37.2 North / 118.48 West (Northeast of Fresno, CA - West of Bishop, CA) Resting high above Bishop, California, at an elevation of nearly 10,000’ is Coyote Flats. Very interesting "precautionary landing" location. About 45F OAT and 5 kts out of the north on arrival. It's do-able if ya' just keep an eye on the density altitude. More info at http://www.mountainflying.com/colin_2.htm

I'm glad to see photos Coyote flats. I flew over it a few weeks ago at work, it looks long.
Is this somewhere that I could camp, or would I be intruding on the mating cycle of some protected species of earthworm? (No Doug, not the one eyed variety.)

Wow. 10,000+ feet elev is nothing to scoff at.

You could camp there easy enough. It is high and dry. Not sure where the closest water would be. If I had more time I would have scouted around a bit. The dusting of snow has sure made the Sierra's beautiful right now. It also makes it look a bit less hospitable. If I can find time I'm going to post some more pictures etc. of my wanderings today. I hit Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells and Lone Pine along with Coyote Flats on my way back from Las Vegas. Great time of year to be flying. BTW, 100LL was 3.42 at North Las Vegas

These lakes are just over the ridge from Coyote Flats airstrip. Used to do a lot of fishin' in these lakes. I'd like to fly into the strip and walk over to the lakes (about eight miles of easy walking if memory serves me right) and camp and fish there again, but I worry what would happen to the plane while I was away from it. Mostly I worry about what the forest service would do to it if they came across it. This is really beautiful country.

The ridge on the right side of the photo is the one in the background with the snow on it in in N6EA's picture above.


Looking east from the glacial moraine below Thunder & Lightning Lake towards Baker Lake, Twin Lakes et al. Coyote Flats is behind the mountain on the left side of the photo.

That photo was taken by a friend of mine who still goes up there almost every summer - he sent it to me a couple of seasons ago to rub it in. According to the topo the hike is about five-six miles to Baker Lake. The Baker cabin is usable, and we've stayed in it a number of times. Rocky Bottom lake looks like it's only a couple of miles from the airstrip.

Coyote Flats Area Map

Coyote Flat looking west toward Rocky Bottom Lake and Funnel Lake.


Baker Lake, Twin Lakes, Hidden Lake, Thunder and Lightning Lake, etc, etc, just south of Coyote Flat.

You could almost connect these two pictures together.

Anybody up for a backpacking trip next spring? Might be more strength in numbers.

I get a lot of requests for info. re. the Coyote Flats airstrip near Bishop Ca. (BIH). It was the highest charted airstrip in the country at 9980' (not on the chart anymore). It is still there (less the asphalt).

There is also another strip in the valley South of Coyote which is much better and the wind in the afternoon is much better.

There are a number of old airstrips in that area. I will post a couple of pix. later...

They won....

Coyote Flats is in good shape.

Awesome! It is beautiful up there.

Coyote Flats is a great place! I did part of my summer field work there back in 76 for my Geology degree. Later I payed at the strip with an H46 that I was ferrying up to Fallon from the NARF. I essentially lived up there a month during the field work, only going back to our temp base at Big Pine so we could enjoy the fabulous restaurant, called "EAT." No airplane pics, but here is me in the old Series III diesel Land Rover crossing the mighty torrent running off the hills. The weather can change fast up there. We ended our field season there when a rather sudden and violent thunderstorm system partially (mostly) washed away the road up, essentially cutting it off for the duration.

This airstrip is technically open and operating but under the jurisdiction of the National Forest Service which is woefully underfunded and understaffed. Unfortunately the temp staff will not issue permission to renovate it (for the last 6 years of attempts trying to obtain it).

If you are a fan of, and / or recently landed at this strip, please call the Bishop District Ranger Linda Riddle at (760) 873 2515 and tell her that this open, public airstrip is in need of renovation (even though it's currently landable) - the more people call, the more they will be pressured to issue a permission to go up there and put in a windsock, pull weeds, widen it and give it all the length it has.

At 10k' elevation, every foot is appreciated.

Any reasonably current news/photos? Snowy, clear, or ???

iPat wrote:Any reasonably current news/photos? Snowy, clear, or ???

That area got more snow this year than normal. I am sure there is plenty of snow.

It's on my short list. It'll likely be snow covered until Late summer. Mammoth ski resort will be open until at least July 4. CF is an autumn objective.

P

Did some T&G's there last fall on the way home from HSF. Was not in bad shape. Hope to truly visit later this year when the snow finally melts off.

https://youtu.be/XO7wchmjStw

Here is a video taken from the north end last January. Very beginning of the video is at the end of the runway looking down runway towards the south. Doesn't look like much of a runway anymore but it's certainly doable. 10,000ft, be aware of DA. Landed south to north, 32°F no wind, 2 people (310lbs), 70 gallons of fuel, 2,200lb empty weight NA 520 A36. That's about the limit there for my "bush plane"

Really cool to see an A36 in there!