Yesterday I flew into McCarthy to attend a meeting with DOT regarding a tram across McCarthy Creek. It was only a six minute flight, but any excuse to fly. The meeting took three hour, but turned out well. It was a beautiful sunny fall day with temperatures in the low 40s, falling leave, and the pungent smell of a distant summer. At the end of the meeting, I lifted off from the McCarthy strip, floated across Sourdough ridge and glided down to check out the windsock on our 2,000 airstrip. I crossed over the top of the strip and spotted a critter about three quarters up from where I would be landing. I peered down and saw a very pretty black bear, plumped out in full winter fat and glossy coat slowly working his way down the runway. I turned down wind, base, and then final and he continued his peaceful meander down toward my homestead. I knew I could land short of him so continued my approach to final. I pulled full flaps, slowed to 55 mph, but was concentrating on him rather then my landing. I bounced it really good, but finally wrestled it to the ground in the first quarter of our uphill strip. The bear raised up and watched my approach and only bolted for the woods when I revved he engine to turn off to my tie-down spot about 500 feet away. What a beautiful day.

It was my intention to go out flying the following day and try out my new Bushwheels on several gravel strips: Nizina Glacier, Pee Vine, Glacier Creek, Chitina River confluence, and then cap it off with a little lake trout fishing at Teebay Lake. I went to bed with anticipation only to hear rain on the roof at about four in the morning. When I finally rolled out of bed at seven, the rain had turned to snow and it has been coming down all day long. So much for sunny weather reports for the Wrangell mountains.

Below is a picture of my dog in the snow shower. Well, maybe tomorrow if things melt enough.








I’ll sure be happy when full freeze-up comes and I can get my foundation in for my hangar. In the mean time it is a great fall and my beautiful Husky is up for the challenge. Next month we go on out RF 8001 skis.

Nizina

Makes me teary eyed reading that, I think more so since I know pretty much every spot you're talking about...homesick!

Tadpol

It is endless up here. Return when the forces are with you.

Nizina

Nizina wrote:Tadpol

It is endless up here. Return when the forces are with you.

Nizina

One day I will move back up there. My goal right now is to move back to the Mat-Su area in about 6 years. Until then, I'll just have to settle with taking some time off of work and hopping commercial up for a short visit from time to time.

Niz,

You mentioned in the other thread your place was on the Nizna near McCarthy. I might have seen it. Is yours listed on a sectional? If not, where abouts is it. I remember seeing a few that way when I was flying with Paul and another time I was flying in a Champ out there.

It is about a mile and a half Northeast of the old Nizina bridge. Easy to see from Google earth.

Nizina

Okay, off to Google Earth I go!

Running East / West? That's gotta be it, nice looking.

Indeed. Land to the west, uphill.

Nizina wrote:Indeed. Land to the west, uphill.

Looks like maybe a couple of folks live on that?

Tadpole

Actually, Kelly and Natalie Bay, owners of Wrangell Mountain Air. live on the air strip. Three other families live in the homestead, but not down on the runway. Bill Seltenreich, present owner. is the grandson of the original homesteader that came here in the 1910 time frame.

Nizina

Nizina wrote:Tadpole

Actually, Kelly and Natalie Bay, owners of Wrangell Mountain Air. live on the air strip. Three other families live in the homestead, but not down on the runway. Bill Seltenreich, present owner. is the grandson of the original homesteader that came here in the 1910 time frame.

Nizina

Neat, thanks!

After the snow yesterday, I found that a large grizzly bear had visited my homestead and Husky in the night. He meandered down to within a good paw swipe of my left wing.



Nizina

tasty

Nizina,
I just ordered AOSS from Burl for my Husky. One of the most compelling reasons is to avoid the "Bounce" that is all too familiar in our Husky's. With concentration it is not a problem, be a little distracted and it can and will happen.

Burl shipped the AOSS last week, I am waiting for CubCrafters to ship the 3" extended HD PA-18 gear legs and Cabane. Steve Pierce is going to install it for me. We should have it finished by the end of October. I will let you know how it works out. George Mandes installed the prototype on his Husky last year and gave a great report, NO BOUNCE, no matter how hard they tried.

Gary

Nizina wrote:After the snow yesterday, I found that a large grizzly bear had visited my homestead and Husky in the night. He meandered down to within a good paw swipe of my left wing.



Nizina

What kind of damage was done to the wing? Hope it wasn't too bad.

Gary

From what I have learned about the AOSS gear, you are going to love it on your Husky. I went over to Birchwood a couple of months ago and talked to Burl about his gear. He showed me pictures on his computer of the instillation that they made to George's Husky and the ultimate complete package. Later I met up with George in Anchorage and got to look at the instillation first hand. It sounds like George and his wife really like the gear. They say that the Husky just kind of squats on landing but no bounce.

I'll be very interested to hear how you like the system. What size tires will you be using? George uses the 31" Bushwheel. I am curious if you will get the same damping affect if you are using a smaller tire. I am seriously considering going to the AOSS gear as well. When flying my RF wheel skis, I will be using 850x6 tires.

Thanks for sharing this.

Nizina

Fisherman

I was confusing with my wording. The bear got within swiping distance, but luckily he did not take that swipe. Had he done so, I would still be crying. But it makes one wonder how many other times bears or other critters have been that close to my fragile airplane. With moose, you could see the big foot prints, but the only reason I could see that the bear had come up close is because of the fresh wet snow. Sure will be glad when I get my hangar up. At least the bears will soon be hibernating for the winter.

Nizina

I'd be more worried about Moose damage...those damned tasty unpredictable creatures!

Nizina,
I also have 31" ABW and Baby bushwheel tailwheel. UPS just delivered the AOSS gear, now all I am waiting on is the Cubcrafters gear legs and Cabane as far as parts go.


I rode with Loni Habersetzer in his Cub back in July, of course he is quite a pilot, but still the AOSS on his Cub was amazing. Loni convinced me that the Husky gear was not robust enough for continous use in the bush and of course elimination of the "Bounce" will be greatly appreciated too.

I will let you know how it goes in the next two or three weeks.
Gary