All Airstrip Reports
Rustic strip, probably 800' long. Best landing is towards the west, as the strip goes uphill to the west. Narrow strip with cedars on both sides. Small parking area at the western edge of the strip on the edge of the cliff, but it was big enough for our 3 planes. Nice campsite with a fire ring tucked in the trees at the on the north end of the runway, just above the cliff. Old uranium mining paraphernalia and some old mine shafts within 200 yards of the strip which were cool to explore. Beautiful view down into Gateway Canyon.
Bumpy runway, but very doable with larger tires. Touch down just past the road that bisects the runway. Land uphill, takeoff downhill. Beautiful views to the northwest from the strip. Big downdrafts are possible on takeoff which can be unnerving, but you're departing downhill and into descending terrain which is comforting.
First time in. Thanks to those that put up the new wind sock! Surface condition good. Only thing I saw was some 4' brush/bushes on the eastern half that are only 15-20' centerline. High wing clears them, but they're a distraction on the rollout. Surprised to see 8-10 cars parked further down at spiral jetty on a Wed... avoid to be friendly.
The runway was nearly completely dry, but the softer dirt was just damp enough to keep the prop-induced dust away. As has been mentioned before, the runway is pretty badly rutted. There is an especially treacherous place with very deep crossing ruts right about midfield where a car track intersects the runway. In the past, I have landed 32 and stopped before the midfield crossing. Having noticed that the ruts on the approach (south) end of 32 have gotten worse, this time I elected to touch down beyond the midfield crossing. This worked just fine -- since I was going uphill in dirt that was slightly soft there was no problem at all stopping. Taking off downhill on 14 was easy too, but it is really important to be airborne before the midfield ruts. I think this means about 1800 feet or so of usable runway. Boulder could be so much more accessible if we could somehow just run a blade over it or roll the biggest ruts out.
