Panguitch Valley Balloon Rally (Utah)

From Panguitch Bal...

The little town of Panguitch, Utah hosts a hot air balloon rally the last weekend in June each year. In fact, this is one of the reasons we are still in the Hatch area. Since we have not been to the huge balloon festivals in Santa Fe and Albuquerque this gathering of 30+ balloons was pretty fun.

Each day from Friday until Sunday the launch began at 6:30am. Spectators are invited onto the field and can assist in the inflating of the balloons. We met a couple, Betty and Jay (with whom we are now neighbors at a different campground in Hatch) who because they helped inflate, were invited to ride along! Betty went one day and Jay the other. And they were invited to crew with this balloon pilot in Albuquerque this fall! How exciting! They will be able to camp with all the balloon people and are hoping to be able to ride again.

Bill and I went on Saturday morning to watch the launch but arrived at 7 and missed it. The balloons were all in the air by then. It was still beautiful to round that last mountain and come upon this sight. I was wondering how many people knew nothing about the rally and accidentally did the same thing. There were tons of vehicles (and motorhomes) pulled off the road to enjoy the view.

That evening, Mel and Evelyn went with us back “downtown” for the Balloon Glow. They had about 15 balloons inflating on Main Street and a cross road while we all walked around town. As the sun set (about 9pm) the pilots lit their burners to illuminate the entire envelope (the balloon itself). They needed several strong helpers to keep it from rising into the air. It actually looked like a tough job! They would light the burners for only a second or two at a time.

As an aside: Bill and Mel learned from one pilot that each of his 2 burners was 15 million BTU’s!!!!! Holy cow, my grill has 20,000 BTU’s! Those are some hot fires! Considering a cubic foot of air weighs roughly 28 grams (about an ounce). If you heat that air by 100 degrees F, it weighs about 7 grams less. Therefore, each cubic foot of air contained in a hot air balloon can lift about 7 grams. That's not much, and this is why hot air balloons are so huge -- to lift 1,000 pounds, you need about 65,000 cubic feet of hot air. I wonder if they ask you your weight before allowing you to board a basket (or gondola) for a ride? I can see it now: this is a scene from the dinner table back in Virginia. Bill is telling the kids these interesting facts (and undoubtedly asks a related questions based on this info) and they decide it is time to be excused from the table!

I’ll move on . . . Sunday morning, Mel and Evelyn and I went back leaving at 6:20am to get on the field. I should mention that they both are great photographers so they were as excited to go as I was. Even though they admitted they already had hundreds of balloon pictures from the big rallies. I really enjoyed getting up close while the pilots readied their launch. Being on the field allowed you to be under them as they flew low, to feel the heat from the burners, to hear the directions and the concerns of the crew as they worked. Seemed everyone on the field was carrying some sort of camera equipment and a huge smile on their face. Us, too.

If you click on the person’s head icon at the lower left corner of the balloon pictures on the right it will take you to the whole gallery of balloon pictures I’ve posted at PicasaWeb.

It was a great weekend from start to finish.
Thanks for checking in on us. Be sure to leave a comment (click on comments below) so I know you were here.

Jody

PS: for all you Pisces out there, for the week 6/23-29: The stars give you a burst of courage on the 23rd, inspiring you to be more adventurous. Map out a new financial plan on the 25th, and you’ll have more cash to spend. I’m hoping this comes true for all those born under this sign.