Day 193: Birds of Cloth and Steel

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Ben

Update: I’m now a pilot myself, and flew at the 2015 Salton Sea fly-in. Photos from the 2015 fly-in start on Day 544, and a video montage of my flights at the fly-in can be viewed on Day 553. I also flew the 2016 Salton Sea fly-in, starting on Day 887. 2020 Salton Sea fly-in here.

Shabbos was nice, we spent some time watching the flyers and asking questions. We learned a lot, much like the times we were accidentally imbedded in a motocross hillclimbing competition and stumbled into a competition involving quail, horses, and dogs.

Today I was running around with the camera, photographing the pilots and their machines. It still amazes me that an aircraft that can fit in the trunk of a car can be assembled and launched in 15 minutes, and can be flown for 2-4 hours on a tank of gas.

Most pilots were foot launching paragliders with back-mounted paramotors:

Jim does a power check before liftoff:

John does a flyby:

Casey Cadwell takes off:

John let me try on his paramotor:

Chad Bastion heads out:

These buggies are lifted by massive powered parachutes:

This plane is homebuilt and has a open cockpit:

Another flyby by John:

Kiting a wing:

John lands:

I photographed Greg from takeoff through landing:

John heads out again:

Sunset brought great light:

Salton Sea winter:

What a day!

Day 191: Biking and Flying

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Ben

At 7:30am, John and I headed out for a ride “around the block”, which included climbing 3500’ of vertical on Montezuma Grade. After cresting the grade, we refilled our water bottles at the store in the unincorporated area of Ranchita:

Portions of the ride were pretty dicey as we were passed by dozens of toy hauler RVs on their way to OHV areas. By the end, I was really tired. This was my last ride with John, and I’ll miss my newfound biking buddy.

While I packed up the RV for our reposition to Salton Sea, Trish started riding towards Salton Sea by bike. The idea was that by the time I got the RV hitched up and ready to go, we would both arrive at the Salton Sea at the same time. Unfortunately, Trish had a catastrophic tube failure about five miles into the ride that resulted in a crash and a shattered cycle computer screen. By the time she got off the road, the tube had somehow spilled out of the rim. We put the bike on the RV rack and continued on to Salton Sea.

For the first time on this trip, we’re staying at a private RV park to spectate at a powered paragliding fly-in. I have been interested in powered paragliding since high school, so it was exciting to get to see this highly portable form of aviation in person. When we arrived, both foot-launched units and trike buggies were in the air:

The solitude and quiet of dispersed camping it aint, but we are 50 feet from the flight line, which is a plus, and with forecasted highs at around 90 degrees, we’re happy to have an electrical hookup.

We spent 16 days in Anza Borrego State Park, and I’m sure we will go back again someday. It’s a wonderful place! To see today’s drive, consult the trip map.

Good Shabbos from Salton City, CA!

Day 190: Our Last Days in the Desert

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Ben

Well, not exactly, but it is our last night in Anza Borrego State Park. We took my parents up to Font’s Point, where Last Days in the Desert was being filmed. Fortunately, we got there between takes so we could take a look around:

By the time we got back to the road, the moon was up:

My parents came by for a farewell dinner. We will be leaving tomorrow to head down to Salton Sea tomorrow.

Day 189: Yaquitepec and The Slot Redux

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Ben

This morning we drove to the Southwest corner of the park to visit Yaquitepec, Marshal South’s failed experiment in primitive living:

After a mile of steep climbing, we reached the site of Yaquitepec near the summit of Ghost Mountain. It’s hard to believe that Marshal and Tanya carried 12 gallons of water at a time up to the site. That’s 96 pounds of water! There’s not much left of the house, which was abandoned over 60 years ago:

In the foreground, “the lake”, where rainwater was collected:

The cistern where water was stored:

The Yaquitepec sundial:

After we came down from Ghost Mountain, we drove back to The Slot, which we first explored a few days ago. My parents enjoyed the hike through the slot canyon:

As we were leaving, a pair Ospreys passed over. Here’s one of them:

After lunch, Trish took the kids to my parent’s hotel for swimming while I worked on the blog. We had another beautiful sunset in Anza Borrego State Park!