Arizona Chronicles : Part 2

What does one do when winter is quickly approaching faster than the Trump election deadline? Flies to Arizona for the weekend of course!

Travelling on a whim, somewhat of a perk to working in the aviation field.

December in Canada: Skydiving is the last thing on any ones list of activities, our neighbors to the south on the other hand......

I had just received my new Squirrel Sumo tracking suit in the mail (4 weeks door to door, impressive I must add). Essentially the suit inflates and pressurizes to create a bit more lift when filled with air. The point: to be used to get away from the object you've just jumped off, an attempt to widen the margin for error when BASE jumping.. We'll get more into that in another posting.

Arizona; beautiful weather, cheap skydives and oh did I mention hot air balloon jumps?! I may have gotten slightly over zealous but I knew if I had any ambitions in BASE jumping my suit next year I needed to fly and essentially learn it inside and out. Canada was out of the question in early December, Lodi California was a close 2nd as the jumps are extremely cheap and a close buddy of mine was already out there. Weather was looking dodgy... so Arizona it was! Sorry Kevin! I packed my bags, had my reserve repacked and booked the time off work (My boss is better than yours).

The Plan: Fly from YYZ to PHX, rent a car, drive an hour to Eloy AZ, setup camp and fall out of a perfectly good airplane or two. If luck is on my side maybe I can swing a balloon jump as well... or two...

The flight there was absolutely unbearable.... Air Canada Rouge Airbus 319, I'm convinced the seating layout was configured for the cast of little people big world.. I'm not one to complain much but when your adams apple is tickling your knees for 5 hours you'd get antsy as well.

Landed at noon had the rental car by 1 and was on the road headed to Eloy by 1:30. If I got there in good timing I knew I could squeeze in a few jumps before the day was over.

Managed to get in 2 jumps before the props shut down, not bad for a 2200 mile commute.

There was word going around the drop zone that a few guys were trying to setup a Balloon jump as that mornings was canceled due to winds... The thing about a hot air balloon is as simple as it is it relies solely on pristine weather conditions. Only the altitude is adjustable, once you're in the air you're at the mercy of the winds. I was only interested in the ride up anyways.... The jump was set to be at 0700 the next day (weather depending).

Alarm rang at 0530 (I was a bit excited to say the least) I also needed time to thaw out... It may be hot as Bonnie Rotten during the day but overnight I was glad I had my -20 bag with me. I also had no information on where to meet up for the jump.. I was left with a sign up sheet saying meet a gentleman named "Burner" (very suiting) with 80 bucks in hand and a rig.

Side note: Now I've skydived several times before so to the outside perspective this seems very repetitious. I feel I should add that a hot air balloon jump is nothing like jumping from a moving aircraft. Without boring the uninterested when you're skydiving traditionally you're jumping out of an aircraft moving 90 mph or more (varies depending on the aircrafts). Essentially you're jumping out into a wall of wind hitting you at such force (stick your hand out your car window and drive 160km/h on the highway and you'll have an idea) with a balloon jump it's almost the polar opposite. No noise of the aircraft, no noise of the wind, you're barely moving. So why is it so important you ask!?........ Well... other than the sheer excitement value of something new. It served a purpose. Jumping in dead air (from a solid object) is very different than jumping into a wall of wind. You have less control (you can't use the wind to manipulate your body). I needed practice in dead air with my new suit to practice for next years adventure in Europe. More of that later..

0700 came around and Burner showed up with his posse. They let off a small balloon and we watched the wind take it steadily off into the distance.... Looks like the jump was a go...

Very few times in my life has something given me butterflies to the point I get nervous. Hot air balloons is one of them.. That initial moment of weightlessness as Burner blasts the balloon more and more with hot air is enough to make you weak at the knees. As you continue rising above the trees.... well cacti in this case.. you get filled with the sense of serenity.. Peacefulness, completely quiet as you rise more and more with the occasional blast of the burner to keep the ascent going.

As we reached 5000 feet Burner notified us that this stop and to kindly remove ourselves from the balloon. As nice as the ride was I certainly had my eye on the fast way down. I was 5th off.... Climbing the wall of the basket and standing on the brim of it staring down at the world was a remarkable experience. Made the shitty seats in the 319 worth every minute. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, it was such a new feeling it was almost hard to process. I did my final gear checks wished the boys a good jump .....

And off I went...

Now my initial plan was to go off poised (belly to earth) but temptations got the better of me and went for the big dirty gainer - (A gainer is the acrobatic trick of performing a backwards somersault while still moving forward. In diving, this is known as reverse rotation (as opposed to front, back, or inward). - Big dirty is just how us boys do it)

and a successful landing ... Got to love those no wind days....

The balloon jump was a huge success, words posted on this page will never justify the feeling of it but just know I would do it again in a heart beat.... What better way to follow up that jump with 3 more out of Skydive Arizona’s own Twin Otter.

The next day I wasn't as lucky to pull off a balloon jump, didn't seem to have enough interest in making it worthwhile for Burner to set up. What to do... It's 7 am and I was craving some adventure in my life... Aside from the mundane jumping out of airplanes... I toyed with the idea of packing up my things and driving out to Page AZ (a 5 hour drive) to go check out some of the sites I missed the previous trip I was there....

Needless to say... no convincing was needed and by 0745 my tent and bags were in the rental and I was off headed north. I didn't really have an agenda in mind other than I wanted to try and see the Antelope Canyons as last time it was cancelled due to flash flooding.... Bummer... I kept my stops to a minimum as I wanted to get out there with ample light to go explore. Unfortunately along with minimum stopping and a heavy foot it caught up with me outside of Page as Sherriff Buford T. Justice tagged me going 84 in a 65... Evidently my charm and good looks render useless in the states as he slapped me with a ticket and had me on my way... Bummer...

I arrived in Page just around 1pm and headed right for Antelope Canyons just east... If you haven't heard of them you're living under a rock... No pun intended.. You've certainly seen pictures of them I can assure you that... Essentially it's a slot canyon formed by many years of flash flooding and water running through the stones. Extremely picturesque and has been on my Bucket List for years. Strapped with my Samsung S5 I was ready to roll.. (Yes I left my DSLR at home like an asshole, "why would I need it" I said)

I chose to tour the Lower Antelope Canyon and hold off on upper until I had my SLR with me to really capture the beauty... to my not so surprise the lower was just as beautiful...

Not much a view from the surface but follow along with me in the next few pictures as I roam around the canyon ... Keep in mind it was all shot in my cell phone..

But as you crawl down in you're blasted with the beauty as it unfolds..

now whats a blog without a shameless selfie

I could post pictures for hours of this place... I'll save your eyes, the lesson to be had here is go see the Antelope Canyons, again photos do not do it any justice.

I grabbed a hotel for the night in Page and decided to boot back to Eloy in the morning for some more jumping. I woke up extra early to hike out to Horseshoe Bend to catch the sunrise before I embarked on my journey back to the south. Due to my obvious lack of navigation skills it took till after sunrise to realize that the vantage point facing horseshoe bend is in fact west and not east.... So without further ado here is Horseshoe Bend in Page Arizona at about 7 am after freezing to death, and realizing I'm not going to get a sunrise photo.... Enjoy....... Sigh...

I managed to make it back to Eloy in record time, without any speeding tickets... I still don't know how much that's going to cost me? Who knew Arizona tickets don't show fines on the ticket itself.... Tricky tricky...

I got back in time to manage 2 more jumps, as much as I'd love to say they were uneventful I should inform you otherwise. On my 2nd jump as I opened my parachute and sat in my harness at 4000 feet I reached up to adjust my camera when subsequently it was gone. Yup my GoPro was no longer attached to my head and I was flying over the middle of the desert.... Awesome.....

I landed, dropped my rig off to the local packer ((Raul?) Gave me the best openings that canopy has every had I highly recommend).. I knew the chances were slim and pretty much arrived at the conclusion I had just lost my camera along with all my footage for the trip.... Being the stubborn asshole that I am I figured what's there to lose?! I had some time as I wasn't planning on jumping anymore....

I had narrowed down the general area I flew over the land to the following...

Realistically I had 2 hours of sunlight to figure it out ... I began walking north from the drop zone in a zig zag pattern to try and cover as much ground as possible (this method seems to work in the movies lol). About half way up (indicated by the exclamation mark below) I had an epiphany... GoPro has a Wi-Fi feature I was playing with earlier and synced it with my phone so you can view the image from the camera on your smartphone screen.... I never turned the Wifi on the camera off!. Theoretically if I can get in the general vicinity of the GoPro maybe... just maybe I could pick up the signal... at least some sort of an indication I was close... This gave me some sense of false hope that I may actually find this damn thing..I continued on constantly refreshing my Wi-Fi in hopes to pick up the signal named "Fuckoffdick"... I'm extremely mature I assure you ...... As I walked passed the motocross track, jumped over the stream navigated around some strange Arizonian bushes I became more and more defeated... Until finally... an hour in... I caught a signal! it was only 1 bar but it was a signal.. I was close! Giddy inside like a small child I frantically searched my surroundings... Dust and sand as far as the eye can see... Looking down for a better signal and more hope I lost it... I back tracked slightly; signal again... I must be close I thought.. I tried another direction... The signal grew stronger.

To my surprise sitting in the open desert was my GoPro, surviving at least a 4500 foot fall it seemed to be in relatively good shape. The back housing was opened but it turned on and seemed to be working.. Incredible....

Needless to say I was extremely pleased with my detective work and made the trek back to the DZ feeling accomplished.... I knew my flight for home was the next morning and I was in dire need of a celebratory beer. Off to the bar I went... I opted to stay in a hotel in PHX so I could easily drop the rental off before my 5 am flight. The trip seemed to be over, it was a huge success... I got 7 jumps in, 1 being a balloon, got to finally see the Antelope Canyons and I found my camera which I thought was lost forever in the desert abyss.

but what would a story be without some last minute excitement.... As I arrived at Phoenix airport I was advised by the TSA that my "Parachute swabbed positive for bomb residue" which essentially means they have to tear the entire thing apart and inspect it..... If you're a skydiver reading this.... Yes they even popped my reserve... fucking bastards...