Life on the Lee-Side: July 2012

Last month I had the opportunity to meet up with Zippy, Dave, Alex, and a few others to fly in Yosemite for a Yosemite Foundation project called One Day in Yosemite. It would be a speed run, with an 18-hour drive each way and 36 hours feet on the ground in the park. The E30 and I were up for the challenge. A trip through the desert would do wonders for my soul. With summer in full swing, my "people tolerance" (more correctly intolerance) was dangerously in the red. That combined with an utter lack of adventure in my life lately had me questioning if I had succumbed to mediocrity. An epic was definitely in order.

The drive through Southern Nevada just north of Area 51 was pure bliss. Perfectly straight two-lane roads stretched from horizon to horizon. Their linear trajectory was broken only by perfectly cambered twisty sections carving through a dozen mountain ranges. The constant threat of a breakdown in the 23-year-old 220,000-mile E30 and the consequences of having an "off" hundreds of miles from any civilization made the adventure factor legit. I had to balance my risk tolerance with complete self-reliance. Other then a low oil light 800 miles in the E30 ran like a top (a fuel line did explode the day I got back). Excluding the town of Tonopah, Nevada I had the luxury of seeing an average of about one car per hour. Free ranging cows out numbered humans by a factor of two hundred to one. In California the driving experience got even better. The road between Benton Hot Springs and Mono Lake was the best driving road I've encountered in the US and I had it all to myself.

Experiencing Yosemite from a hang glider's perspective is a transformative experience. I made sure to pause and appreciate the moment before launching. When we got up in the pre-dawn light, the hordes of tourists were still asleep. From the launch on Glacier Point we had a perfect view of Half Dome. It was being silhouetted by the rising sun, towering over the valley in monolithic glory. After rigging and getting the go-ahead from the park control it was "business time". The ridiculously steep launch requires equal parts bravery and skill, but after 3 strong steps I was off the edge into the abyss. The 3000-foot plunge to the valley floor makes up for its brevity with drama. I hugged the wall around Glacier Point, crossed the valley and dipped a wing in Yosemite Falls. Then I strafed some hikers on Columbia Rock and painted my shadow on the wall below Eagle Peak. Driving 18 hours each way for a 10-minute sled-ride is a feat of ridiculousness, but after the flight it all made sense. Thanks to Dave, Zippy, Alex, Steve, Kendrick, and the Rhodes for an awesome trip. A special thanks to Mike Butler for monitoring.

8:00pm Departure