Today started with high hopes for high mileage. Most of those plans quickly dwindled, as a driver could not be found for our retrieval purposes. Both Greg and Jeff bailed for good reasons, and Cody and Dorothy are in Florida. So I set out for Inspo on my own. Once on top the conditions looked rather poor. It was hot with very little wind. I felt a repeat of yesterday's sledder comin' on. A few para gliders set up and thrashed around on launch in the light but sometimes trashy thermal cycles. The paras finally took off only to find light conditions out front as well. The paras flew around for half an hour or so and landed below in the school LZ.

A fine shot of Mt. Timpanogas courtesy of Jeff Obrien

A fire that started at the base of the mountain a few days ago burned all the way up to launch, leaving an 800 acre black spot on the hill. Can someone say thermal generator? Not long after the paras landed, I noticed small dust devils forming on the blackened hills below. At times there were five or six going off at once. Ironically, just last week I read an article in the latest Hang Gliding mag about a similar occurrence. The fine black ash left behind after the fire is easily picked up by the dust devils, therefore marking these small meteorological phenomena that normally could not be seen by the human eye. Anyway, that was enough to get my butt in gear and get ready to go. Right after launch I encountered a somewhat solid core that put me a grand over Cascade. After hanging out in thermic ridge lift on Cascade for half an hour, another solid core landed me at 13,950. With the strong south wind, I was over Mt. Timpanogas in no time at all, losing only 1,500 ft. I continued soaring Timp's awesome spine for over an hour. After leaving Timp and a 30 min tour over Provo, I landed at the main LZ. To top things off, for the second day in a row Jeff drove me back up to launch to retrieve my truck!! By the way, his phone number is 1-800-IDRIVEU.