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| Steve with sister Joan and Brother -in-law, Steve |
We bid Joan & Steve goodbye and took off by 9:30 am. This leg of the trip is my least favorite. With the Rockies in front of us I know that turbulence is likely and oxygen is necessary as we climb high enough to get over the peaks and clouds directly above the peaks.
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| The Rocky Mts. from Bravo |
Today, though moderate turbulence was forecast, at 15,000'we experienced only short periods of light chop. Steve did get nervous when we started losing altitude because of down drafts. He had to struggle to keep us level. At one point we were doing only 90 knots ground speed. Normal cruising speed is 150 knots so we felt we could have been running alongside.
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| the Rocky Mountains in early October after the first snow |
At the end of an hour and 10 minutes N1562B (affectionately known as Bravo) brought us to the end of high altitude flying and into Gunnison, Colorado (elevation 7700');. Our destination was the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. we drove for an hour in a loaner airport car to get there. This is an awesome gorge, so deep, so sheer, and so narrow that very little sunlight can penetrate it, thus it is called "black." The Gunnison River can barely be seen from the rim. It was cold but clear.
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| Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP |
Then back in the car & back in the plane and on to our final destination of the day. We flew for another hour and 45 minutes with a tail wind now to land at Richfield, Utah, where Steve just happened to know a good ice cream store. After refreshments we drove (rental car) to Torrey, Utah where we will be hiking for the next two days in Capitol Reef National Park.
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| Over Flying near Canyonlands National Park |
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