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Lewis and Clark Route by Parachute

Sunday, June 20, 2004

We left Hermiston at 5:30 A.M. The morning was perfect, a slight air movement to the east and clear sky.  It took two hours to make the first stop at Waitsburg, Washington for refueling at a crop duster strip.

Wheat fields between Walla Walla & Waitsburg, WA.

I was heading directly into the sun all morning.  It would have helped a little if I had my new glasses of just two weeks ago, the ones with the titaniun frames that couldn't be bent, except when they get run over by the tire of the Powered Chute.

The landscape all through the Walla Walla country was gorgeous in the early morning sunlight.  All shades of green and gold with the shadows of the hills intertwined in the view.  Each mile seemed to be better than the last.

After passing Lewiston, Idaho I was on a direct course to Orfino, Idaho when we decided by radio to switch to Kooskie because of a slight tail wind and having enough fuel left.  I took a short cut over the hills while Leonard took the long loop around.  I accidently marked the wrong town north of Kooskie and arrived at 11:15 A.M.  I couldn't find a landing strip and I couldn't raise Leonard on the radio.  Finally I headed back to Orofino before the fuel got too low.  All the way down the valley I kept calling, but no answer.  I set down at Orofino and tried to call Leonard's cell phone, but my AT&T company could not call out to Leonard's from this area.  Long story short, he was waiting at Kooskie thinking I went down some where and I didn't know what had happened to him.

No one was at the Orofino airport to use a local phone but I was able to call 911 to the Nez Perz County Sheriff, after two hours I called them again and they put out a bulletin for the pickup.  Meanwhile Leonard had called 911 afraid I was down.  The only problem was we were in two different counties and they didn't contact each other for a while, but eventually a deputy came by to tell me they found him still Kooskie and he was on the way.  Afterward we found my transmit connection on the radio had come loose, we tightned it and then flew on to Kooskie for the night.

Monday, June 21, 2004

We took off from Kooskie, ID at 5 A.M. after a breakfast of a banana.  The sky was light enough to see the surrounding hills and for the mosquitoes to find their breakfast.

It was a normal lift off except when I shifted positions for better balance I discovered I forgot to strap on my seat belt which I took care of immediately.  The ground speed was indicating only about 28 mph and the distance was just over 100 miles direct which meant it would be nip and tuck getting there or finding a landing spot suitable to set down if we were a little short.

The higher I went the slower the speed.  I decided to make it over the other side of a high ridge hoping for a shift in the wind.  Just about the time I was there, a 600 foot per minute downdraft caught me so I tried to work around the lower end of the ridge to go around.  The only thing I got out of that was a cow elk spooked below me and at least she got around the ridge.

When my indicator showed a 1 mph speed, I called Leonard and said I'd meet him back at the air field.  We got back at 6 A.M., had a real breakfast, went back to our rooms and rested for a few hours.

Later I called Federal Weather Watch who said by noon their would be a westerly flow of air in that area without large cloud buildups.  At 10:30 A.M., we tried it again.  From the first, we actually had 32 mph reading and it was fairly smooth.  We were radio contact most of the way.

View of Bitteroot Mountains through LoLo Pass

I gradually went to over 8000 foot level and passed over Lolo summit with a few thousand feet to spare.  The more of the routes I see, the more respect and admiration I have for the men of the Lewis and Clark party.  Not only for their toughness but the ability to separate and meet again within a day at a prearranged spot in the middle of this vast wilderness.

We actually made the trip across in three and a half hours to the Bill and Romano Holt Ranch less than a mile west of Lolo.  Unknown to us, they had the Missoula TV crew there for an interview before going to a beefalo barbeque with neighbors.  They provided a house to for us to share all to ourselves for the night.

The Holts have a fascinating collection western memorabilia fixed up at the ranch that is really worth seeing.  They are extremely knowledgeable about the west and are working with the State of Montana restoring Travelers Rest, which was an Indian and mountain man meeting place and one of the proven actual sites of a Lewis and Clark encampment.  The site lays next to their property.  They are more than gracious hosts, they are friends.

Bob

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