So the past few month’s I’ve been thinking---‘OK,
lift can be found almost wherever, but still, there’s
no good lift nearby, right?’. PASS members insisted
that indeed there are slope soaring opportunities
and that we hold contests there---each is ‘within
a 2-hour drive of Portland’ I kept getting told. All
good and well, I thought, but I grew up in SoCal
where I could walk to a slope or drive 15-minutes to
one---not 2-hours!
With the handlaunch Seeker glider in car at nearly
all times lately, I’ve taken it upon myself to find lift
locally, by field or by slope/cliff/rock/tree/building.
What my thought would be a disappointing waste of
time, searching for lift in the inner city---has proven
very valuable and fun in the search itself !
Not only have I found that occasionally long flights
can be had at local school fields (e.g. Reed College
at SE Steele and 32nd), but I’ve found cliffs, slopes
and bowls locally that with the right winds generate
booming lift! So who needs to do a 2 hours drive to
go soaring…
In fact, in addition to the obvious local spots
(Powell Butte and Mount Scott), I’ve found 2 sites
recently in Inner SE and North Portland that can
generate the most amazing lift and offer tall grassy
fields for safe landings.
Dog-bite park (aka Jessup/Willamette Bowl)*-
This site works with SW to WNW winds. It’s above
the East end of Swan Island, just below Willamette
Blvd in North Portland. If you took Greeley to Jessup,
left to Willamette Blvd, then drive around the
huge bowl to the North side and park, you can walk
right down a trail to a truly great local place to handlaunch
or even a good bungee launch.
The views are great. The landing area is fine (for
awhile). The lift can be incredible! As mentioned,
the place works best with a stable SW to WNW
wind, but given the wide bowl area, even when winds
come off the top or other directions, handlaunch
flights are fun, if short. The BIGGEST downside of
this site is the dogs. It seems that 90% or more of the
people who use this park (it appears to be land owned
by the city) are dog owners. And since this is an
open, ungroomed field, nearly ALL of these owners
seem to think it’s just fine to have their dogs
unleashed, and yes, don’t even think they need to
clean up after them. So this presents a big landing
challenge when dogs are around---- to catch your
glider before Frisbee-catching FIDO gets a wing.
What makes this site a great place now, and what
makes using it for gliders perhaps fleeting, is that a
recent fire had scoured the bowl and the lower slope.
This of course got rid of bushes, blackberries and
other things and allowed lots of great grass to come
up this Spring. But along with the grass are new
blackberry shoots and other baby bushes/trees. This
will make retrieving gliders and landings a bit gnarly-
--eventually blackberry growth will make it an undesirable
spot. But RIGHT NOW this is THE site in
town for west winds. It could make a great Fun Fly
and even Slope Combat site before next year’s blackberry
growth sets in.
I had to give this place some kind of name---Dog
Bite seems appropriate since that’s what your wing
will have if you let your glider land when the dogs
are around.
Check this link for more info and pictures:
http://home.comcast.net/~matwete/soaring/InnerCitySoaring_052204.htm