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Steve, sounds really interesting. I just looked it up, it is less than 800 NM from Winchester. I can do that easy in one day. I keep this in mind as a back up if Idaho doesn't work out this year.
Some monsoonal rain last week and a front with lots of lightning last night cleaned up the air for a few hours but the smoke rolled back in today, just doesn't want to clear up this year.
Juergen, smoke yesterday but today was great visibility. My son flew from South East Idaho to Arlington, Washington direct today and had excellent visibility, some haze, the whole flight. His flight took him over the Frank Church wilderness area and it was wide open. It varies from day to day, but as we get closer to fall, the nights are cooler with higher humidity and the fires tend to die down at night. What happens during the following day will depend on the winds. When you get closer to the time you want to head out, let me know and maybe I will have a sense of what is going on. I'm pretty good at throwing a handful of chicken bones on the ground and coming up with an answer. If you do come out this way, it will give me an excuse to commit aviation.
Juergen, smoke yesterday but today was great visibility. My son flew from South East Idaho to Arlington, Washington direct today and had excellent visibility, some haze, the whole flight. His flight took him over the Frank Church wilderness area and it was wide open. It varies from day to day, but as we get closer to fall, the nights are cooler with higher humidity and the fires tend to die down at night. What happens during the following day will depend on the winds. When you get closer to the time you want to head out, let me know and maybe I will have a sense of what is going on. I'm pretty good at throwing a handful of chicken bones on the ground and coming up with an answer. If you do come out this way, it will give me an excuse to commit aviation.
Thanks a lot, I am hopeful the smoke will clear out by the middle of September. The temperature at night might be still OK for camping. If it’s too cold, then I stay at McCall in a hotel.
I’m planning to be in McCall next Sunday. Stay in a hotel the first night and then over to Johnson creek on Monday the 13th. Will see how cold it feels at night. If it’s too cold, then back to McCall to stay in a hotel. I’ve been monitoring the Webcams and I think it looks OK (I hope).
After covering 1,719 NM in two days, I arrived at McCall Idaho on Sunday. Close to Johnson Creek I flew through smoke that was so thick it felt like I was flying IFR. Nevertheless, when I flew over Johnson Creek it was clear weather with good visibility. Flew into Johnson creek and Reed Ranch on Monday with really clear condition. Yesterday (Tuesday), I tried to get into Thomas Creek and Mahoney Creek, it was clear all the way until I got within 6 Miles of Thomas Creek, but the valleys below were covered in (I believe) smoke. I turned around and flew into Landmark.
I'll stay until the end of the week and pick more locations that are in the clear. The temperatures are too low at night for me to camp, so I'm staying at McCall. When I'm done here I'm off to Bozeman, MT to meet up with my wife. We will fly and drive Yellowstone for a couple of days. Then off to Mount Rushmore before we start hitting back home.