San Diego to Boulder, CO

A place to share flight experiences of any kind. Looking forward to our first "first flight" post.
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bruceh
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Location: Ramona, CA
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San Diego to Boulder, CO

Post by bruceh »

This weekend we had some clear weather across the western US. Enough time to fly out to Boulder to visit our daughter who is attending CU. Also it was a get away weekend for our 26th wedding anniversary. The stars aligned and we decided to go for it. I booked a hotel (Marriott Residence Inn) which is within walking distance to KBDU with my rewards points for free. I also reserved a rental car, but sadly it never was delivered to the airport and the office closes at noon on Saturday. The missing rental car was the only bad thing about the trip, but we were able to ride the RTA busses to get around and over to Pearl St. for dinner.

We launched at sunrise from Ramona (KRNM) and flew mostly direct via Thermal to Needles to the Grand Canyon Dragon corridor, then landed at Page, AZ for fuel. From Page we headed up over Lake Powell towards Montrose, CO, but we could see that the skies were clear in the direction of Boulder so we headed towards Rifle then Kremmling. We crossed the Continental Divide near Eldora ski resort. Once across the divide we descended into Boulder. We did get hit with a couple of strong bumps here and that got my attention.

Here is my APRS track, which was rock solid all the way over very remote terrain.
Image

The return trip was pretty much the same route. We saw that the skies were clear over the divide, so we took off from Boulder and did a couple of circles over the city to gain plenty of altitude before turning west. The winds were gusting over the divide so my plan was to be at least 3000' over the Rollins Pass altitude of 11,700'. We got a bit of turbulence, but it wasn't too bad. I was climbing at Vy at some points and losing altitude in downdrafts, but after getting through them we would also get into some big updrafts. Check out our headwind component and Ground speed of 65 Kts on this screen shot.

Image

We crossed at around 15,700' then descended down to 12,500' and followed the Colorado River valley to Kremmling, Rifle, then down to 10,500' towards Grand Junction. We battled headwinds the entire way and they were less at lower altitudes. We flew right over Moab and Canyonlands at 8500', then over Lake Powell into Page, AZ for another fuel stop.

We flew over the Grand Canyon again, but this time did the Fossil Corridor.

APRS return track.
Image

This was one of my bucket list trips and the scenery along the route is nothing short of spectacular. We took a bunch of photos that are online here.
Bruce Hill
RV-9A N5771H flying over 1100 hours!
Build Log at http://www.overthehills.com/RV-9A-Project
Blog at https://flyingoverthehills.wordpress.com/
EAA Tech Counselor, A&P

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plbarrett2004
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Post by plbarrett2004 »

Excellent trip write up and photos! Thanks for sharing... I'm jealous! Write ups like this are great for keeping me motivated!
Peter Barrett
CFI, CFII, MEI
RV-8 Fastback - Fuselage in progress
Build Log @ papalimabravo.com
SEMPER FIDELIS

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BSwayze
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Post by BSwayze »

I'll second that, Bruce. Spectacular photos! Thanks for sharing. We're looking forward to similar trips, too! Can't wait!!
Bruce Swayze
Portland, Oregon
http://www.BrucesRV7A.com
RV-7A Working on Firewall Forward

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bruceh
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Location: Ramona, CA
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Another San Diego to Boulder trip

Post by bruceh »

I got to fly out to Boulder, CO this month to pick up my wife after she and my daughter drove out there to get her back to CU-Boulder for her last semster. My daughter kept the car there, so I flew out to pick up my wife. Great scenery over the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands, Moab, Rocky Mountains and Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

Photo gallery is here.
Bruce Hill
RV-9A N5771H flying over 1100 hours!
Build Log at http://www.overthehills.com/RV-9A-Project
Blog at https://flyingoverthehills.wordpress.com/
EAA Tech Counselor, A&P

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bruceh
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Location: Ramona, CA
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And yet another trip to Boulder, CO

Post by bruceh »

Another trip across the Rockies to Boulder, CO. This time we got to celebrate our daughter's 21st birthday! Weather on the way out was terrific. Over the Grand Canyon. Gas stop in Page, AZ and then over the Rockies into Boulder.

We got up the next morning and it was getting really breezy. By the time we were ready to depart there were lines of lenticular clouds all along the Rockies from Denver north to Wyoming. We headed south along the Front Range, over Colorado Springs, Pueblo and down to Santa Fe, NM where we crossed. Pretty much the whole way we had some turbulence and headwinds. We stopped at St. Johns, AZ for gas then filed a VFR flight plan to get us back into Ramona. The entire San Diego area was under a VIP TFR for the POTUS. It was my longest day of flying yet at just under 7 hours.

Photo Album is here.
Bruce Hill
RV-9A N5771H flying over 1100 hours!
Build Log at http://www.overthehills.com/RV-9A-Project
Blog at https://flyingoverthehills.wordpress.com/
EAA Tech Counselor, A&P

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captain_john
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Post by captain_john »

Bruce,

You are flying the wheelpants off that thing!

Way to go!

Nice job!

:) CJ
RV-7
Garmin G3X with VP-X & a TMX-IO-360 with G3i
It's all over but the flying! 800+ hours in only 3 years!

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