Summer Trip

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dweyant

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Dan
I need some help/suggestions.

We are planning a two week flying trip this summer. We will be flying our Cessna Cardinal (177)

I need some suggestions on where to go. The parameters I have to work with are:

Leave mid day on Friday June 27th from KGTU (Georgetown) Return no later than Sunday 7/13.

I need to spent 4th of July outside of Pittsburgh visiting family.

Wife would really like to do Glacier National Park, but that is a long ways from Pittsburgh.

Wouldn't mind going some places in the mountains with hiking, rafting, etc.

We wanted to do the Glacier trip last summer, but I wasn't IFR at the time (I am now) and the weather looked too iffy to try and get into and out of the Glacier area.

Any suggestions appreciated.
 
From PA why not VT, NH, ME, or the Adirondacks? All have outdoorsy recreation and are easier then going all the way west. I'm partial to the Dacks but they all have nice places. It will be black fly season which differs in brutality by location but is something to consider.
 
ClimbnSink said:
From PA why not VT, NH, ME, or the Adirondacks? All have outdoorsy recreation and are easier then going all the way west. I'm partial to the Dacks but they all have nice places. It will be black fly season which differs in brutality by location but is something to consider.
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That might be an option. Any areas/airports you would recommend?
 
You could follow the mountains up to or back from Pittsburg. Visit the Loray Caverns, stop in Dolleywood, see stone moutain in Atlanta.
 
...I don't care where you go...just take me with you. I'm out of KGTU as well. :)
 
dweyant said:
That might be an option. Any areas/airports you would recommend?
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I'm partial to Lake George, Ticonderoga at the North end has zero services, bring rope to tie down. Couple of airports at the South end with all the fixins. South end of the lake is touristy and honky tonk, North end is less developed and more tasteful.
http://www.sugarbush.org/Sugarbush_Soaring/Home.html Beautiful airport in a pretty place. Call ahead, not sure what to do if gliders aren't your thing.
Post Mills is a cool little airport. There are rental cabins on the airport, without a car you might get bored soon.
Cape Cod is also within striking distance but I drive there and only off season.
 
Check out my home town. Just south of PIT is a pretty lake resort area with a great airport. Check into 2G4 , good fuel prices as we'll compared to most places up here.
 
dweyant said:
I need some help/suggestions.

We are planning a two week flying trip this summer. We will be flying our Cessna Cardinal (177)

I need some suggestions on where to go. The parameters I have to work with are:

Leave mid day on Friday June 27th from KGTU (Georgetown) Return no later than Sunday 7/13.

I need to spent 4th of July outside of Pittsburgh visiting family.

Wife would really like to do Glacier National Park, but that is a long ways from Pittsburgh.

Wouldn't mind going some places in the mountains with hiking, rafting, etc.

We wanted to do the Glacier trip last summer, but I wasn't IFR at the time (I am now) and the weather looked too iffy to try and get into and out of the Glacier area.

Any suggestions appreciated.
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In a Cardinal, a trip out west is 8-10 hours, so that takes up one day of your 18 day vacation And less then a day going home cause the tailwinds are in your favor....... Glacier and /or Yellowstone/ Grand Tetons are wonderful that time of year.... The July 4th engagement will shoot that outwest trip all the hell though...:redface:...
 
might be a reasonable idea to have two plans, in different directions... so that if wx is poor one way, you have a decent chance of going the other way.
 
The area between RHP-AVL is a great area for hiking/rafting.
 
So, the wife seems to be pretty set on going to Glacier....

Started looking at routes, and it looks like about 11 hours flying time in the Cardinal. If we leave around lunch time on Friday we can get a large chunk of the trip done on Friday and leave a smaller hop for Saturday morning.

After just a brief session of flight planning the thing that jumps out at me is the mountains. We don't have those in Texas (at least not central Texas).

The simplest choice would be to fly into Cut Bank (KCTB) rent a car and drive the last couple hours.

Glacier Park International KGPI would be closer but since I know nothing about mountain flying I'm not sure if that would be a good/safe idea or not.

Thoughts? Any other options I should be looking at?

Thanks,

-Dan
 
Drop Pittsburgh from your itinerary :)

What airport are you flying into?
 
Dude you can't land short and rent a car. No bad GA pilot, bad, bad. Have fun.
 
My plane seems to fly the same over mountains. There is always mountain training in Colorado and plenty of online/book information available before training day.
 
dweyant said:
....... is the mountains. We don't have those in Texas (at least not central Texas).

....since I know nothing about mountain flying I'm not sure if that would be a good/safe idea or not.

Thoughts? Any other options I should be looking at?

Thanks,

-Dan
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Fly in the mornings around the mountains and you will be just fine... If ya got any questions feel free to PM me.....

Ps.. my plane in it's hangar less the three miles from a 13,770 Teton Range.. I fly almost every day..... Done right,, it is magical....
 
Ah, shame you settled on the other side of the country. New England would have been my recommendation.

Oh well, if you make it up to Maine someday I can give you a great list of airports you shouldn't miss and will happily join you on any adventures. Acadia National Park, lighthouse or coastal flights, cheap lobster, camping, fishing, food, etc.
 
dweyant said:
So, the wife seems to be pretty set on going to Glacier....

Started looking at routes, and it looks like about 11 hours flying time in the Cardinal. If we leave around lunch time on Friday we can get a large chunk of the trip done on Friday and leave a smaller hop for Saturday morning.

After just a brief session of flight planning the thing that jumps out at me is the mountains. We don't have those in Texas (at least not central Texas).

The simplest choice would be to fly into Cut Bank (KCTB) rent a car and drive the last couple hours.

Glacier Park International KGPI would be closer but since I know nothing about mountain flying I'm not sure if that would be a good/safe idea or not.

Thoughts? Any other options I should be looking at?

Thanks,

-Dan
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KGPI is easy... The Flathead Valley and Mission Valley are wide and relatively flat with mountains around. You can cross Glacier easy at 12Kft with nice weather. Watch for wind/gust forecast for the mountains and East of Glacier. I would suggest, if you are not comfortable flying at 12Kft or higher, to just follow the interstate and then up from Missoula. There are a lot of flyable valleys in the area...

Glacier Park is the white cap mountains in the upper left of the photo. KGPI is just left of the photo (not in photo). 8S1 is middle left in the photo.
 

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So it is looking like I might be able to talk the wife into flying up to Pittsburgh commercial later in the summer. That would give us two weeks to do Glacier and points between and around.

So, suggestions?

-Dan
 
dweyant said:
So it is looking like I might be able to talk the wife into flying up to Pittsburgh commercial later in the summer. That would give us two weeks to do Glacier and points between and around.

So, suggestions?

-Dan
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Jackson Hole...... Johnson Creek..... :idea:
 
tehmightypirate said:
Ah, shame you settled on the other side of the country. New England would have been my recommendation.

Oh well, if you make it up to Maine someday I can give you a great list of airports you shouldn't miss and will happily join you on any adventures. Acadia National Park, lighthouse or coastal flights, cheap lobster, camping, fishing, food, etc.
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You make it sound like.... Never mind it's on my bucket list!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I don't know how comfortable you are with landing on grass strips, but Ryan field (2MT1) at Glacier is a magical place. The Recreational Aviation Foundation has worked with the Ryan family to make many improvements to the strip to make a great destination even better. Even if you aren't into camping with your plane, a fly-in picnic there during your trip would certainly become a treasured memory.
 
tehmightypirate said:
Ah, shame you settled on the other side of the country. New England would have been my recommendation.

Oh well, if you make it up to Maine someday I can give you a great list of airports you shouldn't miss and will happily join you on any adventures. Acadia National Park, lighthouse or coastal flights, cheap lobster, camping, fishing, food, etc.
Click to expand...

We hope to make it up to the NE in July before school starts back. We will post before going. OBX soon.
 
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