What an epic trip! I can't thank AKTahoe enough for organizing this event. I had so much fun, can't wait to do it again! Because of other obligations, I had to blast out early this morning, a little whipped from last night's festivities. I am looking forward to seeing some of the trip reports from the South Circuit!
Saturday morning started out a little slow, I was at my hangar in Lodi as the sun came up, but the AWOS at Truckee wasn't giving good news. I then saw Kevin's post thinking it might break up so I hopped in and launched for Truckee. Amazing the amount of snow the Sierras have received for early October!
After arriving overhead and 20 minutes of circling, the fog wasn't going anywhere fast. Vick was up on the comm freq and we decided to divert to Sierraville and wait it out. There we met up with Dan and MCH, also waiting out the weather. Once the fog broke in Truckee, we all headed in for a brief on the first fly out, Calpine also known as Totem Pole 2.
At that point the count was 17 planes IIRC. From there, the group broke up a bit. Some of us stayed in circuits at Calpine, others went to Totem Pole, and a few went into Bumpy Barn. From there most went over to the Ranch. Others went on to Nervino for a splash of fuel. We regrouped in the air and next on the list was the Frenchman Ranch, a beautiful strip about 2 miles north of the reservoir. Everyone landed there. I couldn't get everyone in my shot; apologies to Vick, AKT, and HarryV. Hopefully someone else with better photo skills and equipment got a better image of everyone.
The next stop was Hop, Skip and a Jump. You'll have to ask AKTahoe for the story behind the name. Another beautiful spot, where we got most of the planes into.
Back to Nervino, where we saw an impressive display of short field ops. The infields between the taxiway intersections were 330, 660 and 1320 feet long. Both AKTahoe and CoyoteUgly got in on the 330' infield.
From there the circuit turned again south, heading over Loyalton and Stampede Reservoir for a beach LZ on Boca Reservoir. When we arrived, there was a truck dead center of the normal LZ, but AKTahoe had a plan B. It was shorter, a little off camber, and not so good for the small & medium tires. The 2 SuperCubs, the 2 Maules, AKTahoe made it in while the rest of us orbited overhead.
We regrouped at Truckee to pick up our gear and head to the desert for the evening. Our camping spot was a small dry lakebed that offered about 1700' useable in its maximum dimension. It was a great night around the campfire. Great food cooked over the fire, adult beverages, and some great hangar flying. There may have been some pyrotechnics and firearms, but I am not sure that my memory is very good on that part.
Sunday morning came too early, and an uneventful flight back to the Central Valley. All in all I think it was the most fun I've had flying! It was great to meet everyone that showed, and for those that didn't get the chance to come out, you should definitely put the next one on your calendar!
Flynengr
