One of my airport buddies and I flew into Gravelly Valley (1Q5) this week to do some bike riding. We had a nice flight up and found the airstrip to be in ok condition.

The runway was fill of 'doughnut' swirls from fools who are ignoring the signs about an active runway. The forest service people told me they do ticket and fine the violaters when they catch them on the runway.

The runway is a bit bumpy from the ruts. IMHO they are not a safety issue as of June, 2018.

We had perfect weather with temps in the mid 80's during the day. We headed West for our ride and got some real exercise on the bikes. The ride to the East is easy and flat, so we do have choices.

We were the only plane in the area and there were a few campsites occupied with RV's and cars.

It was a great day.

Great excuse to bring some bikes along. Were they folders?

Yes. They are both Montagues. I've been carrying one of them for 38 yrs and love them.

Rich

Here’s an update as of March 2020. It’s still rough and there is plenty of evidence that yahoos continue to do their best to destroy the surface of the strip. In fact, the car road on the east side of the strip is smoother than the strip. After a rough landing, I decided to take off on the road. There’s about 1000’ usable feet before the potholes where the road crosses the strip. Wish the FS would write more tickets.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a nice walk down to the lake. It’s the perfect fly ’n shoot destination. I’d like to try the fishing next time.















And yes, there's tons of brass there.

Speaking of places named Gravelly, put the Gravelly Range in Montana on your list of places to fly, over not on though. Well, some do, I've heard. Ennis MT is the closet strip, or Henry's Lake ID.Stunning scenery and no one there. Unlike other ranges that high, this has a 2 wheel drive road that runs for miles along the top, and it is a great place for a Montague ride .

Looks great. By Ennis, do you mean Big Sky? I landed at Sportsman's right in town a few times, but last I checked it had been graded for what looks like a subdivision. I'd sure like to explore more around there.

Sportsman is long gone, houses there now, and I still get tore up over that when overhead! The cafe was right there by the strip, as was the motel/lodge, and I used both many times for years. As usual in these situations, the new airport is way the hell and gone far away from anything, 5 miles at least. BUT, at one time I called over there and seemed to have made arrangements, after explaining my need to ride the ridge road, but not clear from the airport and back, and was told a car would be made available. But before that happened, we had a stretch of weather not good for flying but good for driving, and I drove the Prius over there and got it done. It is worth doing, just real unique geography and the road on top is the icing on the cake. Just driving it is pretty cool, starting in Ennis, and coming out to the south in the Centennial Valley, then east to Henry's lake, over the pass to West Yellow for lunch, then by Earthquake Lake on the way back to Ennis. I get a kick out of driving areas I "discovered" by air, once I've flown an area and then driven it, with quick side jaunts on the Montague, I consider it "been there, done that."