Backcountry Pilot • Chukar Flat Airstrip on the lower John Day River

Chukar Flat Airstrip on the lower John Day River

Discuss your knowledge of airports and off-airport strips. Help inform other pilots of status, warnings, noise abatement, and closure endangerment. See also: http://www.shortfield.com
19 postsPage 1 of 1

Chukar Flat Airstrip on the lower John Day River

This morning I flew over the hill and looked for some of the strips that have been discussed on this site recently. I found the Chukar Flat Airstrip and it is a jewel.

The strip is located at N45-13.6, W120-32.6. It lies on a silty bar on the east side of the river. The flat is about a quarter mile long and 100 yards wide. It is covered with low brush and grass. Upstream, to the south, the river makes a bend to the East within 1/4 mile. Downstream 3/4 mile, to the north, the river bends to the West. This makes the upstream approach or takeoff easier.

The runway is a little bumpy. It is silty soft, but even small tires wouldn't sink in much. I wouldn't want to use it if it was wet, but the sandy silt would probably drain pretty fast after the rain was over. Grass and very low brush was pretty much covering the runway, but there weren't any surprises like rocks or holes. I paced off the runway at 1000'. The south end has perhaps another 100 feet of bumpy stuff until you hit a low fence. The north end has more like 200 feet to the fence.

The lone tree has a picnic table under it, and there are a couple of weatherproof boxes with fishing stuff, soggy toilet paper, old issues of AOPA magazine, a pair of sneakers, and four chunks of charcoal. A fishing pole and reel, not assembled were laying under the tree. Also, a golf club that had been converted to a weed cutter. More importantly, there was a small spade under the tree. If you need to take a dump, bury the damn paper, don't leave it lying there like some asshole did. Otherwise, the place was really clean. There were a few tie downs to the north of the tree. The bar would be a delightful place to camp.

Someone that gives a crap needs to comment on the fishing.

Here's some pictures.

tom

I approached from the south.
Image

Looking north from the south end of the strip.
Image

Looking south from the north end of the strip.
Image
Savannah-Tom offline
User avatar
Posts: 891
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:26 pm
Location: Corvallis, OR

Is there a wind-sock? It seems to me I remember seeing a picture of this strip with a nice bright-orange (new looking) wind-sock. Also, I remember mention of a "closed to all vehicles (including airplanes)" :( sign.
Scolopax offline
Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 1696
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 5:02 pm
Location: Nottingham
FindMeSpot URL: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... 4aYqSexnZC

Look at the top of the tree for the windsock.

There was a closed to all vehicles sign, but I only glanced at it and didn't notice if it included aircraft. The sign was uphill from the tree, so I suppose you could interpret it as meaning beyond the sign. :wink:

tom
Savannah-Tom offline
User avatar
Posts: 891
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:26 pm
Location: Corvallis, OR

I see the wind-sock now.

The placement and orientation of the sign sound pretty unambiguous to me. :D
Scolopax offline
Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 1696
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 5:02 pm
Location: Nottingham
FindMeSpot URL: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... 4aYqSexnZC

Tom, you're awesome. Nice work.
Zzz offline
Janitorial Staff
User avatar
Posts: 2854
Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2004 11:09 pm
Location: northern
Aircraft: Swiveling desk chair
Half a century spent proving “it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Yeah, this is great Tom!

As for the 'no airplanes' part:
I once heard something like part of the airstrip is on private property and the other part is on BLM land and that there have been some issues with airplanes in the past (i.e. the owner or the BLM doesn't want airplanes to land there). We should find out.
chrisg offline
Airstrip Database Manager
User avatar
Posts: 220
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 9:04 pm
Location: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Chris
http://www.shortfield.com - Backcountry Airstrip Database
https://discord.gg/HNHKeDE - Groundfall - Bush Flying Video Game

chrisg wrote:Yeah, this is great Tom!

As for the 'no airplanes' part:
I once heard something like part of the airstrip is on private property and the other part is on BLM land and that there have been some issues with airplanes in the past (i.e. the owner or the BLM doesn't want airplanes to land there). We should find out.


Way to go, Tom!

More likely the owner than BLM. I did a quick look on Ormap.org to see if I could tell who owned what but didn't see anything definitive. TOPO says it's national recreation area. I don't know if there are private lots in the rec area or not.
GroundLooper offline
User avatar
Posts: 1168
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 6:52 pm
Location: Vancouver, WA
BCP Poser.
Life is good. Life is better with wings.

Looks like you had a great fly trip Tom. Thanks for the Pics.
Erick
Dokmow offline
User avatar
Posts: 246
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 1:17 pm
Location: Eugene, Oregon
FindMeSpot URL: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... 738geaMOD6
Rans S7S

Love that aerial shot. At 1000' long many of us have planes that could handle the situation but, speaking strickly about myself. whether the pilot can handle that strip is the big question. Seems alot of my approaches at new fields are high and fast. Sweaty palms and trembling knees don't help much either. More practice!! Tom
hangartrash offline
Posts: 31
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:35 am
Location: Silverton,Or
1955 C-180

Went into Chukar Flats for a little steelhead fly fishing on Sunday. What a nice little backcountry strip! Here's a video I whupped together of the trip.

<object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2274604&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2274604&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/2274604">Chukar Flats Adventure</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user946456">Neighbor Pete</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.

Pete
Last edited by Neighbor Pete on Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Neighbor Pete offline
User avatar
Posts: 54
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:41 pm
Location: Columbia River Gorge

Pete,
That was a cool video, thanks for sharing.
BTW anybody catch any fish or was it a flying adventure with fishing rods?
That's what my "fishing" trips generally are.

Dave
m7flyer offline
User avatar
Posts: 353
Joined: Tue May 09, 2006 11:27 am
Location: WHP, OG41
FindMeSpot URL: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... t7FIHuMd0G

Great job on the video. It makes me want to go back.

tom
Savannah-Tom offline
User avatar
Posts: 891
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:26 pm
Location: Corvallis, OR

Sweet video Pete! And thanks for updating Shortfield.
Zzz offline
Janitorial Staff
User avatar
Posts: 2854
Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2004 11:09 pm
Location: northern
Aircraft: Swiveling desk chair
Half a century spent proving “it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Yeah, thanks for uploading your video to shortfield.com too! I know it may seem redundant, but the value in having it on shortfield is that it's in a database for that airstrip, so when you're looking for information on a specific airstrips, it's all in one searchable location.
chrisg offline
Airstrip Database Manager
User avatar
Posts: 220
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 9:04 pm
Location: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Chris
http://www.shortfield.com - Backcountry Airstrip Database
https://discord.gg/HNHKeDE - Groundfall - Bush Flying Video Game

Thanks for the positive feedback guys and I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was actually the first video I put together with Windows Movie Maker and my little Canon pocket digital camera. I was pretty amazed with how easy it was to do.

Dave, no steelhead hookups that day unfortunately. There were only 2 of us fishing but steelheading is a low numbers game anyway. It was such a cool envirionment to be in that I really didn't give a crap though.

Chris, Shortfield.com simply ROCKS. That's all there is to it. Keep up the good work with that and I am just glad that I could contribute something.

Zane, BCP rocks too... obviously

Peace... out.
Neighbor Pete offline
User avatar
Posts: 54
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:41 pm
Location: Columbia River Gorge

BCP and SF are in league with each other, so it all integrates well.

I went steelheading on the Kilchis on sunday and got skunked too, but a guy about a 100 feet upriver from me hooked on a 15 pounder on a spinner and a big 2-handed spinning rod. I had been throwing #4 Clousers of various colors with my fly rod, drifting fast water into slow with a sinking tip line. Was fun to watch the fight even if it wasn't my fish.
Zzz offline
Janitorial Staff
User avatar
Posts: 2854
Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2004 11:09 pm
Location: northern
Aircraft: Swiveling desk chair
Half a century spent proving “it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Great video! Liked the tunes. Been slow on the McKenzie for steels.
Dokmow offline
User avatar
Posts: 246
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 1:17 pm
Location: Eugene, Oregon
FindMeSpot URL: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... 738geaMOD6
Rans S7S

Kilchis River

Hey Zane:

Whereabouts on the Kilchis were you fishing? My grandparents lived in the homestead place right next to the county park, all the way at the end of the Kilchis River Road. My aunt and uncle still live in the next place down the river. I never had much luck fishing the Kilchis, but I remember my uncle pulling some nice steelies out of the pool down near the logging bridge when I was a kid.

Flynengr
flynengr offline
User avatar
Posts: 369
Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:52 pm
Location: Northern Kaleeforneeya

Hey Neighbor Pete,

Thanks for the video! I really enjoyed watching it.
Skystrider offline
User avatar
Posts: 1232
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 1:44 pm
Location: Saylorsburg
Aircraft: Zenith CH701 w/ Jabiru 3300

DISPLAY OPTIONS

19 postsPage 1 of 1

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

Latest Features

Latest Knowledge Base