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Primitive Camping ? Alpine County (CA) ? 11 & 12 Oct 2014

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
In the great tradition of the original Petit Jean Camping Trip, the great spur-of-moment RV outing to Lake Whitney State Park, and the first RV fly-in to BBRSP, Louise and I are giving notice that we?re going to go airplane camping up at Alpine County Airport (M45) on the weekend of 11 & 12 October. Alpine County has a nice paved runway, ten tie-down spots on the ramp, and?nothing else! Located in the foothills of the Northern Sierra, there are a number of primitive camping sites (no water, no facilities) that are well used. Trails lead off in a number of directions, with a very nice hike down to the upper Carson River. The field appears to be a staging area for aerial firefighting when required ? otherwise, it just sits there, unused. We have talked with the BLM and the Alpine County authorities, and they are happy for folks to camp there, so long as they check the latest campfire restrictions and understand that they are on their own. We are planning on backpacking gear and food ? nothing special.

We?d love to have folks join us ? it is an easy flight of less than an hour from the Bay area, Central Valley of California, and just about anywhere in northern Nevada (It?s about 20 minutes for us).

What?s there to do? Hike, explore, sit and tell lies?.commune with nature and other RV?ers. Markleeville is about four miles away as the crow flies, but we won?t be going there without ground transport. There?s a nice little reservoir a mile or two down the hill. The hike to the Carson is wonderful, and there is much to explore in the mountains and valleys ? plenty of geology to be learned if you walk with Louise! I suspect there are trout hiding in the Carson River ? haven?t tried it yet myself, but with a California license, you can find out. You can fly out to the restaurants in Minden or Bridgeport for breakfast if you don?t want to cook. And getting there is half the fun if you don?t usually fly around the Sierra ? gorgeous things to see!

We?re going to be there - plan to fly up about 10:00 AM on Saturday, and we?ll stay until we are ready to go home on Sunday. We?d love to have others join us ? post here or send us a note if you?re interested! There are ten sets of tie-down chains, and plenty of space to park more airplanes. Lots of room for tents in the beautiful woods. Bring your own water!!!

That's about as much organization as we plan to put in to this - it is what you make it. These kind of weekends tend to take on a life of their own - come and enjoy.

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Who?s in?

Paul
 
That is where my BFR instructor had me make my first landing after a 23 year gap in flying. Nice little strip in the hills. Watch for Deer, they are starting to migrate!
 
That is where my BFR instructor had me make my first landing after a 23 year gap in flying. Nice little strip in the hills. Watch for Deer, they are starting to migrate!

You may not currently have an airplane Bret - but that doesn't mean you can't drive up and join us! It's what? A twenty minute drive from Gardnerville?
 
You may not currently have an airplane Bret - but that doesn't mean you can't drive up and join us! It's what? A twenty minute drive from Gardnerville?

I DO have an airplane, it's in my living room! And a 172 at Minden, might put put up there to say hi.
 
? it is an easy flight of less than an hour from the Bay area, Central Valley of California, and just about anywhere in northern Nevada (It?s about 20 minutes for us).

Looks like 32 miles and 15 minutes for you; can y'all make that non-stop?:D Better bring along a piddle pack, just in case...
 
We have a couple of PMs and appreciate learning who plans to go. I plan to bring my hammock and spend some time just relaxing in the pines. 😌
 
Certainly is a beautiful area. I don't have a flying airplane yet, so I'll try to make it to the 2nd annual Alpine County Airport camping trip.
 
Rocky, it would be fun! I've been to the High Sierras back packing several times and really love that area. The other problem is that I have a business trip the same weekend. We really need to work at getting together to burn some gas!
 
Bump!

Time to bump things up. We expect to be there by 10 am and our hiking will commence about 11 am. Picnic lunch down by the Carson River. If primitive camping is too primitive for you, just stop by for the day!
 
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Drats on two levels.
1. I will be in DFW for recurrent training that weekend.
2. I don't have an airplane yet.
 
I'm planning on coming up with my 11 year old son. We'll plan on being there by 10am.
 
I must have missed this when you first posted, so thanks for the bump up!

I'll try to get along for 10.00 Saturday.

I stopped off for a hike at Echo Lakes on the drive back from Reno a few weeks ago and that was quite spectacular. I guess it'll cool off quite a bit at night, so will come prepared.
 
I'm in.

Will be driving in from the Rocklin, CA area since my -7A project is still on hold in OH. Look forward to meeting folks.
 
This sounds so much fun that I am thinking of joining if I can reschedule some of the plans that I had for this Saturday. I wish I knew about it sooner. I will confirm soon.
 
Well I am glad Louise bumped this up - seems like we're getting a bit more interest! After last week's cool snap (and snow up high in the mountains, I was afraid we'd gone straight from summer to Winter, but we are having a nice moderate fall this week, so I hope (fingers crossed) it will be nice this weekend for this.

Looking forward to seeing folks at Alpine.
 
Picnic lunch down by the Carson River. If primitive camping is too primitive for you, just stop by for the day!

Planing to go all the way up to the hot springs? I was planing to call the ranger tomorrow and see what the water (or lack there of) was in the river.
 
Planing to go all the way up to the hot springs? I was planing to call the ranger tomorrow and see what the water (or lack there of) was in the river.

I think the hot springs are closed for some maintenance issues. Besides, we aren't planning on taking a car at this time.
 
Planing to go all the way up to the hot springs? I was planing to call the ranger tomorrow and see what the water (or lack there of) was in the river.

Well there isn't really much of a route from the Alpine Co Airport ot the Hot Springs - so its not on our agenda - but that shouldn't stop anyone from exploring!
 
Too far away

Well there isn't really much of a route from the Alpine Co Airport ot the Hot Springs - so its not on our agenda - but that shouldn't stop anyone from exploring!
Well, without a trail it's too far for us on a first visit to the area.
 
Cheap(er) gas

FWIW, the Backcountry Pilots are having a fly-in on a dry lake bed this weekend near Yerington, just SE of Carson City. Fuel is supposed to be on discount at $4.99/gal at Carson (KCXP) from Friday noon through the weekend.

Greg
 
POTUS TFR in the Bay area on Saturday morning. Hoping it doesn't cause a delay.

Does anyone know if you need a full VFR flight plan to leave or will getting a Norcal squawk from the tower suffice?
 
I do the two wheel thing to work everyday to 7CL4, 25NM south of Alpine County, just a heads up, the mornings are in the 20s when I get to work. Might stop by on sat with the 172, (7A in progress) to say hi. :D
 
I gave Alpine a couple of low passes this morning, and the runway and parking areas were clear and looked great! As Bret mentioned - come prepared for Fall temps (you have to realize that I am originally a Minnesotan - "Fall Temps" mean anything down to Zero Fahrenheit.....).

We're looking forward to a nice little retreat up there, and hope everyone that wants to check it out has a safe trip!
 
You'll see/hear one of those elegant Rutan designs go over sometime today en-route to the Red Bull races in Vegas...!
 
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Beware at dry lake

FWIW, the Backcountry Pilots are having a fly-in on a dry lake bed this weekend near Yerington, just SE of Carson City. Fuel is supposed to be on discount at $4.99/gal at Carson (KCXP) from Friday noon through the weekend.

Greg

We flew over the dry lake a few days ago and I would NOT recommend that RVs try to go in (at least with standard tires). Part of the lake bed is still wet/damp and, of course, someone drove over the "runway" while wet and put ruts in it. Of course, organizers might do some work on it before the weekend. We were thinking of dropping in, but not now.
 
Bring your bear canister!

Last time we were up there, there were signs about bears. We don't want any planes or tents ripped up so bring your bear canister if you're staying overnight and will have food.

Weather is looking great!
 
Took the 172 up with my son and GF to alpine co, nice too see you all up there, hope you had a nice flight to Bridgeport and breakfast. Can't wait for the Bear encounter stories!
 
Quick Look Report

There will hopefully be a more detailed after-action report coming, but here?s a quick summary of the event!

Louise and I landed about 0830 on Saturday to an empty camping area and perfect weather. We unloaded two dogs and our personal camping gear and had just finished setting up when Leland arrived in hi -9 from Livermore (CA). More setting up and more arrivals ? I think I counted 7 RV?s total ? two of which just spent the day and left in the afternoon.

Hopefully someone else got a better picture of the full ramp ? this was all I had, and it is missing a few airplanes:

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We left for on a hike down to the Carson River about 1130 and picnicked on the river a little while later:
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A raiding party set out to ford the river after lunch while the rest of us headed back up the hill for more sedentary pursuits (there were two hammocks!):
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Ahh?the bear! After a nice night around the campfire and several great star gazing sessions, the moon rose, wiping out the dark skies, so we retired to our tents. Shortly after midnight, it became apparent to several that all was not well outside the fabric walls ? a bear was pillaging the camp! This was a brand new ?Bear Canister? on Saturday :
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Unfortunately, it didn?t take long for the black furry creature to break the code and extract the tasty morsels (mostly trash) from inside. This one is going back to REI labeled an ?Epic Fail?. We chased the critter away from where we could see him munching in the dark ? but the bear made several additional forays into the campsite in the subsequent hour, chased back into the shadows each time with vigorous shouts and banging of pots. We finally decided to build the fire back up and keep a couple of people awake and on guard until sun-up. The BLM will be warned of their overly-aggressive bear on Monday morning.

With a significant portion of food destroyed by the intruder, we all felt a flight for breakfast was a good idea, so we set off for Bridgeport. Unfortunately, so did a lot of other pilots, motorcyclists, fisherman, hunters, etc. ? the wait for a table at Hays Street Caf? was an hour and a half ? so we once again saddled up our winged steeds and headed north to Dayton Valley where we shuttle everyone over to a local eatery for brunch.

We want to thank everyone for making this little overnight fun ? it was great to meet more local fliers, and we promise this won?t be the last fly-in campout we ?disorganize?!

Now let?s see some more pictures!!

Paul
 
How'd the dogs do versus the bear? My dogs would go crazy and then ferociously protect us from under the covers.
 
Bear was great fun, but..

Woke up at 2:00 am to hear somebody munching on my ice chest, a few inches away from my face. Only lost a few apples and some leftover spaghetti sauce.
 
Sorry I missed this. I had the weekend standby duty at work and an afternoon class Saturday - I would have liked to have joined all of you. Its a cool spot and very near. Incredilbly nice air this weekend.

Paul,
I have that same brand of bear canister and its all I can do to open it when I'm tired and cold - Was the cap fully tightenned? Did the bear tear the cap off, or unscrew it? I have been wanting to build an RV inspired aluminum one.
 
Paul and Louise, thanks for forming up the trip. The area between Mono Lake and Alpine was really amazing from the air and the ground.
Missed breakfast but topped it off with a great trip back, 30knot tail winds down the center of Owens valley all the way!

Bear vs canister was a surprise. The bears repeated attempts to raid us again was about as aggressive as I have seen them.






Morning line up!

 
Dogs were remarkably quiet and calm in the tent during the raid. In the past, they have ignore bears on hikes, as well. A little strange but probably a good thing.

The bear broke the security tab off the lid of the canister and unscrewed it. We returned it to REI this evening and traded for their more expensive (like 10 bucks more) version. I give a huge thumbs down on this model!

Lots of fun and thanks for the great company!
 
Gosh Paul, this looks great. Used to fly over the Sierra Nevada's in my younger life, but alas, its a long way from Atlanta by RV. However, that being said, if you do indeed have it next year, I will try to make it. Please give lots of notice as I would have to contend with weather across the entire US.

Whatsa bear canister? I don't know diddly about bears:D
 
Bears

Were you guys and gals worried that the bear may have wanted to check out the rv's? They have a great sense of smell and if there was even a hint that food had been in the plane they might have climbed onto the wings to look around.
 
The bear broke the security tab off the lid of the canister and unscrewed it. We returned it to REI this evening and traded for their more expensive (like 10 bucks more) version. I give a huge thumbs down on this model!

I can see that small tab wouldn't be a match for the bear's strong claws. Yogi must have hooked it just right. Glad it was just the canister and not people, dogs, or an airplane:)
 
We took the 172 up, you can see the only top,wing in the background. Feel so out of place with it, I really need to get my 7 done. It was nice to meet a few of you up there, I can see this being an annual event, hint hint Paul.
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:rolleyes:
 
Were you guys and gals worried that the bear may have wanted to check out the rv's? They have a great sense of smell and if there was even a hint that food had been in the plane they might have climbed onto the wings to look around.

This was a definite concern of ours - bears tear doors off of cars - imagine what they could do to a thin RV skin! We made sure we didn't leave any food in either of our planes, and after the bear attack, those of us that stayed up mentioned that if there was anything attractive in a plane, it really should be removed.
 
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I think they caught the bad guy! I shudder to think how scared i would have been! :D

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They will eventually kill the bear if it gets too aggressive, which makes me too sad to think. Imagine a bunch of strangers putting up tents and setting up food in your dining room. I would probably take a bite myself, after all, it is my dining room! ;)
 
My son and I flew up from the South County airport outside San Jose, CA. Fortunately, we were outside the TFR covering most of the bay area so we
were able to get an early start. The flight up was in beautiful weather and we arrived around 10am to a ramp quickly filling with airplanes.

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The camping area was only a couple of hundred feet from the runway, so it was a great place to hang out and watch planes come and go.

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After we reached quorum, we packed a lunch and some water and hiked down a dry creek bed to the Carson river where we found a nice spot to rest
and refuel.

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After lunch, we hiked along the banks of the river for a bit while enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery. The dogs (and a few people) enjoyed
wading in the ice cold water.

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A few of us headed back to camp early and relaxed in the hammocks. Feeling refreshed, four of us decided to tackle the small hill across the runway
from our campsite. You can see the hill on the left side of the first picture in this post. There was no trail up the hill, but the terrain was easy enough
that we reached the top in 30-40 minutes. We found a nice rock outcropping that we climbed up to get some good pictures. It's hard to see, but the
ramp where the planes are parked is the thin grey line at the left edge of the sun rays.

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After dinner, we built a nice fire and sat around it chatting until early evening. With only the dim glow of the lights from Carson City to the north, the sky
was very dark and we had a spectacular view of the Milky Way. We were even able to spot a LEO satellite and a number of jets far overhead.

Tired from the days hikes, we turned in early. About 1am, I heard some noises outside the tent. After listening for a moment, I was fairly certain it was a
bear trying to get into one of the bear safes. Unless it came closer, there wasn't much point in going outside. About 1:30, the bear wandered over near
Leland's tent and started getting into his cooler. We hear him yell at the bear to try and scare him away, so a number of us got dressed and came out
to help. We found the opened bear safe near the fire pit, then spotted the bear just outside the campground. It stared at us and largely ignored our
attempts to scare it away; even heading straight for another tent at one point. We finally managed to get it to leave camp, but realized that we should
probably build a fire and have someone stay up to keep the bear away. Around 4am, we had a shift change and I turned in to get a little more sleep.

As the sun broke, we packed up our gear to fly as a group somewhere for breakfast. We stopped into Bridgeport (O57), but the wait was 1.5 hours due
to people flying in from the Backcountry Pilot fly-in. We loaded back up and headed to Paul and Louise's house in Dayton Valley (A34). We had a nice
breakfast in town and then headed back for a tour of their house and hangar.

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After the tour, my son and I loaded back up for the flight home. We flew right by the south end of Lake Tahoe and had nearly 20kt tailwinds for most of
the flight.

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We had a great time and really enjoyed meeting all of you. See you all next year!
 
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