| Cone Glacier, Mt. Veniaminof |
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| Wildman Lodge |
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Wildman Lodge is situated about 200 miles southwest of King Salmon on the Alaska Peninsula. The fishing and wildlife tour packages include charter transportation to the lodge, typically from Anchorage, but also King Salmon. The latter conveniently fit my itinerary, and I had arranged for my pickup at one of the small FBOs at the airport.
It was a wet, gloomy morning for the charter flight(s) to the lodge. While above IFR minimums, ceilings were low enough at King Salmon that the VFR floatplane operators to Brooks Lodge were on hold.
My first leg was in a Pilatus PC-12 to an affiliated lodge at Sandy River. When it arrived to pick me up at King Salmon, I happily took the vacant copilot seat, feeling only slightly self-conscious with the other passengers in the back watching. The pilot, Tommy, got me hooked up with a headset. We departed IFR and climbed into clear skies on top at FL200. I noted there was a Starlink antenna mounted in the copilot window. In the short amount of time that service has been available, it has become indispensible to operations like this one, allowing Tommy to keep in touch with his clients at all times. Considering I basically hadn't had any Verizon coverage since I left Fairbanks, I couldn't imagine how difficult it was to coordinate his operations before the days of Starlink.
The ceiling at our destination was expected to be around 500', and I was very curious how the approach would be handled to a gravel strip without an instrument procedure. Depending on the conditions, Tommy said that shooting the approach to Port Heiden and then proceeding below the layer was one option. Conditions today were such that he canceled IFR, then descended in uncontrolled airspace over the water until below the clouds before proceeding inland to the airstrip. With good visibility and generally flat terrain, the fact we were flying at only 400' was notable, but not concerning. I imagine it must have been much more challenging before GPS was available! We flew a low pattern over the strip and landed uneventfully. Just another day in Alaska bush flying.
I was impressed by the ground operations upon our arrival. A couple small tractors came out towing luggage carts. The luggage and supplies on the Pilatus were offloaded and sorted into bins staying at the Sandy River Lodge or going on to Wildman. The outbound luggage was loaded. It was a miniature airline operation in the middle of a vast expanse of tundra.
The hop to Wildman was in a Cessna 185. I don't know that it was supposed to be part of the package, but the pilot took advantage of the now clear day to fly us around Mount Veniaminoff. I appreciated the scenic sidetrip, and we chatted about his experiences bush piloting in Alaska.
| Cone Glacier, Mt. Veniaminof |
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| Wildman Lodge |
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Excursions at Wildman
That afternoon, I took a short jet boat ride up the river with one of the guides. The water was crystal clear, and a pool at the base of a small waterfall is aptly dubbed "The Aquarium". We didn't see any notable wildlife, although I found a bear bed on a small island in the middle of the river.
The next day, I, with one other guest and our guide Don, were flown out to Cape Seniavin to see the walrus. To avoid disturbing the haulout area, we landed on the beach about 3 miles away to hike in. Approaching Cape Seniavin, the cliff walls were covered with birds - mostly nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes, along with some Common Murres. We first climbed to the top of the cliff where a few walrus were visible offshore among the waves. After a quick lunch, we hiked down to the beach on the far side of the cape where a few hundred walrus were resting against the base of the cliff. Our guide, Don, said the number of walrus fluctuates each day. A few days before, there were probably more than a thousand, filling out the beach enough to be seen from the cliff top. We spent a couple hours watching the walrus come and go and mingle in their group. I was particularly amused by one making its way to the water who would "walk" a few yards, then stop and roll over on its side as if exhausted. After a short pause, it would walk another few yards, then roll over again. It took a while, but it eventually disappeared into the waves. When it came time for us to go, we left the walrus behind and walked a couple miles further down the beach to our pickup point.
The following day's activity was a jet boat trip across the Ilnik Lake and up the Ilnik River for a hike and wildlife viewing, again with just one other guest and a guide. On the way, we spotted a caribou and a bear sow with two cubs. The hike to a secluded spring was only a little more than half a mile, but though the tundra tussocks look deceptively smooth, it was exhausting making our way across with sometimes unstable footing.
In the evening over meals at the lodge, it was interesting to learn about the operations there from the staff. Everything from guests to supplies are flown in of course, at an approximate overall cost of $3/lb. Trash that can't be burned or composted on site has to be flown back out. For the 8 months of the off-season, they hire a caretaker who lives there all winter *alone*! I'm enough of an introvert that the COVID lockdowns were practically business as usual, but even I'd have a tough time with that!
| The Aquarium |
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| Black-legged Kittiwake and chick |
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| Walrus at Cape Seniavin |
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| Walrus |
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| Caribou |
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| Bear with 2 cubs |
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Once again, a windy, wet, and gloomy morning. I was back on the Pilatus for the flight back to King Salmon, where I was dropped off on the ramp right next to my Tiger. How's that for door to door service?
When I made my initial bookings around the Brooks Lodge stay, I planned to arrive in King Salmon a couple days early and had booked a room in town starting July 16. By the time I made arrangements for Wildman, the town had sold out of the two intervening days I had on hand. My solution was to make a short 1 hour hop over the mountains to Kodiak and spend a couple days there.
With Starlink service at the lodge, I was able to file an IFR flight plan from King Salmon to Kodiak earlier that morning and review the weather. There was ice in the forecast above 8000', mostly north of my route, and on the flight into King Salmon I was able to see that the tops were at 7000' so I'd be in the clear for my flight. I preflighted in the light rain, picked up my clearance, and took off into the muck. I had filed and was cleared for PAKN AKN T368 ODK PADQ, but was cleared direct during the climb to 10000'. It was IMC most of the way to the coast, but the clouds broke up over the channel and I was treated to beautiful views approaching Kodiak Island. It was immediately obvious why it's called Alaska's Emerald Isle.
The main airport at Kodiak is Kodiak State Airport (PADQ). When I had called the FBO to inquire about parking rates, I was told $200/night! This seems to be a theme in Alaska. It's not clear if it's just the FBO's way of discouraging GA aircraft on their ramp, which is usually buzzing with their own charter flights. The alternative was nearby Kodiak Municipal Airport (PAKD), where the city charges only $15/night. The chart supplement for Kodiak Muni suggests it's a challenging place. While the runway is officially listed as 40' wide, the notes indicate it's only 20' wide at the Runway 20 approach end (the main gear of my Tiger spans 9'), with a downhill slope and trees alongside the final approach. Somewhat unusually, the CTAF for Kodiak Municipal is shared with the tower frequency at the nearby State airport, as well as 2 seaplane bases within 2 miles. In fact, the Lilly Lake Seaplane Base is essentially a liquid extension of Runway 20 at Kodiak Municipal.
My plan was to park at Kodiak Muni if at all possible, perhaps flying the instrument approach into PADQ and then requesting Special VFR over to PAKD if needed. Happily, it wasn't, and I cancelled IFR during the decent and proceeded to Kodiak Muni VFR. The winds favored a landing on Runway 20, which indeed felt more exciting than usual. The narrow runway looked *tiny*, and the slope made the available runway look shorter than it was. I made one of my better landings, and taxied over to the gravel parking area. Kodiak Car Rentals had a satellite office right outside the airport gate (which was inoperative and stuck open), so picking up and loading my rental car was a breeze.
| Door to door charter service! |
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| Kodiak |
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With a beautiful day in store, I started with a short aerial tour of the area. Kodiak Island is the 2nd largest island in the United States, behind only Hawaii's big island (3588 vs 4028 sq. mi.). It is slightly larger than Puerto Rico. A full circumnavigation of the island would have taken more than 2 hours at speed. I kept to the area around Kodiak to maintain an easy pace, and because I mostly wanted to take a look at the Pacific Spaceport Complex, which is only about 20 miles south of Kodiak.
It was a short hop to the gravel strip at Ouzinkie on neighboring Spruce Island, where I landed to have a quick look around the field. Not having made it into Wales, it was my one unpaved airport stop for the trip. I didn't need to use it, but I was amused to find that the tail tiedown anchor on the ramp was quite literally an anchor!
Departing Ouzinkie, I flew counterclockwise around Kizhuyak and Ugak Bays to Narrow Cape, where the spaceport was. A number of orbital space launches have occurred from the launch site, but I most associate the place with the Aug 28, 2021 launch of Astra's Rocket 3.3, which literally went sideways. (See also Scott Manley's breakdown of the launch.) The launch was from Pad 3B, but as Astra uses mobile launch infrastructure designed to be set up temporarily, there is nothing really to see at the site.
On my return to Kodiak Municipal, the winds favored an approach to Runway 02, over Lilly Lake. Landing uphill on the wider end of the runway wasn't nearly as exciting as the one from the previous day.
In the afternoon, I made a leisurely drive down the Pasagshak Point Road out to Fossil Beach, which took me by the spaceport on the ground. At a random stop along the way, I got to see my first whale breach just offshore.
| Monashka Mountain, Kodiak Island |
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| Tiedown anchor at Ouzinkie |
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| Barabara Cove, Kizhuyak Bay |
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| Pad 3B at the Pacific Spaceport Complex |
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| A whale breach! |
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| Making a splash |
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