The Dog Bowl
Prevailing winds blow northwest over Hood River. The east valley ridge obstructs the airmass making it rise like river water climbing over a boulder.
When the terrain is shaped like a bowl, a larger volume of air converges generating a bigger upward push. Bowls also collect heat on sunny days, adding a thermal component to the lift.
Local soaring pilots are well aware and enjoy this spot as a good bet for staying aloft.
In the late 80's, Gary Boggs taught soaring in Hood River and whenever he flew in this area, he noticed a dog that constantly barked at the aerial intruders. He named this part of the ridge "Dog Bowl," to honor the barking dog who laid claim to this territory.
Paul Woolery flew the ridge often in those days and knew the dog's owner, Mark Nykanen. The German Shepherd was named "Cato," after the Pink Panther's man-servant to Inspector Clouseau. You see, Inspector Clouseau wanted Cato to suprise attack him at random times so he could always be vigilant for an unfriendly attack.
In the same fashion, Mark's canine "Cato" often lay hiding, waiting for his master; then he'd playfully surprise attack him.
You can spot the bowl from afar by looking for 3 vertical forested lines just north of it. Paul recalls many days scratching at low altitude along the ridge until finding the lift to climb high from this location. Heading from Dog Bowl toward Mt Defiance he's often encountered minimal sink, and sometimes even gets into wave lift, likely triggered from Mt Defiance.
Kelly Cooper describes the frequent ocurrence of a cloud street going east/west from the north end of middle mountain straight toward Dog Bowl, and often further east. Perhaps it forms by converging airmasses from the Parkdale area flowing downhill heading north and meeting the northwestly flowing airmass coming up the gorge, and spilling into the Hood River Valley.
Brian Hart likes to release from tow at 3600' over Dog Bowl, and head south toward Neal Creek in search of lift...if it doesn't happen, there's a pretty sure bet returning on the ridge and hitting Dog Bowl will regain any lost altitude.
When Paul recently shared this bit of historical interest with me, I thought it should be recorded in a blog. The more you know about an area, the better you can make use of the information.
