We can’t complain too much as we were lucky with the weather on our Alsek trip earlier this year (where it usually rains and storms on most days and snow is a possibility even in mid summer) and we had the most gorgeous weather in Chamonix. But it doesn’t make it any easier to cope with the grey and rainy weather when we got back to the Wetcoast.
So with yet another rainy forecast looming, we decided to drive away from the rain and see what areas to the east had to offer for Thanksgiving weekend.
The destination was Hedley in the Similkameen valley, a small town surrounded by steep rock faces. One of the attractions are the old gold mines perched on the cliffs high above town.
In early summer we come here for paddling a friendly stretch of Similkameen River (or the more exciting Similkameen Canyon and Ashnola). We leave the summer flying in the narrow and hot valley for braver pilots and return with our wings in fall.
This year we flew from a different launch to cross directly over the small town and old mining buildings. Still, even fall flying can be pretty exciting, especially coming back down to earth in the strong valley winds. I got caught off guard when I launched with a different, smaller wing and didn’t adjust my take-off speed. Much more sink than with my paraglider and a ‘secondary’ touch-down and contact between the slope and my knee… ouch! (Should have know, so shortly after writing the advanced exam… lift equals area of wing, speed squared, air density etc). Despite the excitement, everyone was fine, happy with the flights, and enjoyed the camp fire at night (and the Russian folk songs I hadn’t heard, leave alone sung in 25 years).
