Backcountry Update for Young PV
By Mark Spencer
Fall has been good to us in Arizona, and it is our best time of year for flying. We are, of course, still waiting for a little cooler temps as this fall has been unusually warm, but relatively calm. Our Pleasant Valley fly in and camp over Veteran’s day was an incredible time for all, and the town really rolled out the red carpet for us as usual with the usual automobile access to and from town. Thank you Vern!! Saturday morning started out in downtown Young for most of us who attended the annual Veteran’s Day flag raising and breakfast. From there a small group went out to see our newest, truly backcountry, airstrip at Buzzard’s Roost. The Gila County Public relations gal, Autumn, accompanied APA President Tommy Thomason in his 182. The aviation community’s work at the Pleasant Valley airport is seen as a real positive by the community of nearby Young, and word has made it back to the county government.
Buzzard’s Roost is simply spectacular if you don’t mind remoteness and are skilled in more of an off airport setting. Landing is uphill towards the south for RNWY 17, or there about, and I’ve frankly never landed to the north, but it’s similar. You really have to watch the density altitude here if the winds are from the south, since it is up hill to the south.
Back at Pleasant Valley, Recreation staff Gary Lollman found Girl Scout Troop No 275 camped out a mile or two up the road and managed to get them and their leaders over to the airport for their very first airplane rides! Man, what a blessing it was to share aviation with these Girl Scouts and what a friendship we enjoy with the Tonto National Forest team!
APA’s last organized event for the spring went off without a hitch on the weekend of May 19th through 21st. The only challenge was keeping up with parking of the 30 aircraft! According to Kit ad Brad, our hosts for this weekend, there were a total 64 attendees throughout the weekend. Everyone pitched in with food dishes for the pot luck, and the weather could not have been better. There were many new faces this weekend and we expect several new members for the APA team. A good number of attendees made the hike down to the lake’s shore with only one rattlesnake sighting. We’ve heard that Kit and Brad’s supplied meals were to die for!
We’ll be putting off our organized events at Grapevine until it cools down again in September or October, so watch our calendar for the next date!
Again, Grapevine is now open full time to any non commercial non training flights, but expect fire restrictions to be in place until the monsoon is in full swing, and there will be no port-a-john until our next group event in the fall. If you do visit during the summer, please contact us to let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let us know how you enjoyed it.
Please also think about hosting an event in the fall as we are already looking for volunteers!