June Road Trip (3)

Beautiful terrain near Five Springs Falls in Wyoming

On our way back towards home, Andrew noted a flying site that had been marked on Paragliding Earth. Which often doesn't mean much. Even Mount Blackstrap is marked! But on checking further, it looked promising.

The launch is about a two minute walk from the upper Five Springs Falls campground near Lovell, Wyoming. Fortunately for our low-clearance Prius, the road is nicely paved the whole way up the mountain.

Andrew got some great lift right off launch and had a nice 20-minute flight.

Five Springs Falls launch is about a 2 minute walk from the campground.

More back road travels that meant getting closer to more magnificent wildlife. 

Last summer, Andrew had checked out a few places near Havre, Montana, and he'd gotten some short flights off Otis Peak. There are three directions you can launch from and, sadly, the wind was coming from the fourth direction. Hike, no fly!

But Otis Peak has an amazing number of different types of wildflowers. Fourteen by my count. So beautiful and colourful!

Sticky Geranium

Gaillardia

Groundsel

Bee balm/wild bergamot

Fireweed

Lupin

Fleabane

Yarrow

Harebell

Threadleaf phacelia

Hairy False Golden Aster

Wild rose

Wild rose

Rainfall put an end to our trip a day early but it was fun while it lasted! 

(Thanks to Andrew's sister, Penny, for flower identifications!)

June Road Trip (2)

We meandered through Yellowstone National Park en route to Wyoming -- where Andrew had scoped out a couple more potential flying sites he wanted to check out. 

We saw lots of wild and not-so-wild life in a couple short hikes. Once out of the park, we took roads less travelled and it's amazing how much more wildlife you see on the backroads! 

Food and squawking!

Tourist trail rides in the park.

Small creatures . . . 

And very big creatures!

An osprey mom and one of her babies. We saw a few heads pop up from the nest but it was hard to catch more than one at a time on camera. Papa osprey was hunting nearby.

Baby pronghorn. Mom was keeping a watchful eye on us.

Andrew hiking up a hill near Cody, WY. He ended up walking back down due to high and cross wind.
Good decision making! 

Meanwhile, I took a few photos nearby of wildlife. Love the red rock in the distance. 

There were lots of wildflowers in bloom! 

On one of roads less travelled we came across Legend Rock State Petroglyph Site. They were amazingly well preserved. Definitely some of the most clear petroglyphs I've seen.

June Road Trip (1)

Andrew found a random hill in Montana to fly off of.

I'd been wanting to get out to Air Adventure in Drayton Valley to get in some short tow launches to test out my ankle. The timing worked out perfectly as Jon (a pilot/instructor who just moved back to Saskatoon after being in California for 10 years) was working on getting his Canadian instructor rating and needed a couple "students" to join him there.

Humorously (or not) I came in hard on my very first landing and definitely tested the ankle. It survived! I was way more nervous than I thought I would be and felt like a complete beginner again. Ugh! Hopefully things will come back quicker next time out.

Due to rainy weather, we only got in one day of towing and then spent the next half day re-packing reserve chutes. It's always comforting to have someone knowledgeable overseeing this process when we only do it once a year and it's a vital safety backup.

Jon instructing under the watchful eye of instructor examiner Claudio.

Re-packing reserve chutes

From Drayton Valley, we headed south and stopped for the night at Back to Nature Retreat, a lovely B&B near Water Valley, AB. We spotted a couple fox who were busy hunting for their supper.

This one leaped high in the air and dove head first to the ground. Presumably he found some supper!
They have such long tails.

 From there we headed down into Montana, spotting various deer, hawks and other birds.

A deer in a colourful flower patch.

Andrew kept looking for suitable hills to fly from and he spotted this one just south of Choteau. I hiked part way up while he went up higher and along the ridge to find a good place to launch from. The wind wasn't quite strong enough to soar the ridge but he still got a nice 3-minute flight which I managed to do a decent job of videoing.

Andrew hiking along the ridge to find a launch area.

Just one of the many wild flowers near Choteau

Further south we stopped at Three Forks for the night and went for a short hike at Headwaters State Park. This is the headwaters of the Missouri River where the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers meet (hence, Three Forks).