I got this email yesterday from the RAF as I'm sure many here did as well. I hadn't seen it posted so I thought I'd throw it up here. Great news to see cooperative progress being made. Also, a heads up for anyone playing in that area later this month.

GSP


Patience, partnership and persistence payoff. By working together the RAF, UBCP and the BLM are getting things done.

Utah's Mexican Mountain (39.02N/110.45W) was approved for public use by the BLM in 2008. Utah Back Country Pilots (UBCP) proposed a plan to maintain the runway, making it safer. UBCP proposed "citizen managers" to complete routine inspections of the strip and camping areas for the BLM. The BLM folks liked the idea and completed an Environmental Assessment. Finally this summer, UBCP received a permit to complete the work. The Recreational Aviation Foundation is partnering with UBCP on this exciting project.

The landing strip is in a Wilderness Study Area, prohibiting motorized equipment. We have contracted with a wilderness trail contractor to bring horse-drawn equipment to fill and compact low areas and clean the east end to bring the runway back to its original condition.

The work is scheduled for 10 days between Sept. 20 – 30. As there will be horses and equipment on the runway, the landing strip will be closed except for essential personnel transport during those dates. (Note to UBCP: This will overlap the Huntington Fly-in. We hope the closure will not inconvenience those hoping to visit Mexican Mountain at that time.)

We need a few volunteer pilots as on-site UBCP/RAF representatives for two or three day stints. Your duties will be to coordinate with and direct the contractor and maintain a safe working environment with respect to air traffic. You will also interface with BLM staff on-site. It is important that we do just what we proposed and not disturb anything outside of the original runway. Of course, friends and family are welcome to camp with you. You will need a good hand-held aviation radio.

One cannot drive to the site. It is a 2.5 mile walk from the nearest road. The terrain is easy over a closed road.

If you can help please contact [email protected] or 801-678-1293.

Sincerely,

Steve Durtschi, RAF Utah Liaison and UBCP Board







Recreational Aviation Foundation
1711 West College Street
Bozeman, MT 59715-4913
United States
406-582-1RAF (406-582-1723)
theraf.org

Join Team RAF!

RAF Mission:
“Keeping the legacy of recreational aviation strong by preserving, maintaining and creating public use recreational and backcountry airstrips nationwide”

Has anyone been to Mexican Mtn. since the runway improvement? Does anyone have any new pictures of the strip after the work had been done? Curious to see what it looks like now.

Thanks,

Stig

That is what I saw on UBCP.org and since it's now October I was excited to see if there is news, pictures any word on how it went. As things often go they might be in the thick of it at the moment.

Jus' curious.

I heard that they lengthened the strip by a couple hundred feet when they cleared out some tamarisk on the east end. I was there a few weeks before the work party and it was fine.
Go do a low pass and check it out to see if it might work for you.

Get a hold of Steve Durtschi. His contact info is on the RAF site. He will know.

From UBCP President Steve Durtschi:

"It was beautiful when we all left a few weeks ago, but I heard it was about 2/3 flooded by the following day with the record rains they received"

These photos are from Steve.

The guys working the strip with horses:


Aerial of the strip with the work finished:


Stars at night:

Wow. The strip is looking good! I've had the pleasure of both hiking to and flying in to that strip, and it's nice to see it in good shape. Way to go UBCP and RAF!

I wonder how long it is now?!?

Damn, now even the big tire cub guys can land there! I bet it's 1,900 feet or so.

I am planning on checking it out on the 29th. If anyone gets down there before, please post a pirep here or on shortfield.

Thanks,
Cory

Cory,

We landed our Murphy Rebel at Mexican Mountain on October 12. It was in excellent condition except for that east end that had always been overgrown and unusable. That end had been flooded and was still wet when we were there. If you were used to landing there before the runway work, you will not have a problem.

We just spent a week operating out of Hanksville with motor home and airplane and it was a wonderful time to explore the Utah back country! Happy Canyon, Wee Hope, Fry Canyon, and Nokai Dome were in good shape too. Dirty Devil was a little overgrown, but probably landable - we didn't land there.

Have fun!

Jan

Awesome! Thanks for the pirep Jan. Hopefully I'll get there in a couple of weeks.

You are very welcome! Have fun!

I landed at Mexican Mountain yesterday on my way back from the Lake Powell area. The strip is as wide as it's ever been, and it sure is long! The East of the strip was extended to it's original length, making the strip about 2,000ft long. The horse crew that worked on it also widened the airstrip and re-worked the surface. Unfortunately, a few days after the work was completed, central Utah was inundated by rainstorms and the strip was flooded. The East end is still a bit damp, but the West end is just fine. The mud on the strip East of the flag has dried up and cracked and sounds like breaking pottery when you walk on it. There was some drift wood on the strip that I threw off, and there are some ruts that were created by the water on the South edge of the strip across from the wind sock. Someone has filled a few ruts that were created in the same area but in the center of the strip. The whole strip is usable except the extreme East end that is still wet. Just stay in the center of the strip and you should be fine. I image that the mud cracking will deteriorate over time. I've attached a video and some pictures below.

You can see the ruts in the take-off section of the video. Watch for the bright red dirt near the flag. The middle ruts have been filled, but the one on the right edge (Southern edge) of the strip could ruin your day if you didn't know about it.



Shameless photo of my airplane:


Looking down the strip from the East (photo taken about 1/4 of the way in from the Eastern edge)


Cracked mud surface on the Eastern third of the strip:


Size 13 Altra Running shoes for scale:


Nasty looking rut on the edge of the strip across from the wind sock:

Cool! Thanks Allen! Looks like the leaves are just starting to change there. Hopefully I'll make it next week.

That looks awesome! No problem at all for the Mooney now with it cleaned up!

amacbean wrote:Nasty looking rut on the edge of the strip across from the wind sock:

Looks like a guy with a wingsuit ate it right there.

I was there on Saturday to Sunday (10/8-10/19). There were a couple of Maule's from Colorado there and on my pass over the field they let me know about the "divots" just about where the windsock is. That's about where my mains touched down but not my nose. We filled in the divots in the middle of the strip but I had only brought a small hatchet so we didn't fix the side shown in the picture above.

Thanks for filling the ruts Stigmon. I need to get a light weight shovel of some sort and start carrying it in the plane. I had nothing with me to work on filling the the rut.

"Always leave a place better than you found it." I heard that somewhere.

Nice job! Utahans really love the beautiful lands they are blessed with.