I'm planning a trip from the Denver area to Seattle in a 172. I've only been on the northern (I-90) route and never down South. Any good suggestions for a route and good fuel/food/rest stops. Thanks guys.

Do you plan to do this trip in one day? Looks like a 7-8 hour flight, depending on routing, wind and Wx.

I live in Boise and have made several flights to Fort Collins/Loveland and Arlington in a 172, so I guess I can throw out my 2 cents worth of questional advice on this one. I would suggest this in 4 legs with 3 gas stops, 1 or 2 days depending on weather and how good your seats in the plane are. I don't try to go over the front range leaving fort/love, but go north to Laramie and turn west from there, with my first fuel stop at Jim Bridger, Evanston, Kemmerrer, or Presston, whoever is cheapest that week (not rock springs, for several reasons oncluding price). Second fuel stop can be Mountain home, Nampa, Caldwell, Ontairio, or whoever is cheapest in the area. Expect Boise to be the most expensive fuel stop in the treasure valley. For a third gas stop I always use Kennewick or Richland, that leaves me with plenty of fuel when I cross the cascades in case the weather guess is wrong and everything is IFR.You didn't say where in the Seattle area you are going to, so you will probabally have to dog-leg slightly north from Kennewick/Richland to go around R-6714A. I fly this with a hand-held GPS and sectional chart, the only high mountains are around bear lake area, this should give you no legs over about 3-3.5 hours max, and overall it is a fairly easy trip.

Dale Moul wrote:I live in Boise and have made several flights to Fort Collins/Loveland and Arlington in a 172, so I guess I can throw out my 2 cents worth of questional advice on this one. I would suggest this in 4 legs with 3 gas stops, 1 or 2 days depending on weather and how good your seats in the plane are. I don't try to go over the front range leaving fort/love, but go north to Laramie and turn west from there, with my first fuel stop at Jim Bridger, Evanston, Kemmerrer, or Presston, whoever is cheapest that week (not rock springs, for several reasons oncluding price). Second fuel stop can be Mountain home, Nampa, Caldwell, Ontairio, or whoever is cheapest in the area. Expect Boise to be the most expensive fuel stop in the treasure valley. For a third gas stop I always use Kennewick or Richland, that leaves me with plenty of fuel when I cross the cascades in case the weather guess is wrong and everything is IFR.You didn't say where in the Seattle area you are going to, so you will probabally have to dog-leg slightly north from Kennewick/Richland to go around R-6714A. I fly this with a hand-held GPS and sectional chart, the only high mountains are around bear lake area, this should give you no legs over about 3-3.5 hours max, and overall it is a fairly easy trip.

Gooding usually has good pricing on fuel, too.

Thanks, yeah I was planning two days, but if the weather is exceptionally good than I might attempt one day. That is the route that I had in mind, I just didn't know about the terrain. What is the best way to get from the rock springs area over to Mountian home. How high is the highest pass? I am going to Enumclaw and usually come through Stampede. Thanks again for the replies.

That's good advice from Dale. If the ceilings are really low, or if there are snowstorms in the mountains, there are two deviations on that route that can usually get you through.

One of them is obvious by looking at the chart. If you can't get over the Cascades, go down the Columbia river to Portland, and then up I-5 to Seattle (watch out for Fort Lewis and McChord AFB which are next to I-5).

The other one might not jump out at you when you look at the chart, but it's usually a nice corridor. At this time of year, there is occasionally some impassable weather in eastern Oregon especially around the Wallowas and from La Grande to Pendleton. If it's a problem, the solution can be to fly north from Ontario, OR, down the Snake river through Hell's Canyon to Lewiston, ID, then continue west down the river to Richland.