Places that are just plain (or plane?) cool...

About 1430 in the afternoon in Rankin Inlet

One of the many, many reasons I love my job is the fact I get to go to so many cool places that I would otherwise have no reason to visit. Based in Thompson, I flew to a suprising amount of places that I'm glad I got to see and would recommend to people if they get the chance. Servicing fishing lodges, I got to enjoy gorgeous lakes and locations in Northern Manitoba. These include Egenolf Lake, Nueltin Lake, and Nejanilini Lake. On the shore of the latter stood the remnants of Duck Lake Post, an old Hudson's Bay Company fur trading post that has long since abandoned. In Nunavut, I've landed a Cessna 206 on an esker next to the shore of Ennadai Lake, visiting an outfitter lodge there. Skimed over red tundra and short short trees traveling to Cullaton Lake where all the equipment from an abandoned mine was now buried underground. Saw whales on the shore of Churchill, MB, where I also flew around Fort Prince of Wales which has existed for over 300 years. Visited the Keewatin District of Nunavut, on the West shore of Hudsons Bay, in the dead of winter where a blanket of white is only disturbed by towns and snowmobiles. To top it all off, many, many nights I have gazed upon the most awesome displays of Northern Lights.

Duck Lake Post

Cullaton Lake (the ground is really this red)

Rankin Inlet

Here in BC, there is definitely no shortage of neat places to visit. I always enjoyed flying up and down the Pacific Coast, stopping in places such as Tofino, Port Hardy, Bella Bella and Bella Coola to take in the coastal lifestyle. Flying down Chilko Lake to Tsuniah Lake was also memorable as it took me over gorgeous Coastal mountains, glaciers, and lakes. Finally, although I've gone up and down it numerous times already, Williston Lake and the Finlay Valley have yet to get boring. I now have a spot picked out just Northwest of Mackenzie where I'm guaranteed to see Moose. It's all been awesome. I cannot help but look down upon the Earth and be amazed by every square mile I see.

Coastal Mountain Range

Blue River

Prince RupertChilko LakeSmithers

The Telkwa Pass, In between Smithers and TerraceTsah Key, North end Williston Lake
Akie Valley off the Finlay river valley

A few weeks ago, I got to go to the coolest strip that I've yet to visit, Bronson Creek. Nestled in the Northern Coastal Mountains, Bronson Creek sits right next to the Iskut River, miles away from where it flows into the Stikine and Alaska. The strip itself sits around 500' while mountains in the area tower up to near 9000', leading to impressive views. An area with a rich history in mining, Bronson used to be a very active airstrip. It was regularly serviced from places such as Terrace and Smithers and was frequented by both fixed with and helicopter companies. Although I'm not sure who originally started the strip, it was Cominco that operated it before it was unregistered and listed as abandoned in the Canadian Flight Supplement in the late 90's.

Parked in Bronson

The only way to take off out of Bronson

As terrain rises rapidly in close quarters to the strip, it's a VFR only strip, so weather needs to be good. My trip to Bronson took place in the Caravan. A normally single crewed airplane, I was accompanied by a pilot with far more experience in the area then myself. A sort of orientation for future trips that I might do. We first flew towards Bob Quinn Lake, an airstrip about 30 miles up the Iskut river from Bronson, right beside the Stewart - Alaska highway #37. From Bob Quinn, we followed the Iskut trying to maintain VFR. However, Mother Nature had different plans for us and we were turned around ten miles from Bronson by rain, mist, and lower cloud. We flew back to Bob Quinn, where we held for two hours until we decided to give it a second shot. On our second attempt the weather cooperated and after a short 15 minute flight we introduced the wheels of our 208B to the gravel strip at Bronson Creek.

First Attempt - No GoodSecond Attempt - Much BetterBronson Creek

A camp at Bronson still is in great running order and is run by a husband and wife team living in Smithers. They run the camp as a lodge for people wishing to fish the many nearby rivers, hunters, mining companies, studying University students, or anyone else who might be interested in exploring the gorgeous surrounding area. We ran back and forth from Bob Quinn to Bronson four or five times that day (I think, I can't remember and my logbook isn't close at hand), delivering people and supplies to open the lodge for the summer. We ended our day in Bronson, where we ate an awesome dinner and had a few cold drinks. From outside the window in the main hall, we looked across the Iskut to a rock face on the opposite side to see five mountain goats. They stayed on the same rock face until our departure the next day.

Parked in Bob Quinn Lake

DOX in Bob QuinnBronsonGetting unloaded in Bronson

We awoke the next morning to the sound of rain on our cabin roof. Looking outside, it immediately clear we weren't going to be leaving anytime soon. Mist, cloud and rain hung low in the Iskut river valley and put the kiabosh on our plans to leave for Prince George. So we hung around camp all day, helping with this and that, waiting for the weather to improve. A neat feature they were in the process of setting up before I left was satellite internet. Wired into an entire cabin refered to as the "Cyber Shack" they provided hard wired and wireless high speed internet to anybody who might need it. Pretty cool considering there location. Come around 1600ish local, after many sat phone calls to Flight Services and company, we began to see some mountain tops. We launched off, climbed above the peaks and headed straight for clear skies in Smithers and Prince George....

Looking up the Iskut RiverBronson Creek LodgeJohnny Mountain shrouded in scud