I'm narrowing down the lodging details now. Slight change of plans. We're probably going to spend a couple nights in Stanley and a couple nights at Smiley Creek. I plan on flying each morning to check out the airstrips I want to see solo and be back by noonish to entertain the fam. Unfortunately I can't really slide the dates of the trip (first week of May). Are most backcountry airstrips in these areas clear of snow by then?

Sorry to hijack this thread but it contains some good resources and I thought it would be good to bring it back to the forefront.

The lower ones will be clear but smiley will probably still have snow. JC, Big Creek, Chamberlain...who knows. May is pretty early but I've been back there in March and April and all the runways along the river were ok, the rest all had snow.

Yellow Pine Inn was for sale but it was still open in August. It is worth a call.

flyer