Anyone been to Alvord Desert recently?

If so is it dry enough yet to land an aircraft with 'little wheels' yet?

When in doubt, use the road.

We should get a group together and go check it out!

clippwagon wrote:We should get a group together and go check it out!

X2

Having just recently made my first BCP meet n greet, and enjoying it a bunch. I'd sure like to tag along to the Alvord Desert. Never been.
Chaz

Overflew Alford today after stopping at Denio . It looked like there were pockets of runoff due to the runoff but Denio was so dry the ground was cracked. If you are planning on camping be prepared for the weather the low temp at Denio was 15 today and 11 the day before .

Sometimes the Playa on the Alvord appears dry but is actually muddy. And there are zones of wetness that are nearly impossible to distinguish from the zones of dryness. Exercise extreme caution, because you will probably flip over if hit the mud during these conditions. I have a friend who drove his Toyota Landcruiser with a trailer full of toys out there. He was going sort of fast across the desert and he hit some soft stuff. I believe that he had to leave his rig sitting there and returned to recover his ride a couple of months later.

I'm heading that direction with a friend today en route to Boise It ended up that we will be flying an Arrow, so no landing on the playa for us this trip. I will do a few low passes and report what we see.

fern_hopper wrote:Anyone been to Alvord Desert recently?

If so is it dry enough yet to land an aircraft with 'little wheels' yet?

I just landed at Denio on 4/12/13. They are out of gas until replacement tanks are installed later this spring. The lake looked tempting- dry on the East but moist looking by the hot spring. Didn't land, because I was planning on gassing up first. Next time...