I am making my first trip to Idaho later this month. Got all the hay cut and baled and stored, most of the weeds sprayed, and now I am going to take a week or less to explore Idaho. I have a new house to start on september 3, after that I have no time until after there is no snow on the ground.
A friend was going to meet me there, but he has business he cannot escape. I have another friend who may go, but is too busy to commit, but may join me later. I would prefer to have some company going into a few strips. I am now just over 400 hours, about 260 tailwheel, of those about 160 in my 180. I fly in western Colorado, I am very familiar with high density altitude, in fact most of Idaho is about 4000' less than I am used to.
After the recent thread about Todd Simmons wreck, I am apprehensive about posting this. Not being from Idaho, and being a relative newbie to flying, I don't want to get flamed here. But, I am going, and would like to meet good people that might be interested in flying with me. I am not looking for a babysitter, but another plane to fly with.

Great...another foreigner in a loud plane wanting to use Idaho as their personal proving....

Just yanking your chain.

Can't help you with a flying buddy, but if you study the Fly Idaho book you'll find more than enough strips that you'll be happy to land on your own. Garden Valley, Johnson Creek, Elk City, Memaloose, Chamberlain, Moose Creek, etc.. Land early, pack light, and stay away from anything with a committed approach. Even "easy" strips like Upper Loon are no-go's for folks new to canyon flying. Understanding DA is great, but the visual of landing in the bottom of a canyon is like nothing else...you have to learn it from scratch.

Maybe cut your teeth on some of the non-wilderness canyon strips like GV or JC so if you end up going around three or four times nobody will care. For the record, you can go around as many times as you need to regardless of the land designation (well, assuming there's room to go around), but it's more polite if you get familiar with canyon flying outside the wilderness boundaries. And there are a LOT of Idaho backcountry airstrips which are outside the wilderness.

Obviously you've read the multitude of opinions regarding using the wilderness airstrips as nothing more than a place to land, so it's up to you how you want to behave in that regard. I like the twelve hour rule, and a twenty-four hour rule is even better, but it's your call. Franky I cannot understand why someone would go to the trouble and expense of landing in the wilderness and not spend some time, but maybe I'm funny that way.

Good luck. Have fun. Plan smart. Don't be afraid to go alone. As long as you're tied down and drunk by 10am, you'll be fine.

As Hammer says, there are some fantastic strips in Idaho that aren’t super difficult. I’d add Smiley Creek to the ones he noted.

You might consider starting in McCall with a few hours of dual to get you more comfortable.

Definitely get a copy of Galen’s book, and a copy of the new book from ASA: “Mountain, Canyon and Backcountry Flying” by Amy Hoover and Dick Williams.

Give those a thorough read and enjoy the trip.

MTV

Idaho DOT has a great iPhone/iPad app as well. Have fun. Be Careful.

mtv wrote:As Hammer says, there are some fantastic strips in Idaho that aren’t super difficult. I’d add Smiley Creek to the ones he noted.

You might consider starting in McCall with a few hours of dual to get you more comfortable.

Definitely get a copy of Galen’s book, and a copy of the new book from ASA: “Mountain, Canyon and Backcountry Flying” by Amy Hoover and Dick Williams.

Give those a thorough read and enjoy the trip.

MTV

All good, especially the part about getting some dual. It's expensive, but worth every penny, especially with relatively low time in type

CAVU

We are heading to Idaho for a wedding around sept 11 th gonna spend a few days flying around too, let me know if you make it up that way.

I will be camping at Smiley Creek August 19-24. Hope to see some of you there. This is my second season of Idaho flying. I read and re-read Fly Idaho! I don’t know how many times prior to heading up there. I also became proficient at my home and nearby fields in slow flight, speed control and spot landing. When I became consistent and could land and stop in less than 1000’ I felt somewhat ready. First stop was Johnson Creek. From there I flew to another low Relative Hazard Index (Sulphur Creek Ranch). This year I have flown into a few more strips but most are still relatively low RHI (Chamberlin, Garden Valley, Idaho City, Stanley and Big Creek). Basically taking baby steps and getting parked back at camp by noon to avoid rough air. Careful fuel loading is important in order to help with performance. I made extra fuel stops at Cascade where I got to visit with legendary backcountry pilot Ray Arnold so that was cool! I won’t ever get into Mile High or the like but I am still having fun exploring at my own risk level, meeting pilots, fishing and mountain bike riding in a fantastic place.

I could probably meet up with you if you’d like. Send me a message and let’s see if we can get together, I always like teaming up if I can.

I will be at 3U2 23-27 with one breakfast planned for Smiley (yellow & white Skywagon with black tail). Please say hi if you see us.

Jeff

Just found out we have hay coming Monday so I am forced to hold off planned trip a week. I was really looking forward to seeing you guys! I was going to add a few strips this trip; Flying B, Thomas Creek and Indian Creek. Hope weather stays good into September.

I understand, I'm in the haying equipment business and it is finally slowing down but still busy. Those strips are all pretty long and well maintained, and shouldn't be a problem for your aircraft, just make sure you can consistently land where you want it! Let me know when you head this way and I'll do what I can to meet up with you.