Backcountry Pilot • A little river flying, OK, a lot.

A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Did you fly somewhere cool, take photos, and feel like telling the tale to make us drool from the confines of our offices? Post them up!
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A little river flying, OK, a lot.

As I had to work Labor Day, I couldn't let the perfect weather this weekend go to waste! The mission was to fly the Big Horn River starting near Riverton Wyo. to where it ties into the Yellowstone. Then follow the Yellow to it’s confluence with the Missouri. Then hang a left and follow the Big Mo to Three Forks, then the Madison to near Henry’s Lake, then the Henry’s fork of the Snake through Island Park and lastly the main Snake to just west of Inkom. 20 hrs. of flying in 2 days, I was feet wet 99% of the way! I’ve flown much of this area before, but not all of it in one fell swoop. Mild temps and light winds the entire way, I couldn’t have asked for better conditions.
An island in the Boysen Reservoir, it would be a great place to camp out. Image A lot of river flying, combined with a little mountain flying....Image Just south of Thermopolis, a pretty scenic canyon with nice smooth areas nearby, just saying.ImageNice old barnImage The Big Horn Canyon area blew me away, I guess I have never been quite this way before but damn it was spectacular.ImageImage Big Iron boneyard at GreybullImage The Yellowstone had the best gravel bars, and plenty of them, it was hard to make any progress, like a kid in a candy store!ImageThe fishing was good I was told.Image This Citation 2 was parked on the end of the runway near Ft. Smith, and it was great fun checking out the inside and then comparing it with my ride, it's owner (not pictured) also flies a Super Cub I was told.Image Cropduster Jerry in Hardin had a nice hangar, that's the #5 C-180 to come off the production line, and all original! Also a pristine 500 hr TT J-3 and the red Swift, he has great taste in airplanes and even more important a truck I borrowed to get more mo gas, Thanks Jerry!ImageExactly 10 hrs tach time since leaving Inkom I was in N. Dakota and right at the Yellowstone/Mo confluence, there was a handy sand bar (not gravel, interesting how it changed) that made it perfect to land and check things out, from here I was on the return trip.Image It was nearing twilight when I pulled into my reserved hangar at Culberton (ha ha,it was empty, and judging from the weeds in it, available, so I took it). The bike came in handy as usual for making my fuel/pizza/beer run a few blocks away, the pilot lounge was all you could ask for: open, a bathroom, power, and a couch.Image In the glass smooth air the next morning I drank coffee while flying west (now) and thought there are worst ways to start the day. :D These structures looked like good sized office buildings, but being near the Fort Peck Dam I'm guess they have something to do with it, air vents or inlets maybe, anyone know? ImageThe Fort Peck Res., one big ass lake.Image Lots of smooth air river cruising, it never really got bumpy.Image One last fuel stop at Fort Benton, (loaner car, keys in it, a mile drive to the closet gas station, as usual in the smaller Montana towns airstrips they know how to do it right) and 5 hours later I was home. I averaged 3.7 GPH and flew from 9K plus briefly to less then that ( :twisted: ) most of the way, and having the ability to fly up to 8 hr legs between fuel stops really was nice. Now that I have 2 of the ABW gas bags, plus my removable 10 gallon ferry tank and a couple 2 gallon jugs,getting mo-gas was even easier, now if we all could just figure out how to make the spouts dribble free! The Rotax as usual used NO oil and ran perfect, the temperfoam seat and the sat radio made the two 10 hour days "fly by", sorry. Hey I can't go to Idaho for a flying trip like many do, I'm already here, so I gotta make do with Montana and Wyoming :?
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Thanks for posting the great pics!! Always enjoy your trip reports, you do the type of flying i wish I could do!!
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Excellent TR Tom! Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing.
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Those are great pictures. I've flown by the Yellowtail Dam numerous times on my way to Idaho. Did any of your MoGas have ethanol in it?
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Thanks Tom always like your reports.

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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Thanks Tom. What speeds are you seeing with the big donuts @ 3.7gph?
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

No ethanol in any of the premium mo gas I bought, and I paid a high of 4.17 and a low of 3.91. Kind of high but this was in small towns so not bad.

I usually indicate 85 mph at 7 to 9K, loaded with all my xc gear and lots of fuel, that's pretty much loafing the Rotax at 5200 rpm, and it will easily cruise over 90 but the flow goes up, so I save that for emergencies. Top speed now with the 29's and the Cub style gear (fully faired though) is about 107. Most of this flight I was at the higher speed, but not the higher elevation, just the first few hours to clear the big hills west of Kemmerer. They LOOK like hills, smooth and landable, but are over 9K.
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Wow! You covered a lot of ground. Beautiful pictures and great trip report. Looks like a lot of fun.

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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Awesome.
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Tom, Should have been in Ft Smith the week before I could have used your help. Nosed over my 170 in an irrigated alfalfa field 2 miles north of the airport right next to the river. It would have been a sight for you as you flew by. Kind of like stone henge in appearance but not really.
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

courierguy wrote:These structures looked like good sized office buildings, but being near the Fort Peck Dam I'm guess they have something to do with it, air vents or inlets maybe, anyone know?

That appears to be a power house for the generation of hydropower. If so, it probably houses Francis turbines and the tall structures are "surge towers" used to protect the hydraulic equipment from "water hammer" that occurs from rapid closing of the wicket gates on the turbines.

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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

courierguy wrote: No ethanol in any of the premium mo gas I bought, and I paid a high of 4.17 and a low of 3.91. Kind of high but this was in small towns so not bad......


That ain't bad, I just got a new source of E-zero regular & it's $4.10, when E10 reg is $3.90-4.00 around here. My old source of E-zero was premium at around $4.60, E10 premium is around $4.10-420. I'm in rural western Washington, & I think the gas is actually a bit cheaper here than in Seattle.
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Coyote: More like the Cadillac Ranch maybe?! Yeah, I would have stopped and gawked, I know how to lasso the tail to pull it back down :oops: Guess how I learned that? You know that area of river below the dam and for 5 miles maybe had more fisherman then I've seen anywhere/anytime. Was there some big fish-in going on or is it always that busy? The water looked good and clear, shallow too, saw guys walking across at knee depth. The Fort Smith strip was the only asphalt I landed on, as I would have had to come uncomfortably close to the C2 to use the little bit of grass along one side. The pilot who flew it, pictured by my plane, flew it for the owner that is, was a Vietnam era heli pilot, and we were both blown away by the Crow indian pilot of a big RC helicopter, inverted snap rolls at low altitude and other manuvers that defy description. Between the C2 tour and the RC act it was a very entertaining 10 minute stop. So of course I felt obligated to put a little show on when departing :lol:

Nizinia: That sounds about right.... water hammer can be a killer of penstocks. My own hydro system uses a similar system, so if I stupidly close the bottom valve too quickly, a tee allows somewhere for the water to go, same deal I guess at the Peck dam but they put that art deco looking building around it. I was going to land at the airstrip there and ask someone but it was too early and no one seemed to be up. Those structures looked like 30's era design, and appeared to have observation decks on top, could be wrong but looked that way, cool looking anyway.
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Coyote: More like the Cadillac Ranch maybe?! Yeah, I would have stopped and gawked, I know how to lasso the tail to pull it back down :oops: Guess how I learned that? You know that area of river below the dam and for 5 miles maybe had more fisherman then I've seen anywhere/anytime. Was there some big fish-in going on or is it always that busy? The water looked good and clear, shallow too, saw guys walking across at knee depth. The Fort Smith strip was the only asphalt I landed on, as I would have had to come uncomfortably close to the C2 to use the little bit of grass along one side. The pilot who flew it, pictured by my plane, flew it for the owner that is, was a Vietnam era heli pilot, and we were both blown away by the Crow indian pilot of a big RC helicopter, inverted snap rolls at low altitude and other manuvers that defy description. Between the C2 tour and the RC act it was a very entertaining 10 minute stop. So of course I felt obligated to put a little show on when departing :lol:

Nizinia: That sounds about right.... water hammer can be a killer of penstocks. My own hydro system uses a similar system, so if I stupidly close the bottom valve too quickly, a tee allows somewhere for the water to go, same deal I guess at the Peck dam but they put that art deco looking building around it. I was going to land at the airstrip there and ask someone but it was too early and no one seemed to be up. Those structures looked like 30's era design, and appeared to have observation decks on top, could be wrong but looked that way, cool looking anyway. Just found this, Google sure makes it easy! http://www.fortpeckdam.com/historypages/?p=10
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Re: A little river flying, OK, a lot.

Looks like it was a fun trip Tom! Thank you for narrating the trip with the pictures for us!
Hey Tom, do you recognize this guy in this picture? :lol:
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