Backcountry Pilot • Where did you fly today?

Where did you fly today?

Did you fly somewhere cool, take photos, and feel like telling the tale to make us drool from the confines of our offices? Post them up!
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Sat May 02, 2020 1:36 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

Niece that there's a Subway right near the beach.
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Sat May 02, 2020 2:01 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

Magnet wrote:Niece that there's a Subway right near the beach.

Wow, I’ve nephew heard of that!

Haha
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Sun May 03, 2020 8:16 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

Final day of our five day truck/airplane camping trip. Got onto Blackrock Playa Friday night at dusk. Too windy to fly Saturday, so we visited the "Twin Cities" of Gerlach and Empire, and drove fast on the playa. This morning was perfect, so I pulled the pocket plane out of its portable "hangar" and after a bit of fun, fast, low flying over the site of Burning Man, we overflew the Fly Geyser, Pyramid Lake geyser, and Dead Cow.

Fly Geyser. Just north of Blackrock Playa, on the 3200 acre ranch purchased by the Burning Man company. Closed to the public, except by making a reservation over a month in advance, paying $80/couple, and agreeing to a three hour guided talk/tour, and getting hit up for more "support". Flying over it was great, quick, and no animals were harmed!

Per Wikipedia, the colors are from "thermophilic algae".

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Pyramid Lake vent. Popular flightseeing spot for High Sierra Fly In attendees.

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Speaking of High Sierra Fly In, here's a souvenir shot from next to the bonfire spot today. Much quieter around there than in October! :)

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Back home tonight. Great trip.

Oh, by the way, does anyone have any inside info on what Google is really up to with this big, expensive installation at the Winnemucca, NV airport? For launching high altitude balloons, ostensibly to provide internet service to Puerto Rico, but locals suspect a lot more to it.

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Sun May 03, 2020 9:45 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

That's a very interesting way to travel Pierre and with the popularity of kitfox type airplanes, I wouldn't be surprised to see it catch on.

Looks like a blast.
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Sun May 03, 2020 10:09 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

The weird structure at Winnemucca was part of Google's balloon internet experiments. Fly Geyser has an interesting history. It is a failed test geothermal drilling project. We used it as our source of water to build the runways for Burning Man. We where able to get 90,000 gallons a day from it. It was a partial motivation for BMORG to buy it. It was also the source of water to keep the dust down on the roads and around the event. Not exactly drinking water, it had a smell, but what didn't during the event.

Fun area to fly about, except when it is windy (normally) and the dust comes up. Fun area to hike as well. If you go up into the nearby mountains, up near what we call the bathtub rings from the ice age, Lake Laotian. They are a couple of thousand feet up the mountains. Along the ancient shorelines of the lake there are numerous Paleolithic campsites, with tons of flaked obsidian rejects. Some of the ancients where the Homer Simpson of obsidian nappers.
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Mon May 04, 2020 10:43 am

Re: Where did you fly today?

dogpilot wrote:The weird structure at Winnemucca was part of Google's balloon internet experiments. Fly Geyser has an interesting history. It is a failed test geothermal drilling project. We used it as our source of water to build the runways for Burning Man. We where able to get 90,000 gallons a day from it. It was a partial motivation for BMORG to buy it. It was also the source of water to keep the dust down on the roads and around the event. Not exactly drinking water, it had a smell, but what didn't during the event.

Fun area to fly about, except when it is windy (normally) and the dust comes up. Fun area to hike as well. If you go up into the nearby mountains, up near what we call the bathtub rings from the ice age, Lake Laotian. They are a couple of thousand feet up the mountains. Along the ancient shorelines of the lake there are numerous Paleolithic campsites, with tons of flaked obsidian rejects. Some of the ancients where the Homer Simpson of obsidian nappers.


Wow, great background! Thanks. Yeah, I figured the acquisition of the ranch must have been necessary for logistics. Here's a shot I took near the geyser of what appears to be a large logistics yard with hundreds of containers, trucks, buses, campers, and misc. stuff.

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I'm not a "Burner" though I did attend a day and a half one year around 2011 or 2012. I was contacted and asked if I'd volunteer to fly some Bay Area elected officials to the event in exchange for a couple of wrist bands. I did and flew the politicians in on Friday then returned Saturday with a date and we watched the burning of The Man. Fun time. Airplanes were rare there then. Now I hear it is quite the busy airport and they charge fees.

You are of course right about the winds. One of the great things about this style of recreational flying is we can travel somewhere and if it's too windy or stormy, I never have to pull the plane out of the trailer. It stays inside, nice and protected. You can just unhook and go explore around using your truck or bicycles or whatever, then go flying the next day or day after. Helps to be mostly retired with a flexible schedule.

P
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Wed May 06, 2020 6:38 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

To anyone else who lives in Northern Michigan I highly suggest flying to North Fox Island. I flew there today for the first time and the runway is kept in immaculate condition. I hope the pictures upload, I tried the preferred method but I wasn’t able to paste them.
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At North Fox
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Runway
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North Fox
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South Fox
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Thu May 07, 2020 8:49 am

Re: Where did you fly today?

South Fox looks like a wonderful place to visit!
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Thu May 07, 2020 9:01 am

Re: Where did you fly today?

Was told North Fox Island has a lot of snakes, any truth to that?

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Thu May 07, 2020 9:26 am

Re: Where did you fly today?

Just walking down to the beach on North Fox we passed several snakes. Most all of the islands out there Beaver, Garden, etc. all have lots of snakes.
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Fri May 08, 2020 4:52 am

Re: Where did you fly today?

G44 wrote:Was told North Fox Island has a lot of snakes, any truth to that?

Kurt

Oh.Em.Gee. We went there late last summer and I’ve never seen so many snakes and mosquitos in my life! I mean, the air is thick with bugs and the ground is squirmy.

The good news is there’s only one venomous snake species in Michigan and it’s very rare.
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Fri May 08, 2020 9:59 am

Re: Where did you fly today?

Bouncing around the desert,
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Fri May 08, 2020 11:11 am

Re: Where did you fly today?

Dvoracek wrote:Just walking down to the beach on North Fox we passed several snakes. Most all of the islands out there Beaver, Garden, etc. all have lots of snakes.



Well then. I am not a big fan of the slithering kind. Always thought it would be cool to fly in and camp in some of those places. May have to rethink that idea....
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Sat May 09, 2020 2:04 am

Re: Where did you fly today?

Flying Dave wrote:
Dvoracek wrote:Just walking down to the beach on North Fox we passed several snakes. Most all of the islands out there Beaver, Garden, etc. all have lots of snakes.



Well then. I am not a big fan of the slithering kind. Always thought it would be cool to fly in and camp in some of those places. May have to rethink that idea....


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Sat May 09, 2020 8:04 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

Nowhere fancy, just took the boy to get some cheap*er avgas.

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Sat May 09, 2020 11:50 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

Polly Creek, AK Counted at least 29 planes on the tidal flats digging clams and another of Chisik Island. If anyone has a better pic please post it. Neat gathering of backcountry flying folks!
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Sun May 17, 2020 11:40 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

Hooligan dipping on Big Susitna.
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Tue May 19, 2020 11:01 am

Re: Where did you fly today?

Gahi, Good to see you have 50926 back where she belongs! Here's a few shots from when she lived in Minnesota and I got to put some time on it. 8)

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Tue May 19, 2020 2:43 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

BRD wrote:Gahi, Good to see you have 50926 back where she belongs! Here's a few shots from when she lived in Minnesota and I got to put some time on it. 8)


Thanks for sending the pics. I've been having a ton of fun with it!
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Tue May 19, 2020 5:49 pm

Re: Where did you fly today?

TVATIVAK71 wrote:Hooligan dipping on Big Susitna.
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What exactly is that miscreant dipping, and what do you do with them afterwards?
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