Carlsbad to Memphis

http://web.mac.com/rv8apilot/iWeb/Trip%20Pictures/Carlsbad%20.html


Click on the link above to go to more pictures from the Carlsbad trip. We picked New Mexico to visit because it had the best weather in the country. But wouldn't you know it, the weather turned stinky just in time for our return to Memphis. As you can see on the Garmin, the weather around Dallas and south of there was nasty. Fortunately, we were able to deviate to the north and avoid any significant weather, although our IFR skills were required.

So, we left Carlsbad mid morning, and landed in Oklahoma City at Sundance airport about two and a half hours later. After a delicious lunch consisting of crackers and a diet coke, we were back in the air enroute to Memphis.

Pardon me, but is that bat guano on your shoes?

We started the day by taking the hike up to the cave at Slaughter canyon. This was a nice, steep half-mile hike to the guided tour of one of the "unimproved" caves in this area. There are some great formations in this cave, and the two park rangers did a great job as guides. The most impressive formation is called "The Clansman."

Hiking back down after this tour, we drove over to the visitor's center at Carlsbad Caverns, and did the tour of the "Big Room." This was just incredible. I can't believe I've gone my whole life without doing this tour.

We had a little time left after this, so we decided to take a short flight to photograph some of the local mountainous geography. The weather was great with light winds, and this made for some nice photos. This is El Capitan, the peak near which we were hiking yesterday. It's impressive both from the ground and the air.

Just for the heck of it, we flew a practice ILS approach back into Carlsbad. Everything in Romeo Victor is working just fine.

Guadalupe Mountains National Parks

It's about an hour drive from the Holiday Inn Express in Carlsbad to the visitor's center at Guadalupe Mountains National Parks just across the state border in northwest Texas. Despite being about 3,500 feet above sea level, the terrain around Carlsbad is pretty flat until you get to the mountains to the south and west. The hiking trails in this area offer anything you want, from short and flat to steep, long and rocky. We chose two short hikes for the day. The first was called Devil's Hall and was 4.2 miles round trip. This was a moderately intense hike and included a bit of scrambling across rocks.

The afternoon hike was another 4 mile round trip up McKitrick Canyon to the remote lodge built by oil tycoon Wallace Pratt in 1931.

We're beat after this. Back to the hotel for showers, dinner at a local eatery, then time for rest.

Better Weather

Friday, the 23rd of October. I rearranged my schedule so that I could be off an extra day. It's overcast outside, but the weather briefing shows no significant weather to the west. So, I filed IFR to Gainsville, Texas. This is about half way to out destination of Carlsbad, New Mexico.

We loaded up Romeo Victor and got our clearance on the phone at the end of the runway. After a brief pause at 2,000 feet, the controller cleared us to 5,000 feet and then out final altitude of 8,000 feet. This put us in bright sunshine on top of a white undercast. Unfortunately, the wind is not in our favor today, and we crept along at around 130 knots most of the way.

We arrived at Gainsville about 2 hours and 45 minutes after departure. The winds were strong and gusty, but they were only about ten degrees off the runway heading, so it was a pretty easy landing.

After refueling and stretching out legs, we continued on westbound, arriving at Carlsbad in mid afternoon. The weather was perfect with light winds and a temperature around 75 degrees. The nice lady from Enterprise brought us our car, and we were ready to go.

Bad Weather

Romeo Victor is well-equipped for instrument flight, or "instrument flight rules." I am instrument-rated, and I have the currency requirements under the federal regulations to fly under instrument conditions. However, sometimes you just can't go. Flying on instruments does not mean flying into thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are associated with weather systems such as the one shown here which stretches from Mexico to Canada. We want to go back out west for a few days to hike and see the area around southern New Mexico. The weather depiction on the trusty 696 shows it ain't happening on this day. The system is moving to the east, so tomorrow should be fine.