This time I blame it on Yogi Bear. I grew up watching his cartoons, and through them learned all about smarter-than-average bears, picnic baskets, forest rangers and national parks. One day I found out that Jellystone was actually based on Yellowstone a real place, and since then I always wanted to go there.
Well, a friend is also responsible. Alan and I were talking a year ago and he mentioned he was going to Yellowstone and suggested I join him and his family. At the time I was not sure I would be able to make it, but I made the lodge reservations anyway. One year later, here we are, getting ready for the trip.
I decided to make it a fly-yourself there kind of trip. The way the airline hub and spoke system works, it would have taken me about the same time to fly there via the airlines as going a more direct route on a small plane by myself. And flying yourself is way more fun! It does take some preparation, though.
The first step was to get checked out on the plane I intend to use for the trip. Last time I had made a long trip I took a Cessna 172, but this time I would be dealing with higher altitudes and thought a little more power would be useful, so I decided on a Cessna 182. That's 55 more horses under the hood and better performance up there where the air is thin. So I got an instructor and went flying with him, practicing until he was satisfied with my performance. This was followed by a few months of flying the plane on my own, taking small trips and practicing instrument approaches until I felt comfortable with how it handles.
Next came the route. Figuring it out was juggling three factors: time, altitude and distance to civilization. I could fly high and go in a straight line, but that would involve long periods of time away from everything. I could fly low and stay close to roads, but that would make the trip way too long. In the end I settled for a compromise: I chose a route that would require climbing above 12500 ft (the magic altitude at which oxygen is required) only for a short period of time and that would take me away from civilization for about forty minutes. I sat down with two pilot friends to go over the route and they both agreed that it was a reasonable one. The flight planning software told me it was a six hour trip, so the route was set.
Finally, it was time to go shopping for essentials. Most of the survival equipment I needed I had already bought for a previous trip across the U.S., so that was a done deal. Oxygen, in case I needed it, I borrowed from a friend. All that was missing was emergency rations (aka junk food) and a trip to the supermarket took care of that. I needed a container for the food, though, and a good friend provided me with the perfect container for a trip to Yellowstone: a picnic basket.
