The Great Circle Route!

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Gnomad
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The Great Circle Route!

Post by Gnomad »

Hi Everyone...

I'm a year late doing this flight, but finally have a window (and wife's permission :mrgreen: ) for a trip around the U.S.

I have been cleared for 10 days. wo0t!!

So...

First, the plan is to have as little of a plan as possible! Although I have a few hard stops in San Francisco, San Diego, and Tucson to visit friends/family, everything else is wide open. I have a general plan (counter clockwise) and hope to, on most mornings, wake up and then decide were to go next. :shock:

I've flown all over the South East, as well as Florida and some Mid Atlantic, so I'm going to bypass the East coast. First leg, Sunday morning will take me from Charlotte, NC to somewhere West of Chicago. I've never been to the Dakotas/Montana/Wyoming/Idaho area, so that area is where I'm headed first.

Thinking about buzzing Mount Rushmore, checking out the Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone. Eventually, winding up in the Seattle area to regroup. Then it's the West Coast, Seattle to San Diego. I really am excited to see the volcanoes in the NorthWest (I lived in Oregon for a few years) as well as re-visiting the SF Bay area where I lived until I was 12. I'll be going into Palo Alto (KPAO) where I flew in and out of with my best friend many times back in the 70s (his Parents were both pilots with a C172 and C210). Going to do the whole flashback thing in the Bay Area for a day or two, then on to San Diego to see my sister and finally Tucson to see my parents. After that, <direct enter enter> back to Charlotte. Whew!

Since I am purposely trying to just see which way the wind takes me for much of the flight, I am hoping some of you might have some suggestions of things I don't want to miss out on (not just landing, but some overflight scenery as well).

Cary is going to be out flying the West Coast next week as well, so we are hoping to meet up. Anyone else game? :P

I'm of course bringing my GoPro and a handycam, so hope to got some nice footage along the way to play with when I get home. But...I'm getting ahead of myself.

Today I topped off my fuel tanks, O2, de-ice, updated my data cards and gave my plane a bath. I'm super excited and couldn't help but starting a thread about my little adventure. :D
Eric


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Re: The Great Circle Route!

Post by Chris B »

Hi Eric -

Sounds like an adventure! :thumbsup:

Here are some ideas to consider:
  • The International Peace Garden in ND is a lot of fun. Taxi right into Canada, or left into the US. :D The most amazing part is a *huge* collection of cacti. This just should not be possible so far north.
  • Glacier NP. Spectacular.
  • North Cascades National Park (near Lake Chelan) is a beautiful (if high altitude) gateway from the east into Seattle.
  • Mt. St. Helens. Seeing it in person is much different than via photos.
  • Columbia River gorge
  • If the Wx is clear, Shelter Cove (0Q5) is fun
  • Tahoe
  • Yosemite
  • Monterey => Big Sur => Hearst Castle
  • Oceano (L52) is a great lunch spot, though it might be tight for your DA42
  • Catalina (KAVX) is unique, and one way to skirt LA airspace.

Let me know when you will be in/near the Bay Area. It would be fun to sync-up.

Chris
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Re: The Great Circle Route!

Post by Gnomad »

Chris,

Thanks for the suggestions! Glacier NP has been added to my plan, great suggestion! I definitely plan on checking out St. Helens from the air. :)

I'll look into some of the other suggestions as well.

It's looking like I'll be in SF at KPAO around July 2nd, give or take, probably for 2 nights.
Eric


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Re: The Great Circle Route!

Post by smoss »

If you're heading by Yellowstone, don't miss the sky tour. The grand prismatic spring is awesome from the air, as are the huge waterfalls that aren't really accessible by the usual ground tour. If in the far Northwest, Friday Harbor (KFHR) is not to be missed--beautiful island city, get a "scoot coupe" for the day (3 wheel motorcyle contraption). And of course... if you don't mind the heat, Vegas is always good!
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Re: The Great Circle Route!

Post by Gnomad »

Sky Tour? I thought that was what my plane was for! ;)

Seriously, I tried googling 'yellowstone sky tour' but am not finding much...lot's of yellowstone adventure tours etc...but I am guessing it's some sort of gondola? When I include gondola in the search, I am seeing Jackson Hole. Does it go by another name? Definitely sounds interesting.

I just discovered that the airport on the West end of Yellowstone has on field camp grounds. Land and pitch a tent, awesome!

Skipping Las Vegas, Grand Canyon etc...as I already did that flight a few years back in my DA40. :thumbsup:
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Re: The Great Circle Route!

Post by smoss »

sorry, didn't mean any official "sky tour", just an aerial circle in your own plane. We left from West Yellowstone and headed for the Grand Prismatic Spring, did a big circle around the park, saw some really cool waterfalls and other stuff. Someone at the airport gave us some pointers on things to see. There used to be some link via the FBO there that gave GA flying/sightseeing tips but I can't find it any more. (yellowstoneaviation.com) They also have info on the airport camping if you're interested in that.
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Re: The Great Circle Route!

Post by Gnomad »

Day 1 is in the books. Over 1000nm...it was brutal! :shock:

My first day, to get into position to begin sightseeing, and my last day, flight from Tucson, AZ back to Charlotte were planned to be loooong legs. All the days in between, starting tomorrow, will be much shorter. Whew!

Thankfully today is in the bag. Flew from Charlotte, NC to Rapid City, SD. Winds were on the nose, no matter what altitude I tried, anywhere from 20-30kts for the ENTIRE trip. I knew it going in and resigned to a long long day. First leg I flew IFR, the next two, I turned off the radio. :D

Not much scenery across the middle of the county, however I landed at two BFE middle of nowhere fields and loved hearing the crickets chirping in the fields, birds singing, and the wind gusts. Felt like I had both airports to myself. The heartland doesn't provide much eye candy from the air, but Nebraska is quite nice, on the ground, on an early summers' day.

Minutes outside of my final destination, Rapid City, I flew over Badlands National Park. Wish I had the energy to break off and go exploring (well actually I did a little 500 agl for about 10 minutes), but I was so close and wanted the day over. The FBO was awesome, landed with no plan and no reservations and they had me set in minutes. :thumbsup:

Low altitude in the Badlands: (edit: having trouble imbedding the image....must sleep!)

gallery/image_page.php?album_id=1&image_id=462

First thing tomorrow, I'll be buzzing Mt. Rushmore and Crazy horse, then into Wyoming to see the Tetons and Yosemite. Hopefully will have a chance to hit Glacier National Park as well.

I'm flight planning it in the morning, off to bed!
Eric


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Re: The Great Circle Route!

Post by Chris B »

Hi Eric -

I don't know if you'll get this in time, but another visual treat is very close to your route: Devils Tower, SW of Hulett (W43). The sectional includes a request "to avoid flights within 3nm of Devils Tower National Monument," but even from 3 miles away it should be quite impressive.

Have fun!

chris
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Re: The Great Circle Route!

Post by carym »

We're planning on 3 days to get from Indy to Seattle, leaving July 1 and arriving Jul 3. Taking essentially the same route we did 2 years ago on our Alaskan adventure. Leaving Seattle for Lakeport CA on July 6, and to Santa Monica on July 7. Going back to Indy July 8 via southern route, but haven't planned what route. The overall plan is to not have any loooong legs and no more than 6-7 hours/day flying. It doesn't seem like Eric and I will have a chance to meet.
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Re: The Great Circle Route!

Post by Gnomad »

Only one leg today. :thumbsup:

Took off from Rapid City and circled Mt. Rushmore nearby. Pretty turbulent down low and a few sightseeing helicopters to dodge, but managed to catch a few images.

Image

Next, I headed West into Wyoming, toward Yellowstone. Wow...flying in over the mountains was jaw dropping. Although, the highlight had to be circling Old Faithful and then watching it erupt, now that was cool! :P

Image

Loved this from the air too.
Image


Initially my plan was to then land at the West Yellowstone Airport for the night, but I cold see the massive Grand Tetons 50 miles away. I flew there instead with a landing in Jackson Hole.

Image

I was on the ground by lunch, again with no plan and no reservations. :oops: Another wonderful FBO had me hooked up in minutes. I love the GA side of airports! I got a rental car and did quite a bit of driving around exploring the area. Beautiful!

Off toward Seattle area tomorrow weather permitting.
Eric


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