Marble: 9:10 am Creede: 11:57 am Today s Airtime: 2.8 hrs Total PIC Time: Total Logged Time:

Transcription

1 Sunday, September 10, 2017 Cobra flight #599, PIC #612, 1 landings Lilly Lake, Redstone Castle, Schoefield Pass, Maroon Bells, Maroon Lake, Half Moon Pass Marble: 9:10 am Creede: 11:57 am Today s Airtime: 2.8 hrs Total PIC Time: Total Logged Time: I woke up around 6:30, and it took me 2.5 hours to packup and take off. I actually have to pack, as opposed to the airplane pilots who just shove their wet tents and sleeping bags in the back seat of their planes. Yesteday s rain soaked everything down pretty good, and slowed me down. Should have got up earlier.

2 I back-taxied up to the upper campground for take off. Another hard bounce from a clump of grass dislodged the power plug on my radio again. I continued downstream and made a pass over Lily Lake, a beautiful pond above and on the right side of the canyon. I continued down the canyon towards Redstone Castle.

3 I was here a month ago with my wife to do a tour of the castle. Unfortunately, it was closed for remodeling. You can see the castle at the center of the picture above. Here, I am on my second pass by Redstone Castle, flying back up the canyon towards Marble.

4 I was able to nudge the power plug for the radio under the fairing with my foot and my radio came back up. I ll fix this properly when I get back home. I was able to make radio contact with the pilots on the ground getting ready for takeoff. Tom and Jay had flown up from Del Norte this morning and landed while I was packing up my trike. I only had the chance to talk to them while packing. A few other planes might have arrived while I was downstream at Redstone. I continued canyon to the head of the valley.

5 Beyond the Beaver Lake, the large lake upstream of Marble, I looked down and saw a beautiful cascading waterfall. I later found it is called Crystal Gorge. I would be an easy hike from town. I will definitely check this out the next time I am up here.

6 I continued up the Crystal Gorge to Schoefield Meadow. The 10,400 ft altitude meadow had a road down the center with fantastic landing potential. There was no reason to take the chance on a Look what I did! style landing here, but it was nice to have as a landout option.

7 Beyond Schoefield Meadow was beautiful Crystal Lake.

8 I was had crossed the divide at Crystal Lake, but I wanted to look around some more. To the left was a wide open valley that curved around a corner. Lots of high altitude tundra landscape. Just the place to explore.

9 I later learned this valley is called Rustler s Gulch. It seemed to climb forever up to a jagged ridgeline. The smooth grassy fields were in such contrast to the usual rocks or trees covered the terrain.

10 I climbed higher and higher in the valley, always wary of getting boxed in, and keeping an escape route open down the canyon.

11 Finally I cleared the ridge and looked over to the other side. A beautiful valley, nestled under Maroon Peak. I knew were I was now, and made the leap to the other side.

12 The wind was dead calm. I took advantage of this to cruise down the canyon, way below the Bells. I was glad I had my O2 system today, because I felt so euphoric, I would have been certain I was suffering from hypoxia. I savored every second of this exhilarating flight.

13 I flew down canyon and Maroon Lake came into view.

14 Beyond Maroon Lake, was the canyon that joined the next canyon to the east. I headed down to the intersection.

15 Looking further downstream past the intersection, the canyon seemed to extend forever. Down there and around the corner was the Aspen Class D airport. I did not go any further.

16 Which way should I go? The other canyon looked very tempting. But I played it safe and retraced my path so I could fly under the Maroon Bells again.

17 Under the Bells.

18 I had to clear the ridge to reach Rustler s Gulch. So I circled up along side Maroon Peak, then floated over to the other side.

19 Here I am over the divide and back on the Crested Butte side. The East River flows down this canyon past Gothic Mountain and Crested Butte Mountain.

20 I spiraled down and followed the East River down the canyon, all the way down to the Gunnison River. Then I started my final climb of the day to reach Creede.

21 The clouds started to build all around me as I flew past Saguache Park and Elk Park on my way to Half Moon Pass. Although it was still early in the day, it was raining about 20 miles to the East over the north end of the San Luis Valley. I have made this crossing a couple times before and I knew I would have to climb to nearly to get over the pass to Creede.

22 When I made it to the arrowhead shaped mesa, I knew I was almost there. Half Moon was a couple miles further, and then I could glide all the way to Creede.

23 Once I crossed Half Moon Pass, the skies seem to clear ahead of me.

24 I circled the airstrip and saw the winds were calm. When the wind wants to blow hard here, it is usually down the canyon, so I circled around and landed uphill. I landed and taxied over to the big hangar.

25 The courtesy car at Creede was in need of some repairs. I parked my trike outside the hangar and a family with two pilots to come over for a look. The wife flew helicopters and the husband airplanes. They were going into town for groceries and I asked them if they could give me a ride into town for some gas. They dropped me off in from of Kips Grille, where I grabbed a bite to eat, then picked me up after shopping to take me back to the airport. They saved me from a backbreaking mile long carry with the gas can. I have done it before and it is no fun. What a nice family.

26 It started to rain so I retreated into the hangar to unpack and dry everything off. I packed up everything before sleeping on the hangar floor, so I could get an early start the next morning.

27 Here is my GPS track for today s amazing flight. Probably my best ever. Half Moon Pass Creede Crested Butte Rustler s Gulch East Marroon Canyon Gothic Mountain Marroon Peak Marble Airstrip Redstone Castle Marroon Lake