Staunton, Virginia..home of Mary Baldwin College...in the heart of the Shennandoah Valley and untouched by the Civil War.

Bumming around central Oregon. Stopped in Madras yesterday and mowed the lawn at my vacation place. Then flew south to Sunriver. This morning I got up early drank a cup of coffee in the hot tub and flew around Mt Bachelor area.

Mt Bachelor


We snowmobile this cinder cone


In the vicinity of 3 Sisters mountains




The next stop was Bend to polish landings, and back to Sunriver.

Cheers

These are cool pictures of my partner flying our 65hp cub along the Chicago shoreline on his way to Oshkosh. Kind of spooky conditions for a cub.

Amazing pics. Thanks for posting them.
It's not the best pic, got a reflection, but here's an " interesting" strip at Turtle Lake Sask.

I have been paving roads all summer and finished up on Friday a bit early so got my wife who hasn't had a day off all summer and flew to Juneau for dinner and a movie. We saw humpback whales on the way down and humpies and killers on the way back. Fantastic weather both ways,

AV gas for 180 miles lots
dinner of chinese food lots
room at the feather bed lots
to finally relax and smile for a couple of hours priceless to me.

Shane...

When ya headed down this way?

Gump

Lands Inn Oregon
The owners Tom and Carol are very nice. Real good cooking. Sweet camping, cabins, clean bathroom and shower. This would be a fun spot for a BCP get together. We can shoot guns too. Just watch out for Rattlers.

Headed NE from Sunriver. Near Prinville, Oregon


Looks good, got lower has giant ruts in it


Lands Inn looking east. It sits on a bench half was up the John Day Canyon


Closer look


The M7 and tent are getting a lot of use, that's good.


About 2000' to the top.


Went to the John Day Fossil Beds NPS visitor center.
No guns my ASS!!


My kind of sign.


Hanging out under the misters feels good. 90 degrees


Two unwanted visitors. Now they are hat bands.




Sunset. Can you say nice!


Classic


Zoom Zoom


All the pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/robburson/20100815#

Cheers...Rob

Rob (aka snakebait),

Great pics! Grass strip, camping, good folks, hiking, Stinsons, what more can one ask for?

Rob..you seem to have an affinity for those buzzy tails..what gives?

mountainmatt wrote:Rob (aka snakebait), ...

No kidding. Maybe time to change your "Viper Love" cologne to something else.

Where was the "airplanes only" sign?

For me, another trip to Bellingham and back. Sanitation department was complaining they were getting scratches in their trucks because of encroaching trees and vines so I had to clear those. Not a back country adventure but I LOVE being able to get up there in 2hrs (or so).

Jeez Gump, I can't seem to keep my plane running right to just fly around here, I don't know what it would do if I ever got more than 100 miles from my tool box.

Just did my annual and I have two bad valves, one in and one exh so next week it will be pull no. 3 and 6 to replace the valves. If I ever get some time and or some money I know where I can get my hands on a 172 in central idaho and I will come see you.

Man how I miss shooting gophers, I grew up doing that and just can't do it here 'cause there ain't no gophers!!

I had to give up on my plans for a moose hunt up north this year just due to the cost of fuel and lost time.

Oh well O'bummer is going to make it all better just any time now.

It is at Lands Inn
Rattlers kinda creep me out but they have there place. Just not next to my tent. Right Don

Flew to Alliance NE yesterday to fly Young Eagles...they were giving rides in Gunfighter the P-51 from Iowa..my wife was going to buy me a ride but they were booked full ($1,200)

hicountry wrote:Flew to Alliance NE yesterday to fly Young Eagles...they were giving rides in Gunfighter the P-51 from Iowa..my wife was going to buy me a ride but they were booked full ($1,200)

Great pix Ernie.

Sat. AM, direct (at 10,500', about as high as I've been all year) from Inkom to Sandpoint, which takes you over the Frank Church the long way, then the Selway-Bitterroot wildnerness, what the hell I was flying to a FREE breakfast and didn't want to be late. Over the middle of the most remote area I had a little malfunction, with the "Little John", don't know about the rest of you but I find it almost impossible to drain the sump sitting down, maybe it's easier with a yoke instead of a stick control? It was just a minor problem....I was just happy the engine kept running, and made a note (yet again) not to drink a pot of coffee before climbing in the plane for a 4+ hr leg.

The fly-in at Sandpoint was very well attended, and Airport Manager Dave was as nice as could be in very tactfully telling me landings on the grass are verboten, quite diplomatic. This is a ongoing thing for me: when on x-c's and going into small and medium airports, if I see a grassy area as wide and as long as the main runway (or narrower and shorter) I land there instead of the pavement to baby my Airstreaks and yeah it makes it a bit more interesting. Then and only then have I found that at a very few places it is not OK. I never ask WHY NOT, I just say "oh, didn't know, won't do it again", and I don't. However, I refuse to feel like I screwed up or anything by not landing on the pavement, especially when my landings are, in the case of Sandpoint maybe 150' or less rollout. BTW I'm talking here of mowed areas running alongside the main runway, so no traffic flow concerns, even at a busy fly-in, my landing was just offset maybe 30' to one side. I am starting a system: in my Flight Guide, a little X for "no grass landings".

Leaving Sandpoint I flew 8 miles or so to the Bird Museum. Look it up, and go there if possible. It was also free. Dr. Bird is right up there with Thomas Edison with the number of patents held, mostly medical related. Still going strong at 90 (and looks 65) it is unbelievable what this man has accomplished in one lifetime, and the museum, which you can taxi right up to, was the main reason I made the trip. My favorite item: an original swatch of fabric from the Vin Viz, the first plane to go coast to coast,in 1911! Also, the Cub he solo'd in at the age of 14!

Flying over Lake Pend Oreille the weather continued to be absolutely perfect, no wind and no bumps, even after reaching the canyon the Clark Fork River runs through, a perfect day. This private airpark is pretty unique, an airstrip on one side and the lake on the other, what a great setup! A lot of gravel bars the next stretch of river made it tough to make any headway but I eventually made it to Thompsom Falls Mont. After yet again landing on the grass a local came up and we started talking, I mentioned the last time I was there in '87, I'd landed my ultralight on the island outside of town , blew up my raft, and rowed to town for gas. He says "I remember that", it turns out we'd met back then, small world for pilots I guess. A perfect xc stop, a classic beater loaner car, cheap gas and grocery store nearby, and friendly people. Local pilot Dave had just taken his Super Cub off floats, put 31" Bushwheels on, and was heading to Alaska in a week or so. Demonstrating my uncanny sense of direction, I told him to stop by my place on the way (300 miles south or so), duhhh, oh well it's the thought that counts.

I flew the narrow Clark Fork River canyon all the way to its confluence with the Blackfoot and Bitterroot rivers, now it was late afternoon, and still smooth air and light winds,where I hung a right and flew past Missoula (where a controller apparently was too busy (? it was dead) or lazy to advise an incoming plane I was very near to being in the way while transitioning the area, I finally, after waiting for him to ask my position and then advise the other plane, just made an open position report myself and the other pilot and I worked it out. I hate controlled airspace! On up and over the Lost Trail Pass back into Idaho (a light N. wind gave me some ridge lift so a very easy gain to the summit, and an immediate gradual descent back to more interesting levels, skirting Salmon and then setting down for the night in Leadore, another great stop with all you need (food, gas,beer) within walking distance, not even worth unfolding the bike. Sunday AM I had 60 miles of alluvial flow valley with 12 K peaks on either side to transit, and boy did I ever! This is very familiar country to me that I have been flying for over 30 years now, desolate, barren, and beautifull. One last uphill off airport landing (my place) and I was home, 11.4 hrs, using 38 gallons of mo-gas in a day and a half, of some of the best scenary the West has to offer in pretty much glass smooth air.

Crater Lake NP with my daughter and her boy friend.


Wizard Island


Very blue water. Nice reflection too.




Crescent Lake for breakfast.






Wickiup Reservoir, just look at all those landing spots.


Back at Sunriver.


Cheers...Rob

Crater Lake facts

Crater Lake is filled with rain and melted snow that fell within the caldera basin. Crater Lake is isolated from surrounding streams and rivers, thus there is no inlet or outlet to the lake. Its primary input is from annual precipitation in the region. Average annual precipitation is 168 cm (66 in); average annual snowfall is 13 m (44 ft). It took approximately 250 years for the lake to fill to today's level (~1,883 m or ~6,178 ft above sea level). The lake maintains its current level because the amount of rain and snowfall equals the evaporation and seepage rate. Lake level has varied only over a range of 5 m (16 ft) in the past 100 years.

Crater Lake is known to be the deepest lake in the United States and the seventh deepest in the world. A maximum lake depth of 608 m (1,996 ft) was recorded by a group of USGS representatives in 1886 using piano wire and lead weight. The maximum depth of 589 m (1,932 ft) was established in 1959 by the USGS using sonar measurement. This depth is referenced at the surface elevation of 1,882 m (6,176 ft). But since its primary input source is dependent upon the climate, lake level is subject to abrupt changes. Crater Lake partially fills the collapsed caldera of the ancient Mount Mazama Volcano. The caldera is a bowl-shape depression of about 1,219 m (4,000 ft) deep.

The maximum depth of Crater Lake recorded at the time of the July 2000 multibeam survey was 594 m ( 1,949 ft). The lake level had an elevation of 1,883 m (6,178 ft) above sea level at the time of the survey. The lake level of Crater Lake fluctuates according to the climate.

The record clarity of Crater Lake was measured at a depth of 41 m (134 ft) in August 1994. The lake clarity is measured with a secchi disk, a black and white disk lowered into the water with a cable. Its exceptional clarity is mainly due to its isolation from streams and rivers. There is no incoming stream to bring any organic materials, sediments, or chemicals to pollute the lake, although natural plankton in the lake and wind-borne pollen have seasonal effects on water clarity. Particulate materials and chemicals are mainly introduced into the lake through precipitation and run-off of the calderal walls. The caldera wall is composed of volcanic rocks that do not react with or dissolve easily in cold water, although warm water escaping from the caldera floor adds a small amount of dissolved solids.

Flyin 8-29-10 at Hay Springs NE (4V6)...21 planes and flew 35 Young Eagles

Trying my best to use the daylight before it's a memory. Hard frost on the wings this morning.

-DP

Cool pic, DP! That's one part of nature that just blows my mind!!