About a week and a half ago, I made site visits to the Carrizo Plain in California, and then the Black Rock Desert area in Nevada on my way to and from a bike ride (Markleeville Death Ride) on July 14th.
Both sites are potential sites for longer flights with turns. Carrizo Plain National Historic Landmark area is a 50 mile X 15 mile flat area with a 5 mile by 1 mile salt lake at the North end, and the San Andreas Fault running through it.
Black Rock Desert is a large salt flat (aka 'Playa'), much of which is in a National Conservation Area, and some of which is an official Wilderness area. It is the site of the famous yearly Burning Man event, and other events such as land speed records and high-powered model rocketry take place there as well.
Both sites may be good ones for longer range flights of the DaSH aircraft. Corrizo Plain is closer to our base (about 4 1/2 hours vs. 6 1/2 hours) and is a bit less remote as well. It is also lower altitude (600 m [2000 ft] vs. 1200 m [4000 ft] for Black Rock desert), which means it will take slightly less power to fly there. But Black Rock desert and its surrounding areas (like Smoke Creek Desert) have tons of room, a lot more than Carrizo, and virtually all of it is flat salt lake.
In between, I took a nostalgic side trip to Shafter airport to take a photograph of the Gossamer Condor monument.
Here are some photos I took:
Carrizo Plain
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| the approach from the North past the last few ranches |
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| roads to nowhere |
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| large power lines just North of start of National Landmark Area |
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| the start of the monument, North end |
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| the start of the salt lake ('Soda Lake') |
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| view of Soda Lake from the lookout |
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| a view South down the valley from the lookout |
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| a 360 panorama from the lookout |
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| phone lines in North end of monument |
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| the road turns to gravel (but well graded) |
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| taking the road East out of the valley, South of Soda Lake. This is what the rest of the valley floor looks like |
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| The Gossamer Condor monument at Shafter Airport |
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| Another View of Gossamer Condor monument |
Black Rock Desert and environs
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| Winnemucca Lake (dry lake East of Pyramid Lake) |
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| Apprroaching Empire and Gerlach |
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| The Gerlach sign |
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| The BLM Black Rock field office |
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| Looking North up the Playa |
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| Map showing the Playa (left part) and Wilderness area (part to the upper right). Smoke Creek desert is South and West of this map and is not shown. |
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| Three Mile access point |
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| On the Playa |
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| Closeup of Play surface |
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| Tracks |
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| Looking South |
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| A 360 panorama on the Playa |
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| One of the few dune areas, easily avoidable |
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| The gap in the hills between Black Rock Desert and Smoke Creek Desert |
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| Start of Smoke Creek Road/Surprise Valley Road |
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| There's lots of scrub brush between the road and the salt flats. Three access points, one uncertain one near the start, one midway down the road about 20 miles and near-4WD road, 1/2 mile long, the other near the South end of the desert and short and easy acess. |
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| North Access Road |
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| Wild Burros (native here) |
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| Getting closer |
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| Middle Access Road (4WDish in places, but made it in a Prius) |
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| On the Smoke Creek Desert plain |
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| Looking South down Smoke Creek Desert |
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| Back to the North side of Pyramid Lake. The road is rough and washboard-y here. |
