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It was sweltering on the ground during the preflight, and I was happy to get in the air and up to altitude. At 7500 ft. it was a nice 60 deg.
I followed I90 East through Snoqualmie pass, and it was smooth as glass. Passing over Bandera State airport I noticed several gliders parked on the field and there was a lot of radio chatter from the glider pilots. 
I'll have to get a glider rating some day. It looks like a lot of fun, and as I discovered on this trip, a pretty popular sport in Washington. After crossing the cascades I flew over the big windfarm near Ellensberg. There are hundreds of windmills on a ridge here that take advantage of the winds blowing out across the palouse. 
After that I crossed the Columbia River and headed out over the flatlands of Eastern Washington. Density altitudes were pretty high, so I decided to forgo fuel on the flight to S66 in order to keep things as light as possible on the return departure. As I passed South of Ephrata (KEPH)airport I heard more gliders talking on the radio, and then still more passing Deer Park (KDEW).I turned North at Priest Lake (67S) and headed up the valley to Cavanaugh Bay. The normal way to land at S66 is to fly a right-hand pattern over the lake for runway 15 on the way in, and then head back out the way you came in on runway 34.
The runway is hidden by trees, and you can't actually see it until turning final. The winds were calm so this procedure worked well. Runway 15 is an uphill landing, so you have to make sure to keep the yoke way back before touchdown. I'm not sure if 66S qualifies as a soft landing strip since, despite being covered in grass, it is packed HARD and it's a fairly rough rollout.There were about four other airplanes at the tiedowns, each with a tent pitched by it. I parked and walked down the strip to the marina to get lunch.
The lake is beautiful, and the BBQ was going, so I sat outside on the deck and ordered a diet Pepsi and a prime rib sandwich. There were a few people there, and a couple of boats pulled in while I was there as well. The food was good and after I finished eating I went back to the plane and got her ready for the flight back.The first leg would be a short hop to Deer Park to refuel. Since I only had about 15 gallons in the tanks, 62H leaped off the runway quickly despite the fact that density altitude was over 4000'.
There was a lot of glider activity at Deer Park, but they use runway 4/22, while regular GA traffic uses 16/34. I crossed midfield and set up for a left downwind on runway 34. The runway is 6400' long, so you've got a lot of room! I put her down and pumped about 25 gallons into her. Deer Park is sort of in the middle of nowhere, but I think there is an aerial firefighting outfit that bases out of there. On one end of the field was a PBY Catalina air attack plane. I believe this is the only one still in use for this role in the US, though she looks like she's seen better days.
On the other end of the airport was a big Canadair CL-215 "scooper." There were a crew of guys sitting around, and I think they were prepping her to go to California to help fight the fires there.After taking a few pictures I hopped back in to 62H and headed back home. The late afternoon air was smooth and cool at 8500'. I headed back through the pass, and since the winds were so light I dropped down to about 4000' to get a better look at the mountains. Unfortunately at 4000' the heat was up to 80 deg. so I opened the window to let more air in. Eventually I spotted Seattle in the distance,
and I wrapped up the flight with a great landing on runway 34 at S50.Overall a fun day and some great flying. I've posted a lot more pictures from the trip here.
Total time: 6.3 hours.
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