Finally, on Wednesday, May 25, 2005, I got finished with my work early enough so that I could arrive at the airport at eleven. Emily came on her lunch break and helped me to put the wings on, and at twelve tow pilot John Roskos came. We were airborne at twelve thirty, great.

There was one cummulus cloud above the airport, I climbed to its base, and that was the last cu for the whole flight except another small one by Davenport. All the rest was flown in blue thermals, 260 miles.

I was too busy concentrating on the flying on the way to Davenport, but after rounding it when going got rather reliable I pulled out my camera and took a few pictures. The first one is approaching the Grand Coulee Dam. I decided to go right over its airport, which is off the picture to the left. The airport is on the shore of Banks Lake, a spectacular body of water inside a long canyon.

The prominent mesa in the middle of the lake is fittingly named "Steamboat Rock". There is a state park there with a nice camping, and the view from the top of the rock is definitely worth the hike.

I moved on on my course towards Anderson, which required that I cross Columbia River to its north bank.

This is the view looking southwest, towards Chief Joseph Dam and Bridgeport. Notice how green everything looked this time of the year, after recent week-long dowsing with steady rains..

On to the flight. My plan was to recross the river again, this time at the confluence of Okanogan River with Columbia..

The airport, my turnpoint, is right next to the spot where Okanogan River, coming in from the right in the picture, flows into Columbia. But I ended up not flying directly to the turnpoint. Not finding a connecting thermal, I chickened out, and instead traded the reserve altitude for a glide to the fields on top of the plateau promontory on the left, across the river. I was worried that if I went first to the turnpoint, and then headed to the high plateau, I would not have enough altitude to get above it.

Eventually, after hunting down several elusive dust devils, I was rewarded with a nice high climb. During circling I took this picture of Brewster, the town where Anderson Airport is located. Methow Valley is behind the first mountain range on top, and the North Cascades are on the horizon.

This is the continuation of Brewster, its rural part. The view is to the north, up Okanogan River valley. The mountains on the left side of the valley provide a nice aerial freeway for flights to the north.

After the last picture I rounded Anderson aiport, made a 180° turn, and after arriving back above the plateau still had plenty of altitude to continue farther south where I saw some dust devils in the distance.

I ended up needing only one to get to Waterville, where near the town I found another, and then one last one on the plateau above Rocky Reach Dam boosted me high enough for a circuitous final glide home.

I was curious what was the plume of smoke rising on the back side of Twin Peaks. Perhaps some loggers were burning off slash? I decided to fly on to get a closer look. Notice again how green the mountains appear! The vegetation sure soaked up the recent rains. Note Mt. Rainier on the horizon.

I was wondering if loggers could even get on the steep hillside where that fire was burning. Why was it burning there? The mystery was solved. Friday's paper reported that the fire resulted from a lightning strike about five days ago, and that the fire was initially smoldering...The paper said it took ..."a 20-person Entiat Hot Shots crew, a helicopter, and an engine to mop it up." The paper also helped me to identify this area, it's called Bear Gulch.

Returning from the back side of Twin Peaks area, I got a little concerned running into steady sink. The wind was fairly stiff from the east, and I was in the lee side of the range. Nevertheless, I had a reserve and was able to still snap a picture of some nice sandstone formations on top of the ridge connecting Twin Peaks to Mission Ridge...

Talking about reading papers, Emily discovered an old issue she kept of Wenatchee World from August 18, 1996. There's an article on page A1 about sandstone formations in the Stemilt Hill area. They are part of the same landscape as the rocks near Twin Peaks. Retired geology teacher, Warren Scott, said that the lower part of the formation, called Chumstick, was 46 million years old. The upper part, called the Wenatchee formation, was 33 million. The Stemilt Hill rocks were in 1996 on Betty and Roger Bryant's land, and locals had names for the rocks: The Praying Lady, The Bridge, Steamship, Grasshopper, Teddy Bear and Chinaman's Hat.

Shortly after passing the Stemilt Rocks I landed, at the end of a very rewarding flight. If I had not chickened out near Anderson, perhaps my cross country speed would have been better. But this was the first time I flew 260 miles in blue thermals, so it was pretty exciting.

The forecast for the next few days was this time favorable, so I kept Charlie Delta tied down, hoping to go gliding after work, and then also during the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend.