36 Miles XC - Marshall to Irwindale!

...The day yesterday should have been

Launched Marshall around 1:30, turned left, climbed to 7500 ft. Flew past Billboard, then Pine before catching one up to 8000 and heading out across the Cajon pass. Arrived on the other side at about 6300 ft and climbed back to 7500 and made the next jump on to the front range.

Worked a real mean core for a few hundred ft before Jonathan showed me something sweet. Climbed to 9000 and headed for Cucamonga. Absolutely stunning scenery up there! Strong east wind made tough to scratch and find thermals so we (Jonathan and I) headed west.

Got down to 5500 crossing the canyon with Mt. Baldy road and found a light thermal back to 7000. Scratched back up from 4500 to 6000 over San Dimas and headed for Glendora. By this time the wind had switched from strong (10 - 20 mph) east to west. Got as low as 2800 ft over Glendora before snagging another light thermal to 4500 ft and set out for the Miller plant. Not many LZs west of there from what I could see.

The front lawn of the Miller plant is large enough to land in, but its surrounded by palm trees, power lines and a Beer factory! I landed just fine and parked my wing in the shade. An employee that noticed me asked "Did you actually just land here?" A security guard and manager came over and I explained the situation. They were very nice and hospitable. Jonathan came in and landed there about 10 minutes after I.

Big thanks to Brent for picking us up!

2.5 hours
36 miles
9300ft max altitude
A few pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/designbydave51/sets/72157616450192384/ (it was pretty turbulent for most of the flight, tough to get the camera out.)