There were some lingering clouds over the Sonoma Valley and the hills to the west, but the coast was clear. We headed toward Ocean Ridge, one of my favorite scary airports. The flight up the coast would take about 1.3 hours, mainly due to a 19 knot headwind, and that afforded a lot of time to chat. As we headed toward Ocean Ridge, we passed over a paved landing strip that I had identified several years ago as a private airport. The field was once known as Potterton and then later appeared on a CalTran Aeronautical chart as Sonoma Coast. Trees have grown up along the northwest end of the runway, but it still looks usable for smaller aircraft. There's even a hangar-like building that appears to be in very good shape. This photo is over two years old and I didn't have time to take a new photo on this trip.
As we approached the Ocean Ridge Airport I was a bit shocked to see that many of the redwood trees that used to surround the runway have been cleared, making the field seem more ... normal.
Twelve mile final to runway 30 at Shelter Cove.
On the way back, we passed over this old Union Lumber Company landing strip. Long since closed, it looks like an ideal site for an airport.
