Flying the Edge of America:
Yellowstone National Park (Part One)
Julia and David left Glacier International Airport bright
and early on Saturday, July 12th to ensure they caught the cold morning air
and bright blue skies. David was a little worried about this flight as it
was over very high terrain, but they had perfect weather to fly so it was
the right time to go. To avoid the high ground he plotted a course via all
the valleys and low terrain he could find. They flew due south from Glacier
via a valley that separates the Swan and Mission Mountain Ranges; this kept
them relatively low at 9,500 feet for most of the flight. The scenery
between Glacier and Yellowstone is truly gorgeous and more majestic than
they had imagined. The USA has to have the most beautiful countryside in the
whole world. Every continent has something to offer, but North America has
it all, from deserts to snowcapped mountains, and almost everything in
between. It is really hard to compete with the natural beauty of North
America.
Snowcapped mountain peaks
As they flew past the Scapegoat Wilderness the high
valley opened up to elevated plains. On either side of them were snowcapped
mountain peaks. They wiggled their way past the Highland Mountains where
they saw national forests in every direction. David climbed Matilda up to
11,500 feet to ensure they had lots of separation from the ground, and to
lessen the dominance of the mountains towering around them. They passed the
Tobacco Root Mountains where the high plains closed back up to a high
valley. The Gravelly Mountains were to the west of them and the Madison
Mountain Range to their east.
From the air it is very clear that Yellowstone is
surrounded by a ring of mountains. What is not so obvious is that these
mountains are the rim of a crater left by an explosion of a super-volcano
that formed Yellowstone. They flew all the way down the valley to Henrys
Lake, which is in Idaho, to avoid the towering mountains before turning west
and flying back into Montana. As they turned the corner before them lay the
Madison Valley, the town of West Yellowstone, and the Yellowstone National
Park beyond it. The landing at West Yellowstone Airport was simple and
without incident.
Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park was the first of its kind
worldwide to be created back in 1872. There is both beauty and danger for
visitors at Yellowstone. Julia and David figured that if the super-volcano
was going to go off during the next few days they would be annihilated
instantly, making it a very good place to be. The alternative would be a
slow painful death as the earth plunged into another ice age after the
explosion. They figured that if it did not go off then exploring it would be
a fascinating endeavor. A few years ago there was a BBC TV show all about
the volcano. Julia was living in San Francisco and she remembered her mum
phoned from England in a panic, because she was living so near to the
monstrous thing. Her mom felt it would be advisable for Julia to pack up her
life, say goodbye to America, and return home to the safety of good old
England. The potential super-volcanic eruption did seem scary to her too,
but she decided to stay in the US and continue her life rather than flee
back to the relative safety of the old blighty. Her mum did not seem to
totally understand Julia's decision and to this day she occasionally says,
"Darling, are you sure about America, don"t forget there's a big earthquake
coming to the Bay Area and Yellowstone is overdue."
Video of the flight Yellowstone
Continue the adventure, in my next excerpt from
Flying the Edge of America.