Want to go up in a hot air balloon?

Heck yes!

That was my answer to Tom Kaufman, a local balloon enthusiast, when he asked me to participate in Snowdown's media day for the annual balloon rally last weekend.

I lucked out with the event's timing - Friday was the only day most of the balloons were able to ascend. Balloon pilots don't like fog and snow, and that's what happened Saturday and Sunday.

Even though organizers limit rally participation to experienced owners, balloon pilots don't like flying when they can't see obstacles, such as power lines and other balloons, explained Martin Adie, the pilot of the Hopscotch, Too!, the colorful balloon from Albuquerque that I rode in on Friday.

For safety reasons, the pilots rise above the Animas Valley in Durango, but they don't go higher than the valley walls. If they did, a sudden gust of wind could carry them to Telluride or who-knows-where in the San Juan National Forest. That could result in a landing far from a road, which can require a pickup by search and rescue teams or a helicopter. Neither option is a good one, Adie explained.

Adie fell in love with ballooning in his hometown of Bristol, England before moving to the States in 1998, when he began coming to the Snowdown rally.

"It's hard to explain," he said of his enthusiasm for the sport. "It's quiet. You don't feel that you move, because you go with that parcel of wind."

A day of ballooning starts early. Pilots like slight, steady winds, and that's what happens in the morning, before heat inversions start sending gusts out in the afternoon.

Kaufman and I met Adie and his team before the sun was up over the walls of the Animas Valley. Adie, his wife and crew chief, Carol, and other volunteers unloaded the basket from his pickup truck, unrolled the balloon and started dragging it across a snow-covered field.

Then a generator-powered fan is used to inflate the balloon on its side.

Two propane tanks fuel a burner above the wicker basket and start heating the air inside the balloon. After a safety talk and signing a waiver, two other passengers and I climbed into the basket, and we ascended.

After that, where we fly is up to the wind, although Adie is skilled at ascending, descending, and watching where the air currents are. He observes steam and smoke rising from homes, flags flapping in the wind, and other balloons to estimate where and how fast the currents flow.

"Some days it works out well," he said.

One time, he made a particularly adventurous trip, flying over the Sandia Mountains from Albuquerque and landing in Estancia. He needed oxygen to breathe at the 15,000-foot altitude, but was prepared for the high-altitude trip.

That particular journey made wife Carol nervous, but mostly she enjoys the hobby with him, chasing down his balloon when it lands.

Rising above the Animas Valley, we drifted east over Dalton Ranch, then caught another air current west, landing with a slight bump on the playground at Animas Elementary School during recess.

Needless to say, we had a bunch of excited little visitors come check us out before they went back into their classroom.

The balloon itself came to rest on its side, then the air escaped and the crew began rolling it into its container, sort of like a giant sleeping bag in a stuff sack.

"It's a lot harder than it looks," Kamryn Bare, one of the other passengers, said as she helped her dad pack up the balloon. He's a member of Adie's chase crew.

Friday's flight also was her first trip.

"I loved it," she said. "It's very peaceful."

Including preparation time and getting the gear unloaded and loaded back up, Adie said each trip takes four to five hours.

"You've got to really want to do it," he said.

A used balloon can be purchased for $10,000 to $20,000, and custom balloons with complicated designs and colors can quickly run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Pilots need to have several hours of experience in mountain flying before they're invited to participate in the Snowdown rally. Local businesses pay $200 to help sponsor each balloon, which often gets the business owner a ride.

Kaufman said he likes helping balloonists when they need local crew members because it's a fun activity, and occasionally he gets to ride in one.

I'd like to fly again someday. In the meantime, I've enjoyed crossing "ride in a hot air balloon" off my bucket list.