Last Summers Trip to Yellowstone

[TroyBranch]

Finally making some time to edit some videos.

Left work just before noon to fly down to Yellowstone. We loaded up all the camping gear and off we went to West Yellowstone. The ride was smooth for 75% of the flight. It was windy, bumpy and hot in west yellowstone. One morning at breakfast we heard the commercial flight ask if anyone was willing to stay behind as they were to heavy for the density at the take off. Its no joke in those parts.

The kids loved the camping other than the "Toxic Toilet" Lol.

We toured for a couple of days and flew out on Monday morning which got me into the office by noon. You can never do to many of these short trips.

Here is some videos of the trip. Kinda boring, but some may enjoy them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEfLVWPK2Pw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azogb7YuznA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go9drJvX-Lg

 

[hydroguy2]

keep them coming, I like hearing the kids.


I might be biased...you flew almost over my house both directions.

 

[aturner]

Yellowstone in August

Thanks for posting Troy, you videos bring back good memories of our August trip to West Yellowstone. I'll post a few photos here, and hope it doesn't bore everyone too much - Thinking of summer adventures is a good antidote to the winter doldrums.

We built the RV-10 for this purpose - cross-country adventures with the family. My first flight was in early May, so the Yellowstone trip in August was our first really long flight. In years past we did a lot of cross-country flying in our Skyhawk, but this flight proved to be a little different. KWYS is 1400 nautical miles from Clarion, and even bucking headwinds the entire way, we were just 10.0 hours (total time, flight time plus one fuel stop) from wheels up in Pennsylvania to wheels on the ground at West Yellowstone. And best of all, the ride was a good one.

This normally dry region was experiencing a wet summer! We had to duck under a ceiling and dodge rain showers in the Absaroka's and fly the passes into the relatively flat caldera that holds the park. I don't have any good photos of this phase, because I was very busy, but the interplay of sun, rain, clouds, and mountains made for perhaps the most beautiful 45 minutes of flying of my life. We landed at KWYS in the rain and all involved got a good bath.

Skies cleared soon though. We rented a car, had a very enjoyable dinner in town, and set up camp at the pilots campground.

Our mode of operation each day was to have a light breakfast in camp, drive into the park for a day of hiking and exploring, return to town for a late evening dinner, and then back to the airport to sleep at the campgrounds. We like to get away from the crowds and hike the backcountry, sometimes on trails and sometimes not. The hiking was awesome. This is the view of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from near the top of Mt. Washburn, 10243'.

Elk sheds on the Blacktail Plateau.

Another son, and another view of the Blacktail:

A burned over area in the Madison River Valley:

Taking a break along the Madison River:

A geyser basin above the Gibbon River, a hot and steep 800' climb from the trailhead on the river:

The Gibbon River from above - "I think I can see the car....."

Continued....

 

[aturner]

Yellowstone continued

Too soon it was time to head home. Of course, it was raining when we departed, but the scenery was beyond spectacular.

Absaroka's

Bighorn River:

With a true airspreed that averaged 170 kts. (at 10 GPH), and tailwinds that boosted our groundspeed to over 200 kts., we were back home in Pennsylvania in time for dinner.

More Yellowstone photos here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/105712096675161295306/Yellowstone14#slideshow/

Was building this airplane worth the time and money? If this was the only trip we took in it, the answer might be yes. Everything else is icing on the cake.

 

[TroyBranch]

keep them coming, I like hearing the kids.


I might be biased...you flew almost over my house both directions.

I have flown over your place many times. I really have to stop one of these times!

 

[TroyBranch]

Great pictures Andy. When we parked on the ramp the tar was melting and we would have gotten it every where if we had left our shoes on getting into the plane. Luckily it was better in the morning for our departure. We met a lot of great people camping there.