It was Aaron Cromer's birthday today and the two Aarons flew at Miller to celebrate. Winds were light and from the east to northeast with cycles around ~7mph. There were soft thermals right off launch, and after working these for a bit we benched up the mountain and found a very solid thermal which took us to ~12,000 feet. With the altitude we decided to try our hand at a little XC flight. I made it about 6 miles from launch and Cromer made about 4.

After hitchhiking back to the bar, we had some bratwurst and beer, and we hiked back to Carr Canyon road and attempted to hitch to my car which was parked at the top. I figured my hitching karma should be pretty good, but unfortunately none of the 4 or so vehicles that passed us on the way up was willing to give a pair of unkempt paragliders a ride back up the mountain. We ended up hiking all 6-7 miles up the hill to the car, which took a couple if hours.

It was a great day though, with both pilots getting their highest flights ever, and me getting my first cross country flight.

--Stutz