We started out the weekend before the BCP fly-in, leaving Southern Oregon for McCall, ID. We'd hoped to get into the Middle Fork strips on Saturday, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Instead, we spent two extra nights in McCall. We had a great time trying out some new restaurants and checking out the town.
We met up with Highroad and his family on Sunday night, and left for the Middle Fork together on Monday. We landed at Indian Creek and checked it out, and then continued to Thomas Creek. I'd been in there before, but had always wanted to camp there since I'd heard about the nice hot springs a couple of miles away.
We had a great time camping with Highroad's family down by the river for two nights. Very nice camping down there, if you like primitive camping. Easy access to water from the river, and the kids had endless rocks to through into the river.
After some initial trouble finding the right trail, and suffering a few attacks by Hank, the crazy grouse (?!), we all made it to the Sunflower hot springs, which were amazing. It was beautiful sitting in the hot spring right over the middle fork of the salmon in the cool evening.
We flew out to the Flying B for breakfast one morning from Thomas Creek, which was a treat.
After two nights at Thomas Creek, we decided to head over to Johnson Creek on Wednesday, to set up camp there for the BCP fly-in. From Johnson Creek, we flew out to Mackay Bar for breakfast. I'd been wanting to go into Mackay Bar for quite some time, and I was not disappointed. What a beautiful place! Fun approach, too.
We had a fantastic time at the BCP fly-in, went to Yellow Pine, hiked to the tub, etc. Thanks again to everyone who put this fly-in together! It was so much fun getting to meet old friends and make some new ones.
Sunday morning, we left Johnson Creek for McCall to do laundry. After a week of camping with two young kids, pretty much everything needed washing! On Tuesday, we flew up to Polson, MT. We borrowed one of the three available courtesy cars there (!) and did some exploring around Flathead Lake, up to Bigfork, and did some swimming in the beautiful but not-so-warm lake. Wednesday, we flew from Polson into Schafer Meadows. What a beautiful place!
Due to the late spring, the managing ranger had just arrived a few days earlier. There had been some issues with "bold" black bears initially, as the snow level was still low forcing them down close to the strip and campground. By the time we arrived, they had moved up to higher elevations. While we saw plenty of tracks and scat from both black bear, grizzly bear and wolves, we weren't bothered by any of them. The only animal that bothered us were the mosquitos, who were out in force.
We did some hiking around the area, and along the middle fork of the Flathead River. This is some of the best wilderness airplane camping you can get in the lower 48. Beautiful!
We spent three nights at Schafer, enjoying the beautiful surroundings and the overall peacefulness. The kids really enjoyed it. My daughter did some whittling, and our son constructed elaborate "signs" to tell the bears to stay away from the bear box.
From Schafer, we flew northwest to Cavanaugh Bay. It was a bit of a culture shock coming from a place like Schafer where we'd been more or less alone in the wilderness to a bustling grass strip and marina, but I have to admit it was pretty nice to just be able to sit down and have someone bring you dinner and a beer. The grass at Cavanaugh is as plush as a 70's shag carpet, and the showers were definitely needed and welcome. We borrowed the courtesy car and explored a bit before heading back for milkshakes at the marina at sunset.
On our way back from Cavanaugh, we stopped at McMinnville to check out the new water park at the Evergreen Museum. The building that houses the waterpark features a retired cargo 747 on the roof from which many of the water slides start. You climb up into the cargo hold and slide down tubes coming out the side of the fuselage. Pretty awesome. The kids had such a great time we barely made it out of there before sunset to fly the rest of the way home.
All in all, we slept in our tent 10 nights. The kids got so used to it, they had a hard time adjusting back to their own beds when we got home!
Every time I take a flying trip with my family I have to pinch myself. This is what I always dreamed of being able to do before I even got my certificate or had a family. It's such an amazing thing to not only be able to live my dream, but to be able to share it with the love of my life and my two kids. We're a really lucky bunch, us backcountry pilots!
