Flight to the Jordan Craters Lava Flow

I decided that today was the day that I was going to document the hidden lakes in the Jordan Craters Lava Flow. I flew them before we ever moved here, but haven't been back with a decent video camera until today. The Drift is so handy because I can turn it on and off in the cockpit, saving batteries and saving editing time. My last camera was either on or forever off. The batteries were very expensive and all in all a pain in the butt. Unfortunately the day was very smoky from all the fires. The weather and the Wind in Sept is about the only time that you can count on mild winds, and longer comfortable flight time. Unfortunately the visibility could have been a lot better. All the fires in Oregon, Idaho and California are making things hazy at best.

The area here is one of frequent Volcanic eruptions. Most of the land is covered in some kind of Volcanic rock, or soil. On the way to the flow I passed over numerous vent holes and older ropy lava flows. The Jordan Craters flow is thought to be only 2500 years or so old, and it is young enough that it has not broken into the normal jumble of individual rocks that one generally associates with these flows. The tops of the lava is "smooth" at least for Lava. There are spots in the flow that have sunken in, or better still the lava tubes have fallen in at certain spots, and the wind has filled them with blown dirt. The birds and the wind have "seeded" them with every thing from reeds to trees.

https://vimeo.com/50340550

This link will take you to the video. The password is as always, owyheeflyer  For some reason the original movie that I recorded had some kind of flaw in it and would not upload until I redid it.

Here is the spot page that recorded my flight, sending a location every ten minutes. Of course each sending is shown as a straight line, but at least the wife would have an idea of where I was if something happened to me.