Star Wars Canyon

My wife and I took a whirlwind trip through Death Valley, including a couple of hours at Rainbow Canyon, aka Star Wars Canyon or the Jedi Transition. It's an amazing place. I only caught two passes, both F/A-18s. Caught a glimpse of one plane as we were driving up the road, and didn't zoom enough when an F-16 came by. The canyon is deceptively large. We were chatting with a guy who shoots there a lot, and as we were leaving I told told him to get ready, as something would come by as soon as we left. We heard it just after we went around the hill on the way to the car. Probably something really good. Not sure when, but I'm definitely going back.

F/A-18F

F/A-18F

F/A-18F

F/A-18F

Are these flights a daily thing? Announced in advance? Or do people just sit there all day on a 1/100 chance of seeing something?

Military pilots use it on a regular basis but there is no schedule or regular pattern. There is a lot of waiting involved. While we were there five planes came through in about 2.5 hours.

Great shots! I want to make my way out there at some point. Would like to try and piggy back a visit here when I am out at Nellis for Aviation Nation this year.

Thanks.

In case you have’t checked, it’s a 3-3.5 hour drive from Vegas, depending on where you start. One of the guys I was talking to said there’s usually a lot of activity around that time.

I was up there on friday. Pretty solid day including a pair of A10 Warthogs.