We crossed over to the north and crossed over to the wide Piedra Valley. Mike passed over head and I snapped this picture of him (left).

Transcription

1 Thursday, September 10, th Cobra flight, 296th PIC, 3 landings Williams Lake, Weminuche Valley, Chimney Rock, Aztec, Navajo Airport, Pagosa Junction Pagosa: 8:40am Aztec: 11:05am Aztec: 11:55am Pagosa: 1:55pm Today s Airtime: 4.2hrs Total PIC Time : Total Logged Time I was at the hangar door at 7:30am, waiting for it to open. Mike had tied down his RANS outside and was plane ready to go. The hangar opened at 8am, and I was preflighted and ready to go in a few minutes. We took off and headed out over the lakes north of the runway (right). We crossed over to the north and crossed over to the wide Piedra Valley. Mike passed over head and I snapped this picture of him (left).

2 We head down this jagged point above the Piedra river. The river continues down a dark narrow canyon, eventually exiting at Chimney Rock. We continued up the canyon and flying to Williams Lake. It was great day for flying, dead calm and high cirrus clouds to mellow out the thermals later in the day.

3 Upper right: Flying along the edge of Williams Lake. Lower left: The big meadow upstream of Williams Lake. I flew all the way to the back corner on the right. Lower right: Returning over Williams Lake. We flew around the corner to the right and entered the Weminuche Valley.

4 Upper left: Flying low up the Weminuche Valley, video capture off my Aiptek. Lower left: The valley extends 8 miles into the mountains before being blocked by 12000ft Mt Hossick. Lower right: Heading back down the valley.

5 We did some air to air photos on the way back. Mike took this picture of me over the Weminuche Valley.

6 I took this picture of Mike s RANS near the base of the valley. Lower right: At approximately the same time, Mike took this picture of me in my trike.

7 We flew back down the Piedra Valley and climbed high to cross a tree covered mountain and then followed US 160 down Chimney Rock. From there we followed the Piedra River downstream to Navajo Reservoir, and then headed west over the farms until we reached the Animas River. We followed the Animas down to the Aztec Airport. I landed there and topped off my gas tank with ethanol free mogas, diluting the 100LL I put in my tank at Pagosa. Aztec is one of the few airports in NM that sells it.

8 From Aztec, we flew east to Navajo State Park Airport. It s high on a mesa, isolated from everything. Not much going on up here. Mike and I each made a touch and go, then headed over to Navajo Lake. Lower right: Flying up Navajo Lake. You can see the old dirt airstrip at center left in the picture. Someone doesn t want anyone landing there. Not only are X s on the runway, a fence crosses it at the center and an RV park is at the far end. The arm of the lake on the left side is the Piedra River branch that we flew down earlier in the flight. We took the right branch which follows the San Juan River to return to Pagosa Springs.

9 Left: Following the San Juan River to Pagosa Junction and Pagosa Springs. The weather was building. High cirrus clouds had suppressed the thermals and clouds all morning, but it wasn t morning anymore. It was almost 2pm and the afternoon thunderstorms were on the way. I could see rain to the north near Williams Lake and Pagosa Peak. Despite the threatening clouds, there were light winds at the airport. The rain stayed back all afternoon.

10 While pushing my trike towards the big hangar, the manager at AVJET asked me if I would mind putting my trike in one of the smaller hangars. MIND? Are you kidding? I would have the key and be able to come and go as I pleased, and take off and dawn and fly till sunset. This would be great. Here is my GPS track. Weminuche Valley Williams Lake A ni mas Rive r Chimney Rock Pagosa Pagosa Junction Navajo Airstrip Aztec Navajo Lake