Anybody been out to the Alvord Desert area lately? I have never been out there and may buzz out there this weekend. Is it reasonable to assume this time of year that is should be nice and dry (excepting any recent storms)?

I'm not sure about the current conditions but I heard the 150 club is having a fly in out there this weekend. My dad and his friend were talking about flying down for it.

Love it out there! Make sure you tie down well. More than once that I've been out there and had crazy winds come up out of nowhere. Over on the West side is where I've always seen the Wild Horses and there are some cool places to explore on the North End. Don't forget your swim trunks for the Springs unless your going commando. Bring plenty of rags to clean stuff up, everything you own will be covered in desert dust by the end of the weekend.

The Playa out there can appear perfectly dry from the air and actually be the goopiest mess you've ever seen. It can also be dry in areas and wet in others. It's a really great place to fly when it is dry, as it usually is this time of year.

There have been lots of T storms and rain across central Nevada and up into the Alvord the past few weeks. Land on the edges of the playa, or even better, the established dirt roads, then walk out and test the surface on foot before you put the airplane on it. Some of that crust will look rock hard, but in actuality it's an inch thick with bottomless mud underneath.

I've never got the airplane real stuck, yet... But I've buried my four-wheeler a time or two.

Gump

Always a good plan to have your big tire buddy land first!

Here is a little teaser for you.

Kitfox5 wrote:Here is a little teaser for you.

Marked at Private.

made it public, should work now.

that looks like fun. Hopefully when I get there it will be firm enough for us smaller tire folks.

I remember crossing the Steen Mountains from Rome with about a 40 knot head wind. Clear air but fierce air. Did not know that desert was so nice below. Glad I checked your post. Great video.

scottf wrote:Anybody been out to the Alvord Desert area lately? I have never been out there and may buzz out there this weekend. Is it reasonable to assume this time of year that is should be nice and dry (excepting any recent storms)?

Did you make it out?

I was out Elk hunting to the north, and if it wasn't wet on Saturday morning it certainly was on Saturday evening.

i did not.. had time to go on Sunday but winds were high and gusty so I thought I would wait until it would be more fun. Instead just did some gusty crosswind practice in the pattern. If weather cooperates maybe this sat. morning.

One time when Craig (Groundlooper) and I where flying around in my Savannah, landing on all the roads and lake beds in the Alvord area. I landed on one that I thought was totally dry, as was everything else.... holy shit was I wrong, had I applied any more brakes or any less power we would have been stuck for sure! I had to keep full power in to barely taxi to the side where luckily there was enough room and somewhat hard enough crap where keeping it in full power I was barely able to get it up to 20mph to get off the ground. Very close call, I feel lucky we didn't stick in and flip over or something worse than what happened. So always be careful and land as close to the edge of the dry lake beds as possible. A proper examination of the area on google earth might have made me think twice about landing there as it listed on there as "Lower Borax Reservoir".

On another note they are now charging for Alvord Hot Springs, as the new owners recently took control and built a house right there as well. I would suggest to anyone wanting a more private hot spring experience check out Bog Hot Springs, its 37nm from the south tip of the Alvord in Nevada, and you can stop by Fields Station or Denio Junction on the way. There is a long straight flat road you could land most anything, though everyone might not want to taxi all the way to the hot springs. Willow Creek Hot Springs is cool and only 16nm frin the Alvord, but the road is not quite as kind, though there is a straighter wide road about a mile or so away that is a lot smoother...

Hope you had or will have fun!

great videos. we are getting some rain this week, looking like weds. and thursday... after that looks dry. i am wondering if a day or two of dry weather is enough to dry it out enough by saturday or sunday to land safely near the edges?

Well finally made it out there this morning, my dad came along. Ground was really solid pretty much everywhere. I guess they had been doing test runs of one of the ground speed record cars there earlier in the week.

What a cool place, will have to spend a night there some time. Sure is quiet out there.


20131013_100946 by scottf, on Flickr


Met some guys waiting for the wind to come up so they could take out their kite buggies... that looks like fun. Nice of them to have a wind sock out for me.


20131013_100251 by scottf, on Flickr




20131013_100244 by scottf, on Flickr




Chateau de Alvord... we didn't soak but I guess clothing is optional. Too bad it was all men there. About a 5 minute walk from the playa up the road to the hotspring. Caretaker was not around, but I heard it is $5 for a soak.


20131013_104630 by scottf, on Flickr



20131013_110526 by scottf, on Flickr

Those of you who have landed at the Alvord (or other dry lakebed), is it difficult to judge height above the ground in the landing flare due to the large featureless surface? I know sometimes float plane pilots have trouble if the water is absolutely calm.

Jim

I found the ground had enough texture to it (little cracks, color variance, little rocks here and there) that it wasn't much different than landing on pavement.

It can be rough on depth perception on the bigger playas. Of course then it's big enough to do a glassy water landing, and wheel it on with a dab of power.

Gump

jiott wrote:Those of you who have landed at the Alvord (or other dry lakebed), is it difficult to judge height above the ground in the landing flare due to the large featureless surface? I know sometimes float plane pilots have trouble if the water is absolutely calm.

Jim

If the lighting is just right it can be tough but there is sooooo much room you just keep pulling the power back until you touch down. My Avatar picture is on the Alvord. I swung by there on my last Idaho trip. Was only a few miles out of the way I couldn't resist.