Shiprock, NM Balloon Rally
This Rally Has Been Discontinued
For ten years, just before dawn on the last Saturday in February at Shiprock, New
Mexico, a glorious two-day hot air
balloon rally commenced. About 30 balloons launched at daybreak
with the goal of being first to fly over the
top of a 13 million-year-old extant volcano core rising 1,800 feet from
the desert floor. Summit elevation 7176 feet
ASL, L 36 41 15 N 108 50 09 W. The rally was for the benefit of the Navajo
Home for Children and Women.
The rally actually started the last Friday evening in February
with an informal gathering at the
Anasazi Inn in Farmington, NM. The next
morning commenced with a blessing from
an Indian medicine man -- the site
is a holy ground -- to the gods that
these balloons were coming in peace and
happiness and that they should not be harmed.
We could not touch the volcano, only fly over it.
Shiprock is located 755 miles east-northeast
of Los Angeles almost at the intersection of Four Corners
where Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico meet,
just south of the intersection of NM routes 666 and 64.
You can find your way there using Mapquest.
The man who founded and ran this Rally is Mick Hesse.
You can email him at Mick Hesse
or phone him at (505) 598-0887
Rally History
Balloon Pages
on the Web
Email the Shiprock Webmaster