Women's/Halloween Fly-in

26-27 October 2013

C.J. paddling at Sun Lakes

The Women's Fly-in was first held in the early 1990's at Saddle Mountain right around New Year's Day. To cut down on the chance of frostbite, the date was soon changed to the weekend closest to Halloween. Then it was moved to Chelan where an indoor venue was available, recently the pilots' lounge at the Chelan Airport. C.J. and I have missed the last several fly-ins because we were off at the USHPA board meetings held at various places around the country: Chattanooga, Newburgh, and Kitty Hawk (for the last three years). So it was nice to have the board meeting in Seattle and be able to attend the fly-in this year.

26 October, Sat - We got up relatively early to get to Beebe Park CG around 1100. There were about 10
sites available and we got a pull-thru on the river side. After setting up we left the kayak on the car and drove over to the soccer field LZ where a few pilots had already landed now that the low clouds had dissipated. After visiting with Chris A., Tom and Lori, and determining that there was no gate on the Chelan

Reflection at Sun Lakes

Butte spur road to the towers (yet), and that everyone was having flydowns, we decided to head for Banks Lake and do some paddling. Upon arrival at the dam at the south end of the lake we found the wind strong enough to cause some whitecaps. Not wanting to battle the wind, we decided to try Sun Lakes State Park just a few miles to the south. Park Lake is the most northerly lake and is quite small but was calm enough to have striking reflections of the colorful fall foliage and basalt buttes. We put in at a peninsular picnic area and paddled counterclockwise around most of the lake. On the way back to Chelan (1630) we stopped at the

Dry Falls Lake

overlook for Dry Falls and noted that there is a road into the basin and that Dry Falls Lake might be fun to paddle. To vary the scenery, we took US 2 back across the flat to Farmer and Withrow and back down McNeil Canyon. We had just about enough time to get changed up -it didn't take much because our costumes consisted of the colorful bird masks C.J. had sewed up years ago - and drive over to the pilots lounge at the airport. It was a smaller turnout than we remembered from the parties of years ago and the groaning board of potluck dishes had been replaced by four or five chili contestants and a half-dozen pie contestants plus a few other dishes (including C.J.'s traditional spider bread and a very good corn bread baked

The birds

by Rich Hass). Costumes were as clever as usual with alack of tasteless the often-gross ones. Josh and Michelle had flying squirrel suits, Jan and Murdock were winged rats (in a backhanded slap at the guy who shot at Matty), Ralph B was well disguised in ghoulish makeup and a black robe, LeAnne and Iain were adventure game heroine Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, and the Heims were Dr. Evil, Mini-me in a baby carrier and Foxxy Cleopatra (Austin Powers characters). We left not too long after the costume, chili and pie awards were announced and returned to the Aliner to run the heater and warm up, before crashing for the night [Glad I filled the propane tank before we left].

27 Oct, Sun - We woke to rain drops on our skylight - totally unexpected. Fortunately it was just a shower and we were able to pack up in light wind and relatively dry air after breakfast. It was pretty clear that the flying was not going to be any better than forecast so we didn't even drive over to the LZ and headed down the road. We stopped long enough at Lone Pine Fruit Stand to buy a variety of pears and apples. To vary the trip home we chose Hwy 2 and were rewarded with great fall colors through Tumwater Canyon where many kayakers had gathered. The sky had at least partially cleared by now and remained that way until we neared Stevens Pass where we drove into the low clouds, and down through lower clouds. We put some gas in the tank in Startup where prices weren't quite as high as in Leavenworth but not as cheap as Gas Buddy indicated they were in Cle Elum, on the other route. We got home before 1400 and unloaded the car, trailer and kayak and warmed up the house.