Worth every penny

We wanted to have lunch at Arlington, the weather had other ideas. Being an optimist I decided to at least fly the pattern to take a look. The Ceilings were 5 to 6 thousand, higher than the class B lid. Winds in the valley & along the way were reporting single digits. Several places west of here had wind in the teens, with SeaTac 15G22. I had 6 Knts local, coming right at me. Arlington was even better. As I lifted off the stall indicator briefly flickered, it was my first indication of conditions aloft, immediately I was busy keeping wings level and maintaining airspeed. It was a handful to keep a stable, wings level, climb out. Re-trimming, I flattened it a bit to gain a tad more speed. After we turned on crosswind we looked at the valley south, and it was closing in with a thick haze. The Wind had been steadily increasing as I gained altitude , as well as swirling and tumbling from the nearby obstacles on the ground. Banking with adequate airspeed I hauled back on the yoke to align the speeding craft with the Hwy below and downwind. I persisted in making the proper calls, although I doubt anyone else was fool enough to be flying the pattern today. OK, it is on down wind, a bit low, one wing is lower than the other and the wings are rocking and the fuselage is yawing about. Oops , pull back the throttle, this bird has enough motor to already be exceeding maneuvering speed. Gently I pull back on the yoke to slow it down. Surveying the scene ahead I can see the clouds have lowered around Tiger mountain, our route north. BFI &RNT don't look too much better. Still 100 feet shy of pattern altitude but now at a reasonable speed I call my turn to base. Pulling back some more on the power we soon turn on a long low final. I am constantly manipulating the controls to keep us pointed toward the tarmac. Strong roiling winds are tossing us about as I power back up to maintain 80 Knts. The wind here is definitely NOT in line with the runway as the local AWOS reported. We are at a severe crab to approach the runway,safely above the power lines, the winds are strong but not as variable right here. The plane is stable as we hit the VASI's, reduce power, slow and gently sink to the runway below. Again the tricky winds push the nose back and forth and simultaneously try to raise the low wing on the windward side. Pumping the rudders and adding a touch of power at the right moment the Cherokee gently settles in for a glass smooth, no flap landing in the midst of chaos. A mere .3 on the clock, but a ride worth every penny.

The Mountain gets Bigger

Even free range chickens seldom get too far from the roost. True to that standard I spend most my flights within a 30 mile radius. Auburn is so close to Seatac that the westbound transition is made almost immediately after a Vx climb from 34 at S50. I use the terminal chart more often than a sectional. The mountain is over 30 miles but still on the bottom right corner of the Seattle terminal .For the last few flights I have been exploring up the Carbon & Puyallup river valleys. Flying below 4,000 most the time the area has been logged in areas with plenty of roads in convenient locations below me.After circling the little hill just SE of Enumclaw at hilltop level, we head south to Burnett, Wilkeson & Carbonado, our last big landmark. Fairfax is not even noticeable below as we follow the Carbon river valley South. The terrain rises as the river turns East and enters a narrow valley that I am wise enought not to fly into. The hills on each side rise to nearly 6,000 (as big as a mountain back east), and from our low level tower above us. I have plans to fly in at a higher level on a calm day & return by descending down the valley. Paralleling the hills we fly on South Through a saddle and into the Puyallup valley. My son spots one of the very few structures ,and there are still some roads below, but the entire valley is uninhabited. There is a water Pipe line snaking along the valley, but nothing else. Maintaining 4,000 MSL I fly as close as I can parallel to the Mountain while still having a few hundred feet AGL. The water is low and the river seems benign from our height but looking to the left the great Mt Tahoma looms above us, ever growing in the windscreen. What normally is visible on the horizon from all of the Puget Sound region, now dominates the scene. From the Carbon it seemed big, now it appears huge. I have to move my head to see to the top. The valley still extends SE ahead of me, but the hills all around appear to also be growing, to the south the ridge is over 4,00 with a peak of nearly 5,000, our only escape is to the west, then NW. When we reach the fork in the river, very near the end of the green terrain on the terminal chart, we are treated to the view of a verdant green valley, unseen & unknown to the millions only a few miles behind us. It is calm ans we are enjoying a smooth ride as we cruise along the East edge of the main Valley. Well before the end of the canyon looms ahead I begin a right turn away from the hill, reversing course and descending to 1000 AGL as I follow the Puyallup. After I exit the last peaks of the foothills I turn west. Instinctively I slow as I reach the edge of the Plateau, where it drops off to the Ohop/ Kapowsin lakes, and it helps smooth out the inevitable bump as the bluffs below swirl the winds. From here the Mountain is again large on the horizon, but no longer does it fill the entire windscreen with its magnificent beauty.