I am in the early stages of planning a trip out west (UT/ID/MT 1 or all states) from my home base in NC. I will be flying a A-1 Husky with a passenger and camping gear. I would like to have some input from people that have flown the areas on where to go, where not to go, and don't want to miss it type places.
Any information would help. We plan on being in the area mid August. We would like to do some fly fishing and are not adverse to some hiking. (Personally I bought an airplane so I didn't have to hike, but hiking to fish is different)

I am a lowland pilot so my experience with high altitude stuff is minimal. That being said, I wear this plane like a glove over and down here....just not sure about the 5000' plus stuff. So if you could rate the suggestions on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being my grandmother could land there, to a 10 being "It scared Don Sheldon type of place" I would appreciate it. If anyone wants to meet up and show us some spots we could make that work too.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Blue skies and fly safe,

Bob Wall

Assuming you want to fish as much as fly and camp, here are just a few suggestions to look up.

ID:
For straightforward strips to get into with river fly fishing, Cayuse Creek and Cabin Creek are hard to beat, especially in the hotter part of the season. Cayuse is a bit shorter, but it isn't an issue for cool morning, light departures.

For lake fishing, Cold Meadows is almost unequaled, with some of the best camping in the area to boot. The fishing is between 6 and 8 hours' hike from the strip, though, and the strip is quite high (long, though, with good approaches). Frosty mornings are the time to arrive and leave to be cautious. I'm sure others have other suggestions for the lake fishing.

Bruce Meadows is a dreamy fishing spot too. But it is also high.

Atlanta and Weatherby are fun but really hot in July. The springs at Atlanta are worth walking for. The fishing was never great during the heat of the summer but reasonable in cooler months.

If you wanted to drop off a passenger to let them fish down to another strip, Shearer/Moose is really scenic, but the fishing is only moderate.

If you really want to walk, the Mt. McGuire area in the Yellowjackets is a longer day's hike from Soldier Bar, but it has incredible scenery and good fishing. One of my favorite spots in the area. You can go for a couple weeks without seeing another human in some places there.

MT:

Schafer wins in my book for all around easy access with scenery, camping, fishing, and hiking in MT. Nobody leaves disappointed. Lake fishing with 20"+ within 4 hours of easy trudging in nice scenery, and the Flathead is always a winner for pan sized to good sized trout.

Meadow Creek has a lot less traffic, and the water is a bit longer to get, but otherwise has nice camping. The fishing has never been as good for me there. Spotted Bear just down the valley is sort of nice too, and the fishing walk to the reservoir is relaxing and worth the visit.

Excellent! Thank you for all the info. If you get to fish all those spots, fly, and hike, your a lucky person. I will start checking charts and maps to see what we an work out.

Bob

Get the FLY Idaho and Fly Utah books. These are awesome and give you a rating of difficulty. I have used both of them and they are pretty much spot on. Do research on Shortfield.com as this is also a great resource.
I recommend working a weight in practice. More than likely your touchier parts of the trip will taking off with the DA a little too high. There are plenty of strips that are BIG. Some of our favorites are, Shafer, Shearer, Cabin Creek, dewey moore, Vines and Mile High. But these are somewhat touchy. We fly a couple Huskies up there every year. But we only have one person in each bird.

We just got home from Utah and be sure to stop at Mexican Mountain, Dirty devil. A lot of Utah flying is gorgeous and not a lot of landing like you will do in Idaho. But still a blast.

Be on your numbers, but most of the landings are the easy part. DA is the killer. Be safe and enjoy.