Northern colorado to San Diego, any tips?

J

Jthamilton

Line Up and Wait
Joined
May 31, 2012
Messages
616
Location
Steamboat Springs, CO
Display Name
Okie182
Home Airfield
KCAG
Was planning on taking the kids to San Antonio in week and half to see shamu, then I saw the weather. I'm very familiar with south Texas and we enjoyed visiting there when we lived in Oklahoma. Today and the next couple weeks are the peak hot times with temps regularly over 100. Since living in Colorado I have lost that desire to sweat my butt off!

So....San Diego is option number 2. I've only flown west of Colorado once and that was Phoenix to Tulsa when I purchased plane last year. The scenery this route takes us over some beautiful terrain from canyonlands to Grand Canyon and would be incredible.

How is it around San Diego and are there any recommendations for airports for short family trip? We are VFR only at present (working on ifr)

Thanks
 
I used to live in San Diego and did a round trip San Diego to Steamboat (SBS) two years ago. I am instrument rated, but did the whole thing VFR as I recall. You can go more or less direct once you get out of the initial Steamboat area and that route will take you over the Grand Canyon. When I did it, I wanted to see Monument Valley, so my route was MYF JLI PKE INW 0V7 through Monument Valley EKR CHE then SBS. On the way back I went south to EGE and then stopped at TEX and then back through Monument Valley, then INW PKE JLI and home. That route is a little longer, but I'd been over the Grand Canyon before so it was more scenic to me.

Other than the normal mountain weather which I suspect you are used to, the only issue for the San Diego area for a VFR only pilot is the marine layer which can often make the coastal areas IFR only...but it usually isn't a huge problem - I've done a ton of VFR flying in and out of the San Diego area. Monitor the TAFs while enroute and you should have a good idea if it will pose a problem and adjust your arrival time.

Personally, I like MYF - that is where I kept my 170. It is the closest to most stuff in the area (aside from SAN).
 
Perfect, I will look further into that and Monument valley is one of those bucket list items for flying for me also.

Im more concerned about flying into San Diego area.

Thanks again
 
KSEE was my home airport for many years. It has the best VFR probability of all the local airports except maybe Ramona which is kinda far out. KMYF is also a good choice, by now the June gloom won't be much of a problem there after about 10-11 AM.

As for getting there, my favorite pass is Marshall just south of Monarch. From the north, head south just west of the cities to GORJE intersection. Pickup hwy 50 west, and you have Alexander field on one side, and Gunnison on the other. Continuous weather reporting from Gunnison, Monarch and Alexander helps.

Once across, I head generally SW toward Blanding, and usually stay overnight there. I think the Four Corners inn will pick up from the airport. Get up early and get going cause you are in for a treat. You'll be flying west and the sun is in the east as you stay low through Monument Valley. It won't be too hot yet and if you make a short day of it, you can stop in Page for a swim in Lake Powell, or rent a boat and head up to Rainbow Arch. Heck of a lot of fun but takes a whole day. Leaving Page, of course you have the Grand Canyon, which you can't fly through anymore but it's still quite scenic. After you get to Lake Mead, the scenery kind of dries up a bit, but still a nice flight into SD.

I've done this flight a few times with friends and they are always amazed.
 
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Let me know how it goes. I am planning a trip to the motto GPS races next year. Departing KRBD (Dallas Texas) with the destination being KMRY (Monterey CA). Once there I plan on flying the California coast then heading back to Dallas.
 
Jthamilton said:
Im more concerned about flying into San Diego area.
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My preferred VFR arrival into the San Diego area is from over JLI head down along El Capitan reservoir, once you get to the southern end of El Cap (4500' by that point) turn toward SEE and continue descent to 2500. Keep tour head on a swivel in that area and contact MYF tower over SEE and they'll bring you in...just be brief and succinct if traffic is busy. There is actually a vfr waypoint that works well for the route I am talking about if you want to plug it into Foreflight or a gps: JLI VPSLJ KSEE KMYF.
 
I intended on putting your plan into my 796 I just updated last night. Of course even though I have all the current databases now, my gps isn't able to retrieve it.

Off to the Ipad I go.
 
If you park at MYF, there used to be a really good Mexican restaurant on the second floor of the terminal bldg. I used to eat there once a month way back. I'm guessing it's still there. Good food and a good view of the runways too.
 
docmirror said:
If you park at MYF, there used to be a really good Mexican restaurant on the second floor of the terminal bldg. I used to eat there once a month way back. I'm guessing it's still there. Good food and a good view of the runways too.
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It's still there. Casa Machado. By no means the best Mexican food in the San Diego area, but pretty good for an airport restaurant and you get a good view of the Travel Air flights.
 
Approaching Julian from the east, maintain your altitude at around 12,500. When passing the north end of the Salton sea expect to encounter a mountain wave. If you find yourself losing about 1,000 ft. per minute, cut south for a bit to get out of the wave. If it is too rough heading toward Julian, again head south and follow V-66 in, or just follow U.S. 8.

-John
 
John Baker said:
Approaching Julian from the east, maintain your altitude at around 12,500. When passing the north end of the Salton sea expect to encounter a mountain wave. If you find yourself losing about 1,000 ft. per minute, cut south for a bit to get out of the wave. If it is too rough heading toward Julian, again head south and follow V-66 in, or just follow U.S. 8.

-John
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???? Maintain 12.5???? You trying to scare him John?

I have lost track how many times I have done that route and was never over 10.5 going westbound.

My standard was 8.5 over JLI and immediately start my descent to 4.5 after that.

Even IFR, I don't think I have been over 10 crossing those mountains.
 
Jthamilton said:
Perfect, I will look further into that and Monument valley is one of those bucket list items for flying for me also.

Im more concerned about flying into San Diego area.

Thanks again
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Another route to consider is cutting diagonally across Utah… over Las Vegas, etc.

Pick up a VFR flight following enroute so that you get a seamless transition to coast approach
 
I've got no problems with altitude. I fly turbo 182 and routinely climb above that. I'm all about climbing if need be.
 
Jthamilton said:
I've got no problems with altitude. I fly turbo 182 and routinely climb above that. I'm all about climbing if need be.
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Point being, there is absolutely no need to be that high over Julian. In fact, if you are at 12.5 crossing JLI, you are going to have one heck of a steep descent to get down. Just no point in being 6,500' above the terrain there. You can see some interesting thermal action there occasionally, but what John is describing is more likely to be encountered near the San Jacinto mountains near Palm Springs rather than Julian.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
I agree with that and was curious why I would need to be that high but if need be not a problem.

Bought my VFR map of the Grand Canyon little while ago. This is really going to be nice flight!
 
My note for altitude was not in regards to clearing the big pile of dirt at Julian, it was about having the altitude to deal with the mountain wave that is common to the area just west of the north end of the Salton sea. My only experience with that wave was while I was approaching from the east at 12.500' When I broke out of it by turning south I had dropped to 8,000' in just a few minutes.

A good friend of mine who was flying a twin said he came as close to a full blown pitchpole (end over end) as he ever wants to get, he was in that same wave area when it happened.

It does not occur all the time, but it does occur often enough that it needs to be part of your planning when flying that rout to Julian.

I agree though, it is my favorite rout over the mountains to KMYF.

-John
 
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