Camping

We’re kicking off our first “Reader Getaway” with a submission from our own Technical Editor, who has been with the magazine since 2006.

Pilot Getaways has undoubtedly enriched the lives of many of its readers, but I have a hunch that, aside from the magazine’s founders, John and George Kounis, nobody’s life has been changed by it more than mine. Long before my professional association with Pilot Getaways, the magazine introduced me to a whole new lifestyle, and something I read in it eventually led us to move from Southern California to Idaho.

 Click here to read about day 4 of this adventure.

The last day of our trip was dominated by flying—lots and lots of flying—to circumnavigate weather, and to get Caroline home in time for a 7 a.m. meeting she had the following day. Again, the weather approaching from the northwest pushed us eastward, fortunately toward more scenic terrain. 

We took off from Idaho Falls under clear skies, but soon encountered an overcast deck at about 8,000–9,000 feet with scattered rain showers and visibility down to 5 miles. Although that may seem like a high ceiling, most of peaks along the route are between 9,500 and 11,500 feet, meaning we were confined to the valleys. Departing Idaho Falls, we proceeded direct to Tigert Airport in Soda Springs, Idaho. From there, we followed U.S. Highway 30 about 45 nm to Cokeville Airport in Wyoming. With surface elevations of 6,000–6,500 feet and the peaks around us shrouded in clouds, this was perhaps the most challenging leg of the trip. Ramona was not familiar with the area, so she clung to my left wing like a little duckling following mama duck through the clouds. 

The end run around the front worked. After Cokeville, the coulds became increasingly more scattered and the ceiling rose to 10,000, then 12,000, then 14,000 feet. Flying south out of Wyoming across Utah, we were enjoying the dry air that comes from being in the rain shadow of the mountains. Unfortunately, the drying of the air comes at a cost: As the air dries, it heats and accelerates. Wind gusts were up to 30 knots, and the turbulence was continuous. 

Click here to read about day 3 of this adventure.

The "afternoon and evening thunderstorms" I had expected turned out to be stronger and more persistent than forecast. Rain pelted the tent the entire night, resulting in mud patches and puddles in the campground. A check of XM weather revealed that the heavy rain would abate for a couple of hours between 10 a.m. noon, and then return with a vengance and hang on for the next couple of days. We decided that the best course of action was to make an escape as soon as the weather permitted.

There was some stress in the group as the bad weather stubbornly hung on, and it was still marginal at noon. Fortunately, the weather did end up clearing by around 2 p.m. As soon as the skies cleared, a big-tired Maule landed to pick up his friends, our campsite neighbors the bear hunters. The pilot had seen the same forecast as we had and wanted to get his friends out of the backcountry before they got trapped for a few more days.

Click here to read about day 2 of this adventure.

Ramona had never had professional photographs of her airplane, so she talked us into flying over the Chinese Wall for air-to-air photography. We had flown 477 nm from Battle Mountain to Schafer; Ramona had flown 300 nm from Caldwell, but she took a circuitous route due to weather, so we were both low on fuel. The fuel situation limited our air-to-air time, but we still hoped to get at least a few publication-worthy images.

Ideally, a photo shoot should be conducted at sunrise. In fact, we often take off before sunrise in order to catch the first rays of sun striking the mountaintops, which occurs a few minutes before the sun rises in the valleys. In this case, however, the group operated at a more lax pace, and we took off around noon. The midday turbulence limited our ability to maintain a tight formation, but we were able to get a few photographs at the Chinese Wall and in the pattern at Schafer.

Click here to read about day 1 of this adventure.

The morning in Battle Mountain dawned clear and calm, and we were excited to embark on our flight to the Idaho Backcountry. The weather was quite variable and the forecast had been changing all week, but our last-minute briefing in the morning confirmed that our destination, Moose Creek, Idaho, [featured in our Summer 1999 issue] was forecast to have passable weather for the long weekend.

We conferred with Ramona Cox, aka "Sky Chick" (see www.skychickadventures.com), who planned to meet us in the backcountry and camp with us for a few days, and we agreed to meet at Moose Creek.