On our first morning, we left OGD and headed to Denio Junction. I had been there once while fighting fire during college. I was on a helitack crew then and we used the strip to base out of. I wanted to see if the strip was still usable and if the resturant was still open. I remember the pictures of the big game taken in the area and the head mounts on the wall, as well as one of the best burgers I had ever had. So, we flew over and found the strip to be in good shape so we decided to drop in. Since we didn't know if there would be food available, we had made a lunch and enjoyed it on one of their picnic tables out front.
From there we heade over to Lakeview,OR for fuel. Great FBO and fuel for $3.98. From there we headed up past Crater Lake and on to Mc Kenzie Bridge where we spent the night. Great runway that we had all to ourselves. Although we were prepared to deal with my son, Adam's allergies to pine pollen, we had no idea that being pregnant would make my wife react to it. After she had a miserable night, she said that she couldn't do a week of this, so we headed to Lebanon, OR to call her docter and find a drug store. Luckily this was another great FBO that took really good care of us. After fueling for $3.45, we called her doc and were told what she could take. Then it was off to Walmart. Medicine in hand along with a few more supplies, we headed back to the airport, had lunch, and launched for Nehalem Bay, where we spent the night.
Once camp was set up at Nehalem, we walked up to Manzanita to find a new sippy cup for Adam since we had left his in Lebanon (it was cheaper to buy a new one than fly back to get it
). Luckily they had one and life was good again. A local gave us a lift from the store back to the runway. We met a nice couple from England as well as a group in RV-4s from Florida, who we would camp next to at JC a few days later. That night we celebrated Adam's 2 year birthday. We also watched a heard of elk cross the runway around sunset. A couple of nice bulls in that heard too.The next morning we were supposed to head to Orcas Island via Copalis, but weather was moving into the San Juans, so after a quick call to the AWOSs at Arcadia and Hoqium, we decided we could get to Copalis but had better skip ORS. After a beutiful flight up the coast, we found Copalis and landed. Probably the smoothest surface I've ever landed on. It was really fun! The beach was scattered with whole sand dollars. Unfortunately it started to sprinkle on us right after we landed so I got some pics, signed the registration, and we took off.
We made our way south of SEA, over Stampede Pass and a straight shot to Deer Park north of Spokane for a little bit of fuel ($4.19). Then on to Priest Lake for lunch and then a pass over Cavanaugh Bay just to make sure that they didn't open it a week early (they didn't. We had wanted to camp there). So, on to Magee for the night. By early afternoon, we were lounging in our tent at Magee and had been in three states and on the beach. Pretty cool. Other than the swarms of flies during the day and the mosquitos at night, Magee was a treat. Was a pretty little strip.
Since we were a day ahead of schedule, we had to decide whether or not to spend an extra day at Magee or head to JC a day early. We had found out that my parents were going to drive up to JC and join us so we decided to head south to try to get a good campsite. After fueling in St. Maries ($3.78), we stopped in Elk River for a mid-morning snack of huckleberry pie topped with huckleberry icecream washed down with huckleberry lemonade. Mmmmm...so good. Great strip too. Then south to Slate Creek, where we pulled up next to the covered picnic table for lunch. It reminded me of pulling into rest areas as a kid to have lunch when traveling with my family. After lunch we made our way to JC by way of Mackay Bar to take a look at it since we planned on doing breakfast there one morning.
Flying over JC, I was surprised how many aircraft were already there, but saw a parking spot near my favorite camp site. After landing and claiming the spot, we found that the site was open so we claimed it. I was sad to hear, though, that it was only open because a couple had wrecked their Maule at Wilson Bar that morning. We set up camp and soon were joined by my parents.
We spent the next three days hiking to the tub, flying out to Mackay Bar for breakfast, and doing a little flying each morning. On our last morning, we flew to Elk City in search of huckleberry pancakes. We struck gold. The strip had just been mowed and we met a very nice gentleman named Curtis who has a hanger on the field. After talking to him for a while, he overed his quad to ride down to breakfast. We took him up on it since we needed something to distract Adam from his dogs which he was having so much fun playing with. For $5.50, some great big flap jacks that were so good. Back to the strip we left to JC to get packed up and head home.
It was so great to see all those we met last year and to meet even more of you. We can't wait until next year and I can't wait to get back up there this summer again.
I hope you enjoy the vid. It is my first attemp at doing this. I know some frames go by fast...I'm still getting that worked out. I'm using Muvee and for the most part I really like it, but there are a few things that aren't as intuitive.
