Ultimate Adventure Happy and Dirty

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I dropped some friends off in the middle of nowhere Utah at a small airstrip on the Dirty Devil river. Three days later I picked them up about 17 walking miles downriver and upcanyon at another little airstrip called Happy Canyon.  My son and I joined them for camping one night at the Happy Canyon airstrip.  The folks I dropped off had a serious adventure hiking through the remote desert and a beautiful slot canyon.  Here is a short video.

The Dawn Wall

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One uplifting story in the news right now is a couple of professional rock climbers climbing on Yosemite's El Cap wall.  The route is called the Dawn Wall and is considered by most in the rock climbing community as the hardest rock climb ever.  They have been on the side of this rock face for over two weeks now with no place to walk around, only sit and climb.  The feat is incredible.  I have been up El Cap once with a couple of good friends.  It was a very memorable experience in my life. It was a route called the Salathe Wall and it took 5 days.  We used mostly a different climbing technique called aid climbing because suffice to say we were not strong enough to climb most of the route with our own hands and feet.  One of the professional climbers on the Dawn Wall climbed the entire route my friends and I took 5 days to climb in less than a day.  Anyhow this route they are doing right now cannot really even be compared to the Salathe Wall.  But check out the story http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140111-interview-kevin-jorgeson-dawn-wall-yosemite-adventure/  The main reason I am blogging about this is that most people reading this are not climbers, they are pilots.  Sometimes as pilots we wish others could understand and have the same experiences that we have.  Sometimes people are interested and sometimes not.   One reason Colorado Backcountry Flying was started is for this reason.  I love the backcountry, the adventure, and the experience.  And I want to share it with others, some will be interested and some won't.  Those interested will be changed, just like I have been.

Ultimate Adventure

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On Sunday I went down to Dolores Point, Gateway, and Steamboat Mesa with a friend in an effort to scout out a backpacking adventure that would entail being dropped off at Dolores Point and being picked at either Gateway or Steamboat Mesa.  Both routes looked doable which was encouraging because Dolores Point happens to be up on top of some pretty steep canyon walls.  The same goes for Steamboat Mesa.  Next weekend two of my friends will being doing the hike from Dolores Point to Gateway.  I will keep you posted on how it goes.  Colorado Backcountry Flying intends to offer the ultimate discovery flight to the backcountry enthusiast.  The idea being to get people who are outdoor junkies and adventure seekers excited about learning to fly.  There is a huge population of outdoor enthusiasts that haven't even thought about learning to fly because they don't know what kind of outdoor adventures flying can open up.  Colorado Backcountry Flying intends to change that with the Ultimate Adventure! Stay tuned. 

Coast to Coast in Cubs

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I left Grand Junction on Friday to fly up on the airline to Bend, Oregon to pick up Colorado Backcountry Flying's new, old Super Cub.  It is a very nicely restored PA-18A-150.  They happened to have a record snow storm the few days before I arrived.  But I was able to get out of there on Saturday afternoon.   I was also able to spend time with my good friend Paul who was instrumental in procuring the airplane.  I spent Saturday night in the thriving metropolis of Winnemucca, and then was able to make it back to Junction on Sunday evening.  I spent a brief evening hanging out with the fam and the next morning got on the airline to White Plains, NY to pick up a Carbon Cub for Wild West Aerosports in Danbury, CT.  It was a three day trip to get back to Grand Junction due to incredible headwinds.  The first two days I netted about 55 knots across the ground.  Fortunately the last day I lost the headwinds and covered as much ground as I did the first two.  I made it home Thursday night.  Coast to coast flying about 500 feet above the ground--hard to beat.