Plane and Pilot this month has a little blurb on Stehekin...kinda cool.

On the news just this last weekend was a big fire at Stehekin, they were maybe gonna evacuate the village, which is southeast of the airstrip. Seems like that fire, or maybe another, was burning as much as a month ago. I think a fire wouldn't hurt the airstrip per se, but it could burn down the adjacent woods & national forest campground.

Eric

Some friends who have lived in Stehekin for 30 years were evacuated a week or so ago. Don't know if they are back yet or not. We have some good gray drizzle in Olympia today...should help with those fires.

Great little strip. Decent fishing in the river, bikes for rent in the village, lodging up and down the valley as well as nice camp sites near the airport.

The down stream approach is the easiest ( winds permintting ) but puts you on a down slope landing and the grass becomes really thin late in the season; also there are a number of small rocks on the very end.

Upstream approach is steeper but you land uphill and the grass stays most of the season on this end.

I just looked at http://tfr.faa.gov and the TFR around Stehekin has been removed but I am guessing the Lucerne TFR is going to fill the valley with smoke. Looks like flying over the East side of the lake will keep you out of the TFR but I would call the ranger station at Stehekin to get a smoke report.

Cheers,

Tom

Bump for scanned article.

This is a timely story, with days getting shorter, and the prospect of an approach into the glare of a low-angle of sunshine preventing a successful landing.
More than a few nice planes have been wrecked by very capable pilots in this kind of glare. You can't see s**t down there, and on a one-way strip, that spells curtains. I've seen the damage first hand, and my heart still sinks to think of the grief that such a simple thing as sun angle has caused. BTW, a clean windshield still won't allow you to see in front of you in this situation. Best to circle 'til the sun goes below the trees, then come in & land safely.
Berk