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....
Last Summers Trip to Yellowstone
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