Indian Summer

Paragliding is just full of surprises - some good, some bad. It's the end of October and, while today looked flyable, I didn't expect to get to 5,200 feet. But that's what happened today.

Forecasts were mixed but looked best in the Gorge. On the way out Todd phoned to say that Bingen seemed blown out. I wasn't that worried - if it wasn't possible to fly, the hiking would be good. Bingen was blown out, so a large group of pilots headed S across the river to Bald Butte. The Columbia Gorge can act like a pipe, funneling winds into or out of the American continent. Sometimes the wind is howling in the gorge but 10 miles N or S it is relatively calm - today turned out to be such a day.

At the standard LZ, we worked out logistics and headed up. Launch is beautiful with Mount Hood just to the South, Adams to the North and orchards below. The wind was strong but manageable, it was obviously soarable but I expected it to be purely ridge soaring. Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to launch; I got ready and launched immediately after Joe. After maybe 10 minutes soaring at launch height I caught my first thermal. Toby launched and immediately joined me. The thermals were pretty wimpy (it is the end of October...) and with the strong wind there was a lot of drift - but they were the means to get high. Others launched and stayed up but they seemed to ridge soaring just above launch while Toby and I got high.

The strong wind made it hard to get really high without drifting over a huge forest to the SE. I headed out over the valley, hoping for a mini-XC. I had to fly into the wind and didn't really get much lift; I headed to an 'approved' target LZ T (a local pilot) told me about and had picked out a really nice bail-out. As the bail-out was looking more and more likely, I saw a horse in it - damn! I turned back and landed in a nice field. Some locals took pictures and asked questions and took me back to the 'normal' LZ.

Everyone was really happy with their day. On the way back to Portland I stopped in the gorge for a quick hike. All in all, a really good fall day!

Tracklog -> http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/281822

Photos -> http://picasaweb.google.com/DMMullin/BaldButteSelected#