11-17 July Trip to Yellowstone and Rapid City

Decided to stretch the legs a bit and take a trip to Yellowstone and the Black Hills of SD last week. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their 2 teenagers from England planned a big RV trip (the 4+ wheel kind!). Their plan was to fly to Denver after staying a couple of days with us to pick up the RV and drive to Yellowstone, Winnemucca NV, San Francisco, LA, and finally Vegas. We decided that since we had never seen Yellowstone we would join them in West Yellowstone.
11 July: The English part of the family left at 0510 to go to the airport to fly to Denver. My wife, Daughter and her boyfriend left the house at 0630 and took off from 52F at 0711 heading for KFTG. The weather was great and soon we were cruising at 10,500, 171KTAS at 11.5gph (not bad for an O-540). Unfortunately we had a headwind (a recurring theme during the entire trip!) but still covered the 535nm in 3:27 (161kts avg). The FBO was great and loaned us a nice airport car for the night since we were leaving early the next morning. We drove to the RV pickup place and arrived just after our relatives arrived; proving again that on trip of less that 600nm the RV is faster point to point than commercial.

Guys up front for CG and ladies in back sleeping.


Lots of flat land in the Texas Panhandle with huge cattle yards and lots of lots oil well pads.

Running 175KTAS at 11.5gph ? but 16kts headwind!

There is Pikes Peak and my old Alma Mater (USAFA) off in the distance. I was amazed how green it was this time of year.

Here is my brother-in-law picking up the ?other? RV. He was surprised they did not take him out for a driving lesson! They left to drive to Rawlings WY to get to Yellowstone by 4pm the next day. We decided to explore Denver and have dinner with some friends.

It was a beautiful day and the Capitol building was very impressive.

At the Art Museum they had cars with a white wrap that were being used as canvas for Artist to decorate. The sky started to look threatening so we decided to go and meet friends for dinner.

Yellowstone and Rapid City Part 2

12 July: We took off from KFTG at 0802 and headed to KWYS after heading East to clear the Class B airspace. Strong headwinds today at all altitudes, 3:24 to cover 461nm (136kts average)

Heading Northwest , just crossing into Wyoming. Great weather again!

Just under an hour out and at 12,500 to get a smoother ride and to get through Togwotee pass. 175KTAS with a 30kt to 40kt headwind!

Getting Close! Here are the Grand Tetons!

And the Togwothee pass!

Yellowstone and Old Faithful just off the nose erupting!

The lodge at Old Faithful.

The Grand Prismatic Spring! What an awesome sight!

Tied down and waiting for the rental car at West Yellowstone. Time to buy the 7 day park pass and go to the park!

The paint Pots – the colors from the bacterial mats are amazing!

Here is a better look at the bacterial mats.

Yellowstone and Rapid City Part 3


One of the pools, amazing how blue and clear it is. After looking at some mud pots and steam vents we headed back to West Yellowstone to check into the cabin and meet the wheeled RVers.

Moose Cabin with my wife and daughter doing their imitation of a moose. It was very comfortable, walking distance of the restaurants and with a strong moose theme throughout! Time to go to the RV park to see if UK contingent has checked in.

Time for some adult beverages after all the travelling! Michael had a lot of tails of low bridges, strong winds and keeping a 10 foot wide RV in one lane! We had a great dinner in town and adjourned for the day.

Everyone’s ready for the first full day of exploring Yellowstone! We spent the first day concentrating on the southern loop and the 2nd day on the Northern loop. Hundreds of pictures taken so here are some highlights.

Grand Prismatic Spring from Ground level.

Old Faithful!

Inside the Lodge at Old Faithful, fantastic construction with something interesting to see everywhere you looked.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, breathtaking!

Got held up twice for 45 minutes in traffic because this guy wanted to walk in the middle of the road .

Speaking of wildlife! These Elk were all over Mammoth Hot Springs, even had a picnic with us. After many more sights and a BBQ at our cabin it was time to leave for Rapid City.

Yellowstone and Rapid City Part 4

15 July: Unfortunately the weather forecast was wrong and we woke to very heavy rain and low ceilings. The weather cleared enough by 1000 that the ceilings would let us fly through Sylvan Pass. We launched at 1007 and flew 397nm in 2:33 (headwinds again though only about 10kts).

The ceilings were about 12500 msl and the pass was clear. We followed a C-182 about 1500ft below us who landed at Cody. The ADS-B gave weather and traffic the entire flight. Once clear of the pass the weather improved.

We deviated to the North some to fly by Devils Tower, taking care to stay 3nm away for reasons of National Welfare(?). Then on to Crazy Horse!

Crazy Horse - Lot of work done, lot’s more to do!

Mt Rushmore was next and very impressive from the air. Landed at KRAP and parked at Westjet. 32

Once we got the rental car we grabbed lunch at Sanford’s Grub and Pub, fun decoration and good food. We then headed to Crazy Horse.


It was very impressive and had a good presentation on the history and lots of interesting items on display as well as Native American dances being performed. Well worth the visit. Very strong moved in so we skipped going to the Mt Rushmore lighting ceremony that night and headed back to Rapid City. The next morning we went to see the Mammoth site at Hot Springs, SD.

It is an active “dig’ site and to date they have discovered 61 Mammoths, more than anywhere else in the world, with probably twice as many still buried. They estimate it will take another 75 to 100 years to recover all the bones in the site. It was very interesting with a very good tour, well worth stopping for.

The drive from Hot Springs to Wind Cave National Park was very scenic with lots of antelope, buffalo, and prairie dogs. The wind cave is a dry cave and contains 95% of the world’s boxwork structure. Now on to Mt Rushmore after stopping for lunch in Custer, SD. The drive up Iron Mountain Road to Mt Rushmore was incredible. It is probably one of the most scenic roads I have driven on. As you go through one of the single lane tunnels, Mt Rushmore is framed by the tunnel.


The lighting ceremony was very well done and truly patriotic. All good things must come to an end so the next morning it was time to head home to the heat of Texas.

Yellowstone and Rapid City Part 5

17 July: Departed KRAP at 0938 for a 432nm flight to KHUT (Hutchinson KS) to stop for food at the Airport Steak House and refuel. Headwinds again meant it took 2:50 to arrive. Luckily we got there just before they closed for lunch and enjoyed the great buffet.


The interesting entrance to the restaurant!
Final leg was from KHUT to 52F 315nm in 2:14 (20-30kt headwinds again!). Had to make a slight diversion to get around some build ups. Total flight time 14:28 for 2,140nm for a 148kt average, guess I should have done the reverse route to get tailwinds Great trip made possible by a great airplane!

Amazing! What camera do you have?

Vlad said:

Amazing! What camera do you have?

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Hi Vlad, that is a great compliment coming from the master to trip reports!

I used an older Nikon D40 for most of the pictures and my Samsung Galaxy S5 for some of the others such as inside the lodge and some of the quick snaps from the airplane or at the airports.

TJ

Camera !!

Vlad said:

Amazing! What camera do you have?

Click to expand...

Ya, me too, I keep trying to wipe the dust off of my computer screen. See panel pics.

Need to clean my displays!

SportAvServ said:

Ya, me too, I keep trying to wipe the dust off of my computer screen. See panel pics.

Click to expand...

LOL, I wasn't sure what you were talking about until I saw the panel picture and you are right, it looks like I have dust on my computer screen. Guess I need to clean the panel!

By the way, that picture was from my phone, a Samsung Galaxy S5.

TJ