Great Salt Plains

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

May the force be with you
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Middle America folks,
Anyone ever fly over it?

We are driving there today (went last year and the kids had a blast) I want to fly over it and snap some photos some time but I always end up driving there.


Background
In Cherokee Oklahoma, there is this small salt desert just sitting there in the middle of nowhere. No idea what it is (Glacier melted?).

When you get out there it is like being on the moon or something, just very surreal. Ground is covered in salt.

Salinite(sp) crystals form in the ground and the kids dig for "Buried treasure" Last year we got buckets full of these crystals.
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Anyway wondered if anyone ever passes over this.
Aggie Mike, I think this is on your way to some of your PnP flights. Ever pass over it?


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Here is what it looks like from the ground:
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On Google map it looks like there is another salt area 50 miles to the west of there.
 
Remains of an endorheic lake. Sort of a mini Great Salt Lake. The water has nowhere to drain to, so all the salts and minerals never get taken to the oceans. Eventually it evaporates away, and this is what you've got left.
 
Kiddo's Driver said:
I haven't been there but now that I am in Wichita it is on my list.

Jim
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If you ever fly out there, let me know I will meet you. There is a small airport at Cherokee just west of there.


We will be there in about 6 hours (Getting my PPL was the worst thing that ever happened to road trips.)

Will post photos of anything interesting.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
If you ever fly out there, let me know I will meet you. There is a small airport at Cherokee just west of there.
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Deal.

We will be there in about 6 hours.
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Where are you stopping for the night?

Getting my PPL was the worst thing that ever happened to road trips.)

Will post photos of anything interesting.
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I'm working on getting something that can haul the whole family. I am SICK of driving!!!

BTW, I just looked at that old post about my annual and your question about weights. My Tampico is 50 pounds lighter than yours when empty. You really need to evaluate what you are lugging around!

Jim
 
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Jhernandez04 said:
I wonder if you can just land on the salt flats?
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Check the local laws. In Michigan it's legal to land on any state owned land or any navigable body of water with the exception of 2 lakes.
 
Jhernandez04 said:
I wonder if you can just land on the salt flats?
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Depends. Generally, no. And you wouldn't want to, routinely. Salt is not good for airframes or engine parts.

To land on private land, you need the owner's permission. To land on public land, you need to satisfy the agency's restrictions. Those are all over the map. BLM and to a lesser extent NFS are generally pretty loose, while NPS and NOAA really don't like you below 1000 AGL (2000 or even more in some places).

Now, if there is a charted field on the lake, go for it (with permission if needed). KEDW comes to mind (and their Aero Club has the lakebed as an over-limits landing option).

Keep in mind that the lake might be soft if it has rained recently. This could ruin your whole day. And you can't see it unless it's VERY wet (as in, standing water).

In an emergency, they often make good emergency landing fields, assuming they are big enough and there aren't too many obstructions such as roads, rail lines, or transmission lines (which must be raised off the bed or they flood).
 
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I might just mention that your salt lake was part of the ocean not that long ago.
In Michigan there is an industry devoted to digging pure salt out of the ground from hundreds of feet down.
I bet the fishing was good back then.
 
Kiddo's Driver said:
Deal.



Where are you stopping for the night?


I'm working on getting something that can haul the whole family. I am SICK of driving!!!

BTW, I just looked at that old post about my annual and your question about weights. My Tampico is 50 pounds lighter than yours when empty. You really need to evaluate what you are lugging around!

Jim
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We rented a cabin at the state park.

We are also looking to upgrade planes. Dad is trying to find a tb20.
Our tb9 useful load is crap but I have yet to fly in a better ergonomically laid out aircraft.
 
I SO wanted to fly down and buzz the shore on Friday, but I spent the weekend moving my RV to the house on the airport I just rented. (Yes, it brings a grin to my face just thinking about it.)

Jim
 
It was fun.

Kids spent a couple hours digging those selenite crystals out of the ground.
Then I dug a hole until I hit water and thus began the Junior Tough Mudder.

In went the kids and we watched in the shade of our canopy whilst sipping on adult beverages.

Was tempting to use the ground to salt the rims of our glasses. Decided against it.



Very weird being out there for sure

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SixPapaCharlie said:
Was tempting to use the ground to salt the rims of our glasses. Decided against it.
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Wise choice. Basins like that collect whatever crap was used throughout the watershed. Very likely, it contains traces of pesticides and other poisons. Maybe a lot more than a trace (e.g., Salton Sea).
 
My next door neighbor owns land downstream of the spillway. He told me stories of watching the military pilots practicing emergency landings out there during WW2. You can fly over, but be careful of military traffic at Keigelman on the east side. You don't see the Texans until too late. Check out the artesian well on the north side of the lake. It has been running clean water since the 50's free to all that drive by.
there is another salt flat out near Freedom. (west) I knew a family that used to harvest the salt sands and sell them to several cities and towns for sanding streets. Also made his own salt blocks. I think he ended up selling to a major salt company.
 
It looks like less than an hour to fly there from my house. I'm thinking about running down there Saturday morning if the weather is good.

Did the airport have a loaner car? It doesn't look like it has an FBO...

Jim
 
I couldn't find a car at an FBO or even a rental car within 50 miles of the place.
There is nothing out there.

If you go, get some pictures.

Lots of MOAs in the area but I have never seen any activity out there..
 
imQ said:
My next door neighbor owns land downstream of the spillway. He told me stories of watching the military pilots practicing emergency landings out there during WW2. You can fly over, but be careful of military traffic at Keigelman on the east side. You don't see the Texans until too late. Check out the artesian well on the north side of the lake. It has been running clean water since the 50's free to all that drive by.
there is another salt flat out near Freedom. (west) I knew a family that used to harvest the salt sands and sell them to several cities and towns for sanding streets. Also made his own salt blocks. I think he ended up selling to a major salt company.
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Seems like it was closed to the public a while back because somebody stumbled upon some unexploded ordinance. It may have turned out to be practice bombs. Can't remember exactly what the story was, but I do believe they used the area to practice bombing during WWII as there were several bomber training fields here in OK.
 
Started this thread 2 years ago. Finally flew over the damn thing.
And it was pretty cool

First... We were 58 miles out when we "thought we saw it" and started discussing if it was a cloud or not.
Had I known it was what it was, I probably could have seen it from 80 miles. Stark contrast to the land around it but it does look like a cloud on the horizon.

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That's it. In the middle of nowhere Oklahoma.
Ground covered in salt. (Just imagine the margaritas!)

Fun place to take the kids to explore. Really pretty to fly over. As we can all attest to, pictures never do it justice.
If you are in the area, It is worth a detour to fly over this thing.
 
Cool pics, Bryan. That's one of the few places in OK I haven't been to. Need to get up there sometime.

Did you stop in to Barnstormers Restaurant at KWDG in Enid for some pie?
 
korben88 said:
Did you get any video?
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nah, I didn't think about it. I was up with a photographer so we were pretty focused (get it?) On discussing how to use a camera lens. I'd I get back out that way, ill make a video clip
 
OkieFlyer said:
Cool pics, Bryan. That's one of the few places in OK I haven't been to. Need to get up there sometime.

Did you stop in to Barnstormers Restaurant at KWDG in Enid for some pie?
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we had lunch at steerman field in kansas. Just flew over this to see it from above. Flew him back to Wiley post and then headed back to Dallas
 
Steerman Field needs to be a template of how to develop an attractive GA airport.
 
Sounds like I need to buzz up north to Benton, KS. Looks like about 1.4 hrs from here. That would make a nice Sunday drive...er...flight.
 
Not that long ago (geologically) the Gulf of Mexico extended all the way up into Kansas.
 
JCranford said:
Upgrade from a Cirrus!? Cant be done. Everything is a downgrade from there
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It is an old thread. We upgraded from this (Its still flying around Mckinney. You can rent it for $125 I think):
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Yup: Jet, OK is the nearest town. There's actually an AF auxiliary field to the east of the lake (I believe you can see it in the 3rd picture near the dam). I see it frequently when I fly commercially from TUL-DEN as the route is usually just north of the lake. We also have an area of sand dunes called Little Sahara State Park which is about 35nm WSW of this lake which is really popular with the 4-wheeler/sand rail/dune buggy crowds.
 
Nice! I can see it from Wichita, but haven't flown over to it. I need to do some more aerial exploring.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
SoonerAviator said:
Yup: Jet, OK is the nearest town. There's actually AIr Force Auxillary AF auxiliary field to the east of the lake (I believe you can see it in the 3rd picture near the dam). I see it frequently when I fly commercially from TUL-DEN as the route is usually just north of the lake. We also have an area of sand dunes called Little Sahara State Park which is about 35nm WSW of this lake which is really popular with the 4-wheeler/sand rail/dune buggy crowds.
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Looked it up, called Kegelman AF Auxiliary Field, controlled by Vance AFB for T-6 use. Call sign of the field is "Dogface", didn't say why.
 
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