Months ago, I had made plans to view the coming total solar eclipse from Casper WY. There are a number of other airports in the path of totality, Madras OR being one of them. I dropped in to see what they were doing for the eclipse. Quite a bit, it turns out. They hired a temporary tower and are turning the airport into Class D for the weekend. The logistics were very Oshkosh-esque, with VFR arrival slots assigned every 3 minutes. Around 300 planes have registered and they figure to cap it at 400. I saw a potentially interesting scene from Madras with Mount Jefferson visible in the distance to the west - the moon's shadow would envelop it nearly a minute before getting to Madras. It got me thinking about a change of venue.
Salem Airport is also in the path of totality, and the FBO there said they were full at around 115 aircraft.
| Madras eclipse poster |
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Leaving Salem, I found myself under a 1500' ceiling again. Somehow in the lower 48 it felt low. It cleared up south of Eugene and from there it was clear sailing home.
All in all, it was an awesome trip. Only with GA was it possible to visit so much of Alaska in such a relatively short time, and on my own schedule. Three of the cities I stopped at (Barrow, Juneau, and Ketchikan) had no outside road access. Despite some dicey moments, the weather cooperated and the entire trip was conducted in day VFR, with the exception of a short hop from Redmond to Salem that ran into night. There was only one day where I didn't fly as planned due to weather.
It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but it was a good taste of what Alaska offers. I'm already contemplating a future trip. It would be nice to see the mountains with clearer skies, spend more time in the Panhandle and see Glacier Bay, and get out to King Salmon or Kodiak. I'd also like to see the aurora, though as that's best in winter, that might entail a commercial flight.
A number of my friends asked if I saw polar bears in Barrow. No, though it was also not the best time of year for them there. It has got me thinking about a flight to Churchill, Manitoba, "Polar Bear Captial of the World" someday though!
I only got one mosquito bite the entire trip. Perhaps the permethrin repellent I had applied to all my clothing did the trick; I never broke out the DEET. Really, I think the famed Alaskan mosquitoes are just a story locals use to keep people away. I've had much worse experiences with mosquitoes in Florida!
| Beware of mosquitoes! |
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