway by shortly after 0900 was the best I could do but there was no particular rush since the good conditions for flying would probably not occur until mid afternoon. We stopped for gas (2.99) in E-burg at Loves (used to be Pilot) and picked up some ten-for-a-dollar corn across the street. On arriving at the LZ, we decided to not hassle with trying to find a level spot in the parking area but use the BLM Lmuma Creek campground. Surprisingly (or not...) it was nearly full with other trailer and tent folk but we fit into a slot between Greg Adler and Bob Bunger's trailers. There did not seem to be any concern about being in a numbered site or not, and there was no fee as far as we could tell. Of course, there was no water either, but there were two outhouses and they were clean enough. Back up at The Rock, we checked in and paid our $25 pp fee, then took a stint at signing other folks in and collecting money. When a parks and recreation guy from Selah showed up and volunteered to drive back down, we decided to take a load of pilots up in the Trooper. The road was as bad (or worse) as ever and the SUV actually scraped the bottom a few times. Many pilots were waiting for it to get soarable at the south launch and were convinced that it would magically turn on at 1400.
I got tired of waiting and launched after Patty and CJ B, and Iain and others just before 1400. There were some patches of lift but not enough to really work. I flew over the ridge crest and back to the north side to see if any leeside thermals might be happening - no luck and I passed over the upper sagebrush LZ on the way to an uneventful landing not too close to the cone. C.J. landed not long after me and, while we were packing up, Dan Heath and Gloria showed up and offered us a ride up in his big crew cab pickup. Conditions were stronger on launch but no more lifty and my second flight was depressingly short, over the crest and straight to the LZ crossing the river twice (a bit gingerly since someone had landed on the wrong side of the Yakima earlier). (6 min) We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting and I worked on cutting up some wood for the campfire. The potluck feast began around 1900 with Amy Heim there to make sure that everything was organized properly. There was a plethora of tasty casseroles, salads, and a slew of desserts (which I dutifully avoided - well, mostly). Dave Norwood showed up, still in his marrying clothes with a beautiful hand embroidered (by himself) stole, and handed out prizes and certificates for the spot-landing and duration contests and for the yearly Baldy X-C League. Later, Mike brought out a bunch of West African-style drums and other rhythm instruments and conducted an hour-long facilitated drum circle. It was fun and kept most people's interest, unusual for a contemporary large-group campfire gathering.
Mike "facilitating the drum circle"
C.J. with a rhythm instrument made of dried seedpods9/26/10, Sun - We slept in until 0900 (cloudy) although there was a contest for the first pilot to
fly off Baldy in the morning. (Bob B drove up with a full load of people who graciously allowed him to be first to launch.) Since there were lots of wind dummies flying we could see that conditions were not soarable so we did not rush to the summit. In fact as it got later and later we felt less and less interest in having another flydown. By 1400, after visiting most of the morning, we started packing up the trailer and heading down the road. As we passed The Bowl and approached the Umtamum trailhead we decided on the spur of the moment to stop for lunch and hike up the canyon. However, after lunch and crossing the suspension footbridge, we took the left fork which climbed steeply up a side canyon. We met only one party coming
out so most of the folks from the parked cars must have gone up the main canyon, a relatively flat trail that appeared to go about 4.5 miles. Near the top of the climb we passed a grove of quaking aspen and, having been forewarned by other hikers, we looked for the owl. We spotted a large great horned owl and it turned its head to stare at us as well. C.J. got several photos which she was later able to Photoshop to a good close-up of the bird. Just above the aspens we came out of the narrow gorge to the rounded ridges covered with the typical dry steppe foliage of the upper Yakima Canyon. Since we had not bothered to stop and pick up our trekking poles I was concerned about how my knee was going to deal with the downhill half of our walk so we 
did not go much farther up onto the ridge. The walk back turned out not to be a problem and we passed the owl again and reached the Trooper with no knee pain. The rest of the drive home was uneventful with only a little traffic slowdown and just a bit of rain. I left the trailer in front of the hedge so C.J. wouldn't have to spend time in the drizzle directing me as I backed down the driveway. Despite the lack of soaring, a good fly-in with sunshine, friends, good food and entertainment.
