Trip Airtime 8.5, 479 miles Total PIC Time: Total Logged Time:

Transcription

1 Friday, October 24, th Cobra flight, 519th PIC, 3 Landings Salado Ruins, Celbolita Canyon, Malpais Bridges, Winslow, Meteor Crater, Little Colorado, S.P Crater, Marble Canyon Belen: 6:12 am Winslow: 11:11 am Winslow: 12:38 pm Marble Canyon : 4:08pm Trip Airtime 8.5, 479 miles Total PIC Time: Total Logged Time: My epic flying trip of 2014 was the "Grand Circle", a huge loop around the southwest with some of the most spectacular scenery on earth. We had wanted to leave earlier in the week, but I had to wrap up a few things at work first. Paul patiently waited for me to wrap things up We left Friday morning from my house at 4:15am. Right: Paul s trike warming up. Ladron Peak in the background. Note the GoPro on my wingtip. We headed west, over the Sierra Lucero to a mesa north of Alamo that has some interesting ruins on top. I found these ruins early in the summer, and every time I returned for a closer look it was too windy or turbulent to make a low level pass. This morning the winds were very calm.

2 Here is a close look at the top of the mesa. Some of the rooms are visible on the top of the mesa at the bottom of the picture.

3 Here is a another look at the top of the mesa. Lots of rooms up on top (upper left). After checking out the ruins, we angled our course to the north to follow a canyon through the mountains towards Cebolita.

4 The canyon passes a large ranch complex next to a lake.

5 A few miles further we reached the top of Cebolita Canyon. We dropped down for a long cruise down the winding canyon. It surprisingly cooler, by about 20 degrees colder at the bottom of the canyon. I was glad I had my thermal underwear on.

6 We climbed high as we exited Cebolita Canyon to cross the Malpais with 3000 ft of altitude. I flew over the top of the cinder cone at the southern end of the lava field. As we flew to the west I looked down and saw perfectly round hole. The roof of a collapsed lava tube (lower right).

7 Ahead were more collpased lava tubes. In some places bridges of lava rock had formed with trees growing on top. I dropped down for a closer look (next page).

8 Here are some more views of the lava tube bridges. I definitely want to come back and visit on foot some day. After my pass over the bridges, I climbed high and got out of here. It is probably the most hostile terrain on earth.

9 We continued west to El Morro National Monument.

10 On top of the Mesa next to El Morro is an indian ruin. There were many beautiful sandstone rock formations out here.

11 We followed the edge of the cliffs for many miles.

12 Eventually we made it to the Mystic Bluffs Airstrip, near Ramah Lake. The strip was in great shape. I had attempted to fly out here for a Breakfast Burrito Fly-in in August, but had to turn back after crossing the Malpais because of the very strong winds and rough air.

13 We flew over dried up Ramah Lake to view the brightly colored cliffs. It looked like there were plenty of places to land here, but we didn t want to risk getting stuck in the mud.

14 A few miles further west was a nice green watering hole in a break of the ridge line.

15 We crossed the New Mexico/Arizona State line and continued on to Petrified ForestPainted Desert National Monument. We were too high to see any petrified logs, but there was no way to miss the painted desert. We continued on past Holbrook and landed at Winslow airport, our first stop after 5 hours of flying. We toppled off our gas tanks and headed out for the final long leg of the trip.

16 Meteor Crater was just a few miles to the west. It was past noon and thermals were growing stronger. They were very strong inside the crater.

17 We turned north and crossed I-40 and found the Little Colorado River. It has very steep cliffs walls and snakes forever across the desert. In the background of the upper left picture you can see the volcanoes near Flagstaff, Arizona. We followed the Little Colorado downstream. I was looking for the Great Falls of the Little Colorado. I had never seen them before and wasn t sure what to expect.

18 The water was low, but falls were still impressive. I need to return for a look during the spring runoff.

19 A couple years ago, checking out the area with Google Earth, I saw a perfectly formed crater on the north edge of the volcano field. It had a strange name, S. P. Crater. It was a 20 mile detour to see it and I convinced Paul to fly out for a look.

20 The original landowner out here gave it that name because the cone and the nearby lava filed looked like the contents of a overturned chamber pot. So he named it Shit Pot Crater. Years later when the surveying crew mapped the area, the inquired about the craters name and abbreviated it to S. P. Crater.

21 S. P. Crater has one of the deepest summit crater I have ever seen. We turned north across the desert to pick up the Little Colorado again.

22 The Little Colorado lies at the bottom of a very narrow and steep walled canyon here. It is not as deep as the Grand Canyon, but the steep walls and the thought of how constrained a flight would be below the rim made for the most gut wrenching flight of the trip.

23 This stretch of the Little Colorado is outside of the Special Use VFR Area, where you are prohibited from anything resembling low and slow flight. I found the spot where the tightrope walker had crossed the canyon last summer. We followed the Little Colorado to the edge of the Special Use Area, then turned north.

24 We followed the bright orange cliffs along US 89A to the Marble Canyon Airstrip. I had driven here earlier in the summer on a road trip and wanted to take US 89 to Page, but roads signs said the road was closed. Check out the landslide.

25 Paul flying along side me, next to the orange cliffs.

26 Approaching the Marble Canyon Airstrip, note the bridge spanning the canyon.

27 Approaching the Marble Canyon Bridge.

28 The downwind leg puts you right on the rim of the canyon. It was incredibly beautiful.

29 The Marble Canyon Airstrip. Note Paul s trike ahead of me over the runway. We landed with an hour of daylight remaining. This is a great spot to base out of with a gas station, grocery store and in the off season, a reasonably priced motel.

30 We checked into the motel and had a great dinner that night. I had been awake since 4am and was dead tired. We would be up early tomorrow for a flight across the Grand Canyon. Here is my GPS track from the day s flight. We flew 479 miles according to my GPS. Lake Powell Gra n dc any on Marble Canyon S. P. Crater Meteor Crater Painted Desert Ruin Gr an Rio Malpais de Little Colorado Ramah Lake Winslow Belen

31 Here is my GPS track from the entire 6 day trip. Mexican Mtn Ri ve r Huntington Milford Green River Canyon Co lo ra d o Ibex Gunnison River Saguache Hooper Zion Marble Canyon e Little Colorado S. P. Crater Meteor Crater R io Malpais Gr an d Grand Canyon Taos Belen