Thanks, Ben! Flying Western WY

Cap'n Jack

Cap'n Jack

Final Approach
Joined
Jun 25, 2006
Messages
9,507
Location
Nebraska
Display Name
Cap'n Jack
Home Airfield
Lincoln
I just got back from vacation. Ben in Jackson hole was kind enough to take us flying over the Teton mountons and Yellowstone Park. He is a great tour guide.

The Grand Prismatic Hot Spring looks like something on another planet when viewed from the air. Some of the color is from bacteria (green & orange/reds)- the blue from from the water- I suspect suspended colloidal silica contributes to the blue from scattered light.
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I got to fly close to mountains- like an eagle!
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The wind was really calm that day- note the reflections in the image below:
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We caught a geyser going off:
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We also got a unique look at the Yellowstone waterfalls-
Upper falls, Yellowstone River:
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Yellowstone River, lower falls:
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Some rapids:
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Ben- thanks again for the flight, and the intro to mountain flying, also for the restaurant recommendation. We got to see a couple of moose too.

I really wish we had more time- I would have enjoyed talking to you more.
 

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Wow, great photos! I've only seen Yellowstone from the ground, now I'd love to fly over it. Are you supposed to fly 2,000 ft over it?
 
bluee said:
Wow, great photos! I've only seen Yellowstone from the ground, now I'd love to fly over it. Are you supposed to fly 2,000 ft over it?
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We flew the entire trip at 10,000+ so in most cases we were 2000 AGL... The pictures look close because Jack had a lens on his camera that would make the Hubble telescope look tiny.:yikes:. Jack and his wife picked a perfect day to fly. Other then the smoke in the air.. it was dead calm at ground level and little if any ridge top winds blowing. On days like that you can literally drag your wing on the rocks of the mountians safely.. :yesnod::)

Ben.
 
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Jeanie said:
That looks like it was a great flight!
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Flying over Yellowstone is breath taking for sure,,,,, Altho I prefer doing it in the wintertime with 10 feet of snow on the ground,, Then it is downright Magical .:):yesnod:. And you can pick out hundreds of thermal features from all the columns of steam rising off of them.

Ben.
 
Awesome pictures! Ben is a great host.
 
N801BH said:
We flew the entire trip at 10,000+ so in most cases we were 2000 AGL... The pictures look close because Jack had a lens on his camera that would make the Hubble telescope look tiny.:yikes:. Jack and his wife picked a perfect day to fly. Other then the smoke in the air.. it was dead calm at ground level and little if any ridge top winds blowing. On days like that you can literally drag your wing on the rocks of the mountians safely.. :yesnod::)

Ben.
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Yep- We kept it high, 2000 feet AGL. We got enough people complaining about "little planes" as it is.


The big lens really was because I can't run faster than one of these:
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or one of these:
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And these tend to get spooked if you get too close:
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As do coyotes:
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The lens wasn't that large- just a rental 50-500 mm on a 1.4x teleconverter feeding a subframe sensor.
 

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Jack..... The pic of the Buffalo is outstanding...... :yesnod::yesnod::yesnod::yesnod: That could make a cover picture on any edition of National Geographics.... :)


Ben.
 
Everskyward said:
Nice pictures! Sounds like you had a great time!
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N801BH said:
Jack..... The pic of the Buffalo is outstanding...... :yesnod::yesnod::yesnod::yesnod: That could make a cover picture on any edition of National Geographics.... :)


Ben.
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Thanks to both of you- you both are very kind! We had a great time, Ben played a big role in that!

Ben- We did see some moose. In Teton Park, there are signs thet generally point south that say "Moose". We followed them and found these:
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These are the first moose either of us have seen wild.
 

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My sister was a m00se...

(Damn, I can't do slashed 0 from iPhone/Tapatalk...)
 
Way cool, and the photos are magnificent!
 
Thanks for the Yellowstone photos. The next time I'm flying in western Wyoming that is an area that I must go see from 2000 agl.
 
Wonderful pictures! I especially like how people are in the pic with the prismatic hot spring. (Previously, every pic I had seen of the hot spring I didn't get a sense of scale.)

Thanks, Ben and Jack.
 
I flew out of JAC once a number of years ago. Didn't have a camera like that, so my pictures weren't as good. Had a good time, but was a little disappointed with the mountain flying instruction I thought I was going to get. Oh well... Next time I'm in the area I'm going to have to look up Ben and try again.

Beautiful country and pictures!
 
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