Flying the Lewis & Clark Trail

[Van Johnston]

TL;DR - bucket list trip; all went well; great time; learned a lot; highly recommended.

This thread documents my recent trip up the Lewis & Clark trail from the mouth of the Missouri River at the Mississippi to the Columbia River’s mouth at the Pacific Ocean. I first publicly mused about the trip here, and there is a planning discussion here.

The trip occurred in late September through mid-October. Departure was delayed three days to put a new tube in the nose gear, but that worked out ok since a weather system camped out over Missouri for those same three days. It was better to sleep in my own bed for three extra nights than in a hotel. After that, weather was not really a factor until the very last leg home, and I had to divert and delay my final return one day.

These are the stops. Details to follow.

 

[Van Johnston]

The first day involved getting to the mouth of the Missouri at St Louis. Idabel OK (4O4) was the cheapest fuel on the whole trip ($3.83/gal), and the unattended FBO had two anachronisms side-by-side: a coke machine with 75 cent cans and an old-school mercury barometer. Unfortunately my coke came out of the machine with a puncture so it was flat and undrinkable. It also returned a quarter for change I had to carry around the rest of the trip (and still have). The barometer was the first I had seen since high school chemistry or physics lab over four decades ago. I’m not sure it still had mercury in it since I couldn’t detect a level anywhere.

My destination for the day was St Louis Regional (ALN) because I thought since I was arriving from the SW it would give me the opportunity to fly up the Mississippi east of downtown St Louis and get a view of the mouth of the Missouri where it empties into the Mississippi.



At the last minute I was vectored over the east side of St Louis Downtown (CPS) for departing traffic, so I didn’t quite get the view I wanted. Instead, this is the view of the Missouri emptying into the Mississippi just N of St Louis..




Two legs, 6.2 hours logged, 702 nm flown, which turned out to be the longest flying day of the trip.

The lesson learned today is I am not going to be able to do 6 hours a day every day to the Pacific Ocean.

 

[Initial Fix]

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip

I kept my plane at Alton for many years. Great airport. Bummer the restaurant closed.

 

[CJones]

VERY interested to hear more about this trip. While driving back from CO back in May, we started listening to 'Undaunted Courage' by Ambrose. It really made me want to visit the places mentioned and honestly, FLYING the route never really crossed my mind! DUH! Oddly enough, we actually were driving through St. Louis in the middle of the night just as they were getting to the part in the book about starting the journey in that area. It was cool seeing signs for the places that I was hearing mentioned in the book at the time. Of course, my family was sound asleep, so I had to celebrate alone and quietly.

 

[Van Johnston]

I considered today the official beginning of trip. Departed ALN rwy 35, and intercepted the river at a 90 degree angle a little west of its mouth with the Mississippi.



I set up flight following with ALN tower, and STL Approach was cooperative in letting me follow the river at 1,500 AGL out of their airspace. I didn’t ask and they didn’t volunteer a bravo clearance where the river goes inside the inner ring, but they did keep me with them when I went through the Spirit of St Louis (SUS) delta. I followed the river all the way to Kansas City, save for near Jefferson City MO where I was vectored away for traffic departing the delta. Then approaching MKC was told to proceed direct to field.

I faithfully followed the course of the river for the first two hours, and then decided I couldn’t do slow S turns all the way to the Pacific Ocean, and started flying some straighter segments.



I found the nice GA terminal at MKC and adjacent self-serve fuel. Ordered a 3-meat Kansas City BBQ meal via Door Dash. Ate half for lunch and saved the rest for supper. Landed and departed rwy 19. Even though the airport is nestled in a bend in the river, I had to fly out a little before I could turn back to re-join the river. Kansas City Approach wasn’t as patient with me as STL had been, but they eventually gave me an unsolicited clearance to climb into the B.




From Kansas City I was handed off to St Joseph approach, and I told them I was following the river, and had no further ATC issues. North of St Joseph they said they lost radar contact, and then I did not talk to ATC the rest of the day.

I stopped in Nebraska City, Nebraska for the night. “The city so great they named a state after it,” according to the chamber of commerce. Rented a car from the FBO and drove into town looking for a hotel. Had some of my left-over lunch, but saved enough to get a third meal out of it the next day.



The lesson learned today is ATC really doesn’t like not being able to predict where you are going.

Two legs, 4.1 hr, 440 nm.

Corps of Discovery took 66 days to cover same route.

 

[Kitch]

Awesome stuff!!! Don't leave us hanging too long

 

[eb87f]

Snowstorms ahead? In SE South Dakota we are having high NW winds and some snow today.

 

[Van Johnston]

Was up and back at the airport early enough for the airport beacon and Saturn to illuminate my pre-flight.

I took off right at sunrise and rejoined the river and proceeded north. Checked in with Omaha approach and a controller who was to become my favorite of the whole trip. A little while later when he told me I was 30 degrees off course to my stated destination of Vermillion, South Dakota (VRM), I said I was following the river. He replied, “Oh, I get it, IFR - I follow rivers.” Past Omaha I was handed off to Sioux City. Told them I was following the river and had no issues. North of Sioux City they lost radar contact, and I did not talk to ATC again until Bismarck tower. Landed at Vermillion, South Dakota (VRM) for fuel and to call to make a rental car reservation. Was met by airport attendant Denny, who fueled the plane for me. Denny wins the award for friendliest airport attendant. We visited about local agriculture and how he keeps the airport open during the winter, a totally foreign concept to me.

North of Vermillion I encountered the first of three dams on the river that create big long lakes. In fact, the rest of the trip was mostly along lakeshores. This was disappointing because it defeated the purpose of seeing the path L&C took. However, it did make for nice views, with the blue water contrasting with the green and brown landscape. The first lake is called Lewis & Clark Lake.

The next lake is Lake Sharpe, formed by Fort Randall Dam shown below. Near the north end of it the White River joins the Missouri, and I stopped at Chamberlain, ND (9Y9) for fuel and ate lunch in the brand new terminal building with an ADA-compliant pilot’s lounge, finishing my chicken and brisket from MKC.


Past Chamberlain at the far end of Lake Sharpe is Pierre, SD on the N bank of the Missouri River.

This day was 222 years to the day the Corps of Discovery camped here. At Pierre, the Missouri becomes the dividing line between central and mountain time in South Dakota all the way to the North Dakota border, over 100 nm.

Just N of Pierre is the third dam and lake, Lake Oahe, which goes almost all the way to Bismark, ND. About 140 nm.

The benefit of all the lakes is it sped up the trip, since I no longer had to follow the exact meander of the river.

South of Bismark the natural river emerged from Lake Oahe, and I dialed up Bismark ATIS which said winds were 210@14. When I checked in with Bismarck tower they told me to plan for rwy 13. I asked if the winds had changed and tower said no, but a few minutes later they told me to fly left base for 21.

I got great service from the FBO. A young man helped me get the cover on the plane in breezy conditions, took me to the terminal to get the car, and let me come back and drive on the ramp to retrieve an item from the plane.

I found a hotel and went to Cracker Barrel for supper and was served by an attractive young waitress who nailed the Fargo accent.

I learned two Braille words today.









Three legs, 5.2h, 554 nm today.

Corps of Discovery took 95 days to cover the same route.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Two legs, 4.1 hr, 440 nm.

Corps of Discovery took 66 days to cover same route.

It is amazing how much quicker our travels have gotten over the last 150 years or so. In your case, 107.31 knots vs 0.67 knots assuming 10 hours per day of travel, or 160.97x faster.

A less extreme example was Eisenhower's Motor Transport Corps convoy in 1919, which went 3,250 miles driving back when roads were poor to nonexistent and took 573.5 hours for an average traveling speed of 5.65 mph. Today, one can drive that route in 42 hours averaging 66.86 mph (with traffic, and the route being shorter thanks to the Interstate system that this trip inspired). 11.83x faster. I could fly that route today in my Mooney in 14 hours, 7 minutes (19 knot average headwind) at 172.98 mph average or 30.62x faster, or a Citation X could do it in 4:49 for 506.98mph or 89.73x faster.

 

[Van Johnston]

The next day was a planned day off from flying for rest and sight-seeing on the ground. First went to the L&C Trail Interpretive Center in Washburn, ND. It was a good overview of their entire journey. The center is near where they spent the winter of 1803-1804 at the fort they built, Fort Mandan, named for the local native Americans. It is also where they met Toussant Charbonneau, and hired him as an interpreter. Charbonneau’s wife was the more famous Sacagawea.

From the interpretive center I went to the re-created Fort Mandan, after correcting for a wrong turn I took coming out of the interpretive center. At Fort Mandan I got a personalized tour, and learned about their diet, sleeping arrangements (two to a bunk to share body heat!), and the battle axes they made for the Indians in exchange for food. Then followed a trail down to the river’s edge, and spent some time there relaxing and contemplating whether a high wing would have been better for this trip.


When L&C left Ft Manadan in April 1804 to continue their journey, they gave it to the Mandan Indians as a show of their appreciation for helping them get through the winter. By the time they returned 14 months later it had burned down. Its exact location is not known, but is believed to have been about 10 miles up river on land that no longer exists due to river erosion. The re-creation was built in the 1970s.

From Fort Mandan I went back to where I made the wrong turn, which had taken me over a bridge over the river. I decided to stay on that same road and take a different way back to Bismarck. I went by Fort Clark, a latter-day settlement of the Mandans, up river and on the south bank from Fort Mandan. It became a trading post, and steamers from St Louis would stop there. On one such trip a passenger boarded in St Louis not knowing he was incubating smallpox. Eventually almost everyone on board was infected. When they arrived at Fort Clark the captain allowed passengers to disembark, even though quarantine was a known and recommended method to fight the spread of smallpox. As a result 90% of the Mandans died.

The Mandans build permanent earth lodges, circular in shape. The Fort Clark site today is just open grassy fields and you can’t tell anyone ever lived there, but one of the displays showed an aerial photo with circles, claiming it is archaeological evidence of the settlement, so I was anxious to fly over the next day to see if the evidence still existed.

Not far from Fort Clark I unexpectedly came across the “Scientific Center of North America." The marker is in a pasture accessible via a fenced off path. Then I continued taking the long, leisurely way back to Bismark, the only US state capital named for a foreign leader.



Today I learned about the first application of HIPPA in the Louisiana Territory. Recall L&C’s journey was chartered by President Jefferson after the Louisiana purchase, and one of their orders was to spread the word that the territory was now subject to the laws of the US. An exhibit at the interpretive center documented the application of HIPPA in the Louisiana Territory.

 

[iamtheari]

A couple of fun local tidbits from this point in the trip. Bismarck was previously named Edwinton, but the name was changed in the hope of attracting German immigrants to the area. I guess the climate wasn’t getting it done.

Sakakawea is the official spelling of the lake behind the Garrison Dam, and is my preferred spelling because it mostly precludes the debate about pronunciation. As far as I can tell, as someone who gets bothered by such things and starts digging, what happened is that her name was written in some places as Sacagawea (the voiced G is probably more accurate than unvoiced K, from what I hear when people who ought to know say it), some semiliterate person confused G for J and wrote Sacajawea, that person’s account became popular out East, and ever since then the urban centers of the country have pronounced it Sacajawea.

Looking forward to seeing more of the trip pictures. And now I guess I need to go visit Fort Mandan.

 

[Van Johnston]

Sakakawea is the official spelling of the lake behind the Garrison Dam, and is my preferred spelling because it mostly precludes the debate about pronunciation. As far as I can tell, as someone who gets bothered by such things and starts digging, what happened is that her name was written in some places as Sacagawea (the voiced G is probably more accurate than unvoiced K, from what I hear when people who ought to know say it), some semiliterate person confused G for J and wrote Sacajawea, that person’s account became popular out East, and ever since then the urban centers of the country have pronounced it Sacajawea.

I was already planning to comment about that in my next post. I encountered a variety of spellings and pronunciations on my trip. The docent at Fort Mandan stressed that the proper pronunciation was with two hard k sounds. I typed Sacagawea without thinking about it because that is probably what I learned in elementary school over half a century ago (primacy of learning and all that). Looking at the US Mint website just now, they also spell that way, but the name is not on the actual $1 coin.

 

[Van Johnston]

Finally … some topography. Got to plane at break of dawn. Somehow got swarmed by mosquitoes on a cool North Dakota morning. FBO was super-attentive. First the FBO manager came by to check on me. At first I thought he was an FAA FSDO inspector. Later a line man came by and asked if I needed anything. By then I had noticed a big accumulation of bugs, but it was also dewey, and they came off easy. So I asked for paper towels. He brought me two bath towels and a can of Prist.

I asked for a northwest departure off rwy 31, which took me straight to the river, but it meant there were a few miles of the river I didn’t fly over.

I headed up the river toward Washburn, which is where the interpretive center and Fort Mandan are, then near Fort Clark. Sure enough, the circular remnants of the Mandan’s earthen homes were clearly evident, especially in the low early morning sun.


I continued NW and I hit my first dam of the day, which forms Lake Sakakawea (yes, the spelling and pronunciation varied over the entire trail). That lake is about 100 nm long, with the riverbed finally re-emerging just S of Williston, ND. I flew on west to Wolf Point ND for fuel, encountering an unexpected 8-seat airline check-in/waiting area. Wolf Point (OLF) is served by Cape Air out of Billings. I had hoped to find something to eat for lunch, but they only had a Coke machine, so I dipped into my on-board rations for in-flight meal service: a crumbling Pop-Tart, some dates, and chocolate Yoo-Hoo! Just prior to Wolf Point I reached the northernmost extreme of my journey at 48o 8’ N.


Leaving Wolf Point, in about 30 nm I arrived over Ft Peck, and my last dam of the day (I thought). Ft Peck Lake is another 100 nm lake, but when I reached the end of it I finally encountered some topography and rapidly rising terrain on both sides of the river.

I was originally planning to go all the way to Helena from Wolf PoInt, but I was getting tired and my butt hurt. I considered stopping at Heller Farm (L51), as suggested on my planning thread. It is a cool strip, right on the river, with a bunkhouse you can stay at, but I did not want to risk getting stranded, so I pressed on to Ft Benton (79S). (Good Heller Farm video by another POAer here:

)



Ft Benton (79S) has a small (20’ x 20’?) terminal building, but it was locked with a key pad and no clue what the code is, or a phone number, or a soul in sight. I found a spot out of FOV of the security cameras (I hope) but in full view of the highway to take care of nature, then re-configured my camera from inside the cabin to under the wing. It had been inside to charge the battery from Wolf Point to Fort Benton.


By now it was mid-afternoon, and the DA was over 5,000’, so I leaned for max RPM per the checklist, and took off. A few minutes later saw a warning light for CHT #4. I immediately went full rich, throttled back, and pitched down. The temp came down pretty quick, and I slowly combined throttle, pitch, and leaning to coax a 300 fpm climb rate at 400o F.

West of Ft Benton was Great Falls, Montana (GTF), I overflew Malmstrom AFB (GFA) where I had been TDY in 1997, and went S of GTF, and followed the river toward Helena. Helena sits in a bowl, so I had to climb up over the lip of the bowl, and then back down, reaching my highest altitude since leaving ALN, about 7,500’. There were more dams on the river in the mountains making some very beautiful lakes. Unfortunately I did not tighten my camera well when I re-mounted it under the wing, and it rotated to shoot straight down, so all my photos of this leg look like overhead satellite reconnaissance imagery.

I wasn’t getting down fast enough, so I had to do an aggressive slip to an extended base to 27. Caught an Uber to my hotel and walked next door to Subway inside Walmart for supper.

Today I learned more about the effects of density altitude.

Three legs, 5.6 hrs, 655 nm.

Corps of Discovery took 120 travel days to cover the same route, not counting the five months they spent at Fort Mandan.

 

[Van Johnston]

The next day the weather looked iffy to get into my planned destination of Lewiston, Idaho (LWS), so I decided to take the day off. As I watched the weather through the day, it cleared up and I could have made it. But once I decided not to go I realized how tired I was and was glad with the decision. Spent the day doing laundry, catching up on this journal, doing detailed flight planning for the legs across the Bitterroot Mountains, and watching playoff baseball. Without the Astros.

 

[Van Johnston]

I was already planning to comment about that in my next post. I encountered a variety of spellings and pronunciations on my trip. The docent at Fort Mandan stressed that the proper pronunciation was with two hard k sounds. I typed Sacagawea without thinking about it because that is probably what I learned in elementary school over half a century ago (primacy of learning and all that). Looking at the US Mint website just now, they also spell that way, but the name is not on the actual $1 coin.

I went back and looked at the transcription of Clark's journal and there it is spelled Sacajawea. Another thing I learned later, at the interpretive center in Washington, is that Clark was considered poorly educated because of his bad spelling, but the explanation given was an American English dictionary had not been published yet, therefore there was no official way to spell anything, so his spelling wasn't 'wrong.' And of course POA did not exist to critique spelling and grammar.

 

[Van Johnston]

Сегодняшний полет посвящен капитану Василию Бородину.

This was the big day – over the mountains. The weather for the first part looked good. The weather over the Bitterroots was OK and forecast to get better as the day went on, but I planned several outs along the way and turn-back criteria. As it turned out, all was well.

I took off rwy 9 from HLN, and headed due W to intersect the river at Canyon Ferry Lake, and followed it S to Three Forks. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention, and did not take notice of the official beginning of the Missouri River where the Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton rivers merge.

From Three Forks, I followed the Jefferson River to Dillon, then proceeded to Lemhi (pronounced LEM-HIGH) Pass, the highest elevation on the trail, at 7,373’. I cleared it at my goal of 2,000 AGL just fine, but wound up following the wrong stream on the other side, so did a 360 to see what I missed.

Lemhi Pass


I proceeded north up the Lemhi and Salmon river valleys, again following the wrong stream and having to make a 180. Thence out of the valley and to Lost Trail Pass at 7,014’ and Gibbons Pass at 6, 941’. At Lemhi Pass I crossed into Idaho, and I crossed back into Montana at Lost Trail Pass.

Past Gibbons Pass I descended into the Bitterroot Valley,and landed at Ravalli County Airport in Hamilton (HRF) for lunch, fuel, and to check weather. I had lunch at the on-field diner, and could not finish my 1/2 pound cheeseburger shaped like a rugby ball, so I saved the rest for supper.





Departing Hamilton, I continued N up the valley, then turned left and headed W toward the last high pass of the day, Lolo Pass, at 5,235’. From Lolo Pass the Corps’ Shosone guides followed the Lochsa River a little way, then climbed up and followed a ridge line for 40 nm before beginning descent down to the Weippe Prairie and then on to present-day Orofino, Idaho. At Orofino the trail intersects the Clearwater River, so they stopped near here for 10 days to cut trees and hew new canoes that would take them the rest of the way to the Pacific. They called the place they stayed Canoe Camp, and that is where they were 221 years ago to the day I flew over.

Best shot I have of flying the ridgeline.


Orofino, Idaho, site of Canoe Camp.


I flew on down the Clearwater River and landed at Lewiston (LWS), Idaho where the FBO manager was very helpful with fuel, hotel room, and shuttle to hotel, and politely pointed out I was now on Pacific time when I asked what time he opened in the morning. He also advised of local conditions heading west. Took shuttle to hotel in downtown Lewiston. Very nice room except for a tattered chair that should be relegated to Motel 6. Finished my burger.

Two legs, 4.4 hrs, 465 nm.

The Corps of Discovery took 81 days minus 10 days at Canoe Camp = 71 travel days to cover the same distance.

 

[EvilEagle]

Great writeup!

 

[Van Johnston]

The next day the weather on the other side of the Cascades did not look good for getting all the way to the Pacific, and I needed to make a recommended stop at the Western Antique Aerospace and Automotive Museum in Hood River, Oregon, so just one 2-hour leg today to the The Dalles, Oregon (pronounced like Dallas without the second A as far as I can tell). Airport is actually across the river in Washington, so this stop checks off landing in Washington.

Took hotel shuttle to airport, watching lower than expected clouds that obscured the terrain on the other side of the Snake River. I could tell it was lifting while I did my preflight, and by the time I was ready to taxi I could see the top of the terrain.

I took off and flew into Snake River Canyon. I started at 2,500’ but found myself below the rim, and was not comfortable, so gradually climbed to planned altitude of 4,500’ as clouds permitted. I followed the Snake to Pasco, Washington, where I called the tower just to let them know I was there, and caught my first glimpse of the Columbia. I made a left turn and followed the Columbia to The Dalles. Both the Snake and Columbia have a series of dams and locks. These don’t make wide lakes like in the Dakotas, but make them navigable, both by water and air.

Snake River.


First sighting of Columbia River at Pasco, Washington.



Got my rental car and went across the river and finally found a budget hotel room for $79, which included a combo toaster oven, coffee pot, and griddle I’d never before. I went for a walk through downtown and saw some eclectic sites, and went into a Chinese restaurant for supper, again saving half for another meal tomorrow. This town reminded me of the town in Back to the Future.





One leg, 2.0h, 218 nm.

Corps of Discovery: 15 days (going downstream now)

 

[Van Johnston]

The next morning I drove to Hood River, Oregon to visit the Western Antique Aerospace and Automotive Museum. Acres and acres of antique planes and cars under roof. They define antique planes as anything before WW II. I’m not really into cars, but the most interesting vehicle I saw there, ground or aerial, was an electric car circa 1920. It was called the Detroit Electric by Anderson Electric Car Company in Detroit.








After the museum I worked my way back toward The Dalles, and stopped at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. The lady selling admission tickets was overwhelmed by a small tour group, so I gave up on waiting to pay $10 to go inside, and just viewed the outdoor exhibits, and learned about the Oregon Trail. In an aviary they had a kestrel, which I found out is a small falcon, and I presume the namesake for Kestrel Airpark near my home. A windsurfer zoomed across the river.



(Sorry for the inconsistency in sizes of the photos. I am trying to make them small but haven't broken the code yet.)

Then I headed to the airport for the final leg.

 

[Van Johnston]

I went back to the airport and waited a few hours for the weather on the other side of the gorge to clear up. I had the rest of my Chinese supper for lunch, and visited with a commercial student from Spokane who had come there on his 250 nmi solo. He went to lunch, and when he came back the winds had picked up past the limits his flight school allowed. We bounced options off each other, since he was fast approaching the hour when he could not return to Spokane, since the flight school also had a limit of sunset minus 1 hour to be back. In my case, I wast watching the weather clear from west to east, and when sky coverage at Troutdale finally went to scattered, I decided to launch. I wished the student well and told him where to find the $79 hotel room if he did not get out. I checked Flight Aware the next day, and he wound up spending the night.

I took off, climbed over the river to 4,500’, called Seattle center for flight following, and entered the gorge. It was a little bumpy, but not bad. I was surprised at how much ADS traffic there was below me, including one yahoo who climbed straight toward me, and then deviated to the left. I had been handed off to PDX approach by then, and they never called out that traffic, although they called out others.

The reason my posts have been achingly slow is not because of the writing; it is because of the photos and videos I’ve been combing through to find the best representative scenes without overwhelming the reader or sucking all the bandwidth out of the room. Here is an exception though; here is a five minute video of flying through the gorge. Turn the sound down unless you like wind.
https://gopro.com/v/56522472-f0f4-4e96-b73e-17f7658b3e07 (you may want to watch at 2x speed)

Once through the gorge Portland Approach asked my route to Astoria (AST), and I said I want to follow the river, and they approved that, and just said to stay on the N bank, which was my intent anyway. Passing over the Port of Portland, I saw a grain ship being loaded and a yard full of windmill blades. Once past Portland, they didn’t hand me back to Seattle, they just told me to squawk VFR. I did, but I tuned in Seattle just to listen.

Approaching Portland metro from the east.


Now I was on the home stretch, going down the Columbia. Eventually the river widened, then finally to the southwest I could see the open ocean. I continued flying along the north bank, and started a gradual descent. I flew all the way to Cape Disappointment, which is considered the western extremity of the L&C expedition, then turned back and landed at Astoria (AST) rwy 26. I taxied to the ramp, shut down, did a fist pump, and shouted. I made it.








I got out to tie down and unload, and a seagull alighted on the ramp next to the tail to confirm my arrival on the Pacific coast. I got the rental car (a truck), put the plane away, came into town and found a hotel room, and had my last two tamales for supper. (For a reason I’ll explain later, I left home with 8 jumbo tamales and they were my sustenance when restaurants and fast food wasn’t convenient or available.)

One leg, 1.6 hours, 163 nm. 22 days for the Corps of Discovery.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

"Ocian in view! O! the joy!"

 

[jbDC9]

Great trip report! I’ve criss-crossed a good bit of the Lewis and Clark route while traveling in my RV-8, but, I’ve usually been focused on going high and fast to get elsewhere, so I’ve missed much of the small detail views. I’ve read several L&C trip reports via low n slow types, Citabrias and such, and it always looks fascinating. Maybe someday I’ll throttle back a bit and do this trip myself… it looks cool!

And not to pick nits, the pic you have showing PDX… the airport at far left is actually Troutdale TTD, PDX is at 12 o’clock and 10 miles ahead.

 

[Van Johnston]

And not to pick nits, the pic you have showing PDX… the airport at far left is actually Troutdale TTD, PDX is at 12 o’clock and 10 miles ahead.

Not a nit pick at all; thanks for that correction!

 

[iamtheari]

Are you planning a return trip that covers additional Corps of Discovery territory? Pompey's Pillar would be a fun thing to photograph from the air.

 

[Jeff Oslick]

Awesome trip!

Small world note, my niece's apartment-mate runs the aviary at the Discovery Center.

 

[Van Johnston]

Are you planning a return trip that covers additional Corps of Discovery territory? Pompey's Pillar would be a fun thing to photograph from the air.

Not yet; I still have to get home! (or at least write up the trip home. 4 more days of flying to report on, include career max demonstrated crosswind landing, and scud running on top of a wind farm. Not my finest hour. Stay tuned...

Seriously, this whole trip started by staring at a map and wondering "how do I fill in my 'states I've landed in' map? It became obvious I need a western swing, a southeast swing, and a northeast swing. At some point the western swing turned into the L&C Trail. I don't remember exactly how. That's a long way of saying I'm not planning another specific L&C trip. Maybe the American Revolutionary Road to the NE is next...

 

[KaiGywer]

Nice writeup. Makes me want to do something similar myself, living in BIS. Side note, Wolf Point is in MT, not ND I have flown the part of the river you missed in Bismarck countless times. You just missed the city

 

[Van Johnston]

Side note, Wolf Point is in MT, not ND

Dang. I knew that. Don't know why I typed ND. Thanks.

 

[Van Johnston]

I spent two days in the Astoria area. The first day I headed out over the Megler Bridge to the Washington side of the river. First I went to Dismal Nitch, where the Corps had to wait for a week due to a storm with wind, waves, and rain to subside before they could proceed on the final stretch to the ocean.

Then I drove to Station Camp, where the Corps stopped to explore the area while they chose a location to spend the winter. Later a man named McGowan lived there and a town sprung up and there was a vibrant fish canning industry. The displays at the park also described the native Chinook history and culture in detail.

From there I proceeded to Cape Disappointment, stopping at Bear’s Hollow viewpoint and the North Head lighthouse. At both you could see how what was once ocean had filled in with sand after the jetty was built, and now had vegetation growing on it, and is a campground. One part is called Waikiki Beach.


Then I went on to the interpretive center. I didn’t think this one was quite as good as the one in ND. There were fewer exhibits of items and they relied more on signage on on the wall to read. One positive difference was they talked about other members of the Corps than just L&C. There was a good 15 minute film that focused on the end of the journey.

As I headed back toward Astorial I saw an airport sign, so I turned off the main road and found the Ilwaco, Washington airport, 7W1. It’s just an unmarked strip with an open air structure to support the beacon that may have had a pay phone at one time.

I was surprised to find some good BBQ ribs for supper, and was again able to save 1/2 for later.





The next morning I got out for a walk at dawn to find the sea lions that hade been barking continuously since I arrived. They were on a pier not too far from my hotel, and the hotel had a sign up offering complimentary ear plugs. The sea lions migrate with the seasons, and I happened to catch them at the right time.

Astoria’s noisy mammals are back - The Astorian

Locals and visitors can spot sea lions along the waterfront Astoria has become a bit noisier in the past month and that’s thanks to the California-native sea lions. The big-belly aquatic mammals migrated from California to Oregon’s North Coast in August, and they will stay in Astoria, near...

dailyastorian.com

The goal for the second day was to visit Fort Clatsop, where the corps spent the winter. I wasn’t sure it would be open; I had driven by when I arrived two days before and the gate was locked, but it was after 5, so there was no way to tell if it was locked due to time of day or government shut down. This day I arrived at 8:58 am and the gate was locked. I waited until 9:05, and turned around and left, and drove down the road a little bit to see if any other parts of the park were open, and found none, so I went back to the Fort Clatsop entrance, parked in staff parking, and followed the sidewalk to the front of the main building. From there I found the trail to the fort, and arrived after a two minute walk. The front gate of the fort was closed, but I walked around back and found a rear gate standing open, so I went in. None of the interior rooms were open, but I could move in and around the fort all I wanted. I figured Senators Thune and Schumer would both want me to enjoy our national park despite the shutdown.

17 second video of the fort: https://gopro.com/v/1548b33d-a685-4fad-8bb1-3cf664ce1048 (yes, title of video is spelled wrong)

From the fort I drove south, and found an entrance to the beach, and drove on and got out and took my shoes and socks off and went and stood in the Pacific Ocean momentarily.

I got back on the highway and drove S a little further to Seaside, Oregon, turned around, and headed back. I stopped at the airport to refuel the plane, do some initial packing, and look for some missing camera gear.

I stopped for lunch — during Sunday lunch rush hour – at the Pig ‘N’ Pancake, a local chain (5 stores, Astoria was #2). Everything was $20 and up. Finally found a bowl of claim chowder for $9.50 in the corner of the menu. It was good though.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

As I headed back toward Astorial I saw an airport sign, so I turned off the main road and found the Ilwaco, Washington airport, 7W1. It’s just an unmarked strip with an open air structure to support the beacon that may have had a pay phone at one time.

Hah! Tiny, but I recognized it immediately, I was there *mumble*teen years ago, back when we shot photos in 4:3 aspect ratio apparently:

From there I proceeded to Cape Disappointment, stopping at Bear’s Hollow viewpoint and the North Head lighthouse.

That's a great shot of the lighthouse! And then there's my shot :

 

[Van Johnston]

Hah! Tiny, but I recognized it immediately, I was there *mumble*teen years ago, back when we shot photos in 4:3 aspect ratio apparently:

That's a great shot of the lighthouse! And then there's my shot :

View attachment 148030

Cool. I went back and looked at my video to see if I could capture a similar shot, but could not see the lighthouse. Either too far away or two low. My original plan had been to hop over to Ilwaco at some point to check the land-in-Washington box, but since I had landed at DLS I didn't need to do that. The home just off the W end of the runway is for sale and appears vacant, if you want to go back.

 

[Van Johnston]

It was time to start heading back towards home.

I arrived at AST at a little before sunup after gassing up the rental. I took off from rwy 8 into the sun. Got on with Seattle center. Flew S of Portland and got good views and photos of Mt St Helens, Adams, and Hood. Continued SE across the Willamette Valley and cleared the Cascades, then non-descript landscape the rest of the way to Burns (BNO), Oregon. Re-fueled and had lunch (rest of ribs and beans from Saturday night). Found another anachronism; a phone book hanging from the wall. The phone itself was long gone.

Mount Hood in foreground, Mount St Helens to the left and Mount Adams to the right. This is my new computer wallpaper.





Launched for Elko (EKO), Nevada. Got in the air and on with Salt Lake Center. Prior to Paradise MOA they handed me off to COWBOY, the range controller for the MOA. I could hear them controlling some USAF traffic, including tankers. I could hear some of the airborne replies, but not all. Eventually exited the MOA and started descent into Elko. Elko sits below a ridge, and I was higher than I wanted to be, so I did a pretty aggressive descent once below the ridge. Was still high on final but got down OK. Taxied to the fuel pump and had to wait on a guy in front. It wasn’t obvious which building was the FBO, so while I waited I pulled out my phone to find the exact FBO location. Found their website and discovered they had a webcam on top of their hangar, and I could see myself waiting at the pump. Nevada is state #25 I have landed in or taken off from.


Re-fueled and put the plane away, made hotel reservation, and summoned Uber. Got to hotel, relaxed, and ran (literally) across highway to a Mexican place called Garibaldi’s for fajitas.

Two legs, 4.5 hours, 485 nm.

 

[Randomskylane]

Fabulous reporting. Thanks for all the photos too.

 

[geezer]

Great pictures and writeup. Envy the trip!

The pay phone may be out with the dinosaurs, but most of the numbers in that book are valid. Whip out your favorite brand of cell phone, call any random number, and a real person with a matching name will answer, and out there probably politely.

One of the better features of past technology.

In small towns where uber is not found, calling at random may get someone who will volunteer to give you a ride, or call the local police and ask them to give you a ride. State police drove me and my family to and from a hotel where taxi service was mostly non existent. Northport MI, if you did a pattern altitude pass over the center of town, the Chief of Police drove out to the grass strip to take you wherever you wished to go.

 

[Van Johnston]

In small towns where uber is not found, calling at random may get someone who will volunteer to give you a ride, or call the local police and ask them to give you a ride. State police drove me and my family to and from a hotel where taxi service was mostly non existent. Northport MI, if you did a pattern altitude pass over the center of town, the Chief of Police drove out to the grass strip to take you wherever you wished to go.

Did you hack my computer and see my draft of tomorrow's post?

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Cool. I went back and looked at my video to see if I could capture a similar shot, but could not see the lighthouse. Either too far away or two low. My original plan had been to hop over to Ilwaco at some point to check the land-in-Washington box, but since I had landed at DLS I didn't need to do that. The home just off the W end of the runway is for sale and appears vacant, if you want to go back.

Hmmm. A "unique custom" (read: ugly, weird) home for $900K... Naah. Wait... A 4100 sq ft shop? OK, you have my attention. Next to the airport with "dedicated taxiway"? Great! No hangar? Sorry, I'm out.

I'm sure it'd be someone's cup o' tea but I'll pass. Maybe in another lifetime.

 

[Van Johnston]

It's time to wrap the story up.

It was a fiasco getting out of Elko the next morning. No Uber, Lyft, or local taxi available all morning. Finally decided to walk to airport; about 2 miles. I broke it into four 12-minute segments, and stopping to rest 5 minutes between each segment, as I am still recovering from a herniated disk. The benefit of walking was I got to enjoy some of the public art in Elko.


I ate my leftover fajitas for lunch in the FBO conference room, pre-flighted the plane and took off. The DA was over 6,000’, and the effects were noticeable on the take-off run. I decided to go NE around the East Humboldt Range, then turned SE toward Bonneville. I was handed off to CLOVER control, even though I wasn’t going through any MOA. When handed back to SLC approach, they made numerous traffic callouts but I never saw any of them. They kept saying to stay clear of the B, but then at the last minute cleared me in at 7,000’ to keep me above traffic they weren’t talking to. South Valley Regional (SVR) was easily visible when I came around the Garfield stack, and also very busy. I was set up for a 45o downwind entry to 34, and there was a convenient gap in the pattern and I got in OK. I re-fueled, put the plane up, got the rental car, and found a hotel room nearby. Being back in a major metro area and not really having any fast food in almost two weeks, I went to In-N-Out for supper.

Bonneville Salt Flats


EKO-SVR 1.7h 187 nm

 

[Van Johnston]

After a down day in Draper UT to visit with long-time USAF friends, it was time to continue the journey. To get home I should have headed SE and made a slight left turn at Albuquerque. Instead, the day’s destination was Colorado Air and Space Port (CFO), near Denver, for the approximately decadal reunion of the cousins on my father’s side of the family.

After I got the engine started and was listening to the radio, a Technam called in to say they could not confirm the nose gear was down, so they did a low approach. By the time I got to the runup area, they were on short final, and I could see the gear was down. They went out to the west of the field while they decided what to do. I took off and headed SE, and cut over to Salt Lake approach, so I don’t know the outcome. Once out from under the B shelf I started my climb and I turned N. I was nearing 8,000’ as I approached where I-80 heads into the mountains. It was a little turbulent through the pass, but I continued my climb to 11.5, although I had to slow it down to keep my CHT in limits. Once past the mountains and level at 11.5 it smoothed out, and before I knew it I was in Wyoming airspace.

Following I-80 out of the Salt Lake basin and across the Wasatch Mountains.


I cut corners around my planned flight path as the terrain did not rise toward the Rockies near as steep as the charts leads one to believe. Just before Rock Springs I noticed I was flying over the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport (48U). I wish I had noticed that name in my flight planning. I could have landed there and logged a leg from 48U-CFO. Suborbital, of course.

Greater Green River Intergalactic Airport, Wyoming


Past Rawlins, some showers popped up, and I tried to go between two, but still got rained on. I made my last turn toward Cheyenne, and picked up the field 22 miles out. Called tower at 20 miles and they told me to report R downwind for 27.

By the time I got to the airport the winds were 200@20G26, but I did not process what that meant in terms of crosswind. Total loss of SA. I gave up my first landing attempt and went around. I made a second attempt, determined to get it down. I did, but it wasn’t pretty. FBO offered to tie me down, which I accepted. Went in to relax and process what I just experienced. In retrospect what happened was I flew through that line of showers that was moving SW to NE and got in front of it, and then by the time I got to CYS it was moving through.

Ordered a sandwich for lunch, studied weather (calm at CFO), and decided to wait a while for winds to die down. About 4p got out and re-fueled and did preflight. Tower offered rwy 31, with winds 310@14, and I took it.

Flew to CFO at 7,500’, got cleared to land rwy 8 on initial call up, landed un-eventfully, refueled, parked, and put plane up. Had another rideshare fiasco with Uber/Lyft trying to get to downtown Denver. Finally got picked up by Juan about 7:30p, two hours after landing. Juan quickly let me know he did not speak any English, so what conversation we had was in my broken Spanish. I learned he had been in the US 2 years, was here with his 12 year daughter, and his occupation in Columbia was “marketing” (his English word) but may have had more to do with billboards, lights, etc because that is what he pointed to. He repeated several times how pretty the US is (¡Su paiz es muy bonita!). As we got into downtown he complained the streets and freeways were muy complicado. He dropped me off, I got checked in, bought a frozen meal from the hotel pantry for supper, and called it a day, now back on the eastern side of the continental divide.

SVR-CYS 3.0 371
CYS-CFO .9 100
3.9hr 471 nmi

 

[Van Johnston]

After three days of down time for the family reunion and 18 nights in hotels but at least avoiding FBO sofas, I was ready to get home and sleep in my own bed. I got up, packed, went downstairs for breakfast, checked weather, and summoned a Lyft. There was a big L over the Texas panhandle, but forecast ceilings of 3k or better the whole way. Got to airport and checked in with counter and they waived tie down fees since I bought fuel.

Plan for the day was three legs, with fuel stops in Borger (BGD) and Eastland, Texas. Got out of CFO OK and climbed to 11.5 with a restriction at 10,000’ for a 767 heavy at 11,000’. Eventually ran into a layer and went down to 9.5, then 7.5, then 5.5. Landed BGD, had lunch while they refueled, looked at radar, and launched for Eastland, planning to divert around precipitation as needed.

Never could get through it though. Finally had to do a 180 when visibility went near 0. Decided to head toward highest reported ceiling in the area, 3k at Canadian. Then I noticed I was flying right over Miami-Roberts County (3E0), so decided to land there. Got out my chair, sat down, had a snack, and came up with a plan. Weather appeared to be clearing to the west toward Amarillo, and I decided if I was back in the air by 3: 30, I could be home by sundown, even though it would be close to a 4-hour hour leg.

So I launched again, at 3:35, and tried to get around the weather, dodging windmill farms. I finally got around the weather and the 430 said my ETA was 7:10p, right at sundown, as I turned toward home. Then a few minutes later it recalculated the ETA to 7:29, so I decided to divert to Lubbock. I didn’t want to be that guy that crashed on mile 5,099 of a 5,100 mile trip. I texted my son in Lubbock from the air to ask if I could have his sofa for the night and he said yes. The flight to Lubbock was uneventful. He picked me up at Lubbock Executive (F82) and we stopped for southern food on the way to his home. He is an instrument rated pilot, and I showed him my weather brief and asked if he saw anything to indicate the weather would not improve as forecast. He said he did not. So night #19 was on a sofa.

CFO-BGD 2.6 289​

BDG-3E0 .7 75​

3E0-F82 1.5 168​

4.8hr 532 nm​

The next morning I got up and out early. Fixed coffee at the FBO and took a big cinnamon roll for inflight breakfast. Pre-flight, departure, cruise, descent, and landing all uneventful. Went straight to hangar. One of the airplane partners came by while I was still unloading, and we visited a while. Finally got everything unloaded and stopped by the FBO to place fuel order. Went to the grocery store to get gas and a few groceries. Arrived home at 1:35p. Mission complete.

 

[Van Johnston]

Final trip statistics:

23 legs​

​

46.4 hours​

​

5,154 nautical miles​

​

342 gallons of fuel​

​

19 new airports​

​

Landing fees - 0​

​

Overnight parking fees - $5 for one night at LWS; $30 for 2 nights at SVR; both city-imposed fees. CFO waived their fee since I bought fuel.​

​

Landed in 15 states (OK IL MO NE SD ND MT ID WA OR NV UT WY CO TX)​

​

Landed in 9 states for the first time (NE SD ND MT ID WA OR NV UT WY)​

​

Visited 6 states for the first time (NE SD ND ID OR WY)​