High; fast; crosswinds; less than full flaps plus a short runway added up to a taxi dilemma for a C172 pilot.

Narrative

I was making my fourth trip to the airport. Runway 32 was being used; winds were generally 280@10G17. I believe I turned base earlier than I had done previously which put me slightly higher for final. Because of the prior experience with the gusting cross winds here; I used only two notches of flaps and kept slightly more power than normal on the approach. Being high on final put me further down the runway before leveling off in ground effect. Continuously worked the controls (rudder and ailerons) for the crosswind and to smoothly touchdown. As remaining power was pulled the mains touched and I quickly moved my feet to brakes and applied them too aggressively; resulting in the squeal of locked tires. Brakes were immediately released then reapplied sparingly instead; deciding to use all the remaining runway to slow down. The aircraft was sufficiently slowed down to either safely stop or make a turn after passing the intersection of the turf Runway 8/26. At that point; rather than perform a 360 degree turn on the runway; I elected to taxi straight onto the grass at the end of the runway; make a turn to the left; re-enter the runway and back-taxi to the ramp. I decided to not make a 360 degree turn on the runway because I did not know the state of the tire rubber; and worried that making a turn-around in this narrow runway would put stress on the inside tire and potentially cause a flat. I believed that shutting the aircraft down; manually turning it; and restarting it would have kept the plane on the runway for an extended period of time and potentially create a hazard for other traffic. There were no obstructions; impediments or hazards in the grass area used to make the turn around; and the aircraft was taxied on the grass at slow speed with backpressure on the controls. In reviewing the situation; upon recognizing high final; I should have initiated a go-around. In lieu of that; a more aggressive slip to reduce altitude to ensure touchdown closer to the approach end of the 3300 FT runway would have both resulted in more time to stabilize touchdown and stopping the aircraft. At the time using the grass at the runway to make a turn for the back-taxi seemed like the best alternative. No damage was caused to the surface; plane or any equipment; but upon further reflection; I recognize that there may be an issue with taxiing on a surface that was not prepared for flight; which is the reason for this report.