Onion Valley to Roads End

Onions valley to Roads End in Kings canyon is probably the easiest route across Sierra, only 21 miles long and can be done as a day hike. The main challenge is of course logistics since it's 350 miles and 7 hours drive between trailheads. The easy way to do this hike is to find a partner who will hike in opposite direction and just swap the cars in the end. I hiked with my son from Onion valley and Aleksey L. hiked from the Roads End. It took us ~11 hours to complete the hike.

Deer near Onion valley

Sunrise

University peak

Kearsarge pass

Bullfrog lake

Bubbs Creek

North Guard

Alex & Alex

Fern

Horse canyon to Palm Springs flight 72 miles

This is my first long flight from Horse Canyon. Dmitry was out of town and finding retrieve was a big quest for me. There was few groups of pilots flying that day, so I figured at least I could get a ride to launch and if I'm lucky I can fly with someone else to share a ride back. 

Horse canyon launch

We launched around 11:00 AM and climbed to ~11K right away. There was a massive sink after Laguna, which put down quite a few pilots who tried to stay over the ridge. I also almost landed on the west side of Granite Mt., but was able to ridge soar and catch thermal back to 8.5K and continue north. After Volcan things improved considerably. It was pretty uneventful flight to just past Anza. Weather forecast indicated strong west in the Banning pass after 5:00 PM, plus I did not have confirmed retrieve, so I decided to play it safe and go toward Palm Springs. There was massive cloud development over the main San Jacinto ridge. When I cleared last cloud probably exiting through lee side (of the cloud) I got pretty nasty collapse. Very familiar feeling that your wing got into washing machine reminded me of Owens flights when west wind kicks in. Just a moment later I saw formless ball of fabric over my head. Wing did recovered fine and I was out from the mountains. I flew to I-10 and landed at Della S. Lindley Elementary school. Alex Grey flew to south side of Palm Springs and was kind enough to help me with retrieve. 

Alex G. and Alex G.

Alex Grey's landing

My track:

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3084613

Alex Grey's track:

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3153025