What’s in the Pacific Northwest?
Tore preface this trip, at the proceeding annual I had some questionable oil analysis results. Me and my A&P decided since the engine was otherwise behaving normally we would change the oil, run 25 hours, and recheck including bore scope and compression. I had an upcoming cross country planned to head home for NY (from CA), and wanted to knock this 25 hours our quickly and get a result on the health of the engine. I hadn’t yet flown in the pacific northwest, no time like the present!
Day 1 The Usual Stops, and some Unexpected Treats
I shot almost directly north with a quick stop in Oakdale, CA for fuel (strangely this small GA airport just outside of a large urban area usually has the cheapest gas west of the Rockies) I would then cross over the Sierras north of Truckee and make my way to a familiar spot, Dead Cow Dry Lake bed. It was a good place to put it down, set up cameras and get going into the adventure. I also stopped at the hot springs, and Black Rock City (currently just the playa) before continuing north to places I’ve never been. These couple of dirt strips
The remainder of the first leg was low altitude flying up to Boise, ID. Some cute dirt strips, nothing challenging other than a few soft spots, maybe slightly too soft for my normal sized tires, but it all worked out. Then I stumbled into the Owyhee Reservoir… This is what aviation is all about.
The runway itself is fairly basic, a narrow dirt strip crossing a peninsula extending into the reservoir. With the exception of some trees at one end, the entry and exit is at water level flat, and at 1800ft there is plenty of room to get it down. However the width of the runway is about the width of my main landing gear, so keeping it on center is critical. The wind was calm, I was well practiced, time to put it down.
The biggest challenge is not the landing, it’s keeping focused on what you’re doing. Being down in this shallow canyon is breathtaking, around every corner is another literally jaw dropping view. It helped that it was getting later in the day and the golden shadows were getting longer when I left… of course, that’s also a sign it’s time to leave or prepare to spend the night… Which surprisingly I wasn’t prepared to do. I opted to continue on and spend the evening in Boise Idaho.
Day 2 Boise to Moses Lake
So the first day was clear skies, low winds with glorious views. For Day 2 however, the weather would start to turn, the terrain would become less forgiving and I would have to put all the back-country chops to the test.
I would choose to head north out of Boise into the mountains, and ended up working my way through a valley landing a couple of grass strips in the process. It was nice, but the ceilings were coming down, and now I was maneuvering in unfamiliar valleys with deteriorating conditions. The ADSB was reporting sky clear ahead, and like many I was tempted to press on.. but then thought better of it. Live to fly another day, and I turned around heading out of the valley and up the western side of the mountain range.
The altitude of these strips was getting higher, the mountains around me less forgiving, and then eventually I broke free of the terrain and enterd the Columbia Basin. It’s expansive and has countless terrain features, but I was on a mission northbound, and the day wouldn’t last forever. I would land at a few spots including the beautiful Grand Coulee Dam Airport before making my way to Moses Lake.
Moses Lake itself is a trip, I have never been there, and didn’t know much about it. On approach seeing what looked like a Boeing Boneyard (really just mothballed 737-MAX aircraft) I recognized this is an aviation community.
Day 3 Rainier and the Coastal Route Home
I’ve decided i’ts impossible to take any picture of Mt. Rainier that can reflect it’s incredible size and beauty. For me, it was remembering 10 years ago when I took an epic 4-month long journey around the country and had the opportunity to climb “Disappointment Cleaver” That seems like so long ago now, but looking at Little Tahoma Peak” out the window it all came back to me like it was yesterday.
The remainder of the flight was uneventful, maintaining about 1500 ft along the coast until reaching San Francisco, then hopping over the Big Sur area and back into SLO. A weekend jaunt of so many experiences, just to check out an engine.