Weather for the week preceding was quite lovely. Thursday afternoon saw a bit of a front start to move through the area; I landed in Lewistown, MT, to top off the tanks and to wait out a line of thunderstorms that were passing through the area. Ended up having to wait a few hours before I felt comfortable enough to fly into Winifred for the night.
I expected to have Winifred mostly to myself that evening; I thought most folks would show up for the fly-in starting Friday. I was wrong. I ended up arriving about 7pm Friday night with the hangar already full, four planes on the ramp, and several more lined up along the strip. I set up camp, met some folks, and ended up enjoying a lovely plains sunset:
Got the chance to talk with some folks about bird and fish conservation and wildlife and fisheries research in general. Unexpected.
Woke up Friday morning with the sun, and there were already more than a few folks up who had coffee brewing in the hangar. I had expected to be one of the first out; I was wrong. Several crews departed around 7am, and more within 10 minutes or so off to breakfast. I think I was out by 7:30am. While pushing some planes out of the way for others, I got to talk statistics and peer-reviewed journal articles and general aviation with some other pilots.
Of the six BC strips in the breaks, only three were long enough for my comfort zone, so I headed out first for Knox Ridge. Flew about 1500' AGL at about 75kt indicated, just enjoying the cool, quiet morning. It was quite nice. Found Knox Ridge, saw some cows, did a low inspection pass, and the cows on the strip did not care, so off I went. I heard some of the folks I had talked with the night before on the radio saying they were headed to Cow Creek, I let them know that I would wait for them to exit the Heller area so I could check it out, and just went sightseeing along the river. Found Heller, discovered that yeah, it was too weird approach for me, and heard the crew tell me that Cow Creek was nice and firm and smooth and would be great for me. Off to Cow Creek!
One low approach, another to make sure I knew what I was doing, then came back and landed. Yup. Nice and smooth. Lovely and quiet, too.
Off the end of the runway, looking into Cow Creek drainage:
Chatted with the other folks there, just enjoyed the morning, and watched three of the five aircraft depart. Ended up having a lovely morning there, talking with someone else about planes, the local area, and the river, then ended up taking off for more sightseeing:
Boaters in the wild and scenic stretch:
Rough country:
Short strips!
Great scenery!
Winds were expected to start to come up by the early afternoon and I had promised my fiance that I'd be home that evening, so I decided to do a bit more sightseeing then head home. Flying about 1500' at 75kt was a great way to enjoy the landscape from the air.
All in all, a great time. The winifred airport is quite nice and provides a great basecamp for exploring the breaks and surrounding area. I'll definitely be back.
