[Amigo] > [Dean's flight index]
Dean Stratton
Saturday, 5/14/05
Garlock to Boomer Ridge
other logs [Tom Pipkin]
-Flying with GIANTS-
Since Tom has already given most of the flight details I’ll just fill in some blanks and share a few of my impressions of the day. Don’t get your hopes up, this doesn’t mean that my flight report is going to be short. You’d better grab a beer, a bag of chips and get comfortable, this may take a while. Okay, maybe you should grab 2 beers.
So there we were, getting ready to fly with Tony Deleo and his two friends, Herb and Russ. All 3 fly various versions of the Atos and have close to 90 years combined flying experience. While eating breakfast in Lone Pine Tony mentioned that Herb had 50 flights of 100 miles or better to his credit, that’s amazing. I’m still looking for my first 100 miler. All 3 have impressive flying resumes and Tom and I were picking up any XC tip scraps that happened to fall off the table. I don’t think it’s too often you have an opportunity to spend a day in the company of pilots who have the kind of experience that these 3 have. The images of Garlock that were painted at breakfast sounded like a good challenge and Pipkin and I couldn’t wait to get there.
We arrived at launch around 11:30 with conditions L&V. As Pipkin describes it, Garlock is just a couple of pimples set in the middle of the immense desert flats. Garlock is definitely remote, no Starbucks out here baby! You’ve got desert, more desert, and after that even more desert. The only other things to do out in Garlock besides flying are digging for gold and checking for loose teeth. Oops, I forgot, there is one more thing to do out there; fly swatting! It’s a definite favorite for the residents of Garlock (population 10). Until the wind picked up I must’ve looked like I had a bad case of Tourette's syndrome from a distance. I was bobbing, ducking, weaving and swinging my arms involuntarily trying to evade the kamikaze bomber bugs. Trying to carry on conversation without swallowing a few of the bombers was near impossible. Fortunately the wind picked up, cleared out the bugs, and we were able to focus on flying once again.
Things move a little slower out there in Garlock, including the launch cycles. Tony mentioned earlier in the day that we’d most likely be waiting until close to 1:00 before being able to launch. We watched the mountain ranges all around us popping cumis around 11:30 but just as Tony had said, the cycles at launch didn’t start rolling in until closer to 1:00. Standing at launch, approx. 4750’, gives you a very good perspective on the XC routes that criss-cross the desert. While waiting for the launch cycles to pick up Tony was very generous with information as he pointed out several of the XC routes and connection points. It sure helped to fill in the blanks to the desert XC puzzle. Today’s route: climb out over launch, head North OTB to Black Mtn. (2 miles), get as high as possible over Black and head OTB NW 14 miles over the flats to Boomer (Eastern Sierra connection). From there you continue North as far up the sierra range as you can, hopefully landing in Lone Pine (80 miles) or better. The hardest leg of this route, in my estimation, is the 14 mile jump over the flats from Black Mtn. to Boomer. It also turned out to be the most fun. Unfortunately, as soon as I connected to the sierras, ready for the easy leg of the route, I flushed…sh*#! The words that came out of my mouth after I hit the deck watching Tom sky out must’ve scared the residents of Inyokern. Steady Eddy picked me up, recognized my mood, and took me immediately to the nearest mini mart where I drowned my sorrows in ice cream. Ahhhhhh…the power of ice cream. My mood did a 180 and we headed off to chase down the rest of the gang.
Put down the remote, I’m not done yet!
I must say, as much as I enjoyed the flying, I think the most fun was had in Lone Pine. I haven’t laughed that hard since our last trip to Lone Pine which a few of you will remember. I’m speaking to Grantham, Ron Meyer, Bob P. and Pipkin about the episode during lunch at the High Sierra Café before leaving for home. That episode had us belly laughing most of the way home. Of course I can’t tell the rest of you about last year or this years fun, you’ll just have to join us for the next trip. WHAT HAPPENS IN LONE PINE STAYS IN LONE PINE.
I hit 13k over Black Mtn. which afforded some great views and some great photos which will give you an insiders look at the route and the day, so I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story. As you will see in the photos launch is very rocky and isn’t well suited for PG’s. It’s very possible to break some lines or twist an ankle if your launch skills aren’t up to speed. I know there are a lot of newer pilots that read this forum and I feel it’s important to note a few things about this site. We talked on the way home and I think we all agreed that this site really isn’t suited for pilots that aren’t at least P3’s with prior XC experience. The winds can be very strong at times and the thermals have several rows of teeth. This is definitely not the site to begin your XC experience. If you do decide to come brings lots of water, a map, extra batteries for your radio and be prepared for a long hike just in case. It would also be very smart to come with someone who knows the area well. It’s in the middle of the Mojave desert and it’s not very forgiving. 4 wheel drive is necessary to get to launch.
All three of the Atos armada made it well down range. Mileage ranged between 80-123. Damn good considering it was a late launch. Congrats to all three.
Congrats to Pipkin as well for setting the PG record from Garlock. Pipkin, you’d better hug that trophy as much as you can because I’m coming for it.
Lastly, who left a pair of stinky socks in the back of my truck?