SDHGPA has been putting up advanced weather stations from Holfuy at our launches around San Diego County. Consequently, we end up being amateur meteorologists and fascinated with weather data.
#METAL GEAR 2 HANG GLIDER FREE#
As free flight pilots, we are totally dependent on weather conditions to allow us to fly. It was at this point that SDHGPA identified a possible partnership opportunity that would benefit all involved. The amount of rainfall, solar radiation, wind direction and average speeds were all fuzzy numbers, relying on extrapolation from surrounding weather stations, none of which was placed at the same elevation as The Cap. One thing no one had about the mountain was a consistent source of weather data. The area was known to be habitat for an endemic and rare plant species, Lakeside ceanothus (Ceanothus cyaneus), as well as a nesting and foraging area for golden eagles. In 2013, the San Diego River Park Foundation was able to begin buying huge chunks of El Cajon mountain (highlighted in green in the picture below) with assistance from the County of San Diego and support from volunteer donations. Their mission is to create not just a better understanding, but a better relationship through interaction between humans and the river.
As they grew, they began to partner with other organizations and work together with non-profits, volunteers, local business, and government entities in order to manage and protect this gorgeous and unique thread of water connecting the mountains to the ocean.
Started in 2001 in response to the largest sewer spill in California’s history, one that dumped 34 million gallons of untreated sewage into the San Diego River, the SDRPF was created to help change San Diego’s relationship to its namesake waterway.Ī scrappy little organization, they steadily built a following of volunteers committed to protecting and improving the river. This meant that in order to balance out the wild and beautiful lands they were running their power lines through, they needed to protect from development other wild and beautiful lands, as well as provide funding to support that protection. This hotly debated but eventually successful push created the Sunrise Power Link, a long swath of gangly aerial power lines that cut across some of the most beautiful and wild land in San Diego.įought intensely by environmentalists, SDG&E were forced to make some concessions, one of which was to buy and protect “offset” lands. They’ll share a thermal for a while with us, but once they’ve topped it out (far faster and more efficiently than we ever could), they go on glide again, looking for the next free ride in the sky and keeping a sharp eye out for their prey on the ground below.Īs San Diego grew over the years and needed more and more electrical power, city and power planners ignored the obvious but expensive power streaming from the sky (solar) and opted to wire in power from out of the area.
The birds use us free flight pilots to find lift, and we in turn look for where they are going up and fly over to them. With a wing that could fit in a backpack, paragliders came on the scene and went through the same steady advance in technology until Blossom became known as one of the better places in San Diego to practice the basics of cross country paragliding: Launching, climbing up in a thermal, “going on glide” from the top of the thermal, crossing a valley, then climbing ridge and thermal lift on the far side over at the Cap and finally returning back and landing where you started became a standard "milk run" for progressing pilots. There were off road enthusiasts, people flying remote control (R/C) planes, and eventually, paraglider pilots. Of course, it wasn’t just hang glider pilots that used it. Local residents started calling the hill they launched from “Hang Glider Hill”, and still do today. Combined with the risk of not making it and landing down in the valley, trips over to El Cap were a blend of skill, dogged persistence, and the occasional long hike out.Īs the technology progressed, El Cap runs became easier and easier, and the lure of launching off the little hill of Blossom, catching a thermal a few hundred feet up and gliding across a beautiful valley to a stunning mountain on the far side, then flying back, became a magnetic draw for local hang glider pilots. Back in those days the gliders weren’t as high performance as they are today, so getting over to the Cap and back involved a fair amount of skill.
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