you should give them as you fly along your route.  Mountain route selection is much more than drawing a straight  line between your departure and destination airports and filing  "direct". A better route is usually found by follow› ing highways, river drainages, and valleys. These  routes will usually be lower and offer better emer› gency landing sites. Also, you should check with •  local experienced pilots if you are planning a trip  into an unfamiliar area to  get recommendations on  routes to use.  Your trip into the mountains will  usually be VFR, dictating pilotage  and dead reckoning navigation. To  plan for this type of flight, you will  need to prepare a log with times and  headings to fly between checkpoints.  This may seem like a nuisance to be  used by student pilots, but it will  keep you from fumbling with charts  and guessing once in flight, possibly leading to disorientation and  getting lost.  As you plan your desired route, also consider what alternate routes  or airports may be available in the event of an emergency. If the  weather is marginal, make sure you have a clearly defined alterna› tive  if  it  deteriorates to the point that you cannot continue to your  destination.  Once you’ve planned your flight, you should also file (and then  activate once airborne) a flight plan with the local flight service sta› tion. If, for some reason, you must make an off airport landing,  having a flight plan activated will get search crews out looking for  you quickly and improve your chances of survival. If for some rea› son you must change your planned route, be sure to update your  flight plan with flight service.  9  Flight Plans and Logs  Route Selection  ~- ...  ~  ..........  _._,~·-···  •-