Chris and Patricia called to tell us about the northenders' party and we threw our gear in the car for a spur-of-the-moment getaway. Going on Saturday and returning on Sunday (weather looked very iffy for Monday) meant that we missed the worst of the Labor Day traffic. Even so, it seemed like every pullout along the North Fork had people camping and there was lots of traffic on the gravel roads leading to favorite mountain bike sites.
We didn't arrive at Victor's property on the North Fork Road until nearly 1700. Several pilots, including Murdoch, were still folding wings from a late afternoon flight and reported rowdy conditions and had not gotten high enough (2400 ft on the 1800 ft launch) to go over the back the 3 miles to the beer shrine (North Fork Tavern). Jan gave us a quick tour of the camping area and we set up in a nice grassy area. It wasn't long before Guy and Rita were starting to prepare clams, mussels, crayfish, shrimp, crab, corn and ? to go into the big pot with water, wine and lots of garlic. C.J. made the "sweet and savory kale" dish and provided a big batch of homemade bread sticks. Other folks threw in salads, pizza and beer (from the "shrine") and other goodies.
(left to right, the boil, Rita and Guy, yummy stuff)
Chris and Patricia didn't make it back for dinner (nor did CJ B. and Derek) because Blanchard had "turned on" late and Chris was soaring until sundown. Otherwise there was a pretty good crowd with Doug and Judy and her boys, Scott and Autumn, T.J. Olney, Roger Brock, Victor and his 3-yr-old Ariana and older son Orion (but not his wife Rebecca), Paul, and probably several more I've forgotten. Missing were Sid, who had been injured at the Black Mtn. Fly-in, and Delvin and Pam who were off on a trip to Glacier NP. After dinner it was surprisingly warm sitting around the fire and even when we went to bed around 2200, it did not get cold. There was a little drizzle overnight but barely enough to wet the tent fly.
In the morning we didn't even get up until 0900 and missed the mama bear and two cubs who wandered near the camp area. Around noon the sky started looking less dark and overcast and some went to hike to the falls on Racehorse Cr, and we went with Murdoch, Jan, Guy and Rita up to BJ launch (48 51.639, 122 07.554) using the gated Sierra Pacific road because the Canyon Lake access road had a washed-out bridge (See map at http://bp2.trimbleoutdoors.com/dyn/MyAccount/TripMap.aspx?tripId=883330&cacheBuster=b1c3fb795e774066a6b95616e7aabca8) [Oops, sorry! You'd have to log in to Backpacker .com to use that link].
I walked up the road from launch for some exercise because the sky was not clearing overhead although you could see sun on the hillsides down toward Acme. We even had some more drizzle. It was around 1400 by the time sun hit the launch but by then we had heard that Blanchard was looking better so we got a ride down with Judy as Chris, Patricia, CJ and Derek were heading there, too. We packed up as the sky cleared even more and as we pulled out we found that Guy, Doug and Jan had flown and landed and Murdoch was still soaring. Oh well! On the way to Blanchard we stopped to pick up some local corn on SR 9 near Hoogdal Road, then cut west to Bow Hill Rd and the usual route up Blanchard. We reached the top probably close to 1700 and the last pilot to fly had had a sledder, even though it had been soarable earlier. We waited a long time in partially obscured sun before the three girls decided to launch together. C.J. was last off at around 1800 and managed to find the elusive lift so she got above launch and was able to boat around for almost long enough for me to reach the LZ. Everyone else pretty much had extended sledders.
After packing up we made a beeline for home in time for a late dinner. It was a fun time with the northenders and we'll have to make an effort to get up there more often.
[In addition to finding out that the Canyon Lake access road was closed, we found out that the road up the front side of Stewart was closed and the way up the back is very long. We hadn't realized that Sierra Pacific required all pilots have USHPA membership/insurance, - that's Black, Big J and Stewart, at least. Blanchard launch (Samish Overlook) looked cleaner than I've seen it before with no fire rings on the launches at all. there was, however, a new brush fire burn just behind the west launch. James was there picking up burned cans and bottles from that area.]
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