Less Goldner on a 3,300 mile Viking CH-701 Flight with friends

My 55 hour, 3300 mile flight in my Viking HF110 powered Zenith CH701 STOL plane last month.

To summarize, three of us followed rivers and river canyons from the San Francisco area to Yellowstone NP, Canyonlands NP, and the Grand Canyon. We flew between from 50’ AGL to 11,000 feet altitudes, mostly in river canyons, camped out, and had a great time. The Viking engine performed very well during the entire 2-week trip.

Here are some details:

The route took us down/up the following rivers:

• Russian River (Upstream)
• Eel River (Downstream)
• Middle Fork Eel River (Upstream)
• South Fork Trinity River (Downstream)
• Trinity River (Downstream)
• Klamath River (Upstream)
• Rogue River (Upstream)
• Little Deschutes River (Downstream)
• Deschutes River (Downstream)
• Columbia River (Upstream)
• Snake River (Upstream)
• Salmon River (Upstream)
• Lemhi River (Upstream)
• Yellowstone River (Downstream and Upstream)
• Snake River (Downstream)
• Hoback River (Upstream)
• North Beaver Creek (Downstream)
• Green River (Downstream)
• Colorado River (Downstream)

A map of this route, compiled by the trip leader, Stephen Smith (also flying a Zenith CH71) follows: