Currently an expat in Colombia living la vida. My Colombian esposa and I are thinking of coming back to the states to live 6 months here and 6 months in Colombia. I'm an old A6 naval aviator with the hots for a TriPacer that I want to use for mountain flying, camping, hiking, etc. She's been to the states before but she hasn't done any real flying and I want to show her the beauty of the American West.

My question is this. If you backcountry guys could choose any place to base flying from, where would it be? Idaho, Utah, Arizona, ....? Lower 48 only. I've got an idea of where I wanna be but I've never had to choose from a backcountry pilot perspective. Desert, mountains, etc... no preference, just good, low and slow flying with fantastic views and outdoor activities. Our plans are to relocate during the warmer months and return to Colombia when it turns cold and/or snowy. Cold is no bueno. We'd probably rent accommodations for now, so not looking to buy any expensive real estate or make commitments of that sort for now.

For example, are there any areas or locations that cater to the airdale communities? I know it's a wide open question, but would appreciate feedback on your preferred backcountry base locations. Gracias.

Mackay or Challis.

Can't decide if you want to show off the West to your Tripacer or your esposa...

Boise, McCall, Cascade, or Salmon Idaho would position you with awesome access to the highest concentration of backcountry/mountain strips in the lower 48. Utah is probably #2. If it were my decision, I’d probably target Cascade Idaho.

The density altitude gets pretty high in the summer months in both locations, so you might want to install a long flat prop on the tri-pacer for high altitude summertime operations, and limit your flights to early mornings.

Good luck, and see you in the backcountry!

Depending on on your needs McCall would be ideal. Easy access to Boise and then on to Columbia in the winter. Many Idaho strips with very easy access from McCall. If you like you can venture further north to Montana. Lot's of very good flying there as well. Eastern Oregon offers many opportunities as well. McCall is easy in, easy out. Very friendly town with lots to do in it's own right.

MW185

Great feedback from everyone, much appreciated. Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I'll take a look at the recommendations. Next time I'm back in the states, will roll through there and check'em out. Again, thanks so much.

I think it like most things depends on your pocket book. Council is pretty close to most everything and a whole lot cheaper than McCall. Cascade, ID has not been mentioned. Great support as far as Mechanics are concerned. You can get to about anywhere from there.

Bobomatic wrote:Currently an expat in Colombia living la vida.

Same here, but Mexico.

For me, it would be Idaho. No question.

Utah gets hot and unusable for a lot of the time you will be en el norte.

-0-

HA Dog, I was jsut there over the weekend... Thanksgiving.... lots of snow;) A nice airport for sure. Met Orville the guy who owns/runs the FBO... put my airplane in the hangar to thaw out before we left on Sunday. Nice folks, pretty country.

gunny

There’s a saying around here: “Montana is full. I hear North Dakota is nice.”

They let me back in, which may have prompted said bumper stickers....

Good luck with your search.

MTV

excellent post dog.... when I was transferred out of Pensacola/Texas me and buddy had to make the drive west, so we thought we see some of the sights. I remember sleeping in my uhaul truck at a Flagstaff rest stop. Climbed in the back where I had the couch and slept for the night. I guess what goes around comes around. Good food for thought. Thanks!

We winter in Carefree, AZ (18AZ) in the Phoenix area. LOTS of bc flying & camping. Easy access to Colorado, Utah & New Mexico backcountry flying & camping.

Check out azpilots.org. They have an active bc group with many flyouts & camping opportunities.

November thru April is a marvelous time to explore the Southwest in a plane. This is my 13th year and there are still many places to explore on my bucket list.

Head for Idaho when it gets too hot.

Rich

Thank you Rich, excellent resource.

If your esposa likes eclectic shops, entertainment, fine dining etc. Colorado is tough to beat for places to live in the West; however it's expensive to buy/rent here these days along the Front Range with Denver and Boulder being the most expensive (rural and Eastern Side of I-25 are still afforadble). Hangar Rentals are also not cheap along Colorado's front range. Colorado still has all the western beauty of the rest of the west, and has a World Class city that has Great Concerts restaurants, all the professional sports, fancy shops, a zillion different social activities etc. that you're not going to have easy access to if you live in a really rural western town where you might have an hour+ drive just to get groceries. If you're a retiree from the Military there's also plenty of bases that you can use for the BX or other retiree benefits. Not to mention the Front Range has pretty good ethnic diversity compared to other places in the west which may be a consideration. My point is while some places might be the best for 1 thing they could be seriously lacking in other areas whereas Colorado has many great reasons to base out of for 1/2 the year.

Once you've seen all the Colorado highlights it's still easy to access WY, UT, MT, SD within a day, Colorado just doesn't have the vast number of cool remote strips like ID does and Density Altitude here can make some places impossible to take off from in the Summer afternoons (LXV is just under 10K and DA can exceed 13,000' in the summer!).

If I were retired or could work remote Jackson WY, Bozeman MT and Sandpoint ID are all VERY high on my list of places I'd like to move to (convincing my SO to move somewhere without an Organic grocery store is gonna be tough though ). Wyoming is very attractive for Retirees as they don't tax retirement income (that may or may not be of any concern to you). But for me living in the Foothills of the Rockies with close access to the Denver Metro for work offers a nice balance. For International Travel DIA makes things very convenient if you want or have to travel abroad; unfortunately there isn't any direct flights to SA that I know of :/

I forgot to include Salmon, along with my earlier suggestion of Challis and Mackay. Depending on what you are after, I'd consider that McCall, Cascade, and other areas on the "that" side of the Frank, are much closer to Boise. And that is not a good thing. That's just my perspective, as a 40 year plus Idaho transplant, Boise is like a mini LA, the east side of the Frank is largely not yuppified, priced out/ruined, at least as compared to the other side. Your dollar would go double the ways on the east side. It's all relative, to someone from SoCal, it'll all be paradise. Sandpoint and Bozeman, been discovered long ago, and is very high dollar. In Salmon, you'd have the major (for Montana anyway) city of Missoula less then an hour away by air, and I'm sure that the back country aviation outfits that base there would account for some good onfield maintenance facilities.

Whatever you do, don't consider the area south of Pocatello, it is a barren wasteland, full of regressive and ignorant types, who hate private aviation and all it represents. BTW: My ex and I spent 3 wonderful months in Columbia and Ecuador, back in the day, you picked a great area to do the expat thing in.

I agree with Dogpilot on Flagstaff, where I got my teaching certificate at NAU after the regular army. And yes, everything is down drainage. Don't sweat the summer midday heat. Long runway and everything is down hill.

rfinkle wrote:We winter in Carefree, AZ (18AZ) in the Phoenix area. LOTS of bc flying & camping. Easy access to Colorado, Utah & New Mexico backcountry flying & camping.

Check out azpilots.org. They have an active bc group with many flyouts & camping opportunities.

November thru April is a marvelous time to explore the Southwest in a plane. This is my 13th year and there are still many places to explore on my bucket list.

Head for Idaho when it gets too hot.

Rich

Carefree looks like a beautiful place to spend the winter, I got to check out a few of these places this winter.
Do you rent or own a place there?
David

Rogue_Ryder wrote:If your esposa likes eclectic shops, entertainment, fine dining etc. Colorado is tough to beat for places to live in the West; however it's expensive to buy/rent here these days along the Front Range with Denver and Boulder being the most expensive (rural and Eastern Side of I-25 are still afforadble). Hangar Rentals are also not cheap along Colorado's front range. Colorado still has all the western beauty of the rest of the west, and has a World Class city that has Great Concerts restaurants, all the professional sports, fancy shops, a zillion different social activities etc. that you're not going to have easy access to if you live in a really rural western town where you might have an hour+ drive just to get groceries. If you're a retiree from the Military there's also plenty of bases that you can use for the BX or other retiree benefits. Not to mention the Front Range has pretty good ethnic diversity compared to other places in the west which may be a consideration. My point is while some places might be the best for 1 thing they could be seriously lacking in other areas whereas Colorado has many great reasons to base out of for 1/2 the year.

Once you've seen all the Colorado highlights it's still easy to access WY, UT, MT, SD within a day, Colorado just doesn't have the vast number of cool remote strips like ID does and Density Altitude here can make some places impossible to take off from in the Summer afternoons (LXV is just under 10K and DA can exceed 13,000' in the summer!).

If I were retired or could work remote Jackson WY, Bozeman MT and Sandpoint ID are all VERY high on my list of places I'd like to move to (convincing my SO to move somewhere without an Organic grocery store is gonna be tough though ). Wyoming is very attractive for Retirees as they don't tax retirement income (that may or may not be of any concern to you). But for me living in the Foothills of the Rockies with close access to the Denver Metro for work offers a nice balance. For International Travel DIA makes things very convenient if you want or have to travel abroad; unfortunately there isn't any direct flights to SA that I know of :/

Front range is close to CO[emoji1]