Alaska - May '07

It is May 5th, 07' about 8am and I've just departed Troutdale, Oregon for my second Super Cub trip to Alaska. I will be flying up with Loni Habersetzer (Cubdriver749er) Check out Loni's we ...

2009-02-11T18:36:56Z

cubdriver
It is May 5th, 07' about 8am and I've just departed Troutdale, Oregon for my second Super Cub trip to Alaska. I will be flying up with Loni Habersetzer (Cubdriver749er) Check out Loni's we ...

This is Loni's (Cubdriver749er) airstrip, about a 15 minute flight from Troutdale (KTTD). His hanger/condo is on the right with 749er' ready to go out front.

2009-02-11T18:45:19Z

cubdriver
This is Loni's (Cubdriver749er) airstrip, about a 15 minute flight from Troutdale (KTTD). His hanger/condo is on the right with 749er' ready to go out front.

I circled above while Loni got fired up and taxi'd for takeoff. Our next stop will be Orroville, Washington (0S7) for fuel and Canadian customs notification.

2009-02-11T18:48:35Z

cubdriver
I circled above while Loni got fired up and taxi'd for takeoff. Our next stop will be Orroville, Washington (0S7) for fuel and Canadian customs notification.

Mt. St. Helens, we are flying to the NE.

2009-02-11T18:38:21Z

cubdriver
Mt. St. Helens, we are flying to the NE.

Mt. Ranier. We are pretty much on the eastern slopes of the cascade mountains flying north.

2009-02-11T18:43:41Z

cubdriver
Mt. Ranier. We are pretty much on the eastern slopes of the cascade mountains flying north.

cubdriver's photo

2009-02-11T18:34:24Z

Alaska - May '07

It is May 5th, 07' about 8am and I've just departed Troutdale, Oregon for my second Super Cub trip to Alaska. I will be flying up with Loni Habersetzer (Cubdriver749er) Check out Loni's we ...

This is Loni's (Cubdriver749er) airstrip, about a 15 minute flight from Troutdale (KTTD). His hanger/condo is on the right with 749er' ready to go out front.

I circled above while Loni got fired up and taxi'd for takeoff. Our next stop will be Orroville, Washington (0S7) for fuel and Canadian customs notification.

Mt. St. Helens, we are flying to the NE.

Mt. Ranier. We are pretty much on the eastern slopes of the cascade mountains flying north.

cubdriver's photo

cubdriver's photo

This is the Stuart Range in the Wenatchee Mountains. After flying for about an hour and a half it already looks like Alaska.

Our first stop was Scott Field at Oroville, Washington

Final approach, Scott Field, Oroville.

Loni and I met up with Shaun Lunt in Oroville. We traveled together the rest of the way to Wasilla, Alaska. Topping off with fuel at Oroville is a good idea. Fuel in Kelowna would take lo ...

cubdriver's photo

Customs clearance parking at Kelowna. Getting through customs is fast. I had a shotgun with me and paying the permit fee is done on the ramp now instead of in the terminal.

First off airport landings of the trip. This is the Quesnel River a few miles east of the Quesnel airport.

Shawn and I let some air out of our tires. I was in paved airport mode and this size rock was definitely felt at touchdown.

End of day 1. Quesnel has a nice camping area as well as a pilots lounge with a weather terminal and showers. Loni on the left, Shaun on the right.

Here we are in Smithers, BC. Very windy today, 30-35 kts. during stretches as we got closer to Smithers. We all landing cross wise to the runway on the infield grass. After the approx. 24 ...

Smithers looking west. The coast range mountains.

cubdriver's photo

Shaun is checking weather at the Smithers terminal.

cubdriver's photo

We stopped at Bob Quinn Lake airstrip to take a break. This strips serves the Eskay Creek Mine for the Barrick Corporation. The aircraft on approach is for crew change.

Departing Bob Quinn Lake for Smithers, BC.

We are flying towards Dease Lake and generally following the Cassiar Highway (route 37). This highway was developed to serve as a haul road for logging and mining. The Cassiar mine was clo ...

We have made to Dease Lake for fuel. Next stop will be Whitehorse.

Snow showers shortly after leaving Dease Lake.

Overall the day turned out great.

Yukon River about 30 miles from Whitehorse. We are going to land on the teardrop shaped island. Caribou were spotted on the shore.

We took our time while on the ground. Lot's of daylight this time of year.

This was a nice stop before we got into Whitehorse.

Landing here was interesting with the contours in the sand.

Whitehorse, Yukon. The Yukon River flows past the town. They have a designated grass runway here which is nice for aircraft with tundra tires.

Maybe an hour from the Mat-Su valley near Anchorage. The Chugach Mountains in the distance.

cubdriver's photo

We took a break on the Nelchina river, we are about 90 miles from Wasilla.

cubdriver's photo

The visibility dropped as we entered Sheep Mountain Pass. The Glen Highway is below.

Palmer in the distance. The Matanuska River as it heads towards Cook Inlet.

We saw this unusual airplane in Birchwood. This is an Evangel Air 4500-300 II. Very rare.

Nick and Sheila are the owners of Northern Wilderness Adventures and operate the outfit that Loni flies for. We are stocking up for our stay at Marabou Landing on the Mulchatna River. Chec ...

Picking out the last bit that will fit in my airplane.

Mt. Spurr volcano. Steam is venting as we pass by.

We flew southwest from Wasilla through the Telaquana pass in the Alaska Range. This is Telaquana Lake.

We stopped at the top of the lake to stretch. On short approach wolves were crossing in front of me.

cubdriver's photo

cubdriver's photo

cubdriver's photo

This hill is called Outlook. The photo was taken from the strip at Marabou Landing.

After we unloaded and settled into camp we went for an evening of flying. Sunset is about 10:15pm.

cubdriver's photo

Fuel run to Illiamna, about 40 minutes from Marabou.

cubdriver's photo

Port Alsworth on Lake Clark

We spotted this moose as we were overflying for landing. We walked a short ways and she was still near.

cubdriver's photo

Don Martin kept busy filming for a DVD production that he and Loni are producing together.

cubdriver's photo

Don has been guiding at Marabou Landing for 12 years.

cubdriver's photo

cubdriver's photo

cubdriver's photo

cubdriver's photo

cubdriver's photo

This area is called Sheep Camp. We are on the Stony River.

Frequently the snow would avalanche and the noise created was incredible.

cubdriver's photo

Nick is the master guide for the camp. Doug guided Pat Reeve of Driven 24/7 on a spring bear hunt.

Pat Reeve with his trophy Grizzly.

Ronnie is having a little fun with the bear. Ronnie is the daughter of Sharon our cook.

Doug guided a great hunt for Pat. They filmed the hunt for showing this fall.

We went back up to Telaquana Lake to do some fishing.

We upset the terns by being too close to their nests. We were dive bombed in retaliation.

Loni getting attacked.

I caught a few nice lake trout.

Back up on the Stony to do some camping. This area is just spectacular.

It is probably a mile across in this stretch of the canyon. Feels much tighter when you are flying it.

The airplanes and the camp are in the far distance. The camp is about 1500 ft. elevation and the peaks are almost 7000 ft.

A moose paid us a visit in the morning.

cubdriver's photo