All Airstrip Reports
I made a trip down to Boulder to replace the windsock and do some camping earlier this week. We got the sock replaced and it was a long time coming…and badly needed. I was surprised to see two other aircraft come and go while we were there. It was good to see it getting used. The strip is in need of being bladed. When I was last there in April 2018, it had been recently bladed. It’s become somewhat overgrown by 6-8” small bushes. The surface is otherwise pretty good and landable. There is a two track road going down the strip and it seems to get a bit of traffic. With the exception of a 200-300’ stretch towards the north end that has some minor rutting, it’s currently the preferred option for landing. The strip is a bit rough at the intersection. Luckily, there is enough length on either side of the intersection for landing or taking off so you don’t need to roll through the intersection with any amount of speed. Quite a bit of traffic going to the trailhead so watch for vehicles. I've included two pics of the airstrip from April 2018 when it had been recently bladed for reference and comparison. This strip has excellent access to the trailhead for hiking. We hiked the Boulder Mail Trail. The trailhead is right at the strip and is roughly 15 miles to Escalante if you do it as a one way hike. Local vendors will bring you back to the strip for $60 a person (we didn't do this but got the info from some people being dropped off). We did an out and back for the day, going just under 9 miles in. It's 11 miles round trip to the top of Death Hollow. We also hiked to Upper Calf Creek Falls. It's 2.4 miles from the parking spot on the strip south on the highway to the trailhead. Then it's just a little over a mile to the falls. Both are moderate to difficult hikes. Our hike to Death Hollow was 17.2 miles and 2400'+ of vertical. The hike to the falls was 7.2 round trip and 900' vertical. I'm in contact with Wayne Loeber with the RAF as well as the UBCP board to see what we can do to get the strip bladed as well as some signage put up to make vehicle traffic aware of the strip.
Runway is very soft due to a thick layer of fine dust. Acceptable for big wheels and very marginal for 500s. A road which crosses the end of the runway is in better shape. No windsock observed. Do a low pass over the runway the drivers would stop entering it. There is no runway markings for them. Very picturesque place. Disregard the above conditions listed.
The far west end is the smoothest. It's further down then you would expect from looking at Google earth. A Cub could land in the wheel tracks anywhere along the way. We're about a foot wider than the road and the brush creates some difficulty when taxiing. Semi soft ground. You may want to turn the plane by hand rather than power around as the rocks could very easily come loose in the prop wash. Tie downs go in the first 4 inches easy and then you hit some very hard soil. No camping spot to speak of- We just set up in between some bushes. The slot canyons are short and Very narrow. Amazing sunsets and stars.
