Gettin' high on the Pie

[Richard Hays]

Great day at Cow Pie hill on Sunday. Winds were NNW early....become N later
in the day, with a final ( and fatal ) NE swing by 5pm. Overall conditions
were only about 3-5 mph. But we had our fill at that point and all the guys
were starting to make mistakes from being tired...and from the
cross...so...we called it a day.

Cow pie is a really interesting site. It is a very gentle, shallow sloped
hill with a slightly steeper pitch at the top. Its' one of those sites that
kinda requires some wind to become airborne...but once airborn, you can
glide for about 100+ yards at a very controlled 5-10' off the ground. Its'
wide open from top to bottom..and running into anything is remote. Its a
perfect day 1-3 type site or for someone wanting to work on the FSL skill.
But it really does requires at least some breeze blowing up it....especially
in humid conditions.

Access is tough. Requires 4x4 getting in with a stream crossing under normal
conditions. This requires car pooling since I'm trying to low impact the
site and....getting cars stuck would not go over well with the farmer I'm
sure. Sunday the stream was still swollen from the rains, so we worked a
section of another available hill out there before going up to the main
slope...which required a hike with gear and a smaller stream crossing. The
numerous cows stared at us as we portaged across the gully.

All in all it was a great day that started out looking pretty drab at 7am.
Everyone was on their first day and hoops and hollers' were heard all day as
the group found air and some even their feet with stand up landings. Others'
found the pies.

Rich Hays