First Flight

(This column is out of sequence, as it was intended for publication on Saturday, April 19, 2014)

I’ve spent the past week in Corolla, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  One of the highlights of that area is the Wright Brothers National Memorial.  If you ever get the opportunity to visit there, don’t miss the memorial, and try to make it in time to listen to one of the rangers give the talk on the first flight. 

I guarantee that you will learn facts that you never knew before, such as the reason why Kitty Hawk was chosen from a list of 126 sites the Wright brothers investigated for their experiment.  It was, after all, a remote location with a travel time of over a week from their Dayton, Ohio home and workshop. 

There were a number of seemingly insurmountable problems that delayed the planned flight, not the least of which was the failure of several mechanical and engine parts that required several trips back to Dayton for repairs. And what started out as an autumn test soon became a race to beat winter weather and to keep a promise to their families to be home by Christmas. 

The improbability of making that first powered flight was astronomical.  Even though the scientific aeronautical theories of the Wright brothers were spot on, use of a 12 horsepower engine against a 27 mph headwind on a takeoff platform of less than 100 feet gave very long odds on the 650 pound structure with a 188 pound man riding it ever making it off the ground.  Ask yourself what airplane of today could achieve that.

It took four attempts that day to make a flight long enough to be considered successful.  The brothers took turns with one at the controls while the other ran alongside the craft holding on to one wing to maintain balance – there were no wheels, as they would have added both weight and drag, and the “plane” rode a single rail as its only contact with the ground. Orville just happened to be the pilot on the successful, 852-foot, 29-second fourth attempt that put them in the record books.

Yes, the history of aviation might have been completely different if that flight hadn’t been a success.  The Wrights were nearly out of time, money and patience, and there were several others vying for the right to be the first.

Another interesting fact about the Wright Brothers’ first aircraft is that it didn’t even survive the day.  Shortly after the successful flight, the wind took hold of it and it cart wheeled across the field to its total destruction.  Any replica you see today in just that – a replica of the original.  There are two of them at the memorial, one inside the museum and another about a mile away just south of the Memorial Hill.

As a footnote, if you do visit the Wright Brothers Memorial, be advised that is actually isn’t located in Kitty Hawk, but is now in what has been incorporated at Kill Devil Hills, NC.  That land was all known as Kitty Hawk back in 1903.  It became Kill Devil Hills back in 1953, fifty years after the famous “First Flight.”

The North Rim

No, I'm not going to tell you about my trip to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, though that is a trip I've made and it is a most impressive sight and well worth the two-hour detour from US 89 at Bitter Springs, Arizona.  I want to describe another north rim that few people have visited.  It is harder to get to than the GCNR, and equally spectacular.

The destination I'm writing about is the north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Western Colorado.  People who visit the Black Canyon National Park usually go to the south rim, which has paved roads, many overlooks and a nice visitor center.  It is a great place to see, and the views are very photogenic.  You are looking down 2,400 feet to the Gunnison River, and the striped black rock walls are unique.  However, those walls you're looking at form the north rim about a half mile away and they are vertically straight as opposed to the eroded and sloped walls of the south rim.

If you want to really see the Black Canyon, you should go to the primitive north rim.  It requires a long and arduous drive over narrow twisting road, and the last seven miles is unpaved -- at least it was the last time we went there.  You might also get caught up in a western cattle drive along the way , as we were.  A rancher was moving his herd to a new pasture and we wound up in amongst about 200 head of beef-on-the-hoof as they sallied along the road.

As I stated, the last few miles were dirt road, and then we came to the first of the five overlooks on that rim.  Each one requires a short hike out to it, and you're not likely to see anyone else there.  We did meet another couple, and the weird fact about them was that the man had acrophobia.  We watched him crawl the last ten yards out to the rim, quickly snatch a peek, and then crawl back away.  He said he just had to see it, but it scared the heck out of him (or words to that effect).

The reason he was so frightened is that, from the north rim you are standing on the edge of a precipice looking almost straight down to the river below.  There is a heavy metal railing, of course, but it is still a sight to behold.  The reason the north rim doesn't erode like its neighbor to the south is that it has the benefit of the warm sunlight to quickly melt any frost and ice.  It has remained pretty much as it was formed millions of years ago.

The Gunnison River has lots of bends in it, so most of the rock walls you can see from the south rim are viewable from the north rim overlooks as well.  You might also see some rafters traversing the river below, or rock climbers across the canyon.

This is a typical view from the overlooks on the north rim.  The river is 2,400 feet below.

It is pretty easy to differentiate between the north and south rims.

We watched a ranger operation on the south rim from our vantage point, one that is not widely reported, though it happens often.  It was a recovery mission for some tourists who had ventured out too far on the south rim and apparently lost their footing.  They fell several hundred feet to their demise, and the park rangers had to rappel down to recover the bodies.

I've included a video of a location very similar to the Black Canyon, except this one is in the Himalayas in Asia.  The scenery is very similar, but there are no guard rails, and this road is not on the rim, but along the cliff face.  It gives you some idea of what the live view is looking straight down to the river.

If you want to visit the south rim, you can do it on the same day, but it is about 80 miles by road to get there, and the road, Route 92, is a scary drive, as well, with huge dropoffs and no guardrails. It does have one rest area overlooking the Morrow Point Reservoir and, if you're there at the right time of year, a great view of the snow-covered Rockies. Be sure to stop there and take some pictures. 

I've included a link to the Road Trip America article I wrote about getting to Black Canyon's North Rim.  It has more information about routes and sights.  If you ever get the chance to see this natural wonder, don' t pass it up.  And, if you are adventurous enough to go to the north rim, you will be rewarded with views and scenery twice as good as that of the tourist entrance across the canyon.  Don't forget to stop and say "hello" to the park ranger who resides in the station near the western-most north rim overlook; he doesn't get a lot of company.