Women's Fly-in/Halloween Party at Chelan

 25-26 October 2014

Wenatchee River, fall colors along Tumwater Cyn. Pipeline Trail

This year we were lucky to have the USHPA board meeting earlier in the month so C.J. and I were able to make the local club's fly-in. Unluckily the weather forecast was pretty awful for the weekend. We went anyway and the weather was much better than expected.

24 October - It wasn't such a terrible day after all. I was able to clean the gutters on the north side and see Dr. Johnson about my knee. Even if we had been free to go, there wasn't much point to it because our gliders were still in Idaho for their annual (postponed for the past three years!) inspection. As it turned out, they were not delivered on Friday so we wouldn't have our wings for the fly-in.

Little Miss Muffet and the spider

25 October, Sat - for an overnight, there wasn't too much to get ready so we hooked up the trailer in the morning and pulled out around 0920. Gas was priced as low as we've seen in years at Cle Elum - $2.759 (cash) at Warrior. We got to Beebe Bridge CG around 1210 and found only a half-dozen other RVs in the place - no need to be concerned about finding a place to camp. [We noted also that Orondo and Daroga CGs are already closed for the season as well as most of the USFS CGs along US 2 over Stevens Pass, except for Money Creek.] After setting up in a site right on the river bank, we went over to the soccer field LZ. Chris A and Patricia were there keeping track of spot landings and signing people in ($30pp - which included rides in the big shuttle van that NWPC had rented in Wenatchee for $150). A dozen people were flying, hang and para, including a family of four new pilots, Gary and Sylvie Waugh and their two teen daughters, Samantha and Rebecca. It was all sledders and there were occasional cloud/fog patches on the mountain. We hung out in the LZ until nearly 1700 when we went back to camp to rest and get ready for the party at the airport pilots lounge. Our costumes of Little Miss Muffet and The Spider didn't take much effort (unlike some of the more complex costumes which looked like they would take hours to get on, especially with all the makeup). There were only 25 pilots and guests signed up at the LZ but a few more showed up at the party. Food was provided primarily by the chili cookoff contestants. There were also pans of cornbread, C.J.'s breadsticks, chips and Fritos,  and desserts. Plus a cooler of beer, water and some pop. Iain and LeAnn and their helpers had done a great decorating job, and they kept the music playing for dancing. By 2145 we were helping clean up and heading back to camp. We had brought our sleeping bags so we didn't have to make the bed with sheets and blankets. It wasn't very cold at all but the forecast wind had started midway through the party. [When we got back to the trailer, we had to search for the blown-away gray-water container. It was located just over the river bank, caught in a fallen tree.]

Crossing the iron bridge

26 October, Sun - Down in the Columbia River gorge, the sun never reached us before we left at 0930 or so, but we could see sunlight on the Butte and blue sky. Until we started closing up the trailer, there had been only very light wind; shortly after the wind speed picked up and we started seeing small whitecaps. Over at the LZ there were only a couple of cars but Chris and Patricia soon arrived from the cleanup at the airport. They had a breakfast engagement with Cheryl at 1000 and were already late and we figured that it was going to be too windy to fly (even if we had our wings) so we headed for Leavenworth and a WTA-recommended hike in Tumwater Canyon. We stopped to buy a half-gallon of cider at the Cider Works, and again at the Cash-N-Carry in Wenatchee (for white wine vinegar and baking cocoa). We could see that there was a dusting of new snow high on the mountainsides, but the sunshine and bright yellow foliage warmed the scenery. Leavenworth did not look crowded with fall color tourists as we drove through. Two miles up US 2 we parked just outside the parking lot for the Tumwater Canyon Pipeline Trail. About 1210 we left the car and in a short distance came to the curiously-shaped iron bridge - the decking consisted of 3/8 in. thick pieces of half-cylinders welded together. Naturally this collected water in low spots. If someone had not put in a series of stepping stones, there would have been no way to cross the bridge without getting your feet wet. The wide, almost flat trail followed the path of an old pipeline (penstock) which had carried water for a powerhouse from the dam about three miles upstream. The purpose for all this was to power the electric locomotives used prior to 1956 for passage through the Stevens Pass tunnel. The trail was only 1.2 miles in length and ended where the trail became a thin track perched above the rushing Wenatchee River bypassing a long-ago collapsed tunnel. We backtracked a few hundred feet and found a ledge above the river to provide a scenic lunch spot. We were back to the car by 1350 and decided to continue west over Stevens Pass. Colors and sunshine continued almost to the Pass but then we ran into clouds, gloom, rain and mixed rain and snow. Coming down the west side, we drove through some heavy rain and evidence of high winds. As we reached the lowlands and were driving through Duval, traffic lights weren't working and businesses were dark (apparently the area had been w/o power since 0800 due to a strong wind storm). North Bend, fortunately, was unharmed by the wind and it wasn't raining when we unpacked and moved the trailer into the garage.