5 National Parks In 12 Days - A Mooney Cross Country Adventure

[AlexLev]

Hey Mooney friends,

It's been a while and I come to you fresh of a cross country adventure I wanted to share with ya in my 1968 M20G.

Here was the route:

Day 1: Friday: KIAG>KMSN (3hr 20min), $154.01 fuel cost (may include overnight parking fees)
A quick leg after work on Friday evening, landed IFR on the ILS in moderate rain. A quick over night stopover, a friend who worked at UPS picked me up from the airport and we had lunch at Coopers Tavern (had a pretty awesome Swiss Mushroom burger out that way)! It was neat to see the capitol building in Madison and learn how it was the largest building aside from the one in DC. Overall, even though the weather was cruddy, it was a beautiful stop.

Day 2: Saturday: KMSN (Madison, WI) > KLYV (2hr 55min) (DIVERTED TO) > KFSD (Sioux Falls, SD),  $146.78 fuel cost (may include overnight parking fees)
Departed in IFR around 6am out of Madison and was planning a 3 hour leg for a fuel stop to KLYV, but after shooting an LPV approach into KLYV, had to go missed (my first one in a while) and diverted to KFSD. It was a needed break, took the crew car and went to Josiah's Cafe for lunch. Overall, I'm glad I diverted to KFSD since the airport had services and even though I paid a bit more in fuel, I could just go take a much needed break after a challenging early AM departure and half the flight being in IMC.

Day 2: Saturday: KLYV > KRAP (Rapid City, SD) (2hr 15min): $121.97 fuel cost (may include overnight parking fees)
Arrived about 12:30pm. Got a rental car and bolted to Mount Rushmore - enjoyed seeing it for the first time and walking around the "presidents walk" for different views of Rushmore. After Rushmore, headed for Custer State Park - the oldest State Park in America and hiked the Sunday Gulch Trail which so majestic and beautiful. Definitely recommend it. Spend the next few hours driving around the parks wildlife loop and caught some Elk up close, before heading back to Rapid City after a long ass day, grabbed takeout at Minerva's on the way home.

Day 3: Sunday KRAP > KWYS (3hrs): approx $132.63 fuel cost
Sunday morning, drove about an hour to check out Badlands National Park and bought an annual park pass. Badlands was beautiful, but I only explored the surface of it. Some gorgeous vistas, but no hikes were done. In the afternoon, drove to the airport and flew out to Yellowstone, to overfly the Devil's Tower Monument on the way and Mount Rushmore on the way out of KRAP. The visibility to KWYS was BAAAD, I was at around 12,490ft for most of the flight - due to the wildfires, the vis was between 2 and 3 miles. I was ready to ask for a special VFR clearance, but the vis was advertised at 3 miles by the time I got in. I could only see the airport as I was directly over it, so I descended over the field. Luckily, the runway is huge. THIS AIRPORT IS THE BEST. It had a free camp grounds, Gene, tied the airplane down, got the rental car AND gave me bear spray to borrow! No parking fees or overnight fees for the approx 5 days I parked here. In the evening, mostly just relaxed...got some BBQ at Firehole which was delicious and got ready for an early day at Yellowstone the next day.

Day 4-8 (Mon-Thu): Yellowstone/Grand Tetons (didn't fly anywhere because KJAC only has like 6 tiedown spots by reservation only so no spots):
Highlights: using the Gypsy Guide app to explore the park, hiking the Ferry Falls, Avalanche Mountain (the best thing in Yellowstone if you're fit), of course exploring the geyser's, old faithful, yellowstone lake, the canyon areas, so picturesque and beautiful!

In Teton National Park, the Death Canyon hike to Phelps Lake was beautiful and a nice glacier swim was warranted in the lakes as well. Saw a fox on the hike in :).

Day 9-10: KWYS > KGPI (2hrs) approx $122.96 (includes overnight parking fees) - took the ILS into KGPI due to poor visibility from the smoke/haze. Glacier was neat, loved the hike to to the Grisnell Glacier Overlook (about a 12 mile round trip), Around the Sun Road, huckleberries, the hidden lake walk from logan pass and driving through the park. The Gypsy Guide app was helpful in exploring it, along with AllTrails

Day 11: KGPI > 20U (Beach, ND) (3hrs) approx $131.40 - okay finally, an airport with no one here...except Joe. Whoever he is, he used to run the airport. I called ahead and the owner said I could take the beat up crewcar minivan overnight. Perfect! Explored a little bit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park from the town of Medora, ND. Did some short hikes and star gazing.

Day 12: (20U > KRRL > KIAG) (7hrs 30min) approx $310 fuel cost A LONG DAY BACK....started the morning at 5am with a 10 mile hike in Theodore Roosevelt National Park through the Lone Tree Loop Trail, lots of bison, praire dogs and even wild horses encountered. Probably my favorite National Park out of all of them, then a longass flight back. Started a smaller leg, but the place I was planning to initially land (KRZN), when I got to TPA, someone who landed there told me the fuel was out of service, so I diverted to KRRL. Sucks because KRZN was supposed to have $2.99 fuel...really extended the first leg from KIAG TO KRRL to about 4 hrs 15 mins which pushed my endurance a bit, esp after a long hike. However, I got a nice dinner at KRRL and some espresso to fuel me up for the last leg home. Arrived just before midnight local time.

What an adventure!

If anyone has any questions about the specific airports, wants some recommendations for the parks, etc...I'm happy to provide. I'll also post some pictures in the next few threads. Mooney's are incredibly, efficient, adventure machines!

[carusoam]

Way to go Alex!

Great pirep too!

Go Mooney!

Best regards,

-a-