My wife and I had a great visit to WY in our 55 170b last summer. Along with with the challenge of ops at high altitudes, there was... um, a lot of wind...
One day we were short on fuel and fighting winds so we opted for a nice flat spot about 20 miles North of Rock Springs. We pounded our ground anchors and spent the afternoon hanging out in the baggage area (no rear seat) while we wide-eyed our tie-downs stretching....Easily 60+ MPH gusts once it really got cranking. As forecast, it eventually died down, and we had a great time camping and hiking around the area.
Is this just normal WY flying? Do you all just keep hurricane tie down kits as standard equip? How big of a factor does the wind play in your day to day flying?
The basin down there can be particularly bad. Wind seems to funnel along the I-80 corridor, particularly around South Pass. I use the Windy app a lot leading up to a trip and pick my days kind of carefully just in general if I want a good experience. If you have to go sometimes you just have to deal with it to whatever your limit is. Not a great response, I know but if you have the flexibility to pick your days it is really great.
And yes, the only time my tie downs leave the airplane is when I'm pulling everything out for maintenance!