Idaho Slope Flying Site
Posted by David Johnson on Jun 29, 2004, 20:18
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David is in Rexburg, in eastern Idaho. North of Idaho Falls. Here is his report on a nice slope on public (BLM) land. It's a bit of a trek on unmaintained dirt roads, so you'll need a vehicle with good ground clearance. I go in my Chevy Astro van, but I bottom out sometimes. Better in a truck.
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| photo by Lynn Johnson |
The slope has very nice south/southwest exposure, which is in the direction of the prevailing winds. There is also an adjacent bowl, from which you could do anything from straight west, through south, to right east. No northern exposure.
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| photo by Lynn Johnson |
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| photo by Lynn Johnson |
The hill is west of DuBois Idaho. You take the DuBois exit off I-15, and go west. Five or six miles out, you turn north toward Medicine Lodge. There's a sign. The Medicine Lodge road goes straight north for a few miles, and then takes a 90 degree bend west. After another mile or so, it bends north again, at Small, ID (one or two houses, and some outbuildings, but it's on the map). Instead of taking that bend, keep going straight west onto a dirt road. This road Ts into another dirt road immediately, and you turn south, over a cattle guard. After crossing the cattle guard, take the first right, which heads generally westward. These are now two-track dirt roads, and they get fairly bad before you reach the slope, so don't take a passenger car.
Keep to the main road as it winds westward. There are a few forks leading off left, but don't take these. After about three miles, you come to a gate. This is BLM land, and they run cattle here sometimes. So if the gate is closed, make sure you close it again after you're through.
Once past the gate, you'll want to take every left fork you come to. The first fork is just a couple hundred yards past the gate. The left fork leads you down into a drainage. Somewhere down there, the road forks again. The left fork takes you across the bottom of the drainage, and back up a small hill. At this point, the road looks like it's going to peter out, but have faith. It keeps going, and about 4.5 miles from the cattle guard, you'll come over a small rise, and see a fairly large cliff off in the distance. The road forks one more time, and the left fork takes you away from the cliff you can see, but up to the good hill. I park at about 4.9 miles from the cattle guard. Right at the red
cross in the following TopoZone link.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=12&n=4896302&e=383792&s=50&size=m&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
I fly my fast old balsa/spruce/birch ply/oak/and lots of epoxy plane, but have to be careful on landing. No soft grass. But there is a nice flat landing spot, littered with small, flat rocks. Every second or third landing, I have to buy a new nylon wing bolt. My son has much calmer landings with his (foam) zagi.
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| photo by Lynn Johnson |
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| photo by Lynn Johnson |
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| photo by Lynn Johnson |
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| photo by Lynn Johnson |
In eastern Idaho, there are lots of days with good to heavy southwest winds. And apparently, no one slope soars here. I'm sort of new to the area, and have quite enjoyed the past two summers tearing up the slope.
Email me if you think you might want to go.
-David Johnson
johnsondav@byui.edu
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