Sheep Scouting Trip

[SuberAvid 617]

Sheep season is coming!  So a buddy an I have been planning to check out a new spot for this year.  We finally got a weather window when he was back home (he flies for American Airlines) and we got out yesterday for an overnight trip and back today before the bad weather moved in and trapped us on the other side of the Alaska Range.

 

I took a few pictures flying through the valleys and pass that just cannot do justice to the grandure on the country but at least is an attempt.  I love the way I can pack gear in this plane, packed the most fuel I have packed with me to date, took full tanks (28 gal) plus 15 gal in jugs plus camping gear and food for 6 days in case we got stuck and a couple of gallons of water since I wasn't sure if we would have easy water access where we planned to camp (turned out we did).  We dumped our gear and extra fuel after getting to the camping spot and went scouting with the planes as light as possible.  It isn't easy picking out a landable spot with a lot of big hard landmines, gullies and debris (spotted remains of 2 planes in the process).  Fortunately Danny's got 35" Bushwheels in his cub which help with the initial roll testing.  We finally found a 400' or so spot that looked doable and managed to both land it and dodge the big rocks and gullies.  Spent a couple of hours tossing rocks and ended up with about 500' useable (the pictures always make it look smoother than it is, but one picture shows some of the 8" and bigger rocks we got mostly out of the way)  We ended up with what should be a great camp spot and ate lunch as we watched a nice grizzly digging up marmots on the hillside across the river.  There's is no place like Alaska!  Headed for home this morning with some low cielings through the pass but smooth air; right at 10 hours on the Hobbs.

[KFfan 151]

Great pics. Thanks!

Glad you're counting your blessings.

 

Lou

[TJay 1041]

Screw the sheep hunt, I would be there panning for gold the whole time ha.

[ChrisBolkan 130]

Spectacular!

[TJay 1041]

Do those big tires soak up them rocks pretty well. I would be nervous about dropping My Little Nancos in a strip with rocks like that, but it really looks fun.

[akflyer 1427]

Nice pics Randy!  Sorry I didn't get back to you on your text, I was up at the cabin then dealing with the aftermath of the wife packing her shit and walking out the door.. hopefully in the very near future we can get in some good flying and fishing!