Aug 18-19, 2012 - POA fly-in Shelter Cove

[kimberlyanne546]

OK so now that the following people are interested I think I should start a thread. The fly-in will take place on Saturday, August 18 and Sunday, August 19 at the Shelter Cove Airport 0Q5 - I will select a less foggy "alternate airport" soon. That way we can plan to meet up on the 18 / 19 no matter what the weather..... even if I have to drive.

Kimberly (me)

Second Airplane (Kimberly's Petaluma pilot friend, owns a Piper)

Jim Logajan

John221us




It appears Shelter Cove is a "destination airport" and has:

Salmon fishing
Camping
Hiking
Golfing

http://www.airnav.com/airport/0Q5/

http://www.sojourner2000.com/flyin/index.htm#comments

I tried calling the Airport Manager (per Airnav) to ask some questions but got his voicemail. Hoping he will call me back.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: July or Aug 2012 - POA fly-in Shelter Cove

I did suggest FOT earlier as an alternate. It is near Humboldt State Park. Someone would probably need to fly into Eureka and pick up a car (about 20 minutes driving, if I remember), which is closer to the coast and might get fog. Another 10 to 15 minutes of driving from FOT gets you into the State Park and the Avenue of the Giants. Lots of places to camp and also plenty of cabins and small hotels. It is just not as centralized as Shelter Cove and not as walkable.

FOT is at least 10 miles inland, which should help a lot with regard to fog. Garberville (O16) seems closer, but no car rentals that I can see.

Backup plan for bad weather over a wider area in August might be to stay home, because it is a 7 hour drive from our place.

August is open for me, but I would need to check with my wife. It is at least a 2.5 hour flight. If she is up for it we'd probably stay at a hotel there; otherwise I'd go solo and just spend the day.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: July or Aug 2012 - POA fly-in Shelter Cove

The opportunity to take out a foursome of boring golfers, with a Cessna wing, adds value to this plan.

Or a Bellanca wing.

"Golfers ahead, pull up! Golfers! Golfers! Pull up! Pull up!"

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: July or Aug 2012 - POA fly-in Shelter Cove

Not sure if I can take all the credit on this one, but, once I get dates together I'm going to start making phone calls.

What I've learned about events is that if someone organizes them, provides all the information / activities / possibly food - people will attend.

My tentative plan now:

Get a dog sitter. Take the BF (or not) in the cheaper 150. Stay at a hotel that will let me use their van. Drive the van to shuttle pilots around (just like you Tim). Shuttle pilots to activities like hiking, fishing, going out to eat, etc.

Edit: will a fishing pole fit in the 150? I guess I'll need to get gas somewhere just to be safe. The estimated time (little under two hours at 80 knots) brings me close to my reserves. The plane goes roughly 3-4 hours.

Thanks for the efforts!

Looks like everything in the town is within a mile of the airport; walking distance. For trips outside that area then a vehicle would be nice. However, speaking only for myself, I'd be satisfied with walking some of the hiking trails, since the California Coastal Trail winds around the area; here's a map of that segment:
http://californiacoastaltrail.info/...ction=DisplaySection&CountyId=3&SectionId=226

According to the 1985 C-152 Information Manual I have, the baggage area is about 38 inches deep by 24 inches wide at the narrow end. Conservative diagonal across the floor would be about 44 inches. But floor to ceiling just behind the seats claims to be about 36 inches, so a box corner-to-corner diagonal would be about 57 inches. But you might have some issues getting something that long in or out easily.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: July or Aug 2012 - POA fly-in Shelter Cove

Truly way out in the sticks, and that region has weather issues of it's own. I flew in there once for a work reason, just for the day so I don't know about the accommodations or other stuff to do but it looked pretty dire to me.

It's 200+ NM from the Sacramento/Bay region plus tack on 20 -30 more for terrain avoidance, so some people will have to plan on a fuel stop as there are no services.

That is nice to know, thank you.

Climate and terrain possibilities seem to me to break the choices down into coastal, coastal mountains, central valley, and Sierra Nevada range classes.

All the coastal choices are likely to suffer from the fog issue. And as far as I can see, among the coastal choices, Shelter Cove is still a decent destination in itself, with the meeting of other PoA members a nice bonus (or vice versa, depending on one's preferences.)

I don't know much about the choices in the coastal range; Happy Camp would actually be closer to me and I wouldn't need a fuel stop.

The central valley choices seem to be many, but none seem to stand out as interesting destinations (at least to me.)

I just don't know much about Sierra Nevada destinations that are within, say, 250 nm of my home field of 77S. Rogers (o05) looks like one possibility, as does Fall River Mills (o89).

So I'm open to alternates if there are concerns about Shelter Cove.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Jim Logajan - Cessna 172, tail number to be determined. Probably two people - wife is still considering it. (She generally prefers to take Dramamine to reduce possibility of motion sickness, but side effects tend to be annoying, hence the indecision.)

We'll be packing light - just one or two overnight bags. We'll stay at one of the hotels; no camping for us.

My guess is we'll need to wait and arrive in the afternoon, drop the bags off at the hotel if we arrive sooner than check-in time, then wander or hike or try to meet up with others. Then next day check out and leave when any fog lifts (which might not happen till afternoon.) If weathered in, we'll just have to stay another day. Hopefully not more than that!

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: July or Aug 2012 - POA fly-in Shelter Cove

The backup was the PLACE not the weekend. I have set the date for August 18 / August 19.

What backup location are you planning?

Also, I'm wondering if, on that Saturday morning, someone should call one of the eating places and try to reserve enough seats for all the expected people for a Saturday evening meal together?

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: July or Aug 2012 - POA fly-in Shelter Cove

Columbia, as in O22? Everything there is within walking distance, you don't need a car. Cool little town.

Alas it is too far away to serve as an alternate for me, though definitely looks like a good alternate for others.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: July or Aug 2012 - POA fly-in Shelter Cove

Don't worry, I'm going to sit down and really research my options. Where are you flying out of?

Creswell, Oregon (77S)

 

[Jim Logajan]

Jim, I think you said you need a hotel? Here is more on Trinity:

Trinity Center, California


Have you ever wanted to really get away from it all? Author Michael Coyle found the perfect place to do that and more at Trinity Center, California. You’ll approach the airport right over the waters of Trinity Lake, where you can rent a houseboat, swim, or fish. If mountains are more to your liking, Coffee Creek Ranch offers hikes and guided pack trips into the surrounding Trinity Alps. Or, for the ultimate in seclusion, head to the one-square-mile Almay Ranch, which is only rented out to one party at a time, to commune with nature in solitude.

I'm not sure Trinity (or Ruth) would work well as alternates since the few places that I can find to stay near them either aren't set up to handle last-minute cancellations or even last minute single night reservations. (Unless someone sees some accommodations near either one that I've overlooked that would work.) And ground transport appears to be iffy. I assume camp grounds are probably more flexible, but we aren't big on camping anymore.

Of the options mentioned so far, Rohnerville (FOT) and Happy Camp (36S) look the most plausible, but 36S is 100 nm from Shelter Cove, meaning probably another hour flying for you Californians (or even us if we get to Shelter Cove and find we have to divert.)

I think that one thing that affects choice of alternate is when the choice is made. Same-day choice makes it tough; diversion in flight from Shelter Cove to one of the others is even tougher. Night before, not as bad.

 

[Jim Logajan]

1. Tell everyone Shelter Cove and the alternate, full information on both (and for me, I'll make reservations at both as long as they don't charge my card).

The Shelter Cove places (at least) seem very amenable to pilot cancellations.

2. Get everyone's phone numbers and decide on a "cutoff" time the day of Saturday. This won't work for people going in on Friday. I don't know if there is cell service in Shelter Cove but some hotels have wifi.

Most internet sources claim limited or no cell service there; hotel wifi net access will have to serve.

3. Call everyone with the decision, even if it is Shelter Cove. Leave messages with instructions. Post on all boards too (4 boards).

Sounds reasonable.

The reason I want to decide on Saturday morning is because a lot of people have said the surrounding areas will be clear and you can duck under the clouds to land (depending on how high they are). I personally think my "cutoff" time should be no later than 11am but I'm waiting to hear back from my local contact in the town.

That also sounds reasonable. It would be nice to make the cutoff even later, but that may not be realistic.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Another thought is we could land at Garberville and wait out the fog, then fly over to Shelter Cove.

The inn keeper emailed me again last night from Shelter Cove and said the fog breaks each day by noon (if it is going to break). She disagreed with my 50 / 50 assessment, of course, saying we can probably get in.

So noon should be our cut off.

We lived for 7 years in Aptos, about 1/3 mile from the beach, and coastal fog there was relatively predictable in that it typically burned off by noon or 1 PM. While Aptos lies in the eastern curve of the Monterey Bay, it sounds like Shelter Cove exhibits a similar pattern.

That said, we should still have a good alternate.

 

[Jim Logajan]

OK I just called Garberville.

Here is what I propose (though it is by no means perfect):

We call Garberville the day of (right now the hotel has over 40 rooms available). They charge $25 cancellation fee if you cancel more than 5 days in advance and they charge FULL PRICE if you cancel less than 5 days in advance. So none of us can have reservations. They have an RV resort with cabins and they have an Inn. The Inn ranges from $175 - $350 per night so I imagine the cabins are less.

They said there is "lots to do but you need a car". Because of this I will personally land somewhere else like Fortuna and rent a car. She says that is a 45 minute drive. Problem is, I don't know if I can do that on a Saturday last minute. I could then drive the car back to the Garberville airport. The Benbow Inn is 2-3 miles from the airport via 101 freeway, not sure if you could walk there even if you wanted to. The woman on the phone did not have many answers for me.

Sorry, this is turning out to be a lot more complicated than I thought. I'll keep looking.

Kimberly

Are you interested in exploring alternates in the Sierras?
If so, my own preferences, in order, would be (yes, I've put Columbia back in since it opens up a viable, though borderline distant for us, option):

Rogers Field (o05)
Ground transport: Bikes
Camping: Nearby; http://www.northshorecampground.com/
Hotels: Best Western, Antlers Motel, Cedar Lodge, others
Walking distance: Town within 15 minutes
Fishing: Nearby

Fall River Mills (o89)
Ground transport: Probable courtesy car, rental cars from "Hiway Garage"
Camping: Nothing within easy walking distance
Hotels: Fall River Lodge, Fall River Hotel, Himont Hotel
Walking distance: Town within 15 minutes
Fishing: Nearby

Truckee (ktrk)
Ground transport: Hertz, Enterprise, shuttle bus, etc.
Camping: Several, probably not within easy walking distance
Hotels: Hampton Inn, many others
Walking distance: Town within 15 minutes
Fishing: Probably need transport; see for example http://www.sierraanglersfishing.com/

Columbia (o22)
Ground transport: Hertz, shuttle bus
Camping: Yes
Hotels: Several
Walking distance: camping, eating
Fishing: Would need ground transport

 

[Jim Logajan]

FYI I just flew in to Shelter Cove today. It was clear by 9:00 a.m. but a fog bank rolled in right around 1:00 p.m. Got out just in time.

Beautiful day there otherwise.

Excellent! Sounds like fun.

That kind of late day fog happened occasionally where I used to live, so I checked the Shelter Cove web cam archives to see how bad it got and for how long:

http://northcoastaviation.com/shelter_cove/shelter_cove_southwest.htm

If interested, click on the "Video Archive" link for the compass direction of interest, then be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the "View Video" for today and past days and click on the corresponding "View Video" link.

As far as I can make out, it looks like the fog started to roll in mid-day today (6th) in a menacing way, but rolled back out almost as quickly. Well - quickly on the time lapse video! (I did a quick sample of videos from the past 6 days and it looks like they have had clear skies by afternoon, and a fair number of days with clear skies almost all day.)

 

[Jim Logajan]

If Columbia is an option for you (I thought it wasn't).... that is the airport every single LOCAL pilot has suggested to me. After my phone calls and research in things towards Oregon, I'm afraid they don't compare.

If you are sure, this would make the most sense. Please let me know, and again, I'm sorry I couldn't find an alternate closer to you. I have people now on other sites (meetup) joining us - and it seems a few POAers - so this has grown to a larger event already!

Columbia wasn't an appealing option only because of its distance, so I originally ruled it out. However, given the lack of interesting viable alternates, I've reconsidered and would be fine with setting that as an alternate. So unless anyone else objects, feel free to announce o22 as the alternate.

 

[Jim Logajan]

The Shelter Cove Inn has 17 rooms.

I just booked mine with the inn keeper. She was very nice. She is going to try to reserve the van for us (for me, I might have a large cooler with ice and drinks and snacks for the two days I want to host folks).

Check in is 2pm, Check out is 11am. The standard room has a fridge and microwave (not sure about ocean views but it might). They are $150 but if you mention you are a pilot you get a 10% discount. Be sure to mention we may cancel the day of (Saturday).

Was that really the Shelter Cove Inn or the Inn of the Lost Coast? The first one seems to claim on their web site rooms between $275 and $315 with a two night minimum stay, but the latter lists the $150 rate you mention for a standard room, though their web site says they have 18 rooms. Or did I overlook something for the Shelter Cove Inn, or maybe their web site is incomplete?

 

[Jim Logajan]

Just FYI: I've made reservations at the Inn of the Lost Coast for August 18 and checkout on the 19th.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Did you ask about their cancellation policy? I told them I would arrive no earlier than probably 11am and no later than 3pm in regards to using the van.

I didn't ask about the cancellation policy. When I called, I said we would be flying in, and she immediately asked if I was with Kimberly's fly-in, to which I said yes. She mentioned the 2 PM checkin time and I said we would likely be checking in after that time.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Maybe we should meet at the hotel, it seems they have lots of and even a social room with a ping pong table. Not sure if we could have food and beverages that we bring in ourselves, I'll have to ask.

That seems as good a place as any to meet up at - but obviously not everyone will necessarily want to stay at that hotel. (The Tripadvisor reviews are mostly positive for that hotel, but it appears the inn is composed of two buildings, one in better condition than the other.)

Seems a good idea to plan one major meet-greet-and-eat event at one of the main eating places or hotels, but perhaps not too much beyond that?

 

[Jim Logajan]

Wanted to add that the reason I was doing the whole meeting thing was because some people won't stay the night on Saturday but will come up for the day, ditto for Sunday. The Saturday night dinner idea will only work for those people who are staying the night.

I hadn't thought about that (which is odd, since I originally considered making it a day trip if I was going by myself!)

Thanks for doing the planning and coordination, definitely appreciated!