I just got back from Chamberlain Basin. It's at 5765' elevation. There are two runways, 7/25 is 4100' long and 15/33 is 2700' long.

I almost had the place to myself. There were three other people there, the forest service ranger and a father/son team that had a contract to do maintenance on the strip. They had just finished maintenance on the main E/W strip, and were starting to work on the N/S X-wind strip.

Since the Chamberlain airstrip is in the Frank Church wilderness, they can't use motorized or wheeled equipment to work the strip. So, they're using mules! Here's a box plow called a fresno that they use to take down the high spots and fill in the low spots:


Here are Frank and Matt Loomis driving the mule team with a grader on the N/S strip.


This is a shot looking north up the strip


And, the obligatory aerial view.


I spoke with the forest ranger (Brandon), and he was quite welcoming and pleasant. He'll be closing up the ranger station for the winter very soon.

Frank and Matt Loomis were doing a fantastic job, and had a wealth of stories. They packed in with several mules from the end of the road at Big Creek. It took them 9 hours to make the trip, compared to 15 minutes in my 172. One year they had a contract to take apart a 38,000 lb Cat D6 and haul it out. They thought they could use a wagon for part of the trip, but no wheeled vehicles allowed, so it got packed out on mules!

At any rate, the main strip is in great shape. All that remains is for them to plant grass in the areas that they graded. The X-wind strip is currently closed while they work on it.

This wilderness no wheels is BULLSHIT!!!! I was at fish lake this year. It is in wilderness. Looked in the shed, what did I see? A wheelbarrow and a ground driven mower. When the government wants wheels it ok. You want to mountain bike or use a elk cart, no way.

The mowin machine at Moose Creek has wheels but is pulled by horses or mules.

Tim

Chamberlain,
One of my favorite spots for camping.
Besides the fire rings and a couple wobbly pit toilets, your on your own.
Peaceful except for the Wolves. You probably heard them.
Had a deer camp with me for two nights... Probably saw my rifle (Wolf deterrent).

Einstein looks to be getting around OK. Sorry, can't remember the other pups name.

Fraser

Skytruck brings up a good point. Chamberlain Basin is absolutely a place where you could encounter wolves. Personally, I would rather see a wolf than some fat ass on an ATV any day of the week. They are unlikely to bother humans, but the same can't be said for your mutts. Remember that dogs are wolves, many generations removed. Wolves will see dogs as a competing wolf pack, and they will kill them if they have the opportunity. So, yes, I brought "deterrent".

Einstein is the white border collie sitting next to the fresno. My other dog is named Potato Head, but my Mom said I couldn't call her that so I renamed her to Potato Blossom, because all three of us knew it really meant Potato Head. Over time I shortened it up to Blossom, but some days she's still a potato head. Sigh... your mom shouldn't be able to boss you around once you reach your 40s! Blossom isn't pictured, that's the Loomis's dog in the picture of the grader. They had quite the menagerie of animals there, several mules and three or four dogs.

Hou cold was it?

Tim

qmdv wrote:Hou cold was it?

Tim

Very pleasant during the day, mid 60's.

Night would have brought tears to my eyes if my tear ducts hadn't frozen. It was 22 degrees this morning when I got up, and the low was probably a couple of degrees colder than that. I left my sport-cat catalytic propane tent heater at home thinking I wouldn't need it. I won't make that mistake again!

Just a little nit-pickin from a Fresno native. Actually twenty mile south at Kingsburg, but close enough to have dragged the damned things with both horses and an old Ford Tractor, a Case Tractor, and a Farmall.

The full name is a Fresno SCRAPER.
They eventually evolved to about fifty feet or longer with the scraper in the middle and used to flatten out the cotton and hay fields for more even - consistent irrigation.
That fella in the Idaho Exposed video seems to have managed to get the name shortened - or is that Shane Hortened. Is there another story there?

Hmm

Chris C

wannabe wrote:Just a little nit-pickin from a Fresno native. Actually twenty mile south at Kingsburg, but close enough to have dragged the damned things with both horses and an old Ford Tractor, a Case Tractor, and a Farmall.

The full name is a Fresno SCRAPER.
They eventually evolved to about fifty feet or longer with the scraper in the middle and used to flatten out the cotton and hay fields for more even - consistent irrigation.
That fella in the Idaho Exposed video seems to have managed to get the name shortened - or is that Shane Hortened. Is there another story there?

Hmm

Chris C

After they streached it out to 50 ft they started calling it a land plane.
http://www.parmacompany.com/landplane.html They get much longer than that. The first half of 16R at my place was land planed befor it was planted. Smooooth.

Tim

kevbert wrote:

qmdv wrote:Hou cold was it?

Tim

Very pleasant during the day, mid 60's.

Night would have brought tears to my eyes if my tear ducts hadn't frozen. It was 22 degrees this morning when I got up, and the low was probably a couple of degrees colder than that. I left my sport-cat catalytic propane tent heater at home thinking I wouldn't need it. I won't make that mistake again!

WHat were you thinking.. It gets down to the 30's at JC in July at night....

kev
what type of tent do you have ? will it hold in the heat with help from coleman,,in the winter..

Ernie

I was thinking that it would get down into the twenties, and I brought a good mummy bag plus a polyester fleece liner to keep me warm, and a good insulated pad for underneath I was actually warm enough when I was inside the bag, the big problem was that I wasn't acclimated. The cold air on my face and breathing the cold air kept waking me up! My old man always used to complain that the older he got, the lighter he slept and the most trivial things would wake him up. I'm beginning to see what he was talking about!

Here's the sleeping bag liner I use. I bought a couple of them when they were $6 apiece. They're still a fantastic bargain at $10.
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/CAMP145-1.html

I just had a cheapie 2-man nylon tent and fly. It's my favorite tent for airplane camping because it's so small and light, but it of course doesn't hold the heat. When there's no wind, I usually measure about a five degree difference inside vs. outside the tent when I'm in it with my two dogs. I have a couple of much better tents, but they weigh too much and have too much bulk for my plane. As for the catalytic heater, the few times I've used it, I didn't measure the temperature difference, but I would guess that it was at least 15 to 20 degrees warmer inside the tent while it was running full blast. With a good tent, you could turn it down and make your propane last longer.