Summer Weekend at Dog

30-31 July

After a half week of 80-plus degree days the forecast was for a cool stretch. We left around 1000 Saturday and got down to Tina and Larry’s airstrip ranch property around 1230 after stopping for gas at Covington (2.399). We set up in the shade of some of the remaining tall doug firs and hung out with Tina and Larry who were the only ones around – Jazzy and family were off doing something else and all the pilots must have already been at Dog. Larry had had a long flight Friday evening so they weren’t in a rush to get to launch. We went over around 1630 and noted that it was still pretty windy on launch. We got to watch some paragliders towing behind Todd’s winch boat. They got pretty high on the 6000 ft of towline. Wind was switching back and forth between the west launch and the north, but mostly was blowing from the NW. Andrew and a couple of other PG launched along with the hangies but Tina was waiting for the wind to settle on one direction. Finally C.J. tried the west launch and had a good takeoff. Tina went next. I decided that it wouldn’t be much fun in the strong wind so I drove the Jorgensen’s truck down. Since the wind was quite north, people were landing on the lakebed, and those who landed in the LZ had problems (I wasn’t there, but I heard that even Larry had a whack, and Carmela from CA broke a downtube but she was way out on the lakebed.) C.J. came in with a good approach on the lakebed but her basetube (she thought maybe it was her feet) got caught by the high weeds and she hit pretty hard. Fortunately, she let go and swung forward and suffered no more than a bruise from the front wire. James Pfiser and Travis ran out to her to make sure she was all right, and carried her wing back to the breakdown area. Since it was already pretty late, a bunch of us had dinner at the Bucksnort Pub in Morton. Surprisingly it wasn’t crowded on a Saturday night and the bacon-burger and fries were tasty. By the time we got back to camp and made up the bed it was close to 2330.

31 July, Sun – It was nice and cool overnight; the sheets and down comforter were just right. We got up around 0730 and had oatmeal and fruit (including some freshly picked blueberries from Tina’s bushes). Larry had been up even earlier but Tina was just getting going when C.J. brought some plum cobbler over for a breakfast goodie. Later C.J. and Tina did some gardening stuff. By around 1130 we were ready to go see what the conditions looked like for flying. There wasn’t anyone in the LZ but we met Rick Lai and Stas driving their trucks down so they could hike back up. Tim was the only one on launch where the wind was mostly north. I waited until it came around to the west then had a lucky inflation on my first try and, after kiting out a collapse, launched. The lift was widespread and smooth but didn’t go very high. It was easy to just fly back and forth and get up over launch. I made a few 360s but they didn’t get me any higher. Once it was clear that it was soarable, Tim threw his battens in and took off. At that time I had flown out toward the lake (always hoping for a magical, easy climb that would allow me to reach the elusive Elk Mountain across the lake), and Tim climbed up above me over the launch. It wasn’t too long after that that the windlines started to appear along with whitecaps. The air got a bit more “textured” and I flew out over the LZ and started to slowly lose altitude. I could see the wind tossing the trees branches and the marks of wind swirls in the tall grass around the LZ. I set up over the center of the LZ and looked at my GPS; it was showing 8-9kph with the heading anywhere from 216 to 166. That would mean I was sliding toward the south but I was thinking that I might be going backwards. I pushed on more speed bar and held it until just before I touched down. To get the wing down quickly I pulled on my left As and right Ds which seemed to work pretty well but wasn’t magically effective (0hr38min). Just as I landed a vehicle headed out of the LZ but when I waved they stopped and came back to give me a ride up to retrieve the Sorento. C.J. had decided to fly in the friendly conditions (much nicer than the previous night) and Rick had reached the takeoff so he could help her get launched safely. I was really grateful to get a ride up with James, Jenn, Dave and Diana. Conditions looked quite a bit stronger on launch when we arrived. Since Dave was there to mentor Jenn, I headed right down. Dave launched first for the PGs and all the hangs had already launched. Tim had landed after me and C.J. had a good landing in the strong wind after having flown for 1hr10mn. By the time we had gotten packed up Rick and Stas had landed; Dave was still flying when we left (but I guess Jenn and Diana did not fly). On the way back we passed Tina and stopped to say thank you and goodbye. Back at the Jorgensen’s we packed up quickly, said goodbye to Larry, who said to come down any time and camp, even if they weren’t home. In the short time we had been gone, he had made a bed frame out of plywood and 2x4s – they are going to have a bunch of guests for Sierra and Cody’s wedding in September so more sleeping places are needed (We volunteered our inflatable bed.). On the way back we stopped at the supermarket in Eatonville to buy a couple loaves of the cheese that was advertised, and then again in Covington for gas (2.359). Signs along SR 18 indicated long delays on the Tiger Mtn summit due to an accident. Traffic was moving fine all the way to the ISS-Hobart Rd, but we exited anyway and drove through Issaquah to I-90. It was after 1900 when we got home and we had left shortly after 1600 – long trip.

C.J.’s Birthday at Kiona Airpark

Memorial Day Weekend 2016

Thanks, Tina and Larry!

C.J. ready for her birthday flight

Although the weekend started out rainy, we left Sunday (in the rain) and drove down to camp at Tina and Larry’s new property near Randle. It’s on a grass airstrip and has a big hangar that fits both the Dragonfly and their Cessna (plus one or more set-up hang gliders when necessary. We parked just outside the fenced backyard (where we had parked on our last trip down for Hazel’s fourth birthday was recovering from the removal of several large conifers). The weather had gone from rainy on the way down to sunny around Morton-Randle so we all went over to Dog for an afternoon flight. I thought it was blowing too hard for paragliding but it looked reasonable for the hang gliders. A lone mini-wing pilot was packing up in the LZ. C.J. had a good launch and flew for 1hr 10min and then had a good landing although she had to run hard, surprising in the wind (but later we surmised that the berm at the west end of the LZ is blocking the wind and/or causing rotor). Back at the Jorgensen’s we had a late dinner of grilled steak and over-roasted potatoes and carrots. We picked up some ice cream to go with the chocolate-chip scone-based strawberry “shortcake”.

Monday – We were lazing around in our sleeping bags when we heard a gentle tapping. Opening the door we found Hazel who wanted to know why we were still sleeping. Apparently she doesn’t have a shy bone in her body because, after cleaning the wet grass off her feet, she climbed right into bed with us. There was plenty of room in our zipped-together sleeping bags but it wasn’t long before we all got up. Hazel took off and we made breakfast. Larry had lots of projects to work on; I helped him with scrubbing the pollen and stuff off the greenhouse. Around 1430 we went over to Dog again. Six or eight pilots had landed in the LZ already after having decent flights (Aaron and Kerry, Paul Dees, Kenny, and others). We drove up and C.J. got set up while I talked with Dave and Diane and Kim. They got launched before Larry, Tina and Justin came up to fly. I tried several times to get off and then decided that it just wasn’t going to work for me and packed up my wing. By 1800 the wind had switched mostly to the north and only a few wings were in the air. C.J. said that Tina had reported ugly air and had landed. But a few minutes later she said that maybe it was the transition and by now maybe the air would be smoother. I jumped on that suggestion and took off to the north after only a couple of tries. It was soarable but the air was not completely settled and it wasn’t all that pleasant. I kept trying the north, then the west face, back and forth as conditions changed, and eventually went out and landed for about 0:21. Travis joined us at the airpark and Tina served up crockpot pork with potatoes and salad. She also had put up crepe paper streamers and had baked a birthday cake for C.J. It was a really nice party. Hazel gave C.J. a necklace she had made. Fortunately we still had the Umpqua ice cream left to go with the still-warm cake decorated with an almond glaze – and candles, maybe not 69, but quite a few.

Tuesday – We stayed over to avoid the traffic, and because it was already late when we finished dinner. We left around 1100. Though I had considered checking out the Cowlitz Falls Campground County Park to see how it would be to put in our kayak (or inflatable kayak) to float/paddle down to the day use area where the lake backed up by the CF dam begins, we just drove the usual route home. [All the trans-Cascade passes were open by this weekend.] Stopping at Costco Covington for gas and bananas, we also shared a hot dog for lunch. Fred Meyer had milk on sale and we also got a can of shortening so I could make some more scones. We had stopped near the Soldiers Home in Orting at the Spooner Farm fruit stand and got a half flat of strawberries that were as good as those we bought in Medford (11.50, yesterday’s picking). We were home early enough to unpack, rest a little and then go to the KT Squares plus workshop where there were some new dancers. At the end we managed to bumble through some advanced dancing – amazing after missing two weeks.

Larry and C.J. taking off in the Dragonfly

Hazel's Fourth Birthday

At the Jorgensen's new Kiona Airpark location

6-8 May 2016

Originally we were going to the annual Beach 'N at Chelan but we got an invitation to Tina and Larry's event just before the news broke that there would be no landing on the park beach at Chelan. The lake had risen and covered the usual spot. AND there would also be no landing down at the Chelan Falls soccer field due to a soccer tournament being held there. The organizers then got permission to land at the airport, an unusual concession. Unfortunately for PGs, the airport is about six miles from the launch on Chelan Butte so it certainly can not be done on a glide. Anyway, we really like Tina and Larry and their family and friends, plus C.J. could possibly fly her hang glider at Dog, so we opted for heading south rather than east.

6 May, Fri - I had a VA medical appointment in Seattle at 1020 so we didn't get started until after 1300. Once there and with our trailer set up in a grassy site under huge hemlocks we joined Tina in preparing for the party. Our project was to put together a large dollhouse using bolts and cylinder nuts. After finishing it, we hid it in a closet in an unused guest bedroom upstairs. We had dinner with Tina and Larry, Jazzy and Justin and his folks, Hazel, of course, and others. Later Hazel found the presents that C.J. had brought and opened them up (Well, really her birthday had been the day before so it wasn't necessary to wait for the big BD luncheon on Saturday) She ignored the embroidered shirts but liked the book, A Child is Born, since it related to her experience as Jasmine gave birth to Palmer just a few weeks ago.

7 May, Sat - Tina did the ceremonial first tow with the Dragonfly early before it got windy. And Justin did the second one, this time north to Kiona Peak just west of Watch Mtn. We helped set up tables and did some other stuff before the potluck lunch with organic ground beef hamburgers and Costco hot dogs. Hazel's birthday cake was a chocolate bundt cake with pink frosting covered with a big box of sprinkles. It was nice and warm in the sun on the apron in front of the hangar. There were lots of presents but mostly the kids (James and ___ Ollikanen were there) played in the water in a little kiddy pool. (It didn't seem that warm to me.) Around 1600 we drove over to Dog where it looked pretty windy but people were flying. We drove up behind Larry's truck but C.J. and Tina decided not to launch. Larry and Justin were able to fly all over the place - west of Elk, Peterman, Panorama; even Paige on her Falcon was able to get to Elk and return. No one tried to fly back to Kiona Airpark, even though Justin got to 5000 ft. I drove down a stick-shift Toyoya with OR license; no idea who it belonged to. Back at Jorgensen's the plan was to eat up the leftovers from the lunch, but Justin's Dad cooked up a big batch of smoked ribs that were delicious with barbecue sauce. There were also salads, hot dogs, pork chops and three kinds of chocolate cakes for dessert.

8 May, Sun - After breakfast we hung out for a while then decided to go to Dog to see if it was flyable. Tina and Larry were not going so we packed up the trailer and left it to pick up later. We drove via the back route which followed Falls Rd eventually passing Dave Gerdes' place and coming out on the Champion Haul Road at the Taidnapam boat launch. There were no pilots in the air or in the LZ but conditions didn't look too bad, a bit cloudier but not as windy. On the way up we met a paraglider pilot coming down who said it was too strong for PG. Up on top it was chilly while C.J. set up but we had warm clothes with us. C.J. had a good launch in smooth conditions. It looked like she could soar for a long time. I started down with the Sorento and the conditions must have changed because the lift quit and C.J. landed not long after I had reached the LZ. I videoed her landing which was good, but the wind was light enough that she had to run hard to keep from dropping her nose. We returned to the Jorgensen's where Larry and Tina gave us a cooler full of cuts of their organic beef as a thank-you for helping them move two weekends ago. We hitched up and headed east for a scenic route back to North Bend. We had to buy gas in Randle because we were down to an eighth of a tank (2.599). We stopped briefly at the ranger station but it was closed and there was no recent information about the road we wanted to take. [One interesting thing was a sign saying that mushroom and beargrass permits were sold at the ranger station.] In Packwood we turned north onto the Skate Creek Road (52) a paved USFS route that winds through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest south of Mt. Rainier NP and comes out at Ashford near the park entrance. The road was a bit bumpy for driving with the trailer but it wasn't busy so we could take our time. There were some good views of Mt. Rainier. We passed a spur road at the Skate Creek bridge which leads up toward Lookout Mountain (on which Matty Senior says is a launch). And we noted where the spur road takes off for High Rock Lookout not far from Ashford. As usual we used Orville Road to get to Kapowsin on the way to Orting (rather than going through the busy South Hill commercial area), but this time we continued straight at Kapowsin to eliminate the windy road along the Puyallup River. We went through Thrift and then downhill to the outskirt of Orting where we passed the Wash. State Soldiers Home (VA) and then continued home along the rest of the usual route. A stop at Costco gave us a chance to fill up the tank and get some groceries. We were home early enough to get everything unpacked, cleaned up and put away before dinner.

The Beach'N at Chelan turned out to have decent flying but it was marred by the report of a paraglider crashing in the city park and being seriously injured. Apparently he was trying to land near where he was camped. The meet organizers were understandably disappointed that someone would land in an area not approved for landing.

Frostbite 2016

George above Area 151                         by David Le

 Three days of glorious sunshine (ignoring the gloomy mornings) provided more flying than any recent fly-in that I can remember. The wind was too strong during the middle of the day for paragliders at Dog, probably a good thing, but in the evening the white caps on the lake went away. Meanwhile, Bremer and Area 151 were producing good PG flights with four pilots making the 12.5-mile trip to Dog from 151 on Friday. There was a great turnout of hang glider pilots at Frostbite but C.J. was not among them having left her wing at home – she had had surgery to remove a skin cancer on her upper right arm on Tuesday and her doctor gave strict instructions to do nothing that would rip the stitches out.

8 April, Fri. – We got started around 0930 with the trailer but no hang glider and reached Dog before noon (gas at Costco in Covington - 207.9). C.J. helped Tina by doing the registration while I helped Brian Scott and others gather driftwood for the bonfire. C.J. had realized by now that she had forgotten to pick up her Ozone backpack with her computer so she would not be able to work on her article for the magazine during the weekend. Later, as the sun got lower, Larry and Tina figured that everything was set-up and went up for an evening flight. I got a ride up with them. While they set up, a mini-wing pilot flew. I waited until all the HGs had launched and the wind had switched to the north before setting up. Kim and the mini-wing pilot showed up and launched before me after several tries. [Before they took off we saw more PGs in the air – they hadn’t launched from Dog. Later we found that they had come from Area 151(Brent Taylor, Gene Beaver, Dave Auman and ?)]. It took me several tries as well and Tim had set up and launched his HG before I got off. It was nicely soarable on the north side and I climbed to 3200 feet but didn’t try to reach the microwave. Hang gliders were over at Elk but I didn’t think I could get back if I went over there, so I tried flying north to the ridge near the boat ramp. I was almost there and down to 1700 ft when I saw a hang heading back low. Figuring that there was no lift, I turned back and zoomed to the LZ and then climbed on the point and all the way back above TO where I saw another PG struggling with the launch. I went back toward the north again, then turned back to the LZ. While I was still pretty high I got rocked with some big turbulence, and when I was flying my cross-wind leg I was hit by a gust that blew me downwind into the high grass. I turned sharply back and it looked like I was about to land outside the mowed area when another gust lifted me and slid me left into the field for a good landing. Later C.J. and I had dinner in the trailer where it was relatively warm compared to the dropping temperatures and breeze outside.

9 Apr, Sat – Cold night and a gloomy, low-cloudbase morning. I hung out while C.J. worked on registration hauling in money hand-over-fist as a record number of hang glider pilots signed in. Around noon I was surprised to see a paraglider setting up to land because I hadn’t seen any PGs launch. It turned out to Matty Senior on a paramotor; he and Josh had launched from the airstrip in Eatonville and flown past Mt. Rainier to reach the Dog LZ. Josh had run low on gas and had turned west to almost reach the Morton Airport. Matty thought that he could borrow someone’s car at Area 151 so he could retrieve his van from Eatonville. I gave him a ride over there and picked up Josh on the way at Skaggs Road. A few PGs were flying down from Area 151 and after packing up Vince and Adam and David Le decided to go back up. I threw in with them. On launch we could see a number of wings at Bremer, some sinking to the bailout, some getting up. After some time, two of the pilots reached 151 and began soaring near launch. That was a good clue that it was soarable; Adam (he of the Einstein hair) took off but missed the cycle and sank out. I was luckier and got into the lift; I flew a ridge lift pattern with a wing from Bremer for a while then started trying to circle in thermal lift. As I got a bit above the trees on launch I tried going back into the bowl behind and working the face. After a couple of tries I was able to stick and Vince and David came over and climbed with me and above. At one point I was

George at Area 151

high enough to look directly at snow-covered St. Helens and realized the other peak must be Adams, not Rainier. [Probably we were all thinking about the flights to Dog on the previous day but no one made a move to fly to the next ridge (Hopkins?) and I had left my phone in the car anyway.] I tried going back toward launch and then headed west from there gradually climbing until I got over the valley rim at around 2500ft. The air was getting somewhat more textured and I decided to fly out into the valley. I circled the edge of Area 151 and worked down. I was rocked by turbulence on a high downwind leg and again when I turned on final but landing was smooth. After packing up I and most of the paras went over to Dog for the dinner which was just beginning at about 1730. At least four went up to join the two PGs which were flying now that the wind had moderated. Whether on purpose or just by happenstance, there never were more than five PGs in the air at any time. Dinner was good with lots of tasty stuff including C.J.’s “blubarb crisp” (with a can of whipped cream). I hung out a while around the fire but I wasn’t prepared to sit through a lot of amplified music from the stage (back of Dave’s U.S. Army flatbed truck) so I headed back to the trailer pretty early. When C.J. got back it was cold enough that we ran the heater for a while before going to bed with an extra quilt. It turned out that once the cloud cover formed, it didn’t get very cold after all.

10 Apr, Sun – Another cold and gloomy morning with low cloudbase. I hung around the trailer for a while, took a walk to the north on the delta as far as the creek, came back and had some lunch. Matty and Josh were already back from their Sunday flight from Packwood up toward Rainier and back. The sky had cleared and people were flying so I headed over to Area 151 to see what the PGs were up to. I had missed a trip up to Bremer again; some had flown back to 151. Kraske had headed to Dog to pick up a Dog key, Brent had packed up his trailer and headed home, Vince was gone. Rob, Adam and another ex-HG from Portland were still around and eventually decided to go up to 151 TO. It was gusting on launch and didn’t feel like it would be friendly air so we waited for an hour. Finally I decided to give up and everyone but Adam agreed. He launched and sank right out. We drove down and I returned to Dog where I packed up the trailer while the spot landing awards were given out. C.J. and I left around 1700 and were home around 1900. It was a different Frostbite without C.J. flying.

11 Apr, Mon – I disconnected the trailer and washed the accumulated grime off it. Then I set it up and unloaded the fridge and dumped the porta-potty. As I was setting up the trailer I noticed that the aluminum trim on the driver’s side A-wall was loose near the front. I drilled a 7/64-in hole and put a bolt in to keep it in place. Then I sliced and scraped and used solvent to remove some worn weather-stripping from the curbside aluminum roof support. I installed a new length of open-cell foam weather-stripping. That should be good for a while although every time I close the roof, one side scrapes against the weather-stripping and abrades it. I left the Renogy solar panel in the trailer; it had worked very well at Dog keeping the battery fully charged so that we could run our lights, water pump and the propane furnace (as well as charge my phone). I blew a fuse when I hooked it up to the wrong polarity – but that’s what fuses are for, I guess. (I need to replace 15A fuse.)

Chelan XC Classic – v.2015

1-4 July 2015

1 Jul, Wed – We left around noon so we could meet                               who lives in Peshastin, for an interview for an article C.J. is working on. He said something about milepost 111 so we were looking at the road markers as we hit US 2. It turned out that he was actually referring to a brewpub called Milepost 111 located just across the bridge in Cashmere. We had a beer in the air conditioned pub and talked for an hour and a half. By then it was getting on toward 1600 and it was still hot with the thermometer near 100 deg F. I decided to go for gas at Costco ($2.959) in E Wenatchee as drove through Wenatchee itself to see the extent of the Sleepy Hollow fire which had burned the hillsides as well as a couple dozen houses and some businesses. With a full tank we headed toward Chelan along the west side of the Columbia since we hadn’t used that route for a while. Lori wasn’t in when we arrived but she showed up not too much later and invited us to join Tom, Aaron Rinn and Maria for dinner. Fortunately C.J. had brought salad makings and snap peas to share. It was hot at night but an oscillating fan helped keep it cool enough to sleep.

2 Jul, Thu – We drove up the Butte early to get there for the nominal time of the pilots meeting (1100) and got a briefing from Meet Head Lenny Baron for our launch director job. It really wasn’t much of a job with only 30 pilots in the meet. The PGs launched early and the HGs went later. There were a few free-flyers, but no hassles. After everyone had taken off, we checked XCFind.com and saw that there were big flights from Rampart: Owen and TJ had gone SSE to Quincy (123 km), and Brian Franklin had headed E and then NE and had passed Leavenworth and was heading for Chelan! We drove down to the Chelan Falls LZ and were there (along with Jeff and Cherie Slotta) when Brian arrived. He was dehydrated and headachy, but very exhilarated by his flight. His driver, Chris Irish, arrived within minutes and after packing up, they headed back to retrieve Brian’s car at Rampart. We went directly to the house Lenny had rented for the Baron clan and joined the other volunteers for a tasty dinner of BBQ skewers, salads and drinks.

3 Jul, Fri – Same schedule, same job. After getting everyone launched conditions still looked doable so C.J. got her wing out. But shortly after, the wind picked up and she packed back up. We drove down to the soccer field LZ to try to give Aaron, the scorekeeper, his computer so he could get started scoring the last day’s results. He was still out flying a good triangle (which would have given him first place if Jeff Beck hadn’t flown 10 miles farther ending up just beyond the Idaho border in Rathdrum). To kill time we went over to the north end of the Chelan Falls Park where the Dog pilots hang out and got in the relatively warm, but fast-moving water to cool off. Later we gathered with the rest of the CXCC folks for a taco dinner and award ceremony at the picnic shelter. Lenny stretched the awards out overly long so everyone who didn’t leave early (most of the PG had left) missed the Chelan fireworks. We caught the end of them around 2210 as we drove through Chelan. Lori had hooked up a portable air conditioner in our room and it worked very well – we had a comfortable night.

4 July, Sat – We were on our way by 0930 and home shortly after noon. We rested up and C.J. made the ice cream “batter” for use in the old White Mountain hand-cranked ice cream maker. Around 1600 we drove to Susan and Reed Brockway’s house on the E shore of Lake Samammish to join CJB in her quest to blow up everything that floats. There were lots of guests and only a few were pilots but we got to meet lots of new people, especially when C.J. got the ice cream maker cranking. (Unfortunately, either we didn’t have the right mixture of ice to salt, or the container was too full of the batter because the ice cream never got to the thick and frozen stage.) As it began to get dark fireworks displays could be seen all up and down the lakeshore and across the lake. This despite the city ordinance prohibiting fireworks. No one came to arrest anyone as CJ and her fellow ordnance experts blew up several small boats, a large model of the Shell drilling rig, and a large three-masted model. We left around 2300 and when we got home fireworks were still being shot off. No fires, thank goodness!

Frostbite 2015

...or was it "Sunstroke 2015"

Bremer HG launch and Mt. Rainier

17-19 April

Usually held at "Dogpatch", the landing zone for Dog Mountain, this year the event moved to Area 151, Dave and Diane Auman's property west of Morton. The LZ at Dog wasn't totally covered by water but it was much smaller than usual at this time of year. As a result of the almost snowless winter, Tacoma Power had started to fill Riffe Lake earlier than usual hoping to be able to provide hydro-electric power with the smaller amount of runoff expected this summer.

Area 151 was an excellent choice as there was plenty of room for the many trailers, motor homes, tents and other vehicles. In addition there was a large, level, grassy (and dry) landing area for hangs and paras. Spot landings were possible with a small takeoff  in a clearing 400 feet above the LZ and only ten minutes to turnaround. A much longer trip (45 min) to launches on Bremer Mountain was another option and many hangs and a few paras also drove to Dog for good, but not spectacular soaring.

17 April, Fri - C.J. and I got the trailer hitched up and pulled out of the driveway around 0930 and got

Area 151 from the 400-ft launch

to Area 151 around noon. We picked a site [You can see our little A-frame trailer on the right edge of the photo if you click on it and zoom in.] behind a grove of overgrown Christmas trees to give us a little shelter from the bonfire and music stage (a large flatbed army truck). We were soon joined by Aaron and Kerie's big motor home, Debbie and Greg's trailer and many others. I spent most of the rest of the day helping set up the huge cargo parachute over the eating and socializing area. Conrad, a bartender from the Morton Bucksnort Pub, set up his (free!) bar under the canopy and Dave moved his picnic tables in for seating. C.J. and I took a drive over to Dog to see what the LZ looked like. There were a bunch of hang rigs parked in the outer lot so we walked in to the berm. There was plenty of land to land on but there was also plenty of water so one would have to be pretty sure of one's spot landing ability to be sure to stay dry. After watching JJ soaring the point and landing in a dry area, C.J. decided to not fly her hang glider today. Back at Area 151 we watched a few PGs flying from the 400' hill and getting rough rides. We passed on the opportunity to fly and continued visiting with a break for dinner in our Aliner. Although the day had been sunny and hot, as the sun set it got cool quickly and the Friday bonfire provided some welcome warmth. It was downright chilly by the time we went to bed under a down comforter and quilt.

18 Apr, Sat - After oatmeal we signed up for Frostbite, paid for a Dog key, and C.J. bought a pink, performance t-shirt. One thing different about this Frostbite was how many paragliders were present. John Kraske was notable among them, and Kim Smith was a quieter presence. "Oldtimer" John Heckendorn was there to test fly his new-to-him Golden2 and got a half-dozen flights from the 400. C.J. and I got a ride up with Bret Conant, a PG who lives in Morton and is an engineering tech with the USFS. The launch was large enough to lay out two paragliders (just barely). Conditions were very light and I had trouble getting my wing inflated. It took four tries before I got off launch. But then I lucked into some lift to the left and out front. I managed to get above launch and soar for fifteen minutes before sinking out. The light wind was coming from the north, unusual for Area 151, and I

Larry in the mirror of the Wannabe Ranch Dragonfly

came up short of the spot but had a good landing. After lunch I went up again and this time I was all ready to go when a hang glider pilot launched with his right wing low; his glider continued in an arc to the right into a tree not far below launch. John H and I went down to make sure the pilot could get down safely. Kim S showed up with some rope and a saw and he and the pilot went down and got the glider out of the tree after a lot of work. Meanwhile more hang gliders were showing up and since the launch area was pretty small I decided to launch even though two pilots who had gotten to 2000'-plus were sinking out and recent launchers were not getting up. Fortunately, after a good launch, I found enough lift to get me up to launch level and maintain for a few minutes. Then the little thermal dissipated and I headed for the spot, landing well, just a bit off the blue. C.J. got a second flight, also - but hers was in Larry's dragonfly tug. She got some good photos of Bremer and the launches. Since the beer kegs had been tapped by then, I decided I was finished with flying for the day.  Meanwhile C.J. went up to Bremer with a truckload of hang pilots. Conditions were definitely over-the-back making for turbulence in the rotor out front. C.J. and Kerie decided not to fly and drove down. Dinner included burgers, hot dogs, and some ribs and all the other potluck dishes. C.J. had brought her famous blue-barb crisp which went fast. It was cold again after the sun set, the music was loud and went late, but it was a little warmer and more comfortable to sleep.

19 Apr, Sun - Tina organized a "breakfast for boobies" fundraiser for Kerie's medical treatments that were not covered by insurance (some $10,000). Much of the food was donated by Justin's parents so the breakfast raised more than $1000. Around 1100 C.J. and I joined Brent Taylor and Monique from Yelm in his big Chevy 4x4 pickup to go to the paragliding launch on Bremer with Alan, Adam, and Rob. The idea there is to get off the hill before the usual north winds pick up and blow over the back. Hopefully there will be enough heated air coming up the south face will provide lift to get you over the ridge and into the convergence. After Rob took off and soared, I tried launching several times but neither a forward inflation nor a reverse would work for me, and the slightly up-sloping logging landing dropped off steeply into rough clearcut so standing below the lip would not work. The other

Bremer PG launch by Harmon

pilots were all successful, but C.J. had to give up until the cycles became stronger. She took several tries but finally got off and, like the others, soared and was able to fly east past the hang glider launch and then cross the valley and make it back to Area 151 and a hundred-point landing. I rode back down with Monique. Everyone had made it back to Area 151 so we did not have to retrieve any outlanding pilots (a task that would have been difficult without cell phone coverage in the Tilton River valley). Back at Area 151 leftover burgers and hot dogs and some of the potluck goodies were available for lunch...or an early dinner. While the awards were being handed out for spot landing (Tom Johns won again, no surprise), I worked on breaking camp so we could leave by 1700 - that way we could make it to Covington Costco before the gas station closed at 1900. We made it with minutes to spare and were home before 1930.

At the awards we heard that a record number of keys had been sold – 70, and that around 80 people had paid the entry fee of $30 to support Dog Mountain. Maybe having Frostbite at Area 151 was a good thing for the purposes of fundraising; and it was good to add another new flying site to our list (two new sites for C.J.).