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Idaho Backcountry 2011 Trip Report

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I just got home yesterday from another epic trip to the Idaho Backcountry. This year we left on Tuesday morning at daylight from Jackson, CA. After 7 hours we arrived at Johnson Creek. Wednesday morning we departed early for Sulphur Creek to have an awesome breakfast at the lodge. From there we cruised down the Middle Fork of the Salmon and hit Thomas Creek, Soldier Bar, and Mile Hi. Thursday morning we flew to McCall for fuel and then over to Dixie for breakfast at their lodge. From there we jammed down the canyon to Wilson Bar. From there we went to Warren but there was some weird winds so we opted not to land it. The air became super rough that day and we had a pretty unpleasant trip back over to Johnson Creek. Friday morning we all flew back over to the Salmon for breakfast at Flying B ranch. That place was absolutely beautiful. After Flying B we went back to Mile Hi to help out a fellow Aviator who had some issues with his plane up there. Watching fellow aviators come together to help out someone in trouble is just one of the reasons I love this community so much. Saturday morning we got up early and went out for fuel again. After that we hit Cabin Creek, Vines, and Dewey (Gooey) Moore. Dewey had a spring running right down the middle of it. My plane was covered in mud after that one. You know you have a good trip when you get home and you have tons of junk hanging off your tailwheel and your wings and horizontal stab are covered in mud.

Saturday afternoon I hooked up with parents and cousin Matt. They drove down to see me and Matt did an awesome presentation about the challenges he has faced since being involved in an Avalanche two years ago while snowmobiling. It was really cool to have sound and HD video around a campfire in the Backcountry. Thanks Matt for your time! You are a true inspiration to everyone around you.

Sunday morning we left early and headed for home. We fueled in Council Idaho and then headed for Denio Junction, NV. The flight to Denio was nice. I cruised at 10ft AGL across the desert for 80 miles. It made it go a little quicker and I saw some antelope and wild horses.

After leaving Denio we got into some really nasty air. At times I was full throttle and descending at 6-700fpm. After 1000ft of altitude loss you would then get into a 1500fpm updraft. At one point I was at idle and pushing the nose over so far all I could see was ground and I was still climbing at 1500 fpm. The ups and downs were almost perfectly timed. I suspect it was some form of Mountain Wave. I finally just pulled back one time to 45mph and next thing I knew I was at 11,500. It finally smoothed out so we just stayed up there clear to the Sierras. I've never been that high in the Avid before. I was near gross weight and cruising at 75mph over the ground at 11,500 with a 65hp Rotax. This little airplane never ceases to amaze me!! After 8.2 on the Hobbs I landed at Nut Tree.

Overall on the trip page of my GPS we flew 1900 miles and I logged 27.2 hours on the Hobbs. Enjoy the pictures!!

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Alvord Desert and the Steens

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Camp Pops

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Sulpher Creek Lodge

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Someone departing Sulpher

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Thomas Creek

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Soldier Bar the first time

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Pops cub attracts all types young and old

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Lodge in Dixie town

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Wilson Bar with Daves killer dog on the Runway. Don't mess with that thing!

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Rob looking like he just did something bad

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Flying B

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Mile Hi from a little bit higher

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This shot has been posted a lot but here's one more

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4 of the 6 were that day were experimentals...Two Rans S-7's, a Highlander, and my Avid

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Went for a hike on Friday to get some shots like Matt posted last year. I went to the rock outcroppings up on the West side of the strip. That hill is steep!!

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The Kitfox crew at Cabin Creek

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Our guest speaker Matt preparing for his first ever flight in a small plane

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Matt giving his talk. A big special thanks to everyone who donated! Matt and I are almost the same age and grew up together. This was the first time I had heard him talk about a lot of that stuff and it was pretty tough to keep a dry eye. His story was very amazing and powerful.

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Headed home at 11,700 at a screaming 74mph ground speed.

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Posted

Ephen AWESOME pics Joey! sumbitch that makes me wanna come down and play with the BCP crew! Nice write up. Pretty damn timely too :lol: Course, I know you had internet so your sorry ass could have posted a few teaser pics over the weekend :lmao:

:BC:

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Sorry Leni just seemed wrong to screw off on the internet in a setting like that. You should have seen how many people would sit around in the evenings doing work and other things they should not have worried about while out there on their computers. About the only internet I did was calling my wife on Skype each evening to check in. Gotta love technology!

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Posted

Great stuff Joey,Sounds like it was a great time.A bunch of my buddies that usually do the Super Cub deal didnt go this year because the weather has been so crappy,glad it worked out for you.I get my plane inspected on July 9th so after my 40 is flown off I may be able to make next years.I will probably go in a couple times with a friend in his Super Cub before I attempt it but it will happen.How did you do on fuel burn and is your 582 still purring?Randy

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Great pics Joey, and a great write-up. How was the performance of your plane on those strips compared to sea level? What did it do to you TO and landing distances and rate of climb? Sounds like some good excitement and even better with no bent or broken hardware. Hope to hook up on a trip like that with you sometime. Maybe get Leni and Jack to take a trip south with me if we can get all of our planes flying at once.:beerchug:

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Posted

Great stuff Joey,Sounds like it was a great time.A bunch of my buddies that usually do the Super Cub deal didnt go this year because the weather has been so crappy,glad it worked out for you.I get my plane inspected on July 9th so after my 40 is flown off I may be able to make next years.I will probably go in a couple times with a friend in his Super Cub before I attempt it but it will happen.How did you do on fuel burn and is your 582 still purring?Randy

Great pics Joey, and a great write-up. How was the performance of your plane on those strips compared to sea level? What did it do to you TO and landing distances and rate of climb? Sounds like some good excitement and even better with no bent or broken hardware. Hope to hook up on a trip like that with you sometime. Maybe get Leni and Jack to take a trip south with me if we can get all of our planes flying at once.:beerchug:

Randy and Randy,

At 11,500 using the Hacman to lean out my 582 I had my fuel burn down to 3.8gph at almost wide open. Without it leaned I'm not even sure it would have ran up that high. In that last pic you can see that even at at 11.5 my EGT's were 1100 degrees still. I used the Hacman alot even on takeoff from the higher elevation strips. With it full rich I would only get like 6000 rpm. With a couple turns out on the Hac I would get my normal 6300 on takeoff and the difference in power was very noticeable.

Performance up there is hard to compare to Sea Level as far as take off goes because most of the strips are on some sort of incline and rough as hell. Rolls are definitely longer but even at 6000ft I was still getting off in 2-300ft. Most of the strips up there are around 1000ft. It's almost like cheating. At camp a 180 would just be breaking ground when they went by our campspot and we would be 300ft in air by that spot. Between the deadstick takeoff guy in his Highlander, 6 Rans S-7's and myself we stole the show in the performance dept. Everytime I came back and stopped in 75ft people would come down to my camp to see the Avid and see what the heck it was. They were jealous as hell that we could perform like that and only burn 4gph when they were burning 12gph in Maule or 180/185. Fun stuff! I love this little airplane!

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They were jealous as hell that we could perform like that and only burn 4gph when they were burning 12gph in Maule or 180/185. Fun stuff! I love this little airplane!

:P LOL, what Avid or Kitfox owner doesn't love to see these comments?! I have 5-6 Maules in my area all with the big engine and the owners all seem to think they are the cat's ass. Sure are nice in many respects, but whenever I fly with 'em I still have to bite my tongue and lean waaay forward to help get on step quicker. And yeah, L-O-T-S-A gas! They are happy that self serve 100LL is back down to about $5.25-$5.50/gal here, but full service still over $7.00. ouch

You and Randy continue to post awesome pics and chronicle some really great Avid adventures. Love it, thanks for sharing. :BC:

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Posted

Uploaded a few vids to Youtube

Being comfortable in a tight canyon is an absolute must when flying the Idaho Backcountry

Crossed this ridge at 9500ft.. Some big country up there!

Flying Low over Nevada. This went on for miles!

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