Fly In, Tie Down, Rent Car in Estes Park Area?

In a few weeks my kids and I are going to fly to Colorado and rent a car for
a week of camping. We're going to meet my brother and his kids in Rocky
Mountain National Park and then drive around with him in separate cars. I
fly a Cessna 170 and am interested in economy. Any suggestions where to fly
into or make any of the other logistics work? Thanks in advance.

David Grah
Bishop, California

Closest airports are Longmont (2V2), Boulder (1V5) or Granby (KGNB).
Longmont is the nicest (my home field) and has an inst. approach. Arrange a
car through AirWest - 303 776-6266. Boulder is ok. Town is much more fun
than Longmont, but the airport is not as nice and has no inst. approaches.
Granby requires mountain flying and has no FBO, so the car rental will be
more difficult.

Nearest ILS is JeffCo (KBJC) - probably a good choice on the rare occasion
we get low ceilings around here.

Michael

"Marry Daniel or David Grah" wrote in message
...
In a few weeks my kids and I are going to fly to Colorado and rent a car
for
a week of camping. We're going to meet my brother and his kids in Rocky
Mountain National Park and then drive around with him in separate cars. I
fly a Cessna 170 and am interested in economy. Any suggestions where to
fly
into or make any of the other logistics work? Thanks in advance.

David Grah
Bishop, California

Hi,
Longmont(2V2) and Ft. Collins/Loveland (FNL) are about equal
distances from Estes Park. 2V2 has a VOR and GPS approach,
and FNL has those plus an ILS. I can't speak for overnight parking
fee's at either, but 2V2 has self-serve fuel right on the main ramp
(Airwest) and it's pretty reasonable. Last I checked about $2.25
a gallon. Plenty of ramp space there. They're pretty friendly at
Airwest and I'm sure can get something set up with a rental car.
From there, or FNL, it's a quick drive up Hwy34, or Hwy36,
to Estes Park, a great place to visit.

If you've never flown out here, Interstate 70 looks pretty appealing
as a way through the Rockies, I'd avoid it in a C170. There are
some tight canyons especially east of Vail where many a plane
has met trouble. I'd go up north over RWL and LAR and drop
in from the north (I-80). The other high altitude challenge is east
of Milford (MLF). Being from BIH you should already be
pretty aware of density altitude, and of course all the military
airspace between you and MLF.

Have a good trip,
Chris

"Marry Daniel or David Grah" wrote in message
...
In a few weeks my kids and I are going to fly to Colorado and rent a car
for
a week of camping. We're going to meet my brother and his kids in Rocky
Mountain National Park and then drive around with him in separate cars. I
fly a Cessna 170 and am interested in economy. Any suggestions where to
fly
into or make any of the other logistics work? Thanks in advance.

David Grah
Bishop, California

"Michael 182" writes:

Closest airports are Longmont (2V2), Boulder (1V5) or Granby (KGNB).

in terms of straight-line distance:
2V2: Vance Brand, Longmont (20.6 NM)
FNL: Fort Collins-Loveland Muni (23.7 NM)
1V5: Boulder Muni, Boulder (24.1 NM)
GNB: Granby-Grand County (24.9 NM)
3V5: Fort Collins Downtown, Fort Collins (25.3 NM)

in terms of estimated driving time:
2V2: Vance Brand, Longmont, CO (58 minutes)
1V5: Boulder Muni, Boulder, CO (60 minutes)
FNL: Fort Collins-Loveland Muni (70 minutes)
3V5: Fort Collins Downtown, Fort Collins (80 minutes)
GNB: Granby-Grand County (405! minutes)

http://aviationtoolbox.org/old/nearb...30&airport=BIH

I'd go with Fort Collins just because I'd love to spend some
time there again.

(There are also several private strips in the area.)

Nearest ILS is JeffCo (KBJC)

FNL is 10 NM closer.
http://www.airnav.com/airport/FNL/ils/33

--kyler

Man, I knew I should have used your web site. It's a great service, by the
way - I use it all the time. For anyone who doesn't know it:
http://aviationtoolbox.org/old/nearby_airports The "old" leads me to ask if
you have a "new" version, Kyler.

The driving time from Granby is obviously wrong. I think it is assuming
Trail Ridge Rd is closed (which is all winter) and one has to drive all the
way around through Golden and Boulder. In the summer the drive is about 70
minutes over slow but beautiful Trail Ridge Rd.

FNL is a great airport. Only caution is that it is very heavily used for
inst. training, so be aware where the IAP fix COLLN is, since you will hear
lots of calls related to COLLN.

Longmont (2V2) is a big skydiving airport. When skydiving is going on don't
cross mid-field since the jumpers land inside the pattern. They land to the
left of 29 about 1000 feet from the departure end.

Michael





"Kyler Laird" wrote in message
...
"Michael 182" writes:

Closest airports are Longmont (2V2), Boulder (1V5) or Granby (KGNB).

in terms of straight-line distance:
2V2: Vance Brand, Longmont (20.6 NM)
FNL: Fort Collins-Loveland Muni (23.7 NM)
1V5: Boulder Muni, Boulder (24.1 NM)
GNB: Granby-Grand County (24.9 NM)
3V5: Fort Collins Downtown, Fort Collins (25.3 NM)

in terms of estimated driving time:
2V2: Vance Brand, Longmont, CO (58 minutes)
1V5: Boulder Muni, Boulder, CO (60 minutes)
FNL: Fort Collins-Loveland Muni (70 minutes)
3V5: Fort Collins Downtown, Fort Collins (80 minutes)
GNB: Granby-Grand County (405! minutes)


http://aviationtoolbox.org/old/nearb...30&airport=BIH

I'd go with Fort Collins just because I'd love to spend some
time there again.

(There are also several private strips in the area.)

Nearest ILS is JeffCo (KBJC)

FNL is 10 NM closer.
http://www.airnav.com/airport/FNL/ils/33

--kyler

"Michael 182" writes:

Man, I knew I should have used your web site. It's a great service, by the
way - I use it all the time. For anyone who doesn't know it:
http://aviationtoolbox.org/old/nearby_airports The "old" leads me to ask if
you have a "new" version, Kyler.

Good to hear that you find it useful. No, there's no "new" version...yet.
The "old" means that it was from back in my CGI days. (It's Perl.) I hope
to rewrite it in Python under Zope someday but I'm starting from the bottom,
creating the pieces that go into it so that "nearby airport locator" is just
a trivial little bit of glue for a bunch of components.

Besides being easier to maintain, this approach should give me a system that
others can easily use to make their own tools. My tool, for example, has
some pet-friendly features. Others might want stuff I wouldn't even
consider. I want them to be able to easily build something that suits their
needs.

So...it'll take me awhile...

The driving time from Granby is obviously wrong. I think it is assuming
Trail Ridge Rd is closed (which is all winter) and one has to drive all the
way around through Golden and Boulder. In the summer the drive is about 70
minutes over slow but beautiful Trail Ridge Rd.

Yes, I tried both "shortest" and "fastest" directions but it always went
around to the south. I wondered why it wasn't taking the shorter route.

--kyler