Airtime 0.2. Airtime: 5.7

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1 Monday, May 28, th Cobra flight, 425th PIC, 3 landings Testflight Belen: 4:00pm Airtime 0.2 Belen: 4:12pm Friday, June 1, th Cobra flight, 426th PIC, 3 landings Sandia Crossing, Las Vegas Valleys, Angel Fire, Valle Vidal, Purgatoire, San Luis, Hooper Pool Belen: 6:24am Angel Fire: 10:38am Airtime: 5.7 Total PIC Time: Angel Fire: 9:36am Hooper: 1:07pm Total Logged Time: I took quick electrical test flight after rewiring my starter switch again. No more glitches. That s what I wanted because Paul and I are heading north into Colorado to meet up with Chris, Amos and Ron (all from Taos) at Hooper Pool. Paul and I are trying a different route this time. Instead of following the Rio Grande, we are flying out to Las Vegas, NM then north along the Sangre de Cristo Mnts to Hooper Pool. We tried for a 6am launch, but didn t make it. After take off, I noticed my Anywhere Map GPS had not acquired any satellites. Still no satellites after my usual touch and go, so I landed to check it out. Of course, my GPS immediately acquired once on the ground. I took off again then glanced at my GPS and saw an empty bracket!? It had fallen out. I just hoped it was on the ramp. I landed and found it on the taxiway. Relieved, I put it back in the console mount with a rubber band to keep it in place. It was functioning, but the screen was very dim to the point of being unreadable and useless. I wished I had brought my old Lowrance Airmap500. In the future I will pack it as a backup. On this trip I would navigate the old fashioned way with a map and compass. We finally left the pattern 30 minutes later entering hazy air from a huge forest fire in the Gila, about 125 miles to the southwest.

2 One additional annoyance popped up. The battery on my mp3 player died. I was prepared for this, and extracted my backup mp3 player tucked away in a pouch in my trike. We cruised east into the sun towards the Manzano Mountains. We climbed high and slipped over the back with a 30mph tail wind. I followed Paul and from my GPS track, I see that he made a direct beeline for Las Vegas. We turned north, behind south end of the Sangre Cristo Mountains and braced ourselves for rough air, but it never happened. At Sapello, we turned west to follow a beautiful farm valley. Haze was still a problem here.

3 Hazy Hermit s near Sapello. Closer to the mountains, the haze was less strong. There are 5 or 6 parallel north-south valleys here. I followed Paul from one valley to the next. This valley is near Raciada, NM. Our immediate goal was the airport at Angel Fire, NM where we would top off our tanks and take a short break.

4 We followed a valley to the top and descended a valley on the opposite side to Angel Fire. The winds were blowing directly across the runway. We landed and parked our trikes behind a hangar to keep out of the wind. After a nice long break and refuel, we tqxied out to the runway. The crosswinds were noticeably stronger now, probably approaching 20mph. Ahead and to the west I saw Wheeler, the highest point in New Mexico. If the winds were calm, we would have gone up there for sure, but today neither of us wanted anything to do with Wheeler.

5 We cruised north up the beautiful Moreno Valley. The snow capped peaks to the north were near the Colorado -New Mexico State Line. Continuing north, we entered the Valle Vidal, a wide open valley ringed by high peaks on both sides. Our plans were vague at this point. We could follow the tops of the snow capped mountains into Colorado, or slide over the left side and descend into the San Luis Valley. We decided to climb to the top of State Line and see how it looks from there. I didn t know which mountain was State Line, so I headed towards the most prominent nearby summit.

6 The winds were rolling over a saddle south of the peak, swirling the air. I was tickling the dragons tail up here. Massive updrafts rose out of the bowls, fed by thermals and ridge lift.

7 Paul was ahead of me and reached the summit first, then escaped to the west. Looking at my GPS track later, I saw we had bypassed the insignificant bump that was State Line and had flown over the top of 13,676 ft Purgatorie (in the forground).

8 I quickly descended to a nearby reservoir where Paul waited for me. Then we headed north to San Luis, the Oldest Town in Colo.

9 After the rough ride over Purgatorie, all enthusiasm for a flight to 14,345 ft Blanca (background, on right) evaporated. We headed straight for Hooper Pool. It is a RV campground with a thermally headed pool. With great food and a dirt airstrip, what else could anyone want? As we approached we saw three trikes parked off the edge of the runway. That would be Chris, Amos and Ron from Taos who had a 3hr head start on us. I folded the mast on my trike and secured it bullet proof against the winds. Amos took the photo below.

10 Hooper Creede Blanca San LuisValley Purgatorie I pitched my tent under my wing, changed into my swimsuit and went for a dip in the pool. The water was kept at body temperature, 99 deg F. When you jumped in, you felt nothing at all. The water was from a 1 mile deep well and had no chemicals. They drain and refill the pool once a week on Thursday, so the water was perfect. We lazed around the pool all afternoon and evening. What a great place to stay. We set our alarms for 4:15 am. Civil twilight was 5:30, and we were flying to Creede tomorrow morning. Angel Fire Ri o Gr an de Va lle y Taos ABQ Belen Las Vegas, NM Here is my GPS track of the entire trip, all 320 GPS odometer miles and 5.7 hours airtime from Belen to Hooper Pool. More detailed GPS tracks follow on the next three pages.

11 I was not kidding when I said Paul lead us on a bee-line flight from Belen to Las Vegas, NM. Las Vegas, NM Sandia Mountains Belen ins unt a Mo Ma nza no Ri o Gr and ev al l e y Albuquerque

12 Right: GPS track of the middle section of the flight from Las Vegas. Purgatorie Valle Vidal Wheeler Angel Fire Below: Trike campsite at sunset, photo by Amos. Rociada Sapello Las Vegas

13 The home stretch from Purgatorie to Hooper Pool. Blanca Hooper San Luis, Co Purgatorie State Line San Luis Valley