Josef wrote:Snuck out this morning and went to Tieton. A lot of gnarly terrain between Twin Oaks and Tieton. Winds were calm and there was next to no traffic. Field is in great condition, grass with short probably 3-4" and there was only a little elk crap. The Rimrock Lake area seemed really sleepy. Must be shoulder season for them. All in a really nice flight though.
Couple things to watch out for besides elk on the runway:
1) Navy Growlers blow through there quite often, flying the lake from west to east at low level.
Buddy of mine while departing Tieton had an up close & personal encounter with a pair of them.
One avoided him high, one went low.
Scared the crap out of us guys watching from the ground, to say nothing about how he felt.
About three months ago, a marine aviator punched out of his F/A-18 at low level toward the west end of the lake.
It crashed & started a forest fire.
It was allegedly based at MCAS Miramar CA, not sure why he was so far from home.
2) there's a fire-fighting helicopter base somewhere on the south side of Mt Rainier.
In it's wisdon, FAA has cautioned pilots about it, but failed to chart it so pilots can more easily avoid it.
