Our friends flew to Shearer on Sunday AM only to discover it engulfed in smoke. No smoke until they were about 50 miles west of Shearer but there was plenty from that point on. They decided to go to Sulphur Creek instead. As they were flying to Sulphur Creek there was dense smoke to the east of their flight path but clear as a bell to the west of their route. As they approached Sulphur Creek, Morgan Ranch was completely engulfed in smoke but Sulphur Creek was clear enough to get in. The smoke rolled in and they were there for the day (and night). Sulphur Creek has 2 float tubes and the guys caught a lot of big fish. Lots of fellowship and great meals. Left Monday AM to fly to Cascade to pick up additional fuel. Then flew to Dixie USFS strip (not Dixie Town) and had a great day catching 100 or so 4" - 7" trout in Crooked Creek. Left there about 6:30 PM (it was still 87 degrees) and flew to West Fork Lodge. Multiple fires enroute but no TFRs enroute. Thank goodness we had TFRs on one GPS. One fire down by Stanley was so big that it looked like a volcano. Smoke must have risen to 50,000 feet or so. They were greeted at West Fork Lodge with COLD beer and a great meal ordered off the menu. They felt a little guilty ordering off the menu after going to Sulphur Creek and Mackay Bar and getting whatever they wanted to serve that day - no choices. The food was great and Tex and Heidi were great hosts. Huge full bar, nice cabins but a little warm at night which made sleeping a little bit of a challenge even with fans in the room. Will definitely go back to West Fork Lodge again. The Bitterroot River is within walking distance from the lodge and it is wadeable this time of year. Plus they have a van that they let pilots use to go anywhere, buy a license, fish or go on one of several short scenic mountain hikes in the area. There are also full and 1/2 day float trips available by local outfitters. Definitely worth another look. Maybe September when the fires die down and the weather cools down. We have decided to go to the Oregon coast instead of Idaho, due to the smoke.

Smokey as hell here in the Poky area. 10 mile viz instead of the usual 100. We need some rain to clean the air and put the fires out!

Good choice going to the coast. Lots of smoke, wasn't any fun flying through central Idaho yesterday.

Lots of smoke here in western Nebraska..the sun set 20deg above the horizon.

A couple pictures during a recent flight to the Idaho Backcountry on August 9th. The day after I took these the wind changed course and the smoke blew directly East in to the valleys, making visibility nil at airstrips such as Atlanta / Warm Springs & probably Smiley Creek.

Fire burning West of Smiley Creek / TFR area:


In between Smiley Creek and garden Valley:


Between Garden Valley and Boise:


Garden Valley heli-attack fire crew - smoke in the background:


-Alec

planned on being in that general area around the 27-28 of this month...who is the best bet to check with to find out the smoke isuues??the folks in McCall??

dawgfreeman wrote:planned on being in that general area around the 27-28 of this month...who is the best bet to check with to find out the smoke isuues??the folks in McCall??

I'd call Pete at Middle Fork Aviation, but any of the operators will be happy to provide you the info.

The worst yet this AM, 5 mile viz if that. Though kinda blue above so I guess it's a thin layer but as I was just going 8 miles I didn't bother to climb up and see. I am for sure no expert in poor viz conditions as I never have to do it. Very weird exotic lighting, kind of cool in a way, but it sure doesn't make me want to go anywhere as I couldn't enjoy the flight,not being able to enjoy the scenary! Sure flying is always fun but amazing how much funner when you can see

Today I landed on a hillside by a 80 year old backhoe operator who was digging a trench for a job I'm doing. It turns out he had spent time in Aslaka and in Super Cubs so he enjoyed the visit. A mile away down lower I landed in a hay field that my well driller owns, I needed some well wire and it was easier to fly there. They have a mini pivot system, and I wasn't sure how deep the tire ruts would be, turns out almost NO ruts, so just the bales to dodge. This picture somewhat shows the weird light.

Courierguy, that looks like a shot at an Avweb cap.


Mercifully Free From the Ravages of Intelligence

perfect example why June is the best month for our Idaho fly in. just saying

courierguy wrote:The worst yet this AM, 5 mile viz if that. Though kinda blue above so I guess it's a thin layer but as I was just going 8 miles I didn't bother to climb up and see. I am for sure no expert in poor viz conditions as I never have to do it.]

Smoke can be very deceptive in that regard.

At times, I've seen that blue sky just "right up thre" and tried to climb on top. Gave up at 12k ft.....and by that time vis still sucked but no ground contact..ie: IMC

MTV

Thanks for the updates guys. Please keep them coming. I flew up to West Yellowstone last week and it was smokey, but the worst we had was around 8 miles. We are planning on heading north somewhere next weekend. Where will largely depend on where the smoke is not.

Here's a useful website to get the latest info on current forest/brush fires:

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

A few of us headed over to a glider meet at King Mt. this weekend. Several sailplanes from Nevada and California were there, and all had some real interesting setups in their motorhome/glider trailer combo's. Man, that's a whole of dough going down the road! Unfortunately the smoke was thick as ever, and the soaring conditions desired were no doubt not so good. We flew back across the desert near noon, and normally would have been getting our butts kicked by convective activity, but it was ungodly glass smooth, almost winter type smooth air, so smooth it, combined with again the weird lighting, made for a somewhat strange flight. Better then no flight at all of course
Located at the base of the Lost River Range, the King Mt. site offers world class, Owens Valley type, kick butt soaring, the hang glider pilots glommed onto to it first, and now the sail planes guys are paying attention, more every year.
Up at one of the hang glider/para glider launch sites, the road in the back goes up to what is called the upper launch, which I need to land at someday Got some good formation flying in with another fat tired S-7 on the way back. There was nothing else to look at with all that smoke so we looked at each others planes on the way back Cruising past the Big Butte the Hobbs meter clicked over 1000, and the mighty Austrian sewing machine just kept purring away. Halfway to TBO!

Man! Smokey! I checked out the West Yellowstone webcam and SC webcam yesterday. Also very smokey. At that point, I reluctantly pulled the plug on the planned trip north for this weekend. I should go to Austin, but things are piling up at home while I'm on this 6 day stretch so I think this weekend is going to be used for catching up. It will include some flying, so it's not a total bust.

couple of my wyoming bro's came out of JC early this a.m...wasn't too bad...though there are about 100'000 acres burning to the south...right around my dads old place...loon creek summit and yankee fork...smiley seems to be staying vfr also for what it is worth...just some ideas cory...

Thanks Jo. I hated to admit it, but after being gone all week, I had probably better take care if stuff at home. A mid-September trip sounds fun. I'll have to break out the warm camping gear! I took my parents to Big Creek one September. One of the coldest nights I've ever spent in a sleeping bag! Come to think of it, that was in 2006 when the world was burning as well and the backcountry was full of smoke. Memorable trip all the same.

A good friend of mine who has been going to Idaho every summer since before I was alive said this was one of the worst trips he's had. They were trying to get into Stanley without much luck. On the way back to Norcal they gave up at Alturas when the vis dropped to next to nothing. A young Firefighter was recently killed on a fire in my stomping grounds. This is not going to be pretty!

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2012/0 ... y_idaho_fi

AvidFlyer wrote:A good friend of mine who has been going to Idaho every summer since before I was alive said this was one of the worst trips he's had. They were trying to get into Stanley without much luck. On the way back to Norcal they gave up at Alturas when the vis dropped to next to nothing. A young Firefighter was recently killed on a fire in my stomping grounds. This is not going to be pretty!

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2012/0 ... y_idaho_fi

thats a sad deal. this will cost someone big dollars when the law suit is done. condolences to the family of the FF.

It amazes me how these types of things are cyclical...or maybe just complacency that sets in over time. I fought fires before and after all the firefighters were killed in CO in '96 I think. It was amazing to see the pendulum swing from not enough money/resources/supplies etc. to anything and everything...especially if it was for safety. Fires that were large enough to have management teams put on them were always patrolled by safety officers. Briefings in the morning always focused on specific hazards that had come up or that were expected. More than once activity was curtailed in the name of safety. Sounds like the pendulum may need to swing back in that direction. Sorry to hear about the firefighter.