MAU MAU, scud running is a very different endeavor here than on the east coast. Icing is present in the clouds here year 'round, so it is not usual for people to get an IFR rating then fly a piston single anywhere IFR. I only know a couple folks that do that. We obviously have plenty of terrain, but people here tend to fly a lot. A good familiarity with the area changes what I am willing to deal with. We have very little in the way of towers to deal with as well. I don't fly with visibility below 3 miles in terrain that is new to me. I flew in to King Salmon on an SVFR clearance with one mile visibility one time. Won't be doing that again. And that is an area I am really familiar with.

But we really consider anything below about 20 mile visibility to be fairly poor. And less than 10 miles is scud in my book. We like the 100 mile days.

If I had to choose between a low ceiling with good visibility or a high ceiling with low visibility, I'll take the visibility every time.

Got a bit behind. I went to California for a vacation that was turned into a flight training trip. Went in with the kids to Anchorage, met the wife there and then we all went south in the big tube. They headed home without me and I stayed down there, so on the way home I left Anchorage solo in the Island Girl for a beautiful flight home over the top.

On the way down Cook Inlet I had one of those epic cloud/sun kind of views. My wife says these photos look like religious posters.




After the end of the overcast layer, I climbed up for a direct shot over the mountains. Still a bit of snow in late April, but there never was much snow since we shipped winter down to the east coast this year.




The sun went down as I crossed the Alagnak River on a beautiful evening.

Since I've been home, we've been too broke from the big trip to fly as much as I'd like. But a friend of mine, Brett, is up for the summer, has a pilot license, and no plane. So I've been letting him get hours while I get to see the countryside. He needs the hours more than me, so it's all good. After a few flights here and there, we had a Saturday with nothing going on, and I was feeling sorry for myself because I wasn't at Valdez. So I asked him if he'd like to go to Platinum.

He replied..."sure...where's that?"

An overwhelmingly positive response. So I contacted my friend Mark, owner of two airplane projects in the one and only village of Platinum, and gave him time to either be too busy or suspiciously absent...but he said come on over, so off we went.

Brett flew me past Clark's Point and Manokotak on the way to Platinum, and the entire world looked like that Alaska pre-spring mottled brown watercolor that has its own fascination, but is really just not scenic in the way that winter and summer and fall are...




It was a lovely couple hour flight, and Goodnews Bay was visible in the distance.



I guess Mark really didn't mind the visit, he marshalled us in and we went in and parked right in front of his hangar and his house.



Mark has lived and worked at Platinum for a long time, so he knows the whole story. I asked him a question about the history of the mine, and got it from the day of birth. The reason I asked is because last time I visited him I looked it up online and what I read didn't seem like it made sense. Now I know the real story...the mine wasn't closed in the distant past. In fact, it was operational from the 1920's up to the past few years. The story made me interested, so on the way out we flew over to check it out. It certainly has rearranged the valley floor.







I was imagining a return trip where we stopped at every strip and landed just because we could. But Brett was ready to head home, so we blasted past all of them. But on the way we saw my favorite ship again. Love that thing. Must be a good story, but I haven't turned it up yet.

If you ever figure out the story on that ship, tell us! I love those sorts of things!

Great pics!

Great pictures as usual Troy.

Had a busy few days last weekend. Here are a few photos from a trip home through Lake Clark pass Friday night.

First image is from looking northwest into the evening sun over the Alaska Range as I flew down Cook Inlet.



Next is an image of late evening sunset colors under a hard overcast within Lake Clark Pass.



Finally, an image of some of the mountain tops northwest of Lake Clark Pass with alpenglow.

Absolutely breathtaking

A couple days later, we had those fascinating low clouds that have fragments hanging around under the broken/overcast layer, with shafts of rain sticking down and sun shining through. But the pass cams showed blue sky in Lake Clark and Merrill passes...so off we went to sample the sunshine.

From the air, at least.

Had a nice tailwind on the way out, including as we crossed the Alagnak River at the Braids.





We stopped to fill up in Port Alsworth at Lake and Pen Air, then launched north along the lake district of 'T' lakes...Twin, Turquoise, Telaquana, and Two Lakes...



The weather was pretty similar all along the western side, low clouds with character and energy, but light winds and lovely smooth air. Approaching Two Lakes for the entry to Merrill Pass, it still didn't look any different, though we saw a sneak preview of some blue sky.



Merrill Pass is a pretty fantastic spot. It is pretty tight compared to Lake Clark Pass, higher elevation, and in general much less forgiving. I've only flown through Merrill a few times, while I've been through Lake Clark over 70 times last time I counted. I fly through Merrill when the weather is so good that it is either just to check it out, like this trip, or when the weather in Merrill has clouds near or above the mountaintops and light winds, visibility good, no reported issues, and Lake Clark Pass is fog on the deck. But if it gets into questionable weather, at least in Lake Clark there is room to turn around...

Turning into Merrill from the west, this is the view that lay before us.



The pass continues up around that dogleg in the distance, and the elevation is somewhere 3,000 feet or above. I don't go through less than 4,000 feet. There are a bunch of airplanes parked in here. A few places on the internet have collections of photos of wreckage from Merrill. I haven't ever been low enough to notice them, wherever they are, but I suspect they are in the dogleg somewhere...



The other side of the pass is a little different...not quite so narrow and rocky appearing on the valley floor.



But the mountains on either side are still pretty impressive.

Looking south from Merrill Pass we could see the Tusk.



A few minutes later, the Neacola River came into view.



Snowy Mountain was hiding in the clouds above Lake Chakachamna as Cook Inlet appeared in the distance.



Off the flanks of Snowy is a pretty odd glacier, wending its way down the mountain at the outlet of the lake.



We turned and headed down along the mountains to the entrance to Lake Clark Pass, and as we passed the upper end of the McArthur River drainage, the Blockade Lake glacier terminus was below us, with the glacier stretching up into the mountains to the west.



Out the pilot side window, I saw a place I need to visit. Not sure who owns it or whether it is public...but I think I may need to pay a visit. Hopefully they will be okay with that...maybe I better check the ownership on BLM's mapping site...



Mountains and clouds greeted us as we looked west on our way to the pass entrance.



Finally, we turned into Lake Clark Pass and were greeted by a long view of the pass stretching out before us.

The North Fork is the wrong canyon...not the pass...



But the main canyon looks pretty similar if you aren't pretty familiar...



The pass walls are pretty awesome. The place feels completely different up high than it does down low. We were getting the high look at jagged peaks, rock patterns, and snow streaks.



At the pass exit, the Tlikikila River fans all the way across the lake valley, separating Little Lake Clark from Lake Clark.





Back on the ground in Port Alsworth, the Island Girl stared down Lake and Pen's caravan.



On the way home, we were back in cloud country. The Nondalton gap was a bit skinny. Good class G conditions...visibility was great underneath...



As we neared King Salmon, we were bucking a headwind that had us at 70 mph. I tried a bunch of altitudes. 200 feet had us going 80 but was actually a bit rough. 500 feet had us going 70 but smooth. 600 feet had us down to around 60. 900 feet was back to about 70. Funny.

Troy Hamon wrote:
If I had to choose between a low ceiling with good visibility or a high ceiling with low visibility, I'll take the visibility every time.

Amen!!!!!

Gimme 500 and 2 over 1000 and 1 any day of the week.

Gump

Not going to be able to catch up fully, but here are a few photos from yesterday.

Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes






Trident


Katmai Caldera


Trident again


Mount Martin

Beautiful, Troy. Is Mt Martin venting?

Yes, actually Martin steams all the time. Here is the summit lake.



The steam isn't always visible though, depends on relative humidity of the air, wind, etc. Mageik also has a summit caldera lake, very small, boiling, here it is steaming next to the summit.


Trident steams almost all the time, as does the top of Novarupta. Steamy place out there.

I have been a bit slow to get things posted...but here are a few photos from earlier this month.

On the way to Anchorage to take swimmers to a swim meet and to fly a Cessna 182 with the Civil Air Patrol...

Flying north out of Port Alsworth toward Telaquana Pass and the Neacola River.


Flying down the Neacola River Valley.


Chakachamna Lake ahead.


Ice and rocks.






Outlet of Chakachamna Lake, start of the Chakachatna River.


Down low to keep out of the precip, saw a couple miniature drops of water hit the windshield and stop moving...we immediately dropped down and that was the end of it. Which is good. Didn't want to turn around and go back to Port Alsworth since we had already made it all the way through the mountains by this point.


Cook Inlet and oil platforms on the way home.


Lake Clark Pass

Beautiful

Out and about yesterday...first flight of 2015. Wandered around the Bristol Bay Lowlands and took a few photos along the Alagnak River...

My favorite from yesterday:




A few others...

one would be forgiven for thinking alot of these photos where taken in black and white!

Really like your pictures!!!

Those are my stomping grounds in the summer time. It's absolutely wild to see the Branch covered in snow like that. Very familiar yet strange at the same time.