Quartz Creek 2

Flew up to Quartz Creek tonight, Pete, Bonnie and their children happened to be heading that direction also so I took a few photo's. I had ulterior motives; to test out the new folding bike. Randy suggested I give one a shot so I scored one off of Craig's List for a great price. Enjoy the pictures,
Josh

Seldovia

Yet another instalment in my "Where I would like to retire some day" series. We had another clear day that I couldn't waste so I loaded up and flew down to Seldovia after work today. Seldovia is nestled in a bay across the water from Homer and is tucked in out of the wind. It's a nice slow fishing town with some great mountains for skiing and hiking. There are pictures of McDonald spit, Seldovia harbor, Final Approach to 34, and I also included a few photo's of the Homer spit as well; the ferry was just pulling into town.
Cheers,
josh

Hope on a Monday night

Today was the first day of turnaround(a huge maintenance period during which the refinery is shut down every three years)and unfortunately it was probably the nicest day of the year so far. I couldn't waste a sunny spring evening at the gym so I fueled up the plane and bailed out to Hope. I had just enough time to make it over, take a few pics, enjoy about 15 minutes of great views then head for home. There are photo's of Hope on the approach to 34, cheap ash protection the Alaskan way, and a photo departing Hope to the north over Turnagain arm. Enjoy the pictures,
josh

Lazy Sunday

I was planning on flying to Hope today but it got a bit windy toward the mountains so I turned around and headed for Homer. I forgot my camera so unfortunately no pictures of a great day in Homer. I landed and walked out to the end of the spit to see if the fish and chips place was open but it wasn't so I started back. About 3/4 of the way back, Shawn and his new bride, who were honeymooning in Homer, called because they had seen my airplane at the airport and offered me a ride back. It was a great trip today with a few snow showers to wash the plane off on the trip back to Soldotna. My SPOT page looks like a spider web with all the flying this week! I'm posting a spring/summer throwback photo today from the upper McArthur river. Keeping my fingers crossed for a warm summer,
cheers,
josh

Talkeetna

Talkeetna, much like Cooper Landing is starting to wake up after a long winter. The first groups are just now starting to head into the Alaska range and every now and then a tourist wanders through. Talkeetna has quite a bit of snow still and it looks like it's going to be a few more weeks till they get down to dirt. I included a few photos of classic Talkeetna stops; The West Rib - great post climb food. The Roadhouse- amazing breakfast and Talkeetna history. The old village strip, the original talkeetna airstrip which more than one legend operated out of. The T-shirt photo is from the successful 1997 Cancer Survivors on Mt. McKinley expedition organized by Bob Summer. They had the pleasure of climbing with Colby Coombs and his wife. The Cancer Survivor's recently organized another attempt on Mt. Aspiring in NZ. The T-shirt hangs in the Talkeetna park ranger station where all Denali Climbs start. Another one hangs in the Roadhouse. I included the photo of the plane and truck as they seem to exemplify the style of life in Talkeetna....
You can now follow my flights and other trips on my SPOT page. Click HERE to get to it.
Cheers,
Josh

I wouldn't do this with my camera.....

In his pursuit of unique photo's Erik has always wanted to clamp a camera on my airplane. Well, it happened. The photo's are pretty self explanatory. Duct tape is cheap insurance. He used his D40 camera body and a sweet wide angle lens. To see the photo's from the trip click HERE.
Cheers,
josh

Quartz Creek

The weather was great yesterday so I loaded up and flew to Quartz Creek and the Sunrise Cafe. A friend and fellow pilot from work suggested it as a nice evening trip during the summer so I took advantage of the good weather to scout it out. Cooper landing has a lot of character and is usually pretty slow for about 90% of the year. While I was through everyone was spooling up for the tourist season doing some spring cleaning and getting things ready for the short summer season. As you can see there was a pretty sweet Carolla for sale at the airport....
Cheers,
Josh

Shots from the inside

Here are a few shots from the inside of the plane. Dominic and I flew over to Seward the other day and on the way back hit lost lake and the paradise valley. I grew up riding all these areas on sleds so it's really interesting to see them from the air. The other shots are from a trip to Hope via the edge of the Kenai mountains on Tuesday. Hope all is well,
cheers,
Josh

Saturday Wrap up

Here are a few more random photo's from Saturday. It was a great group of people to go flying with. The learning curve on this type of flying is really steep. There are an endless number of variables that can fight you when landing at this elevation. While the space wasn't super tight, one really isn't sure about the snow conditions, what is hiding beneath the snow, what the wind is going to do, how the airplane is going to respond in the thinner air, etc. I'm a fairly low time pilot and I jump at the opportunity to fly with these guys because there is so much to learn and only one way to learn it; do it.
cheers,
josh

Downhill

When Pete came to rest on the top of the ridge next to Mike you'll notice he's sitting a bit cockeyed. In soft snow, an airplane on a slope will just sink in as it slides down the fall line. That is exactly what Pete's Champ did. With a 100 horsepower motor, Pete's plane usually wouldn't be in this situation because their pilot's usually think they can't pull it off. Pete is proving them wrong. This series is group of Pete taking off downhill after we dug him out. It was an exciting Saturday.

The Ridge

I'm super psyched about this group of photo's. They were taken on a 4500ft ridge just south of blockade glacier. Mike pioneered the landing, and laid the tracks for the rest of us. In order to gain speed for take off, the plane is maneuvered down hill to aid in takeoff. The first set is a series of Gregg landing 3rd.

Trinity Lake

Photo's of Trinity lake this Saturday, Hans' and Peter's cabin, the planes and the ash in the McArthur river valley.