Belen: 5:42 am Mystic Bluffs: 7:54 pmAirtime: 2.2

Belen: 9:41 am Mystic Bluffs: 10:59 amAirtime: 1.3

Total PIC Time: 1841.2 Total Logged Time: 1862.4

Friday, August 16, 2019Cobra flight #692, PIC #702, 1 landingsMalpias, Bandara Crater, Ramah Lake, Mystic Bluffs

Saturday, August 17, 2019Cobra flight #693, PIC #703, 1 landingsRamah Lake

I have been looking forwards to the Mystic Bluffs Fly-in breakfast all summer. Unfortunately, the wind forecast for tomorrow is 20 mph and higher out of the west for the trip out there. As an alternative, Paul and I decided to fly out this afternoon and camp out. As I packed up my trike, I watched the windsock and listened to the AWOS station and it was gusty. Winds out of the west had been predicted for this afternoon, though not as strong, and they typically die down at sunset (8:15 pm tonight).

Bandera Crater on the way out.

The trip out was a bit of a grind. I kept monitoring our ETA for Mystic Bluffs to be sure we arrived before sunset. We crossed Sierra Lucero, and then flew directly over La Ventana Arch. I climbed up high to cross the Malpais. When we made it to Bandera Crater (previous page) the wind became smoother and eased off a bit.

We arrived at Mystic Bluffs with about 10 minutes of sunlight and 40 minutes till the end of civil twilight. The air was very smooth and I was in no hurry to land so I cruised around the area a bit (above).

I overflew the runway and counted 9 planes on the ground. One of the planes belonged to Perry Null who was helping to set things up for tomorrow mornings breakfast. With our trikes, a total to 10 aircraft would spend the night here.

The wind was so smooth I wanted to check out the lake, but as I approached the valley that held the lake, I was hit by some rough air. I decided to pass on the lake this time.

I landed, set up my tent, and ate the sandwich I had packed in for dinner. Then the moon rose. It was a spectacular full moon that kept me company all night long. We had a nice campfire and I really enjoyed camping under my wing that night.

I woke up early and started to pack up my gear. Here is a picture of my trike and my tent that morning. I was all packed up and ready to fly out just before breakfast was served.

A hot air balloon inflated near my trike. I watched it while I packed up.

Breakfast was at least 7 course meal. Breakfast burritos, blueberry cake, egg dish, posole, green chilestew, coffee cake, cinnamon rolls, coffee. Probably some more stuff that I forgot to count. I did not need to go back for seconds and did not eat for the rest of the day.

It was very impressive how the entire community of about 100 local people turned out to welcome us to this hidden scenic treasure of New Mexico. Around 9 am, I pried myself away from the breakfast table and started get ready for the journey home. 45 minutes later Paul and I took off, and over flew the runway to see how big a crowd was there.

I got a good view of all the cars and planes on this flyover pass after taking off.

I climbed up and flew over Ramah Lake. The air was turbulent but it was still a nice view.

The flight home was uneventful except for a nice tailwind. I did talk to some pilots who flew in that morning and they were fighting a 30 to 40 mph winds on the way out. We flew home with the tailwind got home much quicker. 2.2 hrs on the way out, 1.3 hrs on the way home.

Here are my GPS tracks for the weekend’s flights.

Angel Fire

Malpais

Belen

Mystic Bluffs

BandaraCrater

Outbound

Return