I have never been to the Utah Canyonlands area, but am planning a trip for late Sept/Oct. I have flown the Idaho backcountry and the Utah desert areas. I would value anyone's input on my thinking. There will be two planes flying together: My Kitfox and a Bearhawk.

The plan is to fly from Ogden to Caveman ranch and set up a central camp on the morning of day one, then, in the afternoon after things calm down fly a northern loop: Caveman to Mineral Canyon to Horseshoe Canyon to Hidden Splender to Cedar Mt to Green River, thru R6413 to Canyon Lands and return to Caveman for the night.

Day two fly from Caveman to Robber's Roost to Angel Pt to Dirty Devil to Happy Canyon to Hite to Wee-Hope Mine to Black Memorial to Nokai Dome to Monument Valley to Bluff to Blanding to Monticello to Needles Outpost to Rustler Canyon and return to Caveman for the night.

Day three fly back to Ogden. Thoughts and advice?

Good, do it. Don't mess with wind. Have fun.

Cheers...Rob

It will be a great time to visit UT. The winds should be light around that time.

If it happens to rain, most of the airstrips will be muck and should be avoided at all costs. Also, it can be below freezing at night so be prepared.

If you going North to Cedar Mountain, I would add Mexican Mountain to the list. Also, if you head east, there's a few nice strips on the CO/UT boarder. Mack Mesa is a nice stop for gas if your in the area.

All good input. Thank you.

I'll second the Mexican Mountain visit. You'll love it. Try Gateway too.

I'd check the viability of Needles Outpost.. they got washed out a few years ago and seemed ambivalent about fixing the strip. Groups have offered to come in and help and the owners refused the help. Hope this has all been rectified by now. I'd spend some time at Dirty Devil and walk downstream to the Happy Canyon Narrows. Very cool and few folks have ever been in there due to remoteness. Near Hite you could land at Brown's Rim and walk out to the overlook into Cataract...very cool too. The Dirty Devil River Gorge from Hite to Hanksville, low-level, is the best scenery you'll see in Utah.

Your choosing a good time of year, Wx should be nice. Take photos for us to enjoy too!

All good advice. Mexican is a must do. Personally I would skip Gateway and hit Dolores instead. Although you can hike down to town at Gateway and get some lunch. WX is just about perfect now and should be great for the next couple of months.
Check out the Utah BackCountry Pilots website for tons of info and pireps, pictures and recommended approaches. I've been to several of the ones on you list over the last 2 weeks and all are in decent shape. Mineral is as good as it gets right now.
Drop me a line when you finalize your plans and I'd be happy to meet you. Headed to Caveman and Dirty this Sat.

S-12Flyer,
I've enjoyed your vids of the area. I will let you know of the final dates and would would love to meet up with you.

Don't forget the Huntington Fly in on the 28th and 29th of September too...

Got it on the calendar!

Coyote Ugly wrote:Don't forget the Huntington Fly in on the 28th and 29th of September too...

Aww man...totally forgot about that one. Stopped in Huntington a couple years back; really great people there.

Bad news. I just got a phone call. Someone (not me) ground looped his airplane and repairs won't be complete 'till at least Thanksgiving. Looks like the great canyon lands adventure will be postponed for awhile.
At least there's Huntington

No worries. I fly into that area all winter long except for some of the higher elevation strips that hold snow. Should be no problems up until at least mid to late Dec.

Thanks S-12Flyer. Good to hear.