Across the Snake River Plain, up the Big Lost River Valley, through Double Springs Pass low level into the Little Lost River Valley and on into May for breakfast. Then, backtracked south 40 miles or so and finally showed up at my solar installation jobsite.

The first thing the rancher says to me: "I'm missing a couple bulls, they're up in Sawmill Canyon, can you go look for them"? I'd flown right by it earlier..., I told him I was here to work, not fly, (and kept a straight face),and I really did have to after screwing off all morning, so when the weather clears I'll head back up to take a looksee, he didn't have to twist my arm too hard.

The iconic Big Southern Butte, a handy landmark even with GPS, I've been eyeballing a landing site up there, right where the hang gliders launch.


The lower hang glider launch site at King Mt. in the Big Lost, it makes a good landing site also, the takeoff was smooth, very steep and fun!


The Big Lost, what can I say? It blows me away everytime I fly there. Awesome sceneary.


Slipping through 8800' Double Springs Pass, dead calm, with 12 and 13 K peaks on either side, and smooth as glass. On the other side, I looked at my airspeed 80 mph, then the GPS, 124 mph, still smooth, and a half minute later the tail wind dispersed, it was just right at the summit.


A deceased friend of mine was involved with the design and installation of this hydroelectric system about 25 years ago, 48" dia. pipe, about 1000' of fall, LOTS of power, a real money maker. I finally got around to following the faint signs of the buried pipeline from the power house (about 10 miles from my job), up the alluvial flow, through a narrow canyon, and then into a little valley where the penstock intake started. Interesting to see from the air, how it all works. Not a bad view further up either.

Ever find those bulls?

Nice photos and travelogue, CourierGuy. That part of the country used to be my "stomping grounds" many years ago when I lived and worked in that area (Idaho Falls and INEL, respectively). When I was working at the "site", I always wanted to go hiking up on Big Southern Butte just to see what it looked like up there ... never went, though.

I was involved in assessing small scale hydropower sites back when I was in college (University of Idaho) and in my first engineering job out of school (for a consulting firm in Nampa, ID). Brings back memories! In the late 70s/early 80s everybody thought small scale hydropower would really take off ... then the bottom dropped out of the oil market in late 1982, and the industry was stillborne!

Duane

Nice pics, I flew right by Big Southern Butte on my flight back from Washington a few weeks ago. You have a nice part of the country to fly in.

nmflyguy wrote:Nice photos and travelogue, CourierGuy. That part of the country used to be my "stomping grounds" many years ago when I lived and worked in that area (Idaho Falls and INEL, respectively). When I was working at the "site", I always wanted to go hiking up on Big Southern Butte just to see what it looked like up there ... never went, though.

I was involved in assessing small scale hydropower sites back when I was in college (University of Idaho) and in my first engineering job out of school (for a consulting firm in Nampa, ID). Brings back memories! In the late 70s/early 80s everybody thought small scale hydropower would really take off ... then the bottom dropped out of the oil market in late 1982, and the industry was stillborne!

Duane

I agree with both you and Tom. Hydro power is a untapped source that could help big time.

Lets see,, 1000 foot drop in a 48" pipe ?? hhmmm... That's 400 psi and god only knows how much volume. That is ALOT of stored energy that re news itself with winter snowpack.

Ben.

Maybe the Rancher wanted to visit with Courierguys wife while he was out looking for the "ranchers" bulls

nmflyguy wrote:Nice photos and travelogue, CourierGuy. That part of the country used to be my "stomping grounds" many years ago when I lived and worked in that area (Idaho Falls and INEL, respectively). When I was working at the "site", I always wanted to go hiking up on Big Southern Butte just to see what it looked like up there ... never went, though.

I was involved in assessing small scale hydropower sites back when I was in college (University of Idaho) and in my first engineering job out of school (for a consulting firm in Nampa, ID). Brings back memories! In the late 70s/early 80s everybody thought small scale hydropower would really take off ... then the bottom dropped out of the oil market in late 1982, and the industry was stillborne!

Duane

I was remiss in not noting the altitude of the intake, but I just Google Earthed my flight (how frigging cool is that, a few days later, sitting home, drinking coffee, and reliving the flight via the internet, pulling back and getting the larger picture, seeing other items of interest for future flights etc.??!!) and indeed, 1,000' of fall in the 4' pipe. I was all set up to land at the intake site, but the road was single track with very tall sagebrush (lots of water nearby) close alongside, so tall I would have had an interference problem with the wings. This was not evident in my several overflights, and not until dropping down into the canyon and eyeballing the sage height straight on short final did I decide not to land, which lead to an interesting uphill canyon abort go round. I was running short of time so bagged it and flew the pipeline back down to the power house where I landed and checked it out. From 20' away you could feel the ground vibrating, and the noise was like a freight train going by! What a great setup, hard to beat gravity for a renewable energy source.

Google earth the power house, and you can follow the faint trace of the pipeline uphill. 44 degrees 09' 28.12" N 113 degrees 18' 57.24" W.

The Big Southern Butte: it has a road going up, pretty near 4 wheel drive as I recall, and what used to be a fire lookout on top. It used to be manned in the summer months, usually by a retired married couple, who we used to visit when up there for hang gliding. We would bring them that days newspaper, pre internet they were living on a desert island (up in the sky) for days at a time, and always appreciated it! Every now and then I still do that for the cowboys who summer over at Frenchmans Cabin at the bottom, right by the airstrip. Many 100 mile plus flights have been flown from there,(the Butte) clear into Montana, by the current crop of HG pilots, the lift is so strong it can pull your socks down, right up there with Owens Valley for sheer awesome UP power, most varios would be pegged (2,000' FPM +climb).

No bull looking yet, weather has moved in.

My own little micro hydro system is still plugging along, I'm down to one nozzle with the low water, 300 watts is all, but it's 24/7, earlier it is 600 watts, stored in Idaho Powers grid, I'll use it in the winter for radiant panel heaters, no batteries involved.