Looking instead of flying

Camping at Big Bear Lake this weekend... The soaring forecast for the local field was for thermal tops to be over 10,000 ft and over Big Bear to 17,000. I know some of the pilots go from the valley up over the mountains, so I thought maybe I'd see someone soaring. Sure enough, while we were out on a boat in the middle of the lake, I spotted two: one north of the lake and then one just south, nearly at cloudbase. Very cool... a goal to look forward to someday.

We've camped up here a number of times. I bet there have always been sailplanes above us and I never even knew it.

Let's see... 17,000 ft * a conservative 25:1 glide ratio / 6020 feet means you could glide 70 nautical miles...