The Flying Cowboys of Central Utah

January 3, 20215 yr

The Flying Cowboys of Central Utah. 38U-KPUC.
For Wednesday January 6, 2021

Today we shall fly over the rugged country of Central Utah. This route is inspired by videos of Utah's Flying Cowboys enjoying the area's scenery. (Again, we somehow have obtained permission to fly below 2,000 feet in the National Parks.)

We begin with a quick exploration of the Capitol Reef National Park, a north-south parkland that is 60 miles long and 6 miles wide. The area was originally labeled "Wayne Wonderland" by its early promoters: we begin at Wayne Wonderland [38U] airport. We fly east and initially follow Utah 24 in the Fremont River Canyon. The rock formations are red at first but give way to the whitish Navajo Sandstone cliffs and dome formations of the Waterpocket Fold. Just east of the National Park Visitor Center, we briefly turn south along Scenic Drive and then almost immediately northeast to follow the Grand Wash. Flying low, but not too low, we pass Cassidy Arch (not in the scenery) and The Narrows (appropriately named) before rejoining Utah 24 and heading east again. After about three miles, we climb up to and land on a small mesa, fictionally designated OK View, for an off airport landing. This is a wide smooth spot for a quick look around.

We recommence, crossing the Freemont River to pass over the massive South Cainesville Mesa. Optionally, we land at Cain Point on the northeast tip of the mesa. We shall enjoy the impressive all around vista. (This is very optional – it probably requires STOL equipment. Land from the northwest to the southeast to take advantage of the uphill run. A low pass would be the reasonable thing to do.) Next, we turn over the Mars Desert Research Station to set up a landing at the long paved runway at Hanksville [KHVE]. Take care of your tires.

We then head north to visit one of backcountry's bucket list airports, Hidden Splendor [U660]. The runway slopes upward from south to north, so the "best" approach requires flying through the Muddy Creek Canyon. Enter from the south at Salt Wash and then follow the twists out to the open, making a quick left and then right to set up your approach. The runway is high (4811 ft) and short (1910 ft) and narrow. Each end falls steeply off the plateau. Entertaining.

Return south through Muddy Creek Canyon and turn northeast along the San Rafael Reef to the rough desert strip at Temple Mountain. This is a bare north-south strip alongside the blacktop Goblin Valley Road. There is not much here so we execute a quick touch-n-go and follow Temple Mountain Wash (a notch in the Reef) to turn north past Temple Mountain itself. We fly over some very rough county in the San Rafael Swell to land at Cliff Dweller Flat. The runway is southeast to northwest: land in the middle to avoid poor conditions at the southern end. We take off and pick up Interstate 70 as it curves through the land and descends through Spotted Wolf Canyon onto the desert floor below. Then northwards to cross over the San Rafael Reef through a spectacular notch to take in the breathtaking sight of Mexican Mountain and its cliff-surrounded valleys below. We land at beautiful Mexican Mountain [692]. Typically, pilots land uphill from east to west and takeoff downhill from west to east. Mexican Mountain and Hidden Splendor represent two of the real gems of backcountry Utah.

Next to the northwest stands Cedar Mountain Airstrip. This lies at 7538 feet with one end of the runway at the edge of a steep cliffside. The preferred approach is from north to south to take advantage of the upwards slope. However, the runway's length will accommodate either direction as may be dictated by the winds. Again, from the southern end the high cliffside views are outstanding. We cross the lowlands to ascend up Horse Canyon and Little Horse Canyon. You can see the twisting switchback road along which the Tavaputs Ranch family team drives their cattle – up for summer and down for winter. We pass over Tavaputs Ranch itself as we circle to land at the Tavaputs Ranch Airstrip [UT09]. Again, land from northeast to southwest to take advantage of the slope. You are at 9200 feet.

A turn toward Flat Top (a touch and go?) and then a dramatic descent to Rock Creek below which we follow out to Rock Creek Rapids of the Green River. We land at Rock Creek Airstrip. Then north to follow the twists and turns as we fly upstream on the Green River in Desolation Canyon. This is one of the least-populated regions of the country. After a bit of low on-the-river flying, perhaps a bit of water-skiing, we land on another mesa for Sandwash Backcountry Strip (SAND).

Westward, we follow Nine Mile Canyon (forty miles long) which looks like a narrow crevasse in the larger high country. The canyon is filled with Native American artifacts and petroglyphs which have attracted the attention of both tourists and archeologists. We pass over one of the better sites, The Great Hunt. Of course, these petroglyphs are not modeled in MSFS. (We should demand more of Asobo! ... ) We land at the Stone Cabin natural gas fields. This long and unkept strip is largely unused. It serviced the gas industry and was officially recognized as Interplanetary Airstrip. (Apparently one worker scratched that name into a stone marker. And the BLM officials were sufficiently impressed to assign the strip this formal name.) We continue about seven miles to land at Nine Mile Ranch. We use the back pasture/grass airfield immediately south of the main ranch buildings. Land long to shorten the walk to the grill for a quick cheese sandwhich. We complete the day by descending to Carbon County Regional (KPUC) and the city of Price, Utah.

Documentation
The flightplan and Pilots Guide can be found here.

Aircraft
This Wednesday is designed for short airstrip and rough field landings. Many of the airfields are at altitude. A natural for this are the freeware STOL Cubs Savage Carbon and the Savage Grravel, both by "Got Gravel". (The Carbon has a sophisticated light weight design; the Gravvel has cubic inches. I shall fly the latter in the "Snowpiercer" livery.) Other small "bush" GA aircraft will be suitable for most of these airstrips. As ever, please fly what you like.

Scenery
You want two freeware sceneries for this week: Hidden Splendor Airstrip and Mexican Mountain Airstrip, both by Baddweapon

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Wednesday, set the simulator at 12:30pm local. We shall prefer to fly real weather. (The desert weather is typically fine with clear skies. This is essentially a VFR event so if the weather is awful, you might pick one of the pre-sets to provide appropriate conditions.)

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Wednesday, January 6, 2021. 1900 UTC
Where: AVSIM RTWR Teamspeak - Casual Flights Channel
Teamspeak Server Address: ts.teamavsim.com
Multiplayer: Microsoft Flight Simulator MP. North America East server.