Sorry for the short notice (how is it September already?!?). The fall La Garita Fly-in is being held during Sept 15-17th. Information below, please read.

Hello fellow BCP'ers,

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 Sept 15nd to Sunday morning Sept 17th. 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 above 85 degrees mid-day here in Sept. 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
[url]https://www.faasafety.gov/files/gslac/library/documents/2011/Aug/56396/FAA%20P-8740-02%20DensityAltitude[hi-res]%20branded.pdf[/url]
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/

Overflew the strip yesterday. It looks to be in great shape.
Should be a great fly in. The cottonwoods and aspen are starting to turn color already.
Tom

Looking forward to it as always! We will be there!

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make it this time, forgot to mark it on my calendar early enough. I'm sure you all will have a blast like always.

-Asa

I'm planning to attend in my 180 along with another buddy in his 2+2. Looking forward to it!

I'm not going to make it this year, but I was able to spend last night at the Hooper Pool. They have the runway and parking area in great shape, and the pool is better than ever!!!!

I had a chat with ranch manager Mike yesterday, he has a few more cabins available if anybody wants one.
Looks like the weather is going to be splendid!

Can't make it, Friday at least. My wife has a doctor's appt late Friday that I have to go to with her. Outside chance I'll try to sneak up Saturday...but probably not. Next year <sigh>.

Everything is all set for the La Garita Creek Fly-in. Weather is looking good. As usual there will be onsite catering at the ranch. Hooper Pool is expecting folks on Saturday morning & afternoon and the airstrip is in good shape.

If you booked a cabin and haven't received a confirmation, please contact Mike Spearman directly at 719-five-eight-zero-248six. The same number can be used if you choose to land at Del Norte or Leach Airport and need transportation back to the ranch.

Feel free to post last minute questions on this thread or contact us at [email protected]

Be safe and have a good time!

Alec

Unfortunately, a short notice work trip will preclude me from joining the fly-in this weekend. Believe me, I would much prefer to fly myself into 5CO6 than ride a smoker into KBOS!

Matt / Tom:

Don't know how we managed it, but Gila flyin will be happening this weekend too, so I won't make it to La Garita!!

I will try and be there next spring.

Good luck, L

100LL will be $3.90 for the weekend at KRCV. Also Airport Manager Jay has left his Saturn car there if anybody needs to run into town.

This has been a great weekend at La Garita with good weather, great people, and tonight a great dinner. The camaraderie among pilots is something I've always enjoyed, but it seems even more special at a place like this.

Of course, if someone could turn off the wind, that would be most appreciated!

Cary

Made it through La Veta pass. Made it to La Garita. Nearly hit a car. Landed safely. Had good times. Made it home.

Super fun trip. Hope to do it again next year.

ShadowAviator wrote:Made it through La Veta pass. Made it to La Garita. Nearly hit a car. Landed safely. Had good times. Made it home.

Super fun trip. Hope to do it again next year.

That was a crazy little turn of events - We saw your approach, saw the car and held our breath... Good job getting around it!

Was nice to meet you Casey!

Jim

I rolled out around 2:30 or so Sunday afternoon, to find a slew of isolated thunderstorms dotting the Valley, none of which showed on Foreflight's radar images. At first I planned a stop at Alamosa for fuel and then La Veta Pass as I have in the past, but one of those T-storms was sitting right on top of Alamosa, and there was convective activity moving toward La Veta that might have blocked that way anyway. I considered stopping at Center or maybe even Del Norte for fuel, but after some quick calculating of my fuel supply, I decided to get out of the Valley while still lighter. So I headed for Hayden Pass, a new route for me, easily topping it at 13,000', then flew along the south side of the Fort Carson restricted areas until I could head north.

I stopped at Colorado Springs for fuel, and found that Cutter has moved to a new and pretty classy location just south of the Jet Center. I was treated to a 25 cents/gallon discount, too! Wow--saved almost $10! That is one of the nicer FBOs, though. Then on to Greeley, getting a clearance across the Class B at 9500' because there was heavy weather on both sides of Denver--I made a point of asking for the clearance "to avoid the weather on either side of me."

Poor ol' Molly girl had to sit in the airplane from a few minutes before we left at 2:30 until almost 6, when we arrived at my hangar, as I'd have had to unload too much at C-Springs to get her out. Maybe I need a 206! She's a real trouper, and I think all in all, she enjoyed the whole weekend as much as I did. She's a good ol' dog.

I understand that several folks chose not to make the trip due to perceived weather issues, but although Friday was definitely windy and blustery, Saturday was just beautiful. The camaraderie was outstanding, as we all sat around Jim's and Mel's hot rod 172 swapping stories, some of which were true! Dinner Saturday night was excellent, and again conviviality was really nice--many good people. The only disappointment was that there fewer of them than in the past.

I can understand the reluctance to buck the headwinds over the passes--at one point over La Veta on the way in, my groundspeed had dropped to 62 knots! But it wasn't overly turbulent--it's been worse, for sure. Landing at 3 p.m. on Friday was a little ticklish, but the most surprising part of it was that I was the first to land! I don't think I've ever been the first to land at any fly-in I've ever attended, anywhere. I began to think that I'd missed the memo! Fortunately Manager Mike showed up on a 4-wheeler as I started to unload, assuring me that indeed, there was going to be a fly-in. Soon Trey and Karen came over--they were camping in a van. Then Jim and Mel landed and parked beside me. I've lost track of who all arrived on Friday, and more came in on Saturday, including Casey, our intrepid Kansan SUV dodger.

La Garita is a beautiful place, and there could not be more gracious hosts than Mike and Colette. Walt and Don and the others put together a great meal, and other than more wind than I like and a little rain on Sunday, the weather was pretty cooperative. So it was a successful weekend, just not as large as was anticipated.

Cary

We had a great time! It was good to meet you and molly! That is hands down my favorite fly in.

Spoke with Carly over at hopper and I think she wants to organize a fly in.

Great weekend; greats hosts and great people! Can't wait to go to the next one!

J

Pretty crazy how fast those storms came through. I stopped at Del Norte briefly and it was starting to sprinkle there.

Beyond La Veta Pass was a sea of white cloud tops heading east. Thankfully there were a few holes.

It was raining at Spanish Peaks on me and our friends in the Broussard while getting fuel.

Broken/Overcast all the way home to Kansas.

Great to see everybody at LGCR. Thanks MIke for all your hospitallity. Thanks to Alec and Matt for getting it organized.
As for those unexpected storms, Foreflight and nexrad users beware: From the NWS website "The KPUX WSR-88D Doppler radar operated by the NOAA National Weather Service in Pueblo, CO will be down through the end of September for the repair of a major mechanical component."
Tom

ShadowAviator wrote:Made it through La Veta pass. Made it to La Garita. Nearly hit a car. Landed safely. Had good times. Made it home.

Super fun trip. Hope to do it again next year.

Ya gotta watch those flying cars