Sunday, October 8, 2017 Cobra flight #605, PIC #618, 4 landings San Juan Goosenecks, Monument Valley, Tall Rocks, Royal Arch, Shiprock, Chaco, Blue Hole, Mt Taylor Plateau Bluff: 7:29 am Belen: 12:25 pm Airtime: 4.9 hrs Total PIC Time: 1620.2 Total Logged Time: 1641.4 I didn t bother setting up my tent last night and just crashed out in the back of Frank s enclosed trailer that he used to haul his trike to Bluff. I was originally planning on sleeping out under the stars until I heard the tails of the rattlesnakes curling up next to your sleeping bag. Paul and I cancelled our extended plans to fly up to Colorado and Canyonlands. The weather forecast was terrible for the next two days with a frontal system with rain and snow passing through this evening. I had a small consolation. Today was my birthday and I would get to spend it with my family.
I into the sky just as the sun crept over the horizon, with Paul right behind me. We did one loop around the pattern to get in my touch and go and then flew over the line of trikes and planes in the Bluff tiedown area.
Paul told me there were some Indian ruins along the San Juan River, but I had never seen then. We made a low pass over the brush and I saw the ruins off to the left. You can see them just above the nose of my trike above, and in the photo on the left.
I climbed up and did a 360 over the cottonwood trees, which were lit up by the morning sun.
We headed down steam to where the San Juan cuts through Comb Ridge near the Mule s Ear.
I turned right to follow the edge of the Goosenecks. For the next several miles, the canyon rim is a flat and mostly clear surface that would serve as my emergency LZ. As long as I maintained a 45 degree angle glide to the rim I would perfectly safe.
I followed the rim to a cut off meander that had a dirt road in excellent condition. A perfect place to land and camp on the edge. I noticed a truck parked here towards the end of my sunset flight last night and it was still there.
I love flying along the rim here, especially in these perfect calm conditions.
More SanJuan Goosenecks.
We headed due south and followed the road down to Monument Valley.
I floated down to the big buttes and did a 360.
Here is my favorite formation, the Totem Pole.
The Totem Pole is the tall butte on the far right.
Meridian Butte and Rooster Rock
We turned east towards a gap in the mountains the would take us to Shiprock. Off on the right side and to the south I saw a pair of buttes rising up from the desert. We headed over for a closer look. As I approached the surface, I encountered a 25 mph head wind.
I later found these rocks are called Dancing Rocks.
It was way to windy down low to attempt to fly between the Dancing Rocks. I looked around a saw many buttes and pinnacles here, a second smaller Monument Valley. I had noticed it before on a flight a couple years ago. Paul and I would explore this area on our next trip out here in about two weeks.
We continued east and flew past Royal Arch.
It was blowing strong out of the north so we stayed high over Ship Rock.
Ship Rock has a maw that looks like it could swallow you right up. It was blowing strong out of the south, so we stayed high over Ship Rock.
We had a tailwind which grew stronger up high, so we passed over Chaco Canyon at 10000 ft, 3000 ft AGL. Far below I saw the ruins of Penasco Blanco.
Here is a zoomed in view of Pueblo Bonito.
We left Chaco Mesa and crossed the badlands north of Mt Taylor. Far below I found the Blue Hole Spring.
We stayed high and crossed over the Mt Taylor Plateau. Ahead of us were the volcanos of the Rio Puerco.
Chet, who had left Bluff about an hour after us caught up to us at this point. He flew over the top of Cabezon to head for his home base at Sandia Airpark.
The rest of the flight was a long grind into Belen. I got bored at 10000 ft, so I dropped down low into the thermals and wished I had stayed high. We finally made it to Belen after a nonstop flight of 4.9 hours.
Here is my GPS track for today s flight. Belen Mt Taylor Plateau Ship Rock Bluff San Juan Goosenecks Royal Arch Dancing Rocks Monument Valley