Come meet local Pilots (those from nearby states too) and enjoy some exceptional mountain flying in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. For the fifth year in a row, the Colorado Recreational Aviation Committee and the manager of La Garita Creek are holding a fly-in at the ranch. This event is open to everyone and is one of the best ways to experience what Colorado has to offer. The fly-in is scheduled for Friday Night June 2nd to Sunday morning June 4th. As always, a fully catered event. Airfield ID: 5CO6
While the timeline & plans are fairly causal (other than the catered chuckwagon dinner on Saturday night), there are lots of fly-out opportunities to nearby airstrips. These include Morning Shadows, Hooper, Quarter Quarter Circle, Saguache, Creede, and Telluride. The excellent hosts at Hooper Sand Dunes Pool are also inviting pilots to fly-in to their airstrip on Saturday afternoon for lunch and a soak. This family friendly location has excellent food, clean facilities, soaking pools of various temperatures and a new area for a quieter soaks.
Pilots can camp alongside their planes or anywhere on the property. Bring your own tiedowns. Prefer a warm bed and hot shower? Cabins of various sizes are also available to rent. Also bring your mountain bike and/ or hiking shoes. The ranch opens up to an expansive BLM trail system for those seeking ground based adventures.
Most importantly, please register and fill out the liability waiver at the following link. This allows us to order enough food and supplies to make sure everyone is well fed.
http://www.flycolorado.org/index.php/lo ... creek-fly/
A couple other Important Notes:
Fuel: 100LL is available at both Del Norte (KRCV) and Leach (1V8) airfields. Check Airnav.com for the latest prices.
Weather:
Although we usually don’t cancel the fly-in, this doesn’t mean it’s always accessible due to weather. This is due to all of the advance food orders and volunteer folks who are lined up to help. The San Luis Valley of Colorado is a fairly arid environment and the storms are fast moving. Although, you name it, we’ve experienced it. High winds, high temps, canyon winds, thunderstorms, rain showers and even forest fires have presented themselves. We stress that you remain safe and operate within your comfort zone. Colorado has unique weather patterns and challenging high altitude terrain. If you don’t usually fly in this part of the state, this is probably not the place to test things out. Often times, weather in the surrounding mountains causes disruptions to accessing the San Luis Valley. Keep this in mind as you plan your arrival and departure dates. The good news is we hold the fly-in twice a year, so if you can’t make it, there is another opportunity in another couple months.
Density Altitude:
Please keep in mind the elevation of this airstrip is over 8,000+ feet above sea level. The temperatures can get as high as 80-90 degrees here in June. A careful analysis of your aircraft's operating manual should be performed to make sure you’re within limits at your planned weight operating out of a grass strip. Instead of going in to every detail here, please spend some time reviewing the following links below on this important subject:
https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safet ... y-altitude
https://www.faasafety.gov/files/gslac/l ... tyAltitude[hi-res]%20branded.pdf
Also- Search BCP on this subject too. Quite a few good discussion threads and videos.
Questions and Alternative landing locations:
We stress safety at the fly-in. If weather, winds, or comfort factors prevent you from landing at La Garita Creek Ranch, we provide shuttles to the nearby Del Norte and Leach airfields. Please contact the ranch manager if you would like to arrange a shuttle upon landing. We are also happy to field questions about the airfield conditions, runway, and local flying environment if you’ve never been to the airstrip before. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] or send me a PM on BCP. Lastly, more details, maps, and local information can be found at http://flycolorado.org/index.php/airstr ... ita-creek/
Keep checking BCP for more updates. See you there!
