Big Creek Lodge Fire

I am very sad to say that I heard the main lodge of the Big Creek Lodge at the Big Creek Airstrip (U60) burned down on October 23, 2008. I found out recently and found details in an article from KTVB on-line. The main lodge burned to the ground, and only the duplex, shed, and shop are still standing.

Image from KTVB article: Courtesy Walt Smith.

Image from KTVB article: Courtesy Walt Smith.

Below is the way I remember the lodge when I went there earlier this year and mentioned in my blog post about Big Creek and my blog about my camping weekend in Idaho.

Image from KTVB article: Courtesy Debbie Gibbons-DeRouen.

It was a wonderful old rustic lodge. The article mentions it was constructed in 1932.

Just inside the door was their main reception area; kitchen area behind that; and then to the right was the place for great large made to order breakfasts. Great if you were staying there in the lodge or if you were camping and wanted a break from cooking your own. It was great to wake up from camping and wander over for a fresh cup of coffee and talking with other people there. At night, the lodge hosted a wonderful campfire that we all gathered around. The lodge caretaker's were wonderful hosts.

I talked briefly with the owner, and they mentioned that they were still deciding what to do. It will of course never be the same, but it was a wonderful place for a lodge, and I hope it is rebuilt.

/Brian

West Yellowstone Airport Camping

As part of our Idaho and Yellowstone airplane camping trip, we stayed at West Yellowstone, MT(KWYS). I have been talking about it in my past blogs about a future Yellowstone flying trip and general airplane camping thoughts. This was the first time I had been there, but I have heard many people describe it as a great place to visit with a nice campground.

The Campground

We flew in at sunset and the FBO had closed, so we had to wander around to find the campground area. Luckily, it was fairly well marked and my Flight Guide had its location correct. It is located at the northeast end of the main ramp area a little away from the commuter and FBO traffic. When you find the area and sign in the picture below, you know you have found it.

The campground area is very nice, and it is free after you have paid for the overnight parking. It is only available to pilots, so it has a lot more availability than other Yellowstone campgrounds. I hear it can be busy over the weekends, but we had the place to ourselves. The nearest sites are just inside the trees, and there are more sites going back. There are fire pits, lots of firewood, a funky (but working) hot shower, an acceptable pit toilet, picnic tables, lots of flat space for tents, and drinking water. For a nice toilet, you can always go over to the terminal a little walk away. There are even a number of bicycles including a smaller girls bicycle available for use by pilots. Another nice item is the trailer to cart your stuff between your plane and your campsite.

The FBO

The Yellowstone Aviation FBO is currently at the south end of the main ramp area in the terminal, although it is relocating to a cabin in the middle of the ramp area soon. Be careful walking to the terminal on the ramp since it has commuter airlines and NTSB controlled access. Better to go through the fence and go through the normal passenger entry. I have seen this at other airports, so I knew to be a little careful in the ramp area.

Getting a rental car... Both Avis and Budget there. With an AOPA discount, the Budget rental ended up being just over $50/day after taxes.

The FBO people were super friendly. They watched over my son while I got the rental car and offered him free food and toys they happen to have around. Maybe they were being nice to a father/son outing, but I think they were just genuinely nice too. Their fuel price was high, but they tried to make up for it in service.

There is a decent restaurant on the field as well. This is certainly convenient if you get lazy about cooking for yourself at your campsite. There are plenty in town as well which is not far away.

Yellowstone

There is so much to see of Yellowstone National Park. The main roads in Yellowstone form a figure 8 of sorts. We had seen Old Faithful in the past which is part of the lower loop, so we decided to try the upper loop of the park. It had the Paint Pots, Mammoth Hot Springs, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and more wildlife potential. In the end, we did not see much wildlife, but we were mostly driving around during the main daylight hours of the day. The upper loop did take most of the day, and we did not stop at everything.

There is a new visitor center in the Canyon area of Yellowstone. It is a pretty nice visitor center, so I would recommend giving it look if you are near there.

My son still really wanted to see Old Faithful again, so we will definitely have to go back. Of course he told me this after we were half way around the loop. We saw the Old Faithful area from the air, so that made him happy for this trip.

The Town of West Yellowstone

We did not get a chance to look around West Yellowstone too much, but it seemed like a nice town. There are two links I found for the future: a general link on West Yellowstone and a good link from the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce.

One thing we did visit that was recommended was the The Grizzly & Wolf Center. It is kind of a mini zoo for Grizzlies and Wolves and also a place to make people more informed about camping around grizzlies and wolves. It is brand new, expanding still, and quite nice.

There is a kid feeding time for the grizzlies which is kind of neat. No... not feeding kids to grizzlies. It happens once in the morning and once in the afternoon. They close the grizzlies out of the main closure and in a very organized way bring kids in to hide berries under rocks all over. Then the kids leave and the bears are allowed back in. It was pretty cool.

Flying Back

The trip along the Tetons on the way there or back is quite impressive. We also did fly over Old Faithful which was fun. I have seen some impressive aerial pictures of other places in the park that hopefully next time we will see from the air.

Summary

West Yellowstone airport is a great place for visiting Yellowstone and good camping. It has a nice long, paved runway so any pilot can make it into this one. We were here by ourselves this time, but I hope to get other families to join us next time.

/Brian

Big Creek Airstrip and Camping

As part of our Idaho and Yellowstone airplane camping trip, we stayed at Big Creek, ID (U60). I have been talking about it in my past blog about general airplane camping thoughts, and I wrote about it in my past blog entry when I took the McCall Mountain/Canyon Flying Seminar. This was the first time I had both landed and stayed there. It was a very nice location.

There is a lodge as well as camping so we would have a choice for dinner and sleeping. Our plan this time was to camp. We also met up with another family during our stay here and had a great time.

The Approach

Big Creek is a more challenging strip to get into, but not as hard as some. I would recommend looking at the Fly Idaho Book for details. From the south, I flew past Stanley, Sulfur Creek, Landmark, and Johnson Creek airstrips. After passing the ridge before Big Creek, I started desending and quickly saw the airstrip. I circled the airstrip in a typical pattern and at the typical altitude, announcing on 122.9 what I was doing. I did a standard left hand pattern entry and landing to the south which is upstream. The altitude is 5743' and the landing is made uphill; takeoff is downhill. I recommend taking instruction before landing here. I would not have wanted to do this without it.

It is not recommended to land or takeoff the opposite directions. We saw somebody land the wrong way, and he took the entire runway; the airport manager said he had seen it done 3 times and this was the first without an accident. Also, if the wind is blowing the wrong way for takeoff, wait until later. We saw somebody takeoff uphill and into the wind; he made it, but the airport manager strongly warned against it. You may get off the ground and up to treeline and then end up losing the wind and sinking into the trees.

When we were there, the wind was calm in the morning and then picked up around 10:30am from the South. 12:00pm is typical. It did not die down until around 7pm. On our departure day, we ended up waiting until 7pm to get the proper winds. Sunset was around 8:45pm, so we still had time to make it to our next destination.

With proper instruction, this airstrip is not bad and is a lot of fun.

Parking

Parking is at the South end of the strip on the east side. There are a couple things to be careful of. The tie downs stick up out of the ground, so you might not want to taxi over them, but in front of them. The parking is also slightly downhill. So after engine shutdown, somebody either has to hold the brakes while somebody gets a rock or use the parking brake. Then slowly back the plane down to the tie downs and put a rock under a wheel.

The Campsite

The campsite is right behind the airplane parking. There are fire pits, picnic tables, lots of flat space for tents, drinking water, and a decent pit toilet. Lots of nicely spaced trees for hammocks. There is a fun small creek to play in for the kids. Very pretty location. Since the road access is a long dirt road through Yellow Pine, this location is pretty quiet except for the occasional plane. I think the nearest big town is McCall which Google estimates as 4.5 hour drive. McCall is less than 30 minutes by plane.

The Lodge

There is a nice lodge here at Big Creek. There they have lodging, a restaurant, horseshoes, and a campfire in the evening.

They have a nice restaurant. The restaurant does not have a standard menu, but cooks a good standard breakfast, lunch, dinner for the people there. We made it to breakfast twice and it was very good and very filling. For dinners, they check with who will be eating and try to make something everybody will enjoy.

The lodge was very nice to us even though we were just camping, but we did eat a couple meals there to be somewhat a part of the lodge. The hospitality is impressive and I would recommend checking it out for at least meals if not staying there.

There was an evening campfire that was a highlight of our trip. The lodge started it up around 7:30pm and we all enjoyed. We brought some marshmellows and somebody had a guitar. It was very nice.

Things Nearby

We only saw a few things while we were there, but I think the area has a lot to offer. Although just hanging out around the airstrip was very nice.

We wondered about going down to see Big Creek itself. It is a bit of a walk, so we asked the lodge if they could help us out with a ride at least in one direction. They found a convenient time and gave us a ride in a truck down to the trail going to the Big Creek and the half moon outhouse. From the trail it was a pretty easy walk down to the river. Maybe 1/2 mile? Then we probably had 1.5 miles back to the campground. It was a nice time.

The family I met up with had mountain bikes and the lodge has mountain bikes for rent for $10/day. This is a fun thing to do since the dirt roads do not have much car activity and there are old mines to look at and it is just a general pretty area.

There is a horse barn for the USFS there as well. Nobody was at it the first day, so we stayed away. But the second day, some people were there and we asked if we could come visit. It was a convenient time for them, so they gave us a nice tour. A great time for a 6 year old.

Summary

It is definitely a place I want to go back to. If my wife comes along, we will likely stay in the lodge. If it is just another father/son trip, we will probably do the camping again. Both are very nice.

/Brian

Smiley Creek Airstrip and Camping

As part of our Idaho and Yellowstone airplane camping trip, we stayed at Smiley Creek. This was our first time staying at Smiley Creek, ID (U87). It was a nice location. It is one of the first grass airstrips in Idaho on our way from Colorado, so that made it a nice first destination. There is also a lodge as well as camping so we would have a choice for dinner and sleeping if we were tired after a day of flying. We opted for eating dinner there and staying in the teepees at the lodge. We explored for the day, stayed the night, and headed out to Big Creek the next day.

The Approach

Smiley Creek is one of the easier strips to get into. I would recommend looking at the Fly Idaho Book for details. From the south, you fly up from Sun Valley along the Sawtooth mountains and then fly over a pass just before reaching the area. As long as you land upstream going south and take off downstream going north things are not too bad. As always, it is good to circle the airstrip to make sure everything is clear on the runway and the windsock is pointing the right direction for landing. Make a standard left hand pattern, set up for a short field, soft field landing and things should go pretty well. The runway is at 7160' elevation, so make sure to take that into account during landing and especially during takeoffs. Density altitude makes a big difference on hot days here.

The Airstrip

Above are two pictures of the airstrip, and there is also a web cam for the Smiley Creek Airstrip. There is a view north that the webcam defaults to, and you can also click to see a view #2 which is looking south. It is a nice strip with sprinklers and nice looking grass.

I got a chance to talk with the airstrip caretaker for a while. A very nice man and I would recommend talking with him if you get a chance. He is a pilot, so he can talk with you about the strip and many of the others in the area.

The Campground

The campground is right next to airstrip and is quite nice.

In the above picture, you see the brand new bathroom and shower building. It is very nice and extremely clean. I was surprised at how nice this was. The camping is just past the sign in the trees. There are not too many trees next to the airstrip except in the camping area.

There are also a number of shelters for campers as well. In the same area are picnic tables, fire pits, drinking water, and plenty of spaces for tents.

My son loved the creek that was right in the campground to play in. You can see the planes in the background, so you can see it is all close together.

The Lodge

Smiley Creek has a nice lodge a very short walk from the airport; maybe 100 yards at most.

There they have a general store and nice restaurant with a standard menu. For lodging, there is a choice of lodge rooms, cabins, or teepees. I figured my son would like the teepees so we tried one of those. It was a hit.

Inside the teepees is a little rustic, but quite nice for a teepee. The beds are on wooden platforms to raise it off the ground. There are lamps, tables, and heated blankets for the bed. It rained pretty hard in the morning, and the insides of the teepee got a tiny bit wet, but not bad.

No shower or bathroom inside the teepee, but there is one nearby.

Around the Lodge

Around the lodge there was a few fun things to look at.

There was an incredible number of hummingbirds around a feeder. I heard at one point, the humbirds were fighting to get a feeding spot and there were probably 6 feed spots. They had the feeder in a great spot for viewing either inside or outside. This kept my sons attention for a long time.

Next door, there were quite a few sheep which was something else to watch. In the evening, there was a beautiful sunset.

If you have time, I have heard there is a lot within a short car drive as well from there. There is a courtesy car at the airport, but I did not get a chance to use it.

There is a decent amount of traffic coming by on the 2 lane paved road in front of the lodge. I guess they are on their way to the town of Stanley and fishing, camping, and rafting. So the lodge has a bit of traffic. It was a nice amount while we there and lended itself to a little people watching.

Summary

Smiley Creek is a great stop over for some rest or a great meal. It has a very nice lodge and campground.

/Brian

Idaho and Yellowstone Airplane Camping

This past long weekend, we made it out on our airplane camping trip to Idaho and Yellowstone. I have been talking about it in my past blogs about a future Yellowstone flying trip and general airplane camping thoughts. It was a great success and incredible what we experienced in a five days.

• Beautiful scenary
• Beautiful airstrips
• Great camping (similar to car/tent camping without the trailers around.)
• Some out of the way restaurants for some fun dining.
• Easy access to Yellowstone which is hard by car
• A bit of money on gas, but the rest of the trip was very cheap.

Our overall route: klmo-lar-kafo-ksun-u87-k2u7-k0u0-k3u2-ku60-kwys-dnw-lar-klmo

Getting there

The weather was IFR in Denver area, but was VFR in Idaho, so we filed and took off. Look at my weather planning blog entry for how I go about my planning. The departure was fairly routine and there was some slight turns made in Wyoming to avoid some thunderstorms. Our fuel stop was in Afton, Wyoming (KAFO). There was a thunderstorm on the normal approach path, so I decided to cancel IFR and proceed VFR around the storm and to the airport. This worked out pretty well. This was the first trip in IFR with XM Weather using my new Anywhere Travel Companion, and I really appreciated it. I also have a stormscope and the combination is nice.

Desired VFR route: klmo-lar-kafo
IFR Route: klmo-yammi-lar-v4-grips-kafo

Afton was a nice place to stop with cheap self-serve fuel prices and a brand new Afton FBO building. The people there were very nice and offered their courtesy car for the short distance to the burger barn near the field or any of the other restaurants. We had our own lunch, so we passed this time, but it is nice to know it is there and easy for next time.

From Afton to our first destination (Smiley Creek, U87) was VFR and pretty easy. Around Sun Valley, ID it gets very pretty.



VFR route: kafo-ksun-u87

Our Destinations

The places we visited this trip were Smiley Creek, ID (U87), Big Creek, ID (U60), and West Yellowstone (KWYS). There is a bit to say about each one, so I think I will leave it for separate blog entries. All three were great places to visit!

To Big Creek: u87-k2u7-k0u0-k3u2-ku60
To West Yellowstone: ku60-kwys

Camping at each place was great. This picture is of the Big Creek campsite.

Getting back

The weather was nice coming back and flying back along Teton National Park and the Wind River Range is beautiful. There were clear skies, a tail wind, but a few bumps. 3.5 hours back from Yellowstone and my son slept most of the way.



Route: kwys-dnw-lar-klmo

Highlights

This will be a trip to remember for a long time. Hopefully it will be the start of more trips like this. As I recount our trip, there were a number of things that were highlights for me and my 6 year old son.

• Flying out IFR to an area with mostly clear skies and then landing on grass
• Teepees in Smiley Creek
• Hummingbirds in Smiley Creek
• My son hanging out with a new friend
• Enjoying campfires in Big Creek and Yellowstone
• Horses in Big Creek the paint pots in Yellowstone
• Seeing old faithful from the air
• The grizzly center in West Yellowstone

Summary

If you get a chance and you have interest in camping, mix up the airplane and camping. It is a great experience!

I will do separate blog entries on Smiley Creek, Big Creek, and West Yellowstone next.

/Brian

Airplane Camping

I still dream of some airplane camping; this is part of the reason I chose to buy a Cessna 182 and currently don't have the wheel pants on. Flying to a location and hopefully camping right there on the field. Hopefully, a nicely wooded area next to the air strip which is probably a backcountry airstrip. There are a few paved strips that seem to have some good camping next to them.

I will try to capture a few ones higher on my list to go check out. Please comment and tell me if you have some favorites or really enjoy these. I have not camped at any of these yet and have just landed at the Idaho ones. Beware that a number of these are more difficult backcountry strips and need training by an instructor such as the ones at McCall Mountain/Canyon Flying Seminars. I have taken the basic course and written about my experience, and it was a good one.
Web sites

I ran into this web site which has some interesting airplane camping info and list of airplane camping places. SW Aviator has a number of interesting articles on some of the strips and airplane camping in general. I found an interesting article on airplane camping on askville.amazon.com

Guide Books

There are crutial backcountry guide books available for Idaho, Utah, and Montana at QEI Publishing. These and The Flyer's Recreation Guide and The Western US Pilot's Guide are available at the Pilot Getaways Web Store.

Idaho

Idaho has many backcountry strips. The strips were put in place many years ago since there are many ranches tucked into the mountains without any easy access other than planes. Then some wilderness areas were established, but the air strips remain and are needed/used.

3u2 Johnson Creek. Very well known and a beautiful strip. It has sprinklers to keep the grass strip nice along with nice camping facilites including showers. You can see it live with the Johnson Creek web cam or with a time lapse here. Fishing is nearby.

U60 Big Creek. This one is nice since it has both camping and a lodge. So if you get tired of camping you can go over to the lodge for food or sleep. There is horse riding available; fishing is down the hill. Here is some information about the lodge at Big Creek.

U87 Smiley Creek. A little bit easier strip although high altitude. There is the Smiley Creek Lodge nearby with food and lodging. There is camping on the field too. Here is the web cam for Smiley Creek.

Many, many others exist. Those two are the ones I wonder about taking my family to first.

Montana

Kwys West Yellowstone. I have talked about this one before in my blog about Yellowstone and Teton. It is a paved strip with nice camping on the field.

Many backcountry strips exist in Montana. Here are a few.

53u Ferndale : Near Glacier National Park

8u2 Schafer, MT I saw this mentioned in the SW Flying Guide book being a good one for camping.

8u4 spotted bear, MT

3U7 Benchmark, MT

Oregon

3s7 Nehalem Beach State Park, OR. This looks like a good one for the future. Right near the beach and part of a state park. Other camping exists on the field for car campers and the plane campers are separate. There is some good information on the Nehalem state park on the Oregon State Park web site. The map on that web site gives a good idea of the facilities and area around the airport.

Texas

The one I have looked into already is Big Bend Camping. I did one post earlier in my blog on Big Bend. Texas is a big state, so I wonder if there are some other good ones.

California

Camping is available on these fields according to the Western US Pilots Guide:
0Q5 Shelter Cove. Miscellaneous information on Shelter cove.
S51 Klamath Glen. Information around Klamath Glen Camping Resort from hikercentral.com.

Utah

Utah Backcountry pilots association is key for checking out this area.
Mineral Canyon UT75. Southwest Aviator article on Mineral Canyon.
Mexican Mountain. Southwest Aviator article on Mexican Mountain.

Washington

kors Orcas Island. Not camping on airport, but camping on the island

A Possible Airplane Camping Trip

Here is a possible week long trip idea. Idaho, California, Oregon Beach, San Juan Islands, then back through Idaho and Yellowstone: www.flyagogo.net/?klmo-u87-S51-3s7-kors-3u2-kwys-lmo

Maybe someday...

/Brian

Future Flying Trip: Big Bend, Texas

Big Bend, Texas is an area I have been thinking about going to sometime. It is pretty far south which would be great for a winter time trip, and it looks like it would be good for camping and other outdoor activities.

Credit: NPS/Eric Leonard

General Information

Big Bend National Park is the western area of Texas right on the board of the Rio Grande where it makes a big bend.

It ends up being in a very remote area of the country and great for camping.

There is a web site for the towns there and the Big Bend National Park web site. Going this time of year doesn't make sense, but maybe next fall or winter. We were relatively close when we went to Carlsbad, NM earlier this year. I ran into an old friend who got telling me about his fun times at Big Bend last Christmas.

I figure this is a chance to write some of this down and come back to it in the fall. As I suspected, he did mention that it is pretty hot from May through October.

Terlingua Ranch

You can fly into a The Terlingua Ranch dirt strip (1E2) and rent a cabin at Terlingua Ranch overlooking the airstrip. There is a small café (with country music every night), pool, short hikes, pretty scenery, not much else. Good mountain biking. They comment on their web site that there are no rental cars.

Study Butte

There is also a private strip about 2 miles west of Study Butte. I am not sure which one it is (81TX or 3TE8); I will have to ask my friend more since it looks like there are two private ones on the maps. There you can rent cars and jeeps there. He says expensive, but the location is great and worth the drive into the park or down to the Rio Grande river. You can rent a canoe in Study Butte also, and float the Rio Grande with 1,000+ foot canyon walls; paddle up, turnaround and float back watching the scenery (when it is low water). It looks like there are options for lodging and other activities in the town of Study Butte if you want.

Credit: NPS/Eric Leonard

I think the above picture I found on the National Park website might be the canyon my friend mentioned or at least one similar. This one is described as Santa Elena canyon.

Lajitas

Another spot to mention that I wondered was Lajitas and their private strip 89TE. He mentions that it is big money with Lear jets and overpriced. Maybe worth a one night splurge, but not something you probably want to do all the time.

Alpine

There are also several car rentals out of Alpine about 1.5 hours north of Study Butte. A really pretty town with a nice FBO, and "cheap" fuel. Car dealers all have cars.

Summary

My friend was saying that some parts near the Mexico board feel a little iffy, but the Big Bend Park area feels ok. I don't know from experience yet.

Sounds like a good place to go to in the future.

/Brian

Future Flying Trip: Yellowstone/Teton NP

I have been to Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park a few times and once by flying ourselves.

Last Trip

Flying in took a lot less time which was fantastic. 8+ hour drive turns into about a 3 hour flight (klmo-klar-kbpi-kjac). This turns what would probably be a week long vacation into a doable weekend trip.

One of the more impressive parts was flying along the Tetons on the approach to Jackson Hole Airport(KJAC). There was a small landing fee (very small), typical overnight fees, and rental car that was a little expensive. But not too bad for the location, and they were nice to us even though we were in a small C182.



Then along the road are continuous beautiful views.


Last time we went (last Teton trip photos) , we went to Jackson Lake Lodge which was nice. The rooms were not cheap, but location is great and the lodge was really neat for the meals. The views were great, but we were a ways from the lake.

I think it is time to go back maybe trying some new stuff.

Colter Bay Cabins and Camping

Last time we were there, I briefly saw a location around the corner from Jackson Lake Lodge called Colter Bay. It is right on the lake and has a mixture of cabins, luxury tent camping, and normal tent/RV camping. It has a marina, rental boats, a restaurant, and what looks like maybe a more fun place for kids. The information that is shown on-line looks promising.

There is a nice brochure of activities that is for the Colter Bay and other Teton National Park areas.

There is on-line reservations for some of the lodging in Teton National Park including Colter Bay. I checked this, and I was a bit disappointed. Most of the stuff in Colter Bay is reserved at least for some of the dates I was thinking about. I wonder if there are ways to get cabins at the last minute, but that could be hard to plan for. There is first come, first serve on the tent camping, but what do you do if you lose out?

Maybe West Yellowstone Camping

So maybe a good alternative that I have heard of is West Yellowstone Airport KWYS (and camping). It is a decent sized airport, and it actually has camping at one end of the field. Availability is only to pilots and often has availability when no where else has space in the parks. The FBO website has information about camping on their hotel page. They have lots of space for tents and people share the picnic tables, fire pits, pit toilet, and hot showers. Lots of reports from people on the Cessna Pilots Association indicate it is very good camping. Also a special page in the AirNav web page specifically for the campground indicates great reviews as well!

There are a few websites with more information for the area. There is the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce page and West Yellowstone Internet Site. If you want hotels, there are proably there as well, but probably fill up quick.

Maybe driving down to Colter Bay could be a possibility if things work out during a trip into Yellowstone. I would be part of the way down there if driving through the park, and maybe I could snag a cancellation at Colter Bay in the morning.

West Yellowstone Kid Stuff

There is some kid information listed on the chamber of commerce page that looks interesting. It looks like there are some museums and ranger information in West Yellowstone that could be fun. It sounds like there is good fishing around too. And there is the Yellowstone entrance only a few miles away.

West Yellowstone Car Rentals

There are a couple of places to look for Car Rental information and possible discounts.

Info from Chamber of Commerce
Info from the FBO
Info from Airnav

There appear to be three rental places: Avis, Budget, and Big Sky Car Rental.

Flying over Yellowstone

You need to stay 2000' AGL over Yellowstone, but this is still low enough to see some very cool stuff. At least I have seen a few pictures here and there of the geysers and mudpots from the air that look very cool. A different perspective that you could not get from the ground.

Summary

This looks like a winner one way or another this year.

Some other small side notes:

• Cheaper Gas near KJAC/KWYS in Big Piney (KBPI) or Pinedale (KPNA).
• Check out grass strip at Henry's Lake (U53) .
• Check out Driggs, Idaho (KDIJ) and the Warbird Cafe and warbird display.

Hopefully, this will be part of a fun summer. I will write a Pirep afterwards...

/Brian