With such a beautiful summer upon us I couldn’t let the time be wasted just thinking about it so a flying trip was planned for August 2006. I made a few phone calls to Rudy Schwendenar and Ray Fletcher who shares my love of flying; we decided we would meet at 100 Mile House in the morning of August the 21st. I also phoned my cousin who lives in Decca Lake and decided to fly up a day early and spend the day with her. The fly out to 100 Mile over the Bonaparte was spectacular. The day was warm, clear and beautiful. I buzzed over my cousin’s house around the Decca Lake area and was able to take a few pictures for them. I landed in 100 Mile and my cousin Eileen came over to pick me up so I could spend the day with her and her husband. After our visit they took me to Forest Grove where I spent  the night at Rudy’s. Monday morning the 21st of August, Elizabeth took Rudy and I to the 100 Mile airport where we were to meet Ray who was flying in from 144 Mile House and another fellow named Tyson Krause who I had never met before but was coming along on this trip. Tyson flew in from 150 Mile House and was flying an Avid flyer. Once we were all together we decided to fly to                         (Harry's Rans S7)                               Quesnel and then on to Smithers but had to figure out our flight path. Leaving 100 Mile House the weather was beautiful, it was a nice sunny day. The flight to Quesnel takes about an hour and we needed to stop for gas, this is where we would decide our plan of flight. We would follow the Fraser up to Prince George and cut across to Cluscas Lake which is close to Vanderhoof. Flying over Vanderhoof; you could see how the area has been devastated by the pine beetle. You don’t realize how bad it is until you fly over it. From there we followed the highway to Fraser Lake over toward Burns Lake. I made an attempt to land at an airstrip on this side of Burns Lake but it was too windy and it tossed me around so we decided to land at an airstrip that was 10-20 miles the other side of Burns Lake. We were able to land safely. Once again we had to fill the planes with gas. The wind was still blowing fairly strong, especially across the runway, but we all made it out. The flying was still fantastic going over Houston and then on to Smithers. Once we landed in Smithers I phoned my son Lance who lives in Telkwa with his wife Nicole. Telkwa is 10 minutes south of Smithers. They both came and picked us at the Smithers airport after we tied the airplanes down. We headed over to their favorite restaurant for a bite to eat and a visit. They took us back to their house in Telkwa where everyone was fortunate enough to have a bed to sleep in for the night. The rest of the evening was filled with conversation about the past days flying events and experiences along the way.  The next day I decided to take a break from the flying and talked Ray, Tyson and Rudy into going to Morristown and watch the Indians salmon fishing. All four of us piled into Lance and Nicole’s little Aveo and headed out to Morristown to see how the fishing was. It was an enjoyable day watching the fishing; we saw some nice fish being brought out of the Skeena River.

                                                                                                    (Copper River at Telkwa Pass)

(Harry (in Plaid) with some of the local fishermen in Morristown)                                                                                                                              (Idiot Rock at Morristown)

                                 (Old Church in Morristown)                                                                                                                                          (Morristown Local Gals watching the day's fishing)

We walked around the town and saw some of the cities main attractions like the old church. There is a place in Morristown called Idiot rock, nice place to go where anyone can go and throw a line out and catch a fish. That’s why they call it Idiot Rock; any idiot can catch a fish there. We got back to Smithers and finished the day off venturing around this quaint little European town. Back at Lances we discussed flying to Hazelton, Terrace and then to Kitamat the next day. We left Smithers on Wednesday the 23rd of August and started to head across country. Weather was good, lots of chatter on the radio, got over to Terrace following the Skeena River. We decided to land in Terrace and fill up with gas. There was a nice restaurant so we stopped for a bite to eat. Upon doing so we had a lot of folks coming over after seeing our aircraft there and they were wondering where we came from and surprised we flew all that way in our small planes.

                                             ( Terrace)                                                                                                                                                                                                (Smithers Airport)

                                       (Skeena River)                                                                                                                                                                                 (Kitimat Douglas Channel)

After refueling we took off. The wind blew heavy and steady but there was lots of room to take off, we were able to make it out and head up to Kitimat. It was a spectacular view. We could see the smelter at Kitimat where aluminum is brought in from around the world by boat to be processed there. The smelter there is because power is cheap and is being supplied by the power station at Kamano. We flew down the Douglas Channel, picked up the power line and started to follow it through the mountains. The clouds were hanging low and heavy, we weren’t sure if were going to be able to find a hole in the clouds to get through the valley to get over the mountains because now we were dealing with Coast Mountains. Again the scenery was amazing, following a valley or a gorge hopefully trying to find a hole at the end of it. Trying for about an hour but having no luck. It didn’t matter which way we went we were faced with all this heavy cloud above us. We decided to head back to Terrace and then fly the Telkwa pass back to Smithers rather than the Skeena as we did flying up.

                                                                                                                    (Coastal Range and low cloud cover east of Kitimat)

The Telkwa Pass is a very scenic route but a very narrow pass. Weather was a little rough. We flew out this side of Houston then back to Smithers. A lot of rough air and cross wind on the runway. But we all made it back to Smithers okay. We had to phone Lance to spend another night; hopefully the beds were still available. The 24th of August we decided to fly to Babine Lake and venture home from there. Again we went back to the airport after breakfast, fueled the planes and took off to Babine Lake towards Smithers landing Chapman down the Foulton. Very bumpy weather, you could see whitecaps on the water of the lakes. We continued to the destination of Fort St. James, flying above these lakes; Babine, Lake Cunningham, Trembler, Stewart Lake. We needed a pit stop at Fort St. James, Had a washroom break and a chocolate bar. We started off to Quesnel and followed the Stewart River towards Prince George and cut off when we got closer to Prince George and then flew straight to Quesnel. It was great flying weather, we landed at Quesnel. We refueled enough to get back to 100 mile house.

Tyson would be splitting off at Williams Lake to get back to 150 Mile House where he lived. Ray, Rudy and I continued to 100 Mile, weather was very warm. I decided not to fly back home to Enderby at that point, as I was too tired and it was already 5pm. I stayed at Rudy’s for the night. Rudy and Elizabeth took me to 100 Mile and I was glad I stayed because the weather was fantastic. I took off and flew across the Bonaparte and the weather was perfect. I was listening to some of the other chatter on the radio from the Green Lake area; there was an amazing view and lots to listen to. I flew from the Bonaparte to Dead Mans Creek, then on to the Thompson, fantastic flying over there. Kamloops to Pritchard and landed back on the farm runway in Deep Creek at about 11am. It was a fabulous trip even though the weather was a little dicey from time to time.   We were able to view some of our beautiful province from the sky and meet interesting people along the way as well. It was an amazing experience that I can’t brag enough about. I am looking forward to more trips like this in the coming year.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                (Tyson Krause in his Avid Flyer above the barren countryside)

More Photos

                                       (Weary Flyers)                                                                                                                                                                                       (Mooseskin Johnny)

                          (Ray and Rudy and the Avid Flyer)                                                                                                                                                                    (Skeena River)

                         (Looking West toward Kitimat)                                                                                                                                                       (Catch of the Day in Morristown)