If you are in the LA basin, you can use the pass north of San Bernardino to
Apple Valley or the pass north of Burbank to Lancaster.

If you are in the southern central valley, you can use
Bakersfield-Tehachapi-Mojave.

If you are in the northern central valley, you can use
Reno-Truckee-Sacramento.

Nobody who has ever had an engine failure will cross the Sierra (or any
rugged mountain range) without a long straight stretch of highway or flat
unforested unrocked meadow underneath them the whole way. There are those
who say crossings like the various passes through Yosemite have "hundreds of
places to set it down". That is true, but there are not 100% of places to
set it down. That is, there are stretches where losing an engine means
losing, at best, the airplane.

If you intend to stay on the left side of the Sierra, Kern Valley (Lake
Isabella) is a nice little strip and a walk around the lake is pretty (check
AIM; quite often during snowmelt part of the runway is under water). Pine
Mountain Lake is nice but the lake is pretty small.

Or, like I said, you can go to the Rutan birthday bash Saturday afternoon at
Mojave.

Jim

--
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought
without accepting it."
--Aristotle


"Tom" wrote in message
...
Thanks, all, for the suggestions. Could anybody share any information
on preferred routes to cross the Sierra?

Having said that, looking at the likely density altitude this weekend
I might well elect not to cross, but instead to find somewhere on the
western side to land and go for a stroll or hike.





On Jun 18, 9:48 pm, wrote:
On Jun 18, 1:31 pm, Tom wrote:





Hi all - I'm looking for a recommendation. I'm flying from Palo Alto
down to Taft-Kern (L17), and then taking a day to fly back (in a
'gutless Cutlass'). I'd like to detour to somewhere in the Sierra to
make the trip back more interesting, so I am looking for a
recommendation of somewhere to fly into that is scenic, is near
somewhere that is cool to visit for hiking in said lovely scenery,
where it's possible to make the logistics work (ie no rental car
necessary, or one on the field).

The area I'm looking at is Kern-Valley / Lone Pine / Eastern Sierra /
Mammoth. If you head east from San Fran, then rollow the Sierra range
down until you are due north of LA, that defines the area.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Tom

Try Kern Valley (L05). A nice little airport with a cafe on the
airport.

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