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Slope Safari 06 through Yellowstone and Jackson, WY
Posted by Greg Smith on Sep 7, 2006, 10:15
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We started the morning in Red Lodge, Montana and headed up the
Beartooth Highway towards Cooke City and Yellowstone National Park;
then on to Jackson, WY. Beartooth Highway is a winding road up to
Beartooth Pass at 10,497 feet or so. the highway was called "the most
beautiful road in America" by Charles Kuralt many years ago and the
same still holds true today. The road simply has to be experienced to
understand the beauty.
For slope soaring enthusiasts, the
Beartooth Highway has numerous pullouts and parking areas that overlook
the valley many thousands of feet below and provide a stunning backdrop
to any slope flight. Most of the landing areas are rock, parking area
or road but there are a few spots a short hike off the road that you
could fly glass ships. I flew the Weasel at a couple of switchback
turnouts and flew the Extreme, briefly, at a beautiful spot overlooking
a couple of small mountain lakes, however, the wind was strong and the
lift was violently unpredictable at that particular spot so I brought
the Extreme back and was lucky to get it down unscathed. The best
flight I had on the pass was just after the summit where there is a
good turnout spot that had a 25-plus MPH wind coming in. The Weasel
flew well and, again, the backdrop of the mountains with many peaks
over 12,000 feet was awe inspiring.
We entered Yellowstone
National Park through the Northeast Entrance not far from Cooke City
and drove through the Lamar Valley. Dave had never been to the park and
so we did a whirlwind tour of the place. We saw many Bison, a Moose and
some Elk as well as the Fountain Paint Pots and Old Faithful. Being a
National Park, and with both plentiful tourists and abundant wildlife
we didn't fly in the park, instead, we planned to meet Frank in Jackson
and so proceeded through the park, out the South Entrance, past the
Tetons and into Jackson.
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| Buffalo in Yellowstone |
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| Fountain Paint Pots, Yellowstone |
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| Old Faithful, Yellowstone |
Flying with Frank in Jackson is great
because he is a local resident and has scoped out several flying areas.
The spot we went to today was the top of a butte overlooking Jackson.
The wind was 25-30 MPH and the lift was roaring. I flew my Extreme,
Frank flew his Carbon Bird and Wizard and Dave flew his Opus. The
planes were screaming around with the the thinner air at about 8,000
feet only adding to the speed. What a great spot!
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| Wyoming Butte Flying |
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| Dave's Opus |
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| Opus - SPEED! |
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| Frank and his Wizard Compact |
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| Wiz |
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| Wizard and the Tetons |
After flying
with Frank we made the drive to Utah via the Swan Valley area of Idaho.
Swan Valley follows the Snake River for much of the drive to Idaho
Falls and we saw several potential flying spots that need to be
explored on our next trip. Not much in the way of accommodations
between Pocatello and the Utah line on I-15 so we stayed not too far
north of Salt Lake City.
Flying in Utah tomorrow!
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