Monument Valley 2009 Ultra flight Article
During a spring road trip a couple of years ago I discovered Monument Valley. After a few days of launching from their airstrip and flying among the massive buttes, I knew, this was a venue that had to be shared. So I posted on the Biglist hoping to get a couple of guys together for a PPG camping trip. Four months later thirty pilots assembled and, “The Gathering at Monument Valley”, was born.
This year, over forty pilots came together from as far away as Quebec and Fort Lauderdale. It is a non-sponsored event which gives it a different feel than a commercial Fly-In. be associated with are no vendors or booths, and the accompanying “equipment hype”, but also because of the diverse group of pilots who have driven hundreds even thousands of miles with one common agenda… fly the holy grail of powered paragliding. It was a rare venue where the professionals blended into the group and politics were set aside
By all measures, the second annual gathering was a great success. Almost everyone was able to experience at least one, “Epic Flight”, and the only carnage was a few bent cages and scraped arms. We stayed five miles west of the Navajo Tribal Park at Gouldings Lodge, an early nineteenth century Indian trading post where sixty years ago John Wayne filmed several epic westerns. It’s an ideal facility for a fly-in with everything we needed, campground, lodging, restaurant, grocery store and best of all a 3500 foot airstrip. Between flights the pilots could relax at the swimming pool or take off into the park by foot bike or vehicle. For one pilot, the highlight of the weekend was to see the topography he had just flown sitting in the back of a pickup.
For the most part, the weather was in our favor, a good trip to Monument Valley is fifty percent flyable and this year beat the average. While a major low pressure system 300 miles north was wreaking havoc, we relaxed under mostly sunny skies in 70 plus degrees. Friday morning was slightly bumpy with twitchy surface winds. Shortly after dawn a couple of pilots, braved the launch, and reported excellent conditions at altitude. As they approached the monuments the radio chatter got more frequent and animated. When one announced “huge lift” at his location a bunch waiting on the tarmac were persuaded and within minutes the skies were filled with wings. At 9:15 the tourist flights began arriving and everyone packed up and took off to breakfast. That evening the wind was stronger and only a few launched usually for very short flights.
Saturday morning provided the best conditions of the weekend with the majority of pilots getting long flights, deep into the Park. Some chose a particular monolith and flew to it, while others went for altitude and enjoyed the big picture. With over 100 square miles of breathtaking territory it’s possible to fly the Navajo Tribal Park for years without ever repeating a track.
This was my 17th sunrise at Monument Valley and I was looking forward to a route I’d been planning all year. It would take me into the center of the park without flying over a huge amount of unlandable terrain. After clearing the mesas surrounding Gouldings, I climbed to 1200 feet and flew south, three miles past the Visitors Center where I crossed over Wetherill Mesa into the Valley of the Gods. It was spectacular. I was surrounded by a labyrinth of massive buttes and delicate spires towering a thousand feet above the desert floor. Idling the CT 4 stroke, I quietly descended directly over "The Hub", into the Navajo's sacred valley. I looked for and finally saw the face of the rain god that nature had painted on the west facing Mesa. After a couple of big circles below 250 feet, I turned North flying past Camel and Elephant Buttes until reaching the West Mitten where I climbed to 500 ft and turned back towards the airstrip. My “Epic Flight” was in the bag.
Early Saturday evening we met at Gouldings banquet room for a speech-free dinner after which the real party began. One of the larger Recreational Vehicles hosted a PPG film festival and in one of Gouldings luxury suits fondly referred to as the Bachelor Quarters a lively Texas Hold’m Tournament was held. Others went to the nightly campfire, where both expert and novice pilots told lies, shared memories and generally discussed our sport with some of powered paragliding’s best known authorities.
During a spring road trip a couple of years ago I discovered Monument Valley. After a few days of launching from their airstrip and flying among the massive buttes, I knew, this was a venue that had to be shared. So I posted on the Biglist hoping to get a couple of guys together for a PPG camping trip. Four months later thirty pilots assembled and, “The Gathering at Monument Valley”, was born.
This year, over forty pilots came together from as far away as Quebec and Fort Lauderdale. It is a non-sponsored event which gives it a different feel than a commercial Fly-In. be associated with are no vendors or booths, and the accompanying “equipment hype”, but also because of the diverse group of pilots who have driven hundreds even thousands of miles with one common agenda… fly the holy grail of powered paragliding. It was a rare venue where the professionals blended into the group and politics were set aside
By all measures, the second annual gathering was a great success. Almost everyone was able to experience at least one, “Epic Flight”, and the only carnage was a few bent cages and scraped arms. We stayed five miles west of the Navajo Tribal Park at Gouldings Lodge, an early nineteenth century Indian trading post where sixty years ago John Wayne filmed several epic westerns. It’s an ideal facility for a fly-in with everything we needed, campground, lodging, restaurant, grocery store and best of all a 3500 foot airstrip. Between flights the pilots could relax at the swimming pool or take off into the park by foot bike or vehicle. For one pilot, the highlight of the weekend was to see the topography he had just flown sitting in the back of a pickup.
For the most part, the weather was in our favor, a good trip to Monument Valley is fifty percent flyable and this year beat the average. While a major low pressure system 300 miles north was wreaking havoc, we relaxed under mostly sunny skies in 70 plus degrees. Friday morning was slightly bumpy with twitchy surface winds. Shortly after dawn a couple of pilots, braved the launch, and reported excellent conditions at altitude. As they approached the monuments the radio chatter got more frequent and animated. When one announced “huge lift” at his location a bunch waiting on the tarmac were persuaded and within minutes the skies were filled with wings. At 9:15 the tourist flights began arriving and everyone packed up and took off to breakfast. That evening the wind was stronger and only a few launched usually for very short flights.
Saturday morning provided the best conditions of the weekend with the majority of pilots getting long flights, deep into the Park. Some chose a particular monolith and flew to it, while others went for altitude and enjoyed the big picture. With over 100 square miles of breathtaking territory it’s possible to fly the Navajo Tribal Park for years without ever repeating a track.
This was my 17th sunrise at Monument Valley and I was looking forward to a route I’d been planning all year. It would take me into the center of the park without flying over a huge amount of unlandable terrain. After clearing the mesas surrounding Gouldings, I climbed to 1200 feet and flew south, three miles past the Visitors Center where I crossed over Wetherill Mesa into the Valley of the Gods. It was spectacular. I was surrounded by a labyrinth of massive buttes and delicate spires towering a thousand feet above the desert floor. Idling the CT 4 stroke, I quietly descended directly over "The Hub", into the Navajo's sacred valley. I looked for and finally saw the face of the rain god that nature had painted on the west facing Mesa. After a couple of big circles below 250 feet, I turned North flying past Camel and Elephant Buttes until reaching the West Mitten where I climbed to 500 ft and turned back towards the airstrip. My “Epic Flight” was in the bag.
Early Saturday evening we met at Gouldings banquet room for a speech-free dinner after which the real party began. One of the larger Recreational Vehicles hosted a PPG film festival and in one of Gouldings luxury suits fondly referred to as the Bachelor Quarters a lively Texas Hold’m Tournament was held. Others went to the nightly campfire, where both expert and novice pilots told lies, shared memories and generally discussed our sport with some of powered paragliding’s best known authorities.
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