Coast-to-Coast in the Mooney M20J

Leg 5 - 9/25/2021 - Cody, WY (KCOD) to West Yellowstone, MT (KWYS) via Sylvan Pass and Jackson Hole, WY

Leg Stats

• Time Enroute: 2.2 hrs
• Distance (direct): 90nm
• Distance (actual): 228nm
• Fuel Used: 18.7 gal

The weather went pretty much according to plan, and the Winds Aloft forecast showed light winds aloft, and cool temps (good DAs), so I decided it was safe to cross into Yellowstone on Saturday morning. Sylvan Pass is around 8600 ft MSL, so I had planned the crossing at 10,500 ft. 6500 ft DA on takeoff in COD, but the airplane performed fine and the crossing wasn't very bumpy at all, despite the winds aloft being more than forecast. The scenery continued to get better as we approached Sylvan Pass. Once we got through Sylvan Pass (by itself a pretty scenic flight), we flew over Yellowstone Lake (7700ft MSL), under clear if a bit hazy skies, and headed down into Jackson Hole to make a flyby of the Grand Tetons at basically eye level. Courtesy called JAC Tower and they asked me to stay west of final, close to the mountains, which was pretty cool. Not bumpy at all, despite being right next to the mountains. It was an amazingly scenic flight. We headed back up towards Yellowstone, maintained 2000 AGL, and did a couple quick loops around Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring, and landed in West Yellowstone. We walked over to the main terminal and got our rental car and booked a hotel. Katherine found a great bar to have lunch (and margaritas!) at on the nearby lake in Montana, and afterwards we dropped off Magic at the hotel and headed right into the park. We did the north part of the park first, heading up towards Mammoth Spring and seeing lots of Buffalo and cool sights. We also went by one of the major Geyser areas at sunset. Second day we went south towards Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, and the rest. Katherine and I felt the Grand Prismatic spring was much better seen from the air, but we also found a trail to hike up and view it from a small mountain nearby, which was much better. We got to Old Faithful right on time, and we saw it erupt with only 10-15 minutes of waiting. We saw the paint pots, lots of other thermal areas, and went by Yellowstone Lake. We ended the day at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which was incredible. Back in town, we would play toss with Magic in the city park, which was great. We had dinner from a taco truck adjacent to the park. We also stopped one night and got Magic some McDonalds nuggets as an apology for leaving her crated for 2 straight days. Our hotel was the most expensive of the trip, at over $300 per night, and it was a Best Western Motel, but at least it had a fairly good hot breakfast buffet and an attentive staff. I managed to smuggle out some breakfast sausage for Magic both days. West Yellowstone itself isn't much of a town, but we walked around a little bit and got the obligatory Magic photo with the state flag, near the park entrance. The park entrance was literally 1/4 mile from our motel.

Yellowstone

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