Annual Hat Creek Rim Family Trip

August 1st, 2009 · No Comments · Blog Admin

I can't remember whether it's the 12th or 13th annual trip. It began as a modest affair -- me, a coupla brothers & parents. I was new to hang gliding back in '96-'97 or so, and that was a decent spot for intermediate pilots.

But I fell in love with all it has to offer, the flying being, now, a rather small part of it all. During many years, we've had upwards of 20 family members come and take part. It's a big socializing and cooking affair. The flying -- for me -- takes place in ththe very late evening...like I usually don't launch before 6:30 p.m. It's called a "glassoff," and I'll explain later -- sometime during the next week.

For now, we're outta here tomorrow, early. We'll get up there 'round noon. I have a new wide-angle digicam to mount on my HG, so I'm anxious to mash some decent short footage. In the meantime, here's my entries from last year.

One thing I hope to describe is the sort of workout I get while flying a hang glider, which is controlled by displacing one's weight. Think of steering a shopping cart, only you're on a pendulum, and to change direction, or go faster or slower, you much displace your entire body weight. A two-hour flight, of which I've had a number, is quite a workout.