Flight started out great, clear blue sky, very little smoke, smooth cruising. Kathy and I were on our way to Salida to visit our friend Amy Zeiset for a few days.
Active weather and restricted areas forced us to detour south for a landing in Cedar City for a full tank in case we needed some detours. We did. At one point, Kathy asked if we were going to Canada. We flew above most of the weather at 13,500' but nearing Grand Junction we couldn't go over the top anymore and had to skirt under the storms and weave between rain showers. The photo below was taken beside the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, with dark clouds between us and Gunnison.
Kathy said please Jim please get us to Salida (but don't fly into a storm!).
So we made it, largely thanks to ADSB weather on the Dynon screen. The next day I took Amy up for a flight. We circled the gold mine hanggliding launch, followed the river canyon to Buena Vista, then part way into Independence Pass before turning back to Salida.
Looking up Independence pass.
White chalk cliffs of Mt. Princeton.
Alas it was time to head home. It was interesting squeezing between the top of Monarch Pass and the low solid cloud deck on the west side of the mountains.
The clouds gradually gave way to isolated cumulus, and then blue skies.
Crossing the Colorado River. Lots of unlandable terrain, glad to have the 30/1 glide ratio and plenty of altitude to get to airports along the way.
Golden Gate Range in Nevada with smoke layer ahead. We landed in heavy smoke, sorry to be back home after such nice skies. We look forward to the first cold fronts of the year to clear out the atmosphere. About 650nm each way, as usual, the Phoenix ran like a top.
