The 2005 Maule Fly-in was last weekend and it was a qualified success; and I'm only saying 'qualified' because about ten or twelve planes never showed up even though they paid a deposit for attending. The owners of the lodge, Dan and Lori Baker, put on a first class event along with organizer Gene Swan who had to deal with all of us pain in ass Maule owners and get us collected together in one place for the weekend. The food was good, and plentiful, with lunch and dinner being served on Friday, all three meals on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday. Accommodations varied from cabins, to teepees, to wall tents, or just pitching your own tent up by the lodge or under your wing.
Aerial shot of the 2002 fly-in.
Final approach to runway 15
This was our first time into the lodge and I was a little concerned about landing there after seeing the aerial pictures of the runway on the Maule-Mods website from the 2002 fly-in. I got the impression there were a few others who were a wee bit nervous about it too. Anyway, it wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it would be landing there and we got down in good style landing to the south with a 2-3 knot tailwind. The part of landing at Minam that seems to concern people the most is having to get down close to the trees on final if you want to touch down anywhere near the beginning of the south runway, but it really isn't critical since you've got 2000' of runway to work with. The south end of the runway past the dogleg is a little bit bumpy if you don't have fat tires, but I saw several guys with 850's negotiate it in good order when landing and taking off to the north. There are a few gotchas associated with landing here so it might be worth your while to consult with someone who's been here a few times before you land at Minam. Jeremy and Christine helped several folks get into the strip that were concerned about landing there, so a special hats-off to them for helping those pilots out.
Looking east toward the tiedowns and the runway from the lodge.
It seemed like we had about thirty Maules show up this year (maybe a couple more) which was a little disappointing compared to last years attendance, but it was still a lot of fun, and maybe even a bit nicer because the smaller crowd made it easier to get around and talk to everybody for more than just a few minutes. The attendees with the longest flights flew in from New Hampshire and Florida.
The elitist's (who all coincidentally had Alaskan Bushwheels on their planes
) were kept confined to a small corral over by the hangar. If they got too obnoxious the rest of us just made sure they drank too much on Friday night and that seemed to keep most of them under control. The rest of us riff-raff had to park in the horse pasture. I'm going to have to get myself a pair of bushwheels so I can climb the social ladder at future fly-ins.
The Alaskan Bushwheels reserved parking area
A bunch of guys flew out Saturday to places like Dug Bar, Memaloose, Lord Flat and other cool little strips in the area, but there was also lots to do for those of us that chose to stay around. There was plenty of hiking and fishing, and Shawn and Shelly Steen from Steen's Wilderness Adventures had several good trail horses on hand for those of us wanting to see the area from horseback. Alyce and I rode with the Steen's on both Friday and Saturday, and I gotta tell ya, these are some great folks to trail ride with and I recommend looking them up if your in the Joseph, Oregon area and your looking for an outfitter for a pack trip or hunting trip in this neck of the woods. Shawn also happens to be a Maule pilot, so theres always something to talk about if you get tired of talking about horses and other outdoor topics.
Greg also did a little short field demonstration with his experimental Maule on Saturday afternoon and that was a lot of fun to watch. He made several takeoffs and landings from the north runway and was landing in about 220' over some ten foot Willows at the end of the runway. He was also doing takeoffs in a little over a hundred feet which is pretty darn good from a grass strip at 3600' elevation. Greg also had a cool DVD he and a couple of Supercub buddies have put together landing in various knarly places along the rivers edge. It kinda reminded me of a Warren Miller ski video. I'm gonna have to get it when he makes it available.
Greg's short field demo.
Gene acquired several items for a raffle on Saturday night and that was a hoot. Bill Duncan (Alaskan Bushwheels), his wife Diana and son-in-law Wup all got drawn for prizes... I swear they must have been using loaded tickets or something. Bill and Wup both graciously refused their prizes since they were contributing prizes to the drawing, but Gene put Bill's ticket back in the jar, and wouldn't you know it, Bill got drawn again! I've participated in raffles like this my entire life and have never been drawn for anything, but some onery cuss like Bill get's drawn multiple times in the same raffle every time! The other funny thing that happened was when the ticket was drawn for the Alaskan Bushwheel Maule tailwheel spring (I really wanted to be drawn for this) and as luck would have it, one of the guys with a nose wheel Maule had his ticket pulled out of the jug!:lol: Gene also had a separate drawing for the kids and that was also very nice and something I've never seen done before - good on ya' Gene.
Dinner on the lodge deck.
We also had some other types of airplanes fly in over the weekend, including a Husky, Milo's tan and green PA-12, a Supercub or two, and I thought I saw a J-3! (I coulda sworn I saw jugs stickin' out of the cowl). We also had a Cessna 337 buzz the field on Saturday afternoon (was that a family member Mikey?).
All in all, we all (that's a lot of alls) had a great time and I'm looking forward to next years fly-in. Thanks again to Gene for organizing it, Dan and Lori who put up with the rough crowd for the weekend, all the nice folks who helped Dan and Lori, and Shawn and Shelly who provided some great horseback riding for a bunch of us.
By the way, if you'd like to have a 2005 Maule Fly-in T-shirt, contact Wup Winn at Alaskan Bushwheels via the link below. He still has a bunch left.
Doug
Minam Lodge & Outfitters
Steen's Wilderness Adventures
Alaskan Bushwheels
Maule AK Worldwide
