Thought I could offer some winter time fun while giving MTV a little friendly jab with the title. Whoever PMs me first, correctly identifying all four public landing areas (one may be a stone's throw from Idaho), gets a Backcountry Bar.

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Read before posting in Airports and Strips
by Zane » Sat Oct 29, 2005 1:04 am

Of course, if you want to keep your ultra sweet backcountry strip a secret, that's ok too. Go ahead, flaunt photos and tales of your golf course quality runway deep in the outback, you bastard.
Thanks,
Zane

Well, there are some of those too, I suppose.


Wish I could say that was my T206 and Jet Ranger and sweet strip that I was keeping a secret, but alas...No.

Holy addictions!
Kevbert with the quickdraw gets it!

Hey Matt,
How about Eagle Creek #1, Simmonds #2 Salmon Bar #3 & Dewey Moore # 4? Thanks for the pictures too. Looks like you had a good day.

James
Spokane

James,
You are correct, as well. Truth be told, I was surprised someone besides yourself was able to identify Eagle Creek. Haven't seen anyone else post a pic of it. With your pic of Dewey, the difficulty with sun angle and shadow on departure it is really apparent. By the time it improves, the day is heating up.

I was pretty sure about Simmonds and Dewey Moore but I've never been to the other two.
Steve

Simmonds and Dewey Moore were the two easy ones to figure out. Them two have been in a lot of video's.

All of those strips are within a 75 nm radius of me, so I might have had an unfair advantage.

More importantly, it would seem I've won a backcountry bar. Hopefully it's a drinking establishment in Yellowpine or someplace similar, or maybe even a patch of gravel next to a remote river! With my luck it will be some granola pressed into a horse treat.

Matt 7GCBC wrote:With your pic of Dewey, the difficulty with sun angle and shadow on departure it is really apparent. By the time it improves, the day is heating up.

Are there any tips to deal with sun angle and sun shadow in a situation like that? The strips I fly to with sun problems tend to solve themselves in 30-60 minutes so I wait (or plan to be there before or after), but you never know when you won't be able to wait or get caught out.

Marc,
I usually try to use some landmark that I know to get me safely into the shadow where you quickly get your eyes back. The problem with Dewey is that once the summer sun comes over that ridge on a clear day, the light/shadow shown by Jame's photo is what you get for much of the early morning. It may be accurate to figure that once you are over the river you'll be in the shade, but then you're already past the point where you should have started your turn. You could try to time your left turn based on the terrain out your left window, but then you still would be left with another couple turns down the canyon which may have to be done semi-blinded. Not what I would want. I've only been in there a few times or more and have actually passed on it a couple more just because of the sun. Joe D. deals with it by turning upstream away from the sun on departure! Maybe the trick is to build a higher performance plane and have the surgeon install some bigger cojones.

Kevbert, your luck has held out! Actually a friend of ours is Boise makes these and they're actually a lot better than the stuff I've been carrying in packs the last couple decades. So did you upgrade, or have you been riding the 172 in the rough stuff?

Matt 7GCBC wrote:So did you upgrade, or have you been riding the 172 in the rough stuff?

I didn't actually say I had *landed* at all of those strips!

All I've got is the 172 with the O-300 and 40 degrees manual flaps, and I'm constantly amazed at how short it can land and conversely how much more runway it needs to take off, especially at the higher altitudes. So, I'm usually more worried about getting back into the air than I am about the roughness of the strip.

I've landed at Salmon Bar, it's just under 1000 ft. elevation and a wide open approach/departure. No problems.
Dewey Moore looks crazy short from above, with a nice slalom course right after takeoff. I don't think I'll ever try it in my 172.
I've flown over the other two, and they look doable. I might try them someday.

The 172 will handle surprisingly rough ground if you keep the yoke in your lap during ground operations and keep your CG towards the aft.

Hello Backcountry Pilots,

That picture I took at Dewey Moore was September 14, 2009. After I landed there I walked down to the approach end with my 300 Weatherby. It was the day before elk & wolf season that year, but I did have a bear tag in my pocket. Anyway there were two wolves on a gravel bar in Big Creek. At this point I dropped down and sighted in on the bigger of the two wolves. My rifle was steady on it's bypod, and the cross-hairs of the Leopold scope were aimed at the bigger of the two.

It was the day before the season, and sure as sh#t if I had pulled the trigger someone would come out of nowhere and turned me in to the Fish Cops. I did have a moral delema, but glad I didn't squeeze the trigger or I'd probably still be in jail. You can't shoot "the Kings wolves either". The next day I did shoot a nice 6x6 bull elk up nearby "No Tell-Um Creek. The introduction of Canadian wolves has been a disaster in Idaho, and the Oregon elk are next.


Merry Christmas
James
Spokane

That's awesome you went into Salmon Bar with th 172! Any problems with the sandy soil near the ends?
Eagle Creek has a good surface and slope for increased effective distance, but I couldn't tell you if the folks on 4-wheelers have left any ruts under the long grasses.
For the reasons you listed above, I would be worried about Simmonds more than any other due to the upstream/up canyon takeoff. If you can land at Salmon Bar, you wouldn't have too much problem with landing Simmonds except that there is no second chance/go around once you are on short final. On a little higher final you could just head downstream. With the slope, the acceleration is good, BUT at about 5,000 feet the problem is converting short field liftoff capability into continued climb with potential downdrafts as you pass over the creek on departure. To me the trees on departure are just as daunting as those at Vines. As far as maintenance goes, I would say that improving the departure corridors at Vines, Simmonds and Cayuse Creek should be a priority of those of us wanting to improve safety. The trees are only getting taller and bigger around. Anyone have a large crosscut saw? Chainsaw would be acceptable at Cayuse.
James, did you fly the elk out of Dewey in one trip or do ferry loads to Cabin Cr? I have only flown 180hp Maules, but I'm guessing your performance is quite a bit more!
Safe flying. Matt

Hey Matt,
You can put a lot of stuff in a Maule, but my good friend with a CE-180 flew my antlers out.

James

Matt,

You're absolutely right about Simonds. I had forgotten that the departure was upstream. Ergo, not a strip for an O-300 powered 172.

As I recall, it was in the spring a couple of years ago when I landed at Salmon Bar. I was worried the ground might be muddy from recent rains, but it looked good on a low pass, and when I landed the ground was plenty damp, but not muddy. I don't remember any problems with sand, so it must have been moist enough to have firmed it up.