Looking for the gouge - flew over it today, looks pretty nice. Not much turned up on a search. Can you camp there? Hiking in the nearby hills? Swimming in the lake?

Cheers,
Vick

Hi Vick,
I've flown into Gravely Valley...it's sort of a strange place. Regarding the approach, they say it's a one way strip, but in a Cessna 140 I found plenty of room to land either direction, though I preferred to only depart to the south. The topography should make it pretty obvious that with any sort of wind things could be squirrely.

The northern end of the strip appeared to be a popular shooting area, and a road vivisects the southern third of the strip, so there is some vehicle traffic. A few donuts had been spun in the runway...a few hundred, actually. I know there is a campground on the south-east corner of the runway, but I don't know if it's "open" in the winter...it appears to be there for the OHV folks, not the flyers. Camping anywhere on the strip or in the bush would be no problem.

When I was there in January of '07 a heard of elk was taking up a lot of the southern half of the strip. I don't know about the fishing in Lake Pillsbury, but I don't see why there wouldn't be at least a couple trout somewhere in the lake. Hiking seemed lackluster at best, and honestly I wouldn't leave my plane unattended on that strip for any length of time. I'd also bring a gun or five, as something about the area just screams white trash and meth production to me. That's just a gut feeling based on the area, and on eyeballing the handful of people who drove by while I was there, but my gut feelings have been accurate more times than not.

Cell phones do not work from the strip, but there are a few homes close by, so summoning help shouldn't be too big a problem if you blow a tire or are otherwise disabled. As far as I know there aren't any tie-downs, so bring the makings for your own.

I've only been there once, so there might be a whole lot more to the area than I'm telling, but that's my take on it. Maybe sometime we can fly over there together and take a closer look.

You can camp there.

I flew in to check out camping possibilities last fall.
Plenty of camping sites but the one closest to the
runway was closed last fall.

Plenty of gravel, some of which is grapefruit sized,
if you stray from the tracks in the runway. Lots of
length on the one way runway so we did our mag
check/runup moving.

At that time, there was extreme fire danger (not quite
enough to close it) and lots of burrs and foxtails.

-rjb

Vick wrote:Looking for the gouge - flew over it today, looks pretty nice. Not much turned up on a search. Can you camp there? Hiking in the nearby hills? Swimming in the lake?

Cheers,
Vick

Been about ten years since I was in there, but nice place to fly. Lake and camping under the wing yours for the taking. Land to the north, take off to the south if using the runway, and land north of the road. There's also lots of room to land east/west if the winds are howling, also north of where the road crosses the runway.

Gump

Thanks gang, good feedback! Looking forward to a chance to check it out, though I think I will bring some pea shooters along for comfort factor as Hammer suggested. The sketch factor of some of the folks I've encountered off the beaten path in norcal is alarming and the meth thing is particularly alarming.

The technical term for meth is Powdered Asshole.

A friend of mine here in Calaveras county had some bumper stickers made up.

CRANKSTERS SUCK!! in big red letters.

I have seen them proudly displayed on lots of bumpers and the occasional road sign.

Lots of them around here and even worse as you get off the beaten path.

WW

Hi Vick, I use to fly up thier all the time up until 4 years ago with my daughter. I never had a problem with anyone but that dosen't mean nothing can happen. I always brought my peace maker just in case. If you have access to Pilot Getway, Spring 2004 magazine it has a good article about Gravelly Valley. Some of the 180/185 club members fly up thier to target pratice during the good months. Thier is a store and a resort about 3 miles west of the strip. Fishing for trout and bass is good at times. The resort has boats to rent if I remember correctly. If you want to stay at the resort they will come and pick you up. If you want more information just let me know.

Vick, I forgot to tell you, bring your own water as thier is none around other than the lake as far a I know.

Hi Vick, me and a buddy just drove up there around Christmas to check it out. I have always wanted to fly in there and possibly camp, but figured I would check it out first by car. The strip seemed to be in pretty good shape, no big rocks as far as I could tell. There was some rednecks shooting guns at the north end. The Elk herd were there also but were pretty far south by the lake. The lake itself was pretty low, I talked to a local who was driving past and he said that F&G were recommending people not eat the fish out of the lake cause of mercury levels. Other than that, I still want to fly in there someday and camp.

If no one else does I may be over it again next week, so I can snap a few then...

And oh yeah, thanks to the others who have chimed in, lots more good info...

Here are a couple of videos of Gravelly valley

http://n4764u.multiply.com/video/item/1

http://b757dad.multiply.com/video/item/1

Nigel
C180H

The flying club I used to be in flies up here once a year to camp. I've never been but have been wanting to check it out. Anyone been up here yet this year? I was thinking that Breakfast at Nancy's in Willows and then a stop in here to check it out would make a good Sunday flight sometime. Anyone interested?

AvidFlyer wrote:The flying club I used to be in flies up here once a year to camp. I've never been but have been wanting to check it out. Anyone been up here yet this year? I was thinking that Breakfast at Nancy's in Willows and then a stop in here to check it out would make a good Sunday flight sometime. Anyone interested?

I fly in there every few years, but I'm there every summer boat camping and I make sure to always go out and check out the airstrip. Its always the same. Always doughnuts carved in the ground by yahoos, but never much damage because the ground is so HARD. Really hard, like can't even pound in rebar without bending it hard. But there is damage on the runway next to the road, so come in a little high and land well past where the paved road crosses.

Here's a little more info and pics:

http://westcoastflyingadventures.com/2008/04/13/lake-pillsbury-gravelly-valley-airstrip/

I flew in there a couple months ago and it was a very stable surface even with the rains. It is a good idea to land past the bisecting road.

I went this last summer, if I can go you should be able to make it!! Its not a bad strip but not alot there either. The North side of the field is a shooting range!