This photo shows the only sunny day we had this fall. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s not far from the truth. In fact, it was likely raining or blowing 40 mph within hours of this photo being taken. Alaskans received the most unbelievably horrific stretch of weather I have ever seen in Alaska. None the less … this was definitely a beautiful morning.
The reason I landed on this gravel bar was to drop off a wrangler with a saddle and a coffee can full of grain. Their horses had bolted out of moose camp the previous day, and had only stopped because of they were afraid of getting wet whilst swimming the river. Fortunately I could land on the same gravel bar where the horses were standing, unfortunately they only left me 230′ to work with. It was manageable but it’s the sort of landing that I earn my money on. I had to fly short final in a low turn over the river and in-between spruce trees that were only 5 feet off my wing. Then I had to touch-down immediately over the river bank, while dodging a small log, and get stopped in less than 300′ before hitting the horses or running into the river. It’s a fairly standard situation for this line of work, but the sort of thing that could get ugly quick if I misjudged the landing zone. It actually all worked perfectly, and the horses just stood there as if they received a Super-Cub delivered breakfast every morning.
