January February March April May June July August September October November December
10 With rain forecast for later in the afternoon, I met Bill, Dave, Pavlo, and Steve at Stenner Creek for a trip to the top of the grade. The wind was crossing slightly from the East at about 15 when we arrived. There were Hawks and Vultures flying by and we wasted no time setting up. Pavlo launched his paraglider and floated up easily. I launched about 20 minutes later and climbed 300 over. Steve, Dave and finally Bill followed off the hill. The air was fairly smooth with bubbles rolling thru once in a while. Steve and I climbed about 700 over in one nice one.
At one point a pair of Red Tail Hawks were hanging out 75 feet below me. I went into a steep dive and they both bailed in a hurry. I then returned to my spot and they went back to their's below, not fazed in the least. The steady wind made the ridge lift nice but it was only working in the large bowl area near launch. After an hour conditions noticably changed. The westerly came from the coast and we all headed out and landed. It was fun day though.
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21 It was a gorgeous day at the beach in Cayucos on Sunday afternoon. The wind started out like it was going to come in so Dave, Bill, Craig and Sarah and I met at the beach around 2ish. It was calm, with glassy ocean. Since it was Bill's birthday, and he was hoping to fly on his birthday (like last year) we all decided to go up anyway. I had my tandem glider and was hoping to launch with Sarah if there was any kind of breeze on top. Well what do you know!! By the time we finished setting up the wind blew in off the water and it was nice and soarable! I launched tandem and made several passes before heading down to the knob. We reached it a little below the top. I made a couple of passes but decided I was too close to the power lines to continue with a passenger so we had a nice landing after about a 10 minute flight. The others launched and enjoyed an hour or more.
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13 While flying my hang glider near Ojai, on Sat, I was a couple hundred feet above a mountain top called Chief Peak circling in a thermal. I had the pleasure of being joined by a beautiful Osprey. I first noticed it coming towards me and a little higher. It entered the thermal I was in and did a full circle just next to me and a few feet above me. It made a funny shake with its body/wings, perhaps dropping droppings, and then continued on towards the south east.After landing another pilot told me he saw the bird next to me and said it was a pretty sight.
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22 A good group of us, Bill, Craig, Pavlo, Dave Duke, Dave
Demille and myself, arrived at Plowshare launch with straight in at 10 mph
wind. Pavlo launched his paraglider first, about noon, and was able to
easily float around up to a few hundred above launch. Craig took off next,
just after 12:30 and did the same. I followed Craig and Bill followed
me. We all flew around in light lift, turning in thermals and gaining
several hundred over the ridge top. Bill headed out and Dave Duke launched
and followed Bill. Craig and I were scratching below the top over near
Miranda when it finally turned on and we climbed above 7000. The
convergence came in and Dave Demille had to launch the back side. He
said it was trashy the whole way to the river.
Craig and I headed east
and had a nice leisurely trip to Cottonwood Cyn. The thermals were
consistent and we stayed between 6500 and 7500. Pavlo headed out from near
Timber and landed. At Cottonwood conditions got weak and we had to leave
the ridge top and follow a spine out. We dropped to 5300 when I hit a nice
strong core that brought us back to 7500. The next spine took us to 8500
and it was an easy trip to McPherson after that.
Craig got above 9000 and
went on glide towards Foothill. He hit another good one a half mile later
that took us to nearly 10,500 the highest point of the flight. Little did
he know he was on final after this one. We flew straight east along
Foothill. I hit a little bubble that gave me 1000 feet, near Bell
Rd. As I approached the field Craig was setting up to land in I decided to
turn North and fly to Old Cuyama, since our chase was going to be
awhile and
the thought of a cold one sounded good.
I made it to Hwy 166 at about
4200 and noticed a dust devil (DD) slowly moving from the ESE. I flew
directly over the top of it and hit some light, smooth lift that took me back to
5000. Then I saw another to the north that was moving from the NW. I
headed towards it and kept slowly climbing. I was in between 2 DD that
were moving towards each other. Eventually they dissipated but others
showed up. I headed slowly west, back towards New Cuyama, hopping from one
DD to the next. The lift was light and smooth and as I reached the High
School climbed above 6000. Near the airport I got back above 7500 and was
trying to decide which way to go. Craig said he was lonely out there so I
headed the 5 miles back across the valley and flew by 2000 feet above him.
I headed another mile and could have easily made it across the river, but the
headwind was getting stronger and no more lift, so I turned back and landed in
front of Craig. He had a nice shady spot to break down. We were a
little more than 27 miles from launch. My GPS said I had flown 99.3 miles!
to get there in 3 hrs 15 minutes. I probably saw nearly a dozen dust
devils and it was quite fun to hop from one to the next!
I highly recommend
it.
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15 A rather weak day, with only Bill and I making it over the back. Pavlo thought the wind was a little to strong and didn't fly, while Dave went to TJ's. I landed in Dry Canyon and Bill landed near Ozena.
2 Pine was a tough
mountain to fly on Sun. Bill, Dave, Pavlo and I were very pleased to have Sally
driving for us. After passing New Cuyama, on the drive out there, we saw
the first cummie poping off Mt. Abel and thought YES!! On launch was Tony
flying his rigid wing and Fred, and one paraglider pilot. The PG pilot launched
and gained close to 1000 over. Then he
performed the yo-yo manuever as
he slowly made his way to TJ's.
The cummies were building
very large to the far east and over the back, while a small one kept developing
and then disappearing over Reyes Peak and southeast. Tony went next and
never got above launch on his trip down to TJ's. It was quite a while
before anyone else felt like taking a sledder to the river bed. Bill was
next and worked hard to the right of launch. I took off a couple of
minutes later and grabbed a little buble to get 2-300 over launch. The
wind was from the SE so Bill headed down the ridge towards the N launch and
found a small thermal that he took over the back toward Ozena. I was able
to make passes directly over launch from 100-300 over but a workable thermal
never came thru, so I flew toward the N launch, at times 50 feet above the tree
tops, hoping to find what Bill got. I never hit anything but by the N
launch the mtn dropped down faster than I did so with about 300 feet I
made a race over the back towards Ozena.
Once I knew I was safe to reach the road, I turned back
east to find the convergence. I was down to 4600 when I hit it and went
right up to 9500. It had OD'd and was raining to the N and W of dry
Canyon, with large, solid cloud cover over the badlands and Lockwood Vly.
Bill was on the ground near Ozena and so I headed back there, planning on going
to the clouds over Cuyama Peak. Then Pavlo flew his paraglider by, almost
a mile under me, heading towards Dry Canyon. I watched, and turned around
to follow him. He reached Dry Canyon and climbed upto cloudbase with
me. The wind was light from the NE so I decided once again to fly to the
NW. Pavlo began fighting cloud suck (we were at 10,100) and I told him to
follow me W. He stayed along the N side of the river and eventually landed
in the river bed about 10 miles from launch. I found lifty air on the S
side of the river and flew over the top of Cuyama Pk. and then headed out to
Venticopa, landing 16.6 miles and 1.5 hrs from launch.
At least 6 more pilots, mostly
from Santa Barbara showed up. Dave had launched and ended at TJ's.
He said at least 2 more pilots joined him and 1 pilot blew a launch but was
OK. We never heard of anyone else getting over the
back.
Thanks for driving
Sally!!
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26 This was a SE day and maybe close to a dozen people flew. It took a little effort to get up and over to Ozena but there was a convergence working near there. Craig and I arrived there first and got to 8000 and then flew out the canyon landing in a big field south of Venticopa. The pilots after us got higher and higher, eventually reaching 10,000+. A couple flew up to Foothill Rd and came back to land with us. About 6-7 landed in the same field as Craig and I. An hour's worth of fun!
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18 Pine was nice to a lot of pilots today. I think more than a dozen made it to Quail Lake or beyond. Most people are camping and will fly again Sun. I could only spare one day. There are lots of stories and lots of details but I will provide my condensed version and let the others tell theirs.As we arrived we heard Tom Truax was crossing the badlands to Lockwood Valley and the number 15,000 was bandied about. I launched just after Richard and maybe 15 mintues before Hammer. My Ball flight deck was a non-op for this flight so Dave was nice enough to lend me a really old Litek vario that half worked for me. I had no altimeter. It took awhile to get 800-1000 feet above launch but when I did I shot over to Reyes Pk as I saw Richard sky out over there. I finally found a nice core and climbed for quite a while.
Hammer had gotten up over launch and came over. We climbed and when we finally left I knew I was stinking high as Lockwood Valley didn't look that far away! Someone later said Hammer left about 13,000 so I must have been close to that. The glide across the badlands was a no brainer and since there were clouds forming along the south side of Lockwood Valley I pointed to the nearest one. Based on a report from Richard, I guess I got as low as 10,000 before hitting a nice core and getting very high again.
Hammer and Richard were a couple miles ahead, circling and I headed their way. It was a fairly easy trip to Fraizer Mtn, with a couple of cores along the way. Fraizer was pumping and after all 3 of us got high, those 2 left. I hit a better core and decided to stay back and max it out. I was getting closer to the clouds but they were still a ways above me. I must have been well above 14,000, I guess. Richard said he was 9500 over the cement plant and I was getting a good glide in that direction. Stupidly I drifted a little too far south and hit some terrible sink. The sink alarm is one thing that worked well on the old Litek! I'd guess I lost 5000 feet and wasn't sure I could make the cement plant.
I hit some hot air off the ground and was able to drift to the road too the cement plant but basically was looking for a good spot to land. I saw the best choice, maybe 2 miles from Hwy 138. Nobody knew I was there so I really hated having to set up there. I was maybe 100 to 150 feet above the ground, unzipped and getting ready to turn on final. Moments earlier I noticed a bird flapping along near the tree tops but was too busy to pay attention. Just as I started banking my turn onto final the bird flew right under me and started to circle. Lift!! I maintained my bank angle and circled with him.
The greyish colored bird with long, sleek wings was a White Tailed Kite. We made a couple of circles and he approached my altitude. (The birds always seem to climb faster than I do!) He was off to one side and we came around in a circle approaching head on. Of course I was much bigger so he rapidly tucked his wings and did a barrel roll right beneath me and flashed his talons. I apologized but I can't flap. Then he started drifting to the southeast and rising so I drifted with him. I gained around 2000 feet and was able to easily reach the hwy thanks to him. I flew almost another 10 miles after that, landing several miles past Neenach. I think between 45 and 50 miles for the day. Just under 3 hours. I think Richard was close to 65. Amtrak picked me up and headed back to Pine. We picked up 6 pilots along the way, 3 at Neenach, 2 closer to Quail and one at Lockwood Valley airport. Hammer made 158 for the day!
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8 My first time to Sugar Hill (7200 ft) was wonderful! The day was
looking great, Mt Shasta was easily visible more than 100 miles to the
west. The plan was to launch from Sugar Hill (7200 MSL) and after
getting high (10,000+) going over the back, heading NE, and
eventually intersecting with hwy 140. There were 14 pilots in our
group, a few who had never been there. We arranged 3 vehicles for
retrieve, with Sally agreeing to drive Amtrak for the long haul.
[THANKS SALLY!!] A couple of locals launched first and about 1:15 Craig
launched and I followed right behind. We began a nice climb, and as I
went thru 10,000 I watched the long line of pilots streaming off the
hill. Craig drifted with his thermal over the back but I decided to
wait for the next gaggle and dropped back to 9000. As the next group
came up we climbed thru 12,000 and I headed straight to Fandango Peak, about
5 mile across a forest. I arrived with about 8800 and hooked another
nice thermal which took me to 13,300. The drift was light from the SW and I
drifted a couple miles in this climb towards Ft. Bidwell. From there I
headed east and dropped to about 11,000 before hitting another nice
one. This is right at the NE corner of CA where it intersects with
Nevada and Oregon, and is very empty territory. Most of the ground is
4000 to 6000 feet MSL with a few ridges and fewer dirt roads. Only one paved
road heads east (hwy 140) and it was several miles north of the track we
took. By this point the only other pilot I saw was Hammer, who was near
my altitude and circling about half a mile south of me. I topped out
about 13,500 and headed NE while he headed more easterly, over the red cinder
dirt road. Coleman Valley was our next goal. I had a nice glide
and got to Coleman Ridge about 10,000. I headed N along the ridge until
I hit some light lift. There were cu's up high, but they were steadily
dissipating and moving, forming more and more east. I drifted with this
lift and as I went thru 12,000 I saw Hammer arrive a few thousand below
me. The next goal was Dougherty Slide about 15 miles to the east (and
about 50 miles from launch). The clouds were looking really nice and I
drfited with my lift from Coleman Ridge to above 14,000. I went on
glide in a straight line for Dougherty and the clouds were like vacuum
cleaners! I eventually got to 15,700 before getting cold enough that I
just stuffed the bar and headed east. Craig was about 8 miles ahead of
me, and I knew Hammer was not far behind. From Dougherty the only
choice is to follow 140 and continue east across some extremely desolate
terrain. For the next 25 miles I basically flew in a straight line,
circling when the lift was strongest, getting to about 15,000 and then
stuffing the bar until I dropped below 12,000. Then I reached a valley
that was mostly covered in shadow and didn't hit lift until I dropped to
about 7500! I was at the 74 mile mark and I finally got some light
stuff that took me back above 12,500. To the east of this point are
2 mountain ranges, one to the north and one to the south. Hwy 140 hits
a 'T' intersection at Denio Junction and the road is N-S in the next
valley. Craig was in the lead and chose to head up the north mountain
range. He hit a light NE wind and the lift stopped and he eventually
came back and landed at the junction. I knew he headed north and did
the same. I hit the same thing and l landed just up the road from
him. We were at the 88 mile mark. My flight lasted 4 hrs 45 min.
Not bad for my first flight ever up there! Hammer and 2 other pilots
found out this nice piece of info and headed to the southern mountain
range. They got another nice thermal to 15+ and eventually made it to
the 101 mile mark! This was the stellar day for most of us. 6 of us
made 88 miles or more. Three launched a little late and conditions had shut
down, so they landed below launch. The rest were strewn out across the
high desert. Once again thanks Sally for your efforts! I really
enjoyed that flight and couldn't have done it without you.
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27 This was a very satisfying flight partly because it was so long in coming and also because I set a goal for myself this year of flying 100 miles. I've been working out and it really paid off as fatigue was not a factor. I launched later than I wanted to because I was trapped behind a couple of launch potatos, but finally go airborn about 11:20 AM. The saddle to the right of launch was working and I immediately climbed above 10,000 feet. I drifted north and kept climbing well above 11,000, this was my lowest spot on the entire Sierra and I only dropped this low twice the rest of the flight. Once was at Black Mtn., and then on my final glide to the ground.
As I headed north to each spine I tended to stay back in the bowls and try and stay above 12,000. The first 15 miles were easy going, lift was always available, and it was rather leisurely for the Sierra. As I approached Onion Valley I hooked a good one that took me above 14,000. The drift, which had been from the SSW, started coming from the W. It was here that I went weightless once. The cummies also were forming to the E of the range and drifting out into the valley. At this point I decided to head out a little and hit some strong sink before finding some light lift under a nicely forming cloud. I drifted to the N with this and just floated easily for a while. Well above 13,000 I went on glide to the next set of clouds and lazily floated some more. As I approached Tinnemaha, I started angling more easterly, towards Black Mtn, on the other side of the Owens Valley.
I was under a cloud in light lift so just kept drifting with it. I was at 13,500 directly over the town of Big Pine and the middle of the valley. From there, Black Mtn. was a fairly easy glide. I reached it just below the top, and made a hunt for lift all the way across the face and back. Nothing! I decided to continue N and flew along the north spine. I hed been droping steadily and got down to 7900 when I hit a nice 4-500 fpm thermal that was drifting from the SW back into the White Mountains. As I got above 10,000 feet again, my vario battery died and I had to turn it off. This thermal was very solid though so I was easily able to stay with it above 12,000. I then continued my trek to the north.
The lift on the Whites was abundant and I stayed
back up near or above the crest, never dropping below 12,000 again. I had
my GPS to give me altitude readings. For a while there was another pilot a
half mile in front of me and I could use him as a thermal locator. I was
making very good time, just pausing long enough to climb back above 14,000 when
I dropped under 13,000. I was about 13,000 as I glided past White Mountain
Peak (14,250). I saw the other pilot hit some strong lift so I headed back
deeper into the range and hit a bommer! I started climbing and turned on
my vario to see how strong it was. It showed a climb rate above 1600 fpm
before cutting off again. I took this one to the frigid zone, getting
above 17,100 before going on speed glide again! At the 85 mile mark I was
very high and elated because I knew I had my 100 miler! I stayed high over
the top of the steep northern White Mountains, hardly stopping to circle again
until I approached Boundry Peak. I dropped down around 13,500, partly
because I had been high for so long I was a little cold. My water nozzle
was frozen solid! I circled in some lift and noticed a sail plane a
thousand feet below me. I also saw a couple of other gliders in the
area. I drifted directly over the top of Boundry and reached 16,600 before
starting to get cold and head north into Nevada.
My water was gone, my vario was dead and the wind was
pretty strong out of the west thru Montgomery Pass. To the east was
overdevolped, with a lot of virga in the air. To the north showed fewer
clouds, but was a little crosswind. I decided to keep heading north and
Craig was doing the same. I had never seen Craig the whole flight, but
this is when I flew by under him. He launched after me and passed my
somewhere on the Sierra. I had a harder time finding lift because I was so
high off the ground I had no reference as to whether I was rising or
sinking. I dropped to 9000 feet, but then found some lite lift. I
circled with it getting back to 10,400, but the drift was very strong away from
the road and into rugged terrain. Being unsure I could stay with the lift,
I decided to angle NE to a place I had landed once before (launching from
Piute). I made it with 1000 feet to spare. As I flared for landing
into a 15 mph wind my glider stalled abruplty and dropped to the ground! I
had left my VG on full! Oh well. I was 118 miles from where I took
off and it was just before 5 PM, a 5½ hour flight. Craig dirfted overhead
and flew another 16 miles to Mina before hitting a headwind and landing.
Richard was about 13 miles short of me, for a great flight of 105 or so.
Tony landed just north of Bishop for close to 70 miles. Dave and Bill were
somewhere around the 40 miles mark, and David Duke landed on the north end Lone
Pine on his first Owens flight.
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5 and 6 This was a camping weekend at Plowshare. We arrived at the Oak Tree LZ Sat morning, consolidated into one truck, and drove up to launch. The wind was blowing 15+ so there was no big hurry to set up. The wind started dropping and people started launching. I waited to help Janet launch and was the last one to go. As I picked up my glider and started rotating into the wind, me knee twisted and popped out of place! This was painful and I dropped to the ground. Luckily there was a lady who was driving for another pilot, so I asked her to stand on my foot and I pulled up on my thigh. This allowed the bone to pop back in place. It was a little sore but functional, so I walked to the edge and ran off.I got up and eventually headed toward Timber. I could only maintain even with the top so I headed out towards Hwy 166 from about 5000'. I got some lift in the foothills, where Craig was circling, but it died off so we headed out. Tony tried to catch what we had but was too low and ended up landing back in the foothills and had a couple hours walk out. Craig and I started setting up over the river bed to land, and about 400-500 feet above the ground I hit some light lift. I kept working it and eventually it turned on took us above 5500'! Craig joined John over the highway and I stayed back in the middle of Valley, and we all headed east.
I dropped below 4000 and started angling towards open areas along Wasioja. There was another pilot on the ground there, but I hit some lift and worked it above 7500'. Craig and John found some really good stuff along the Caliente's and got to 9300. Eventually we all converged on New Cuyama at 5000 or higher. John had a good one over Foothill Rd. so I went there and found it. Craig just missed it and went on glide, landing along Foothill. John did the same, but I worked this upto 8900'! From there I went on glide and made it to Hwy 33. I found a great field to land in after 3 Hrs. 20 Mins. and 32.7 miles, not bad for Plowshare!!
The next day we were hoping for more of the same. I launched and after not getting up at Timber again, tried my luck in the valley. I found lift in nearly the same places as the day before, but was not getting as high. Everyone else ended up landing at the Oaks, I think Dave made it just passed the gap. I found some floaty lift, that was a bit turbulent,east of Chalk. Eventually I made it to the High School in New Cuyama, almost 22 miles. 55 miles and nearly 6 hours for the weekend was very nice!!
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