Chris Madsen

I learned about the Triple Tree fly-in the day after it started and decided Nathan and I couldn’t wait for next year and absolutely needed to check out the 7000 foot grass runway and see what airplane camping is all about.  I originally planned to fly a direct route to the Walmart rally point where the approach into the fly-in begins.  The clouds limited me to about 4,500 feet–lower than I felt comfortable crossing the unfamiliar Appalachians, so we adjusted our course south and only added a few minutes to the entire trip.

Despite crossing further south in the Appalachians than I originally planned, the scenery was still some of the best flying scenery I have experienced.  In the foreground is Yonah Mountain.  According to Wikipedia, it is a popular training ground for rock climbers and used by Army Rangers for training (it even has a helipad).

After landing, we got to off-road the airplane through the trees to our camp site.  The camp grounds were very well maintained with no significant sticks or rocks and the bumps didn’t damage my wheelpants–my main concern at the time.It took a little longer than expected to get the airplane tied down and the tent set up due to the number of people who showed up wanting to see and ask questions about the Sonex.  Here’s Nathan posing after all the visitors left and we finished setting up the camp site.

There are small ponds and walking bridges throughout the campground.  The shower/restroom facilities are fantastic. In addition to airplanes, there was a collection of restored military trucks to look at.  A nearby cannon was used to fire the wakeup call in the morning.We had BBQ from dinner while listening to live music and watching low passes, take-offs, and landings of Air Cams, the C-46 Tinker Bell, and all sorts of radial-engined airplanes.  Here Nathan’s eating the kid’s hot dog meal.  Notice the air traffic control tower in the background.  This lake is where the seaplanes land.

It got a little cold over night and we woke up to dew on the ground and mist rising from the pond.

We found some ground where the sun was shining to warm up before eating a nice big breakfast of eggs, sausage, muffin, potatoes, and orange juice.We left the fly-in Sunday a little before lunch.  We made an early unscheduled pit-stop for a restroom break, fuel, and snacks near Clemson university at Oconee County Airport (CEU).  The stadium is visible in this picture of the northern portion of Lake Hartwell from the flight out.