This last Tuesday/Wednesday, my neighbor(who I taught to fly a few years ago) and I headed south to check out some strips and have a good time. We made our first stop in Huntington to stretch our legs and then headed over to Cedar Mt. to check it out. From there we headed south, plugging in Lat/Lons to check out different strips. We flew over Mexican Mt. and it looked like it was in good shape. I would have liked to have dropped in, but we were still pretty heavy since we had topped off with fuel before leaving that morning. We flew over Hidden Splendor and, again, it looked like it was in good shape. Having not been in there before and not being 100% on the approach/departure, + being heavy, we just enjoyed it from the air.
After another leg stretch and seat swap at Hanksville, we headed over to Angel Point. After landing, we walked the east/west strip and cleared some big rocks off the runway. It also is in good shape and was one of the few that has a windsock. From there we continued south over Lake Powell to Bull Frog and CAl Black. Another seat swap and we took off for the short flight to Nokai Dome, where we would spend the night. We had a bit of a tailwind on landing at Nokai that made it a little interesting, but the strip is in good shap with just a few mildly soft spots. We spent the night there and had a good time doing some shooting, exploring the strip, and just enjoying the views. That night we watched the space shuttle and station duo streak across the sky. That was cool to see.
The next morning we loaded up and headed to Monument Valley for breakfast. The resturant at Gouldings made a mean breakfast burrito. After checking out the sites there for a bit, we left to go fly around the valley a bit and take in the scenery before heading for Fry Canyon. Fry also is in great shape. We saw that the windsock was tied to the bottom of one of the windsock poles. We thought that we would do a good deed and put it up, but in order to put it up we either needed a ladder to get to the top of the pole that had the ropes to tie it on with, or we needed a crescent wrench to lower the second pole + something to tie it on with. Seeing that we didn't have what was needed to get it up, we left it tied to the base of the pole as we had found it.
By this time it was time to head back home. Our route home took us over a bunch of strips that we had flown the day before so we could check them out again. We had a great trip with great weather and great company. Every year it seems I would miss getting down south before Idaho opened up, then I'd spend all my money on flying up there. I was glad to get south this year. Here are some pics from our trip. Due to a problem with my memory card, I lost the last 46 pics, including those from Fry. I guess a reason for another trip south. Enjoy!
Cedar Mountain
San Rafael Swell
"But the AFD said there was fuel here in Hanksville!"
Looking west at Angel Point
Over Lake Powell
On final at Nokai Dome.
On the ground at Nokai.
Looking east at Nokai.
Around the bonfire that night.
Looking east at Nokai the next morning.
On final at Monument Valley.
Monument Valley
Sight seeing around Monument Valley.
