Big Walker Mountain Sunday 10/28

[XCanytime]

Aborting the Daniels thought and thinking seriously about flying Big Walker Mt. this coming Sunday. Stay overnight in Dublin Sat. night and fly this awesome site Sunday. Hopefully the fcst holds (Cloudy 50 degrees NW 8 MPH). Bacil

[lbunner]

Can't wait to hear how it is down there. I've been following their new club and the site sounds enticing.

[XCanytime]

Forecast ain't holding. Still gonna venture down there w/o glider and check the place out. Gonna make it back home before all hell breaks loose with Sandy's arrival in the local area Sunday night/Monday morning. Wow!

[XCanytime]

Did the 5 hour trek down 81 to Dublin Sat. afternoon and stayed overnight. Early this morning headed over the mountain to the landowner's house at the base. Met a spry 68 year old man putting some wood in a wood stove by his driveway. Jim Bogle greeted me warmly and proceeded to give me a tour of the LZ across the street and the launch directly behind his house on top of Big Walker Mt. He owns 287 acres of land; he owns the launch and the LZ. The launch is very similar to Elizabethville's slot: VERY WIDE. Nice! The mountain is Woodstock steep. The LZ is roly poly; there are 2 preferred approaches to uphill landings. On top of the hill next to the NW tree line is an ultralight strip with an aviation windsock at the end. The LZ has a camping area cordoned off with a port-a-pot and a shower. Jim has also a trailer that he uses to haul the gliders and equipment up to launch. There is a locked gate at the top. A decent road leads to the launch slot. This site has got ridge run/OTB XC written all over it! The ridge itself is around 100 miles long. My goal flight is to run the ridge 25 miles to the ENE and hop OTB 8 miles downwind and land at the Virginia Tech Airport. Can't wait to fly this site! Dues are $25/year and there are 2 fly ins planned for next year (spring/fall). They have a Yahoo list at soarbigwalkermountain-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Bacil

[FlyingFelix]

Thank you for all the information Bacil.
Looking forward to going down there sometime soon.
Do any guys around this area ever take road trips (several guys/gliders/cars?). That would be fun.

Felix.

[lbunner]

Nice Bacil, what are the coordinates for launch. I want to map out a big one from there.

[XCanytime]

The coordinates for launch are N 37 degrees 7.5 minutes W 80 degrees 53.5 minutes (N 37.125 W 80.8917). Back on Friday Aug. 6, 2004 Nelson Lewis accomplished "The Mission", flying XC 151 miles from the Peters Mountain launch into Tennessee. The Peters launch is around 41 miles NE of the Big Walker launch. The coordinates for the Peters Mountain launch are N 37 degrees 32.7 minutes W 80 degrees 21.3 minutes (N 37.545 W 80.355). I do not know what the status of the Peters launch is. Peters Mountain is "only" around 86 miles long. Big Walker offers the 100+ miles of ridge. Back during the Region 9 XC contest days Claire Vassort did around a 77 miler OTB XC (around 1998 I believe) from Big Walker Mt. into NC. Bacil