Idaho – River of No Return Wilderness

This tour features a return to a favorite bush flying region – The River of No Return Wilderness – in the rugged mountains of central Idaho.   Starting from Challis (KLLJ) we head into the mountains to Twin Peaks South Fire Tower, then land at several airstrips before reaching the Middle Fork of the Salmon at Mahoney Creek (0U3).  We fly up the middle fork landing at Lower Loon (C53) and Flying B Ranch (12ID) before turning west up the Big Creek drainage.   We will land at seven airstrips fly by two fire towers before heading north to the Sheepeater Fire Tower and our run south along the Salmon with landings at more airstrips and another fire tower.  A final climb from Krassel (24K) will bring us to destination Mc Call (KYML)

FlightPlan(s)  Here

 This tour was designed for and will require a capable bush plane.  I will fly the default Cessna C-185 Skywagon.  I recommend that you elect NOT to carry a passenger and go with 50% fuel to keep weight down and performance up.

Freeware Airstrips

•        Mile Hi Airstrip | CREATIVE MESH
•        Flying B Ranch Landing Strip 12ID
•        Taylor Ranch Landing - 09ID
•        ID28 Mackay Bar
•        Hettinger(South Fork) Ranch
•        Krassel USFS Airport

Optional Payware

•        IDA Idaho Fire Lookouts - MSFS2024 - Orbx
•        85U Soldier Bar Airstrip - MSFS2024 - Orbx
•        IDA Not So Deadly 3 - Cabin Creek, Wilson Bar and Marble Creek - Orbx
•        IDA The Deadly 3 - Dewey Moore, Simonds and Vines Airstrips - Orbx
•        KMYL McCall Municipal Airport - Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 - Orbx

 

Recommend Departure time of 1:00 PM

Particulars:

•        Date and time: Wednesday September 24, 19:00 UTC    
•        RTWR Multiplayer Discord Channel
•        MFS Multiplayer: US Eastcoast Server

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!

 

Foster Ranch in detail
An optional addon for our first stop adds some character to the field.

KCHB Challis bush strip [KCHB]. natedisrud. FS2024.
This is the airstrip for Foster Ranch. The addon nicely depicts a hangar and some ranch buildings as well as some detail clutter. (Note the dependencies.)
Not necessary for the flight. But adds local color.

Big Creek turf runway
Further, you might like to experience Big Creek with a turf runway rather than the default large concrete slab. (Current 2025 charts confirm the classic turf runway.) Here is a modest “fix” for the runway and a bit of a cleanup.

U60 Big Creek (cleanup fix) [U60]. Hellraiser. FS2024.

(Sadly, the excellent 2020 freeware version of Big Creek no longer works in 2024.)