Val Air Gliding Club

Today we drove down from Mesa Verde to Durango, a lovely little town with a lovely little gliding field - beautiful green grass strip nestled next to the main road through a narrow valley. The site is a bit technical - the runway has a kink in it and a river right on one side and powerlines / railway line on the other. But it is a fantastic spot for XC.

Looking toward the Needles from above Val Air

I took a check flight in a Blanik and then flew the LS8 towards the Needles, then back across Mesa Verde (where the Pueblo villages are) and on past Blanding to Natural Bridges monument, and out toward Monument Valley before heading back nearly to Navaho Lake. Lots of thunderstorms, got rained on a couple of times but stayed mostly well clear under the good cu. Best climb was about 13 kt!

San Huan River near Mexican Hat

Here is a shot of the San Huan river, carving through the desert.

Switchback down 2000ft mesa face near Mexican Hat

This is a shot of the switchback road that we were planning to take the glider down between Natural Bridges and Monument Valley - fortunately we were warned off doing so.

And finally, the steam train that still runs a passenger service from Durango to Silverton every day... taken from our campsite.

Steam train

Going past Durango field.

This may be the train used in Butch Cassidy and the sundance kid: certainly it was this line!

Allan had a good flight exploring Natural Arches NP and other places and I thing he is right now feverishly entering a blog update with a great picture - I saw them earlier and they were all very good. Especially scary was the photo of the dirt road we nearly took the RV and glider down (it wasn't dirt to start ); a passing car stopped and told us we wouldn't make it- she was right!

Canyonland, Arches, Rafting, Natural Bridges, and Monument Valley

Well a lot has happened since our last major post in Capitol Reef NP - but we haven't had internet to report it all! First stop was Canyonlands National Park, Islands in the Sky - a fantastic mesa overlooking the Colorado and Green Rivers.
Here Dave does his Moose imitation:

And here is the view from one of the overlooks - this is not an aerial shot! The Green river is about 3000ft below and just visible.




We spent the night in Moab - the uranium mining centre of the US - and also a great base for exploring the parks. Here Grommet takes us into Arches NP:

Dave prepares to shoot Pine Arch:

And here is Delicate Arch at sunset - a long hike but well worth it. The view is spectacular - what you can't see is that there were a couple of hundred people standing next to us!









Next day we took a white water raft trip down West Water on the Colorado River - no photos because of the risk of getting the cameras wet - but it was great fun and a good day out.

Following that it was on to Natural Bridges National Monument - a Natural Bridge is formed by a river eroding a shortcut and cutting off a previous meander, whereas a Natural Arch is formed by erosion that is not above a watercourse. It stormed while we were here...

The next day it was on to Monument Valley where the meals were also monumental - we shared a taco and could hardly finish it. The valley is run by the Navaho Nation and they have their own laws not answerable to the state or federal authorities (except for major felonies). They even have their own police cars, courts, and (I assume) jails.

Following that, we took the drive to Mesa Verde in Colorado - passing Four Corners on the way -where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado all meet and an endless string of witless tourists lines up to spread-eagle themselves with one limb in each state. Mesa Verde though is fabulous and easily lives up to expectations. Another highlight was seeing a black bear (in fact grey) ambling out onto the road in front of us - I had to hit the brakes hard to miss it and unfortunately there was no camera at the ready. Here's one of the Pueblo villages:

It's nice to have an internet connection again and to catch up with the results from Uvalde. Go Team, Go!

Allan explores the cliff top dwellings

At Mesa Verde

Lots of interesting buildings and even some long ladders and tunnels as well on one of the tours!

Most pics are still in my Fuji .

Power Horse

This is a first generation tractor; bought and used in Fruita which is in Capitol Reef National Park now. This Oasis had/has many fruit orchards, we have apples and peaches with us now from there.

The principal behind this 1930s Power Horse, was that it replaced the horses quite literally - you can see the rope connectors for the controls. That's right, you hitched it up! Makes sense actually.

For Chad - one in Sepia...

Rain Pixie

They only appear in the rain, coming down out of these ancient trees...

500km Out and Return, with lots of deviation

Today I declared a 500km O/R up to Dry Mountain, near Salt Lake City and back. At 11am the sky was almost cloudless, but by midday it was already starting to look stormy. I launched full of water and struggled to climb under the overcast but eventually found 7kt and started straight away. Only a few km into the flight I had to divert to the east of a large rainshower - and then had to thread my way through the mountains, between two more storms, to get back on the western side of the overdevelopment (the east was forecast to storm completely). The rest of the flight up to Dry Mountain was a process of avoiding the storms, and I got the turn just before the heavens opened. A direct route back to Parowan was clearly impossible, and I got pushed further and further west into the desert, as the storms spread. Eventually I could see a route home, and as you can see the task looks more like an FAI triangle than an O/R. Very rough, strong, small thermals - almost impossible to center. I got closer today than ever before to opening my brakes to avoid being sucked into cloud.

The wackiest Out and Return trace ever

Looking North to Salt Lake City from Dry Mountain

The Western Desert of the Great Basin, with its 9000ft peaks

Reviewing these photos I can sympathise with anyone who thinks it looks like a great day - well it was, but very difficult. I just didn't take any photos of the storms, that's all.