The year was 1996, and the PrescottNational Forest Service had ervednotice to our small band of free flyer thatthey had come up with a master plan forMingus Mountain, our premier flyingsite in Arizona. Unforrunarelv, that plandid not include "dispersed- camping.Considering that we had been allowedfor over 20 years to camp on rap of themountain, only yards from our ziiderand launch ramps, we con idered till bitof news devastating indeed.

However, after a few more inquiriewe were told that if we could demonstratethat there was sufficient need "orus to be

Mingus MountainCampground:

A RetrospectiveArticle and photos byJerry Dalen

camped on the mountain, perhaps somearrangement could be worked out. Thatwas all the incentive we needed to ignitea ferocious letter-writing campaign tothe local ranger station in Camp Verde, amall town south of the mountain in the

beautiful Verde Valley that is home tothe offices of the Forest Service. Indeed,after a few weeks, numerous lettersfrom the hang gliding and paraglidingcommunity as well as from some of ourfriends around the country made it ob-vious to the Forest Service that we wereeriou about pursuing the campground.

There was some resistance from others in

the government agency who had not seenthe site and really had no idea what thishang gliding thing was, but they even-tually saw the light, and in October of1996 a group of Arizona Hang GliderAssociation (AHGA) members met withthe head rangers for the Prescott NationalForest to discuss the particulars of this"hang gliding campground." Several othermeetings with the Forest Service yieldeda well-diagramed proposal for the camp-ground, which was submitted to the clubmembership for approval.

Now, ten years later, we have turnedthe corner on the Mingus Mountain

June 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding - www.ushpa.aero

Campground Project. With the help ofthe Foundation for Free Flight (formerlyUSHGF), along with the generous dona-tions of time and money from the mem-bers of our club, friends, and USHPAmembers across the United States, wehave built the foundation for a beautifulcampground.

Picture a tree-covered forest thickwith ponderosa pines at almost 8000feet in elevation. Picture eleven camp-

ing spurs, four of them with doublewideparking and all of them able to accom-modate almost every type of RV orcamping trailer. Each spur has its ownfire ring/grill and picnic table, a centerfire ring for socializing, and a nice com-fortable bathroom within a short walkingdistance. We are still working on outfit-ting all of the spurs with their accommo-dations, but we can see the light at theend of the tunnel.

Add in the concrete ramp on thesouth launch, along with a gravel/dirtnorth launch to handle overflow onthose busy days, and you've got yourself aworld-class flying site. Hopefully withinthe next couple of.years the project willbe complete. (See our Web site at www.ahga.org for details.)

And as this season comes upon us, ourlocal contingents of paraglider pilots areworking together with the Forest Serviceto improve the paragliding launch. Add

it all up, and the result of several years ofhard work and dedication from the mem-bers of the AHGA is proudly offered toall USHPA members to enjoy.

So come on out and experience thegreat air, friendly locals, the beauti-ful views, and of course the great flying.You're welcome any time, but markyour calendar for our Labor Day Fly-in,September 1-3.

See the article by Hal Hayden in theAugust 2004 issue of this magazine for moreinformation on the earlystagesof the MingusMountain campground project.

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June 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding - www.ushpa.aero