Caleb and I visited the Boomershoot site today. The two pictures below are the view that greeted us as we arrived. There was a dusting of snow on the north slopes with some drifts still remaining in the deepest shadows. The road into the parking area was completely dry.
Target area and 50 Caliber Ghetto Shooting area.
The road into the parking area.
The grass in the shooting area was surprisingly dry and firm. It wasn’t at all muddy. But it was cold. At noon it was 30F. By the time we left at about 17:30 it had warmed up to 39F. In between there was alternate periods of sun and snow. This schizophrenic weather is exemplified by the following two pictures of the same area. The first was taken at 11:26 and the second one at 17:11. Notice the snow in the first picture is completely gone by the time the second picture was taken less than six hours later.
The Taj Mahal and work area at 11:26.
Work area at 17:11.
As I mentioned earlier the shooting area was surprisingly good. The ground was damp but very firm. Unless there are major rain storms between now and next weekend the ground should be fine. The weather forecasts are varied but none predict heavy precipitation. I do not think it will be muddy unless it rains during the event.
The area just behind the shooting berm.
Snow was coming down at various times during the day.
There were three major accomplishments today.
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We delivered the surveyors stakes and the last of the boxes used for targets.
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We got the WiFi working well. While at the most remote location I set my computer up to ping the Boomershoot.org server and it ran for several hours and lost only 2% of the packets with no extended drop outs. This sort of accomplishment was unheard of previously.
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We have about 1000 of boxes for the 1590 planned targets folded (they are shipped to us flat) and in crates ready for filling with explosives.
The magazine is nearly full of empty target boxes.
The Taj Mahal prepped for Boomershoot 2008.
Update: I forgot to mention that AT&T has cell phone service at the Boomershoot site now. Coverage is a little spotty behind neighboring hills and such but at the site itself the signal is fairly strong.
Joe,
Thanks for the update! Spokane is supposedly getting pounded with snow today, with initial predictions for up to 4″ in places, but hopefully that will stay far north.
It looks like a big improvement since the last photos, and the trend this week is a warming pattern, so hopefully it will continue to do so.
Bill