How I got to Oshkosh (long)

Well, I did it again this year. I combined a trip to British Columbia
with my final destination being Oshkosh, this time in my Amphib
equipped Aviat Husky. I am not sure how many bytes I can post in one
message, so if it doesn't all make it, I'll post the rest later.

Trip Report 2003

Well, where do I start? This is my trip report for my fourth summer
trip to Canada/Alaska (only last year and this year, I stayed in
Canada). My goal this year was to more or less repeat last years trip,
which was done on wheels, only THIS year do it on floats (amphibs).
And that is what I did! After flying over all-those-lakes (just gotta
land on 'em, just gotta land on 'em) last year, I flew to Oshkosh and
bought some Wipline 2100 amphibs for my intrepid A-1 Husky. I waited
until April to have the Amphibs installed, which was done in South St
Paul by Wipline, and brought them back to Colorado. I managed to get
permission to land on a local lake here in Colorado, and there are a
few private lakes where you can land, but Colorado is definitely not
the greatest place for a Seaplane (I think there area about five in
the whole state). I took the Husky on a trip to Lake Powell and took
it up to some Wyoming Lakes (7200' and 6200' high and add a couple
thousand for density altitude) I did manage to get some experience
with the Husky, before I left on my trip.

The Amphibs have these nice big float lockers, so I have plenty of
room to take all sorts of stuff. Trouble is, I don't have the capacity
to carry all that weight! Seaplane performance tends to fall off
faster with load than land planes, and I need to stay light so I can
climb over all those mountains on my way to the west coast. I do the
usual scurrying around getting all my camping gear together, stopping
the mail and newpaper, getting the dog taken care of by friends
(thanks Jerry). July 6 rolls around and I am ready to go. I load up,
take on just enough fuel to get me over the Rockies, take off, and
climb out to 13000' to get over the divide at Rollins pass. It is hot,
and I am climbing slow, I search for updrafts, catch some, get my
13000' and cross. Whew! Well at least that is over, it's all downhill
from here! First stop is Hayden, where I tank up, the plane is
cruising just fine and I am headed to my favorite lunch stop, Afton
Wyoming. Along the way, I do a couple of splash and goes on beautiful
Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Then it's on to Afton. I like Afton, not just
because that is where Husky's are made, but because it is a quick walk
across the road to a great resturant. Airport is right next to town.
Now that is my kind of airport! After getting a great lunch and fuel,
I head to Idaho Falls, I learn that Bob is in Arlington for the
airshow (great, Arlington is right on my way!), I am jazzed about
that, and I go off searching for somewhere to camp for the night.
Having an Amphib, naturally I am looking for a lake and I find one,
Magic (nice name!) right next to the town of Magic and Magic Resevoir.
Not only all that, but it has an airport! I come it, land on the lake,
the reservoir is down, doesn't look too good for camping on the bleak
shore with no trees or flat spots, so I take off and land at the grass
strip (more gravel than grass) and set up camp right at the tie downs.
While pounding in a stake to hold my tent, my reading glasses fall off
my head, land on the top of the stake, and my hammer goes right
through the wire rim middle. Now what are the odds of THAT happening?
Fortunately I have a backup pair.There is a nice general store and
resturant in Magic only a block away, but I have all the supplies I
need for dinner and breakfast. Some farmer has a pump running all
night, watering his crops, I have trouble getting to sleep. You'd
think they'd turn that thing off at night, to give it a rest or
something, but I guess not. I move my tent so the floats are between
me and the pump, helps a little. Eventually I get to sleep. Next
morning I go over to the General Store and mail some post cards.

In the morning it's off for my next leg, to the coast. My route takes
me to Hood River, at the base of Mt. Adams. I fly to the airport and
circle down and land. It is hot! One extraordinary thing, I had
tailwinds from Idaho to Hood River. Tailwinds east to west, I've never
seen that before. The Husky with the Amphibs cruises at 90-95 knots
true, at 5000' burning 8-10 gph. With the 8.50 tires, I was cruising
at 105-110 knots. It's the price you pay for amphibs. But on this leg
I was consitently getting 100 knots or better groundspeed. All that
wind was bringing HOT weather to the coast, and it was 95 in Hood
River. At Hood River I fueled up and discovered I had lost my credit
card! Thank God I had another one! I tried calling the Visa 800
number, but I told them it was First Bank credit card (it was actually
First USA) and they couldn't find it. Of course their first question
was, what is the credit card number. Like if I knew the number, I
would have the credit card! Apparently there is no central database
where they input your social security number and get back all the
credit cards he has. I decide not to worry about it, I can deal with
that when I get back from the trip.

At Hood River, I take the last picture on my first roll of film from
my brand new Nikon zoom camera, and much to my dismay, it doesn't
rewind automatically! I manage to find the emergency rewind button,
and it rewinds, but when I load a new roll of film, the film won't
advance! I am going to have to buy a new camera! I have lunch at Hood
River, I packed a nice lunch in a small lunch cooler I had. Fried
Chicken! On my way out, I do a splash and go on the Columbia River, in
fairly large waves. My Wiplines handle the waves just fine. Man it's
great to be alive! Well, now it's off to Kenmore Air, my next stop, on
Lake Washington. My route takes me right by Mt. St. Helens, wow what a
sight! Nice cruising (still getting tailwinds), I contact Seattle
Center to get flight following into Kenmore, as my route takes me
right through Seattle Class B. Also, this way I don't have to worry
about all those nasty, non-charted TFR's. Seattle has some bad ones,
and they are not on the charts. ATC brings me right to Kenmore, the
weather is great, looking down, man, there are a LOT of boats in that
lake! Seems like everyone and his brother are out on the lake in their
boat! I find a fairly clear spot (it's impossible to find a totally
clear area) and land and taxi into Kenmore. Well, Kenmore had a nice
dock, I make my first docking in my Husky! as well as my first landing
at a Seaplane Base! There were a lot of Dehavilands around that take
passengers, but there is not much there for the guy like me. After
looking around, I take off and proceed to Arlington, which is not far
north. On my way, I do a scenic flight around downtown Seattle, nice
looking place! Apparently Kenmore does all their instruction on this
other smaller lake, which from the looks of it was even MORE crowded.
I fly over it wondering if I could find an instructor who knows
anything about flying my airplane, and dealing with all the problems
of docking and beaching. I wonder what sort of problems I am going to
run into up north. Guess I'm going to find out.

Arlington was a mini-Oshkosh. The vendor displays were a bit
disappointing, not too many there (although Bob was there with his
Huskys). But there was good camping on the field, everyone was
friendly and interested in the Husky. It attracts a lot of attention
taxiing in (like taxiing around in a Monster Truck, the thing IS high
up). Makes for nice visibility, and no trouble finding my Husky in a
crowd of airplanes. There are some other Amphibs there, I made it a
point to talk to them, they came over and made some suggestions on my
tie up rigging. I checked out their airplanes and talked about issues
of tieing up, docking and where to go for the best scenic views
(Chatterbox Falls looks good). I changed my oil at Arlington, it was
neat, sitting there draining my oil and talking to guys. One guy was
down from Alaska with his Widgeon, he owned a Husky and wanted to know
all about my Amphibs. I met Jack, who I had previously met at the
Husky Fly In in Idaho, hey Jack! Nice Husky! Arlington had a great
airshow, first time I've ever seen fireworks coming out of airplanes
at night! I stay three nights and two days. I discover I left my small
cooler at Hood River, damn! On Sunday, I'm ready to leave. Tim Ferris,
of this list, had graciously told me to get ahold of him and we'd go
fly somewhere together and have lunch. I called him, he lives on a
lake, told me where it was, so I am off to find Tim! I announce my
landing, and Tim is on the radio, I land, and he comes out taxiing. We
take off, I follow him and go over to Roche Harbor, San Juan Island.
What a flight! Flying over water has never been so much fun! With
those great floats under me, if I loose my engine, it's just a gentle
landing on Puget sound (not that I wouldn't have some problems getting
rescued, but at least my airplane wouldn't sink!) Fly 50' off the deck
if I want! (keeping 500' from any vessel yada yada yada). What a great
life! How lucky I am to fulfill this dream. Tim had Baumann straight
floats and has a hoist to get it out of the water, what a great setup,
living on such a gorgeous lake! He had a passenger and the three of us
went over to Roche Harbor and had lunch. After lunch we pretended like
we were interested in buying an 84' luxury yacht that was on display
and received a personal tour. What a boat!! Man the woodwork was
luxurious! Well let's see, nice beds here for the kids, and THIS
suite, gosh, now lood at THAT bed, now lets see, I can just imagine
this gorgeous female...(ooops sorry, can't go there, (I might have
been out to sea just a tad too long)). Anyway, you get the idea,
LUXURY (and BUCKS). Two big 800 hp diesels on board for power. Wow!
Sure I'll take one. Will the hoist lift my Husky? That way I could fly
around, land and get the Husky on board! Well, I'll have to talk to my
accountant first, see I have to transfer my money from my Swiss Bank
account... so I can't buy RIGHT NOW, but I'll get a hold of you as
soon as I find a spare two million, okay? Got your card right here in
my wallet. Yes Sir, thanks a million, or was that two million (one
two, what's the difference eh?) Well my cell phone is ringing, must be
that important business deal...

Tim and his buddy have to go, Tim gives me the coordinates of an
island where there is this dock I can tie up to. You need docks out in
the inland passage, as there are 12' tides. Beaching doesn't exactly
work. After Tim and his buddy leave, I go to check out the beautiful
gardens in Roche Harbor (they have all these rose vine houses, just
superb), I am in the middle of my walking tour when I hear over the
loudspeaker "will the owner of the Husky tied up to the seaplane dock
please report to the Harbor Master" Uh oh, what's happened? Did it
sink or something? Worridly I hurry over, the "harbor master" consists
of this 18 year old girl who tells me in her best valley accent that I
have to move my Husky because KENMORE AIR is coming in and when
KENMORE AIR comes in all the planes at the dock have to move, beacuase
KENMORE AIR needs the WHOLE DOCK, by golly. Gee, I like it when there
aren't any other planes at the dock too, but I don't call ahead and
tell them they all have to move. Oh, well, then, I'm not KENMORE AIR,
and I didn't learn to fly at KENMORE AIR. Those KENMORE AIR pilots are
REALLY GOOD, they are SO good, they need the WHOLE DOCK!! What am I
supposed to do? I ask? "Why don't you go taxi around." Slightly
perturbed, I say, "I'll just leave" and off I go. (I'm not really all
that perturbed, just having fun with it. Still, it seemed like there
was plenty of room for even an Otter and my Husky on that dock, but
what do I know? I mean I didn't learn to fly at KENMORE AIR).

So off I go to Orchas Island, East Sound. This is the greatest little
airport with the greatest little town, with the friendliest people in
the world. Fuel, nearby beautiful town, great little pedestrian trail
with deer in the woods leads to town, apple orchards and all services,
great resturants, grocery store, hardware store. There is a guy there
who gives scenic rides in his Waco, he graciously lent me his grease
gun (best to keep shooting grease through the wheel bearings, chases
out the water) and they lend me their hose, so I can was off my
airplane! What a place. Couldn't be more perfect. Other campers at the
airport and there is even a shower! I meet Juan and his friend Keith
camping with their Mico, we fly over to Friday Harbor together for
lunch, I give Keith his first ride in a Seaplane. Taxiing into Friday
Harbor was no problem, and the Harbor guy found me a spot next to this
big yacht, way cool. I don't have any bumpers (the guy with the big
boat lends me a couple), and I stop at the West Marine to pick up a
couple of bumpers. I am starting to get this dock stuff figured out.
The "official" seplane docks typically have bumpers, and no high
posts. SOME of the boat docks will work, but you usually have to have
your own bumpers. (The posts are there so the docks can slip up and
down on them). West Marine has some nice handheld marine radios, I
resist the temptation to buy one, it would be neat to have one, you
could talk to the boats! Good for safey too! I wonder if it would work
on my outside aviation antennae (I have one that I can plug my
handheld into), the center frequency is 145 MHz, and the ideal
antennae is a little shorter than aviation. They use a different
antennae connector, though I think there is probably an adapter. So
after a while touring Friday Harbor, it's time to go, Juan and Keith
are there to see me off. The damn engine is reluctant to start! It's
always the worse when it's partly hot, like cooled off for a half hour
(although this was more like two hours). Damn, I'm going to have to
get new plugs, That usually helps. With a Seaplane, when you push off,
you HAVE to start. Though fortunately not in this case, as Juan holds
the wing. It finally starts, and I fly over to East Sound, find a
mechanic and I'm in luck, he has plugs! Great, I buy 4 (just the lower
ones get fouled), and plan on changing them tomorrow--should help my
starting. I spend the next couple of days flying around San Juan
Islands, change my plugs (starting is better) and planning my trip up
into Canada.

A glorious high pressure day arrives, I call Canadian Customs and tell
them I will clear at Bedwell Bay (this is where a lot of yachts clear,
but they do have a Seaplane Base, which means a good dock). I then
file my flight plan, all of twenty minutes get me there (and that was
with some sightseeing). Bedwell Bay is on one of the San Juan Islands,
just on the Canadian side. See, there was this pig that wandered into
some guys garden many years ago and that led to the "pig war" (no
shots fired) which is how the San Juan Islands got divided up between
Canada and the USA. I know about that because I visited the museum in
Friday Harbor! Customs guy wanted to look my plane over, reminded me
not to forget to close my flight plans and cleared me on through. I
fly around the islands, but decide to fly around Vancouver Island
before I do the channel, I look on the chart and it shows a Seaplane
Base at Sproat Lake. Sounds good to me! Coming into Sproat Lake (which
is one of many gorgeous lakes in a mountain valley, but only about
100' above sea level) I see something strange out in the middle of the
lake. Two red and silver SOMETHINGs, looks like some dam or water
project, what? they are airplanes, HUGE airplanes. Something in the
back of my mind clicks, I had read about this, this is where they keep
the Martin Mars water bombers!! They are enormous 4 engine flying
boats that can scoop up water and bomb a fire with it. I land near
them, the mechanics/pilots emerge from inside to the top of the wings,
and wave. Way cool! I taxi around Sproat Lake looking for a campsite.
The upper end of the lake doesn't have any cabins on it, so it looks
more promising. I find a nice beach, I beach it up and tie it up. I
wonder over to the next beach up, only about 100 yards, to ask if they
think it would be OK if I camped at the next beach over. They were ten
college age kids with a boat, three dogs and lots of partying! "Oh,
are you the guy with seaplane?" gushes a gorgeous, bikini clad coed.
"Could I have a riiddde in in" she says batting her eyelashes and
letting me look down her cleavage. "Well" I said jokingly, "it all
depends on what you do for me". Needless to say they were hamming it
up (not really serious, and neither was I) but hey did seem to be
friendly). At any rate, we all switch beaches, up to MY beach, where
they admire the plane. On a more serious note, I end up giving five
scenic rides around the lake, and I assure you I was very, very
careful and all joking around stopped. They may have been drinking,
but I assure you I was not and I was careful to cut the engine after
every flight so no one got hurt climbing in. Everyone had a great time
and all five short flights went well. When we get back, gorgeous coed
#2 announces, stretching, "I have to change my panties, will someone
give me ride to the cabin?" I made a gallant offer to fly her there
(and assist with the panty change, I mean, I think I could figure it
out), but alas she turned me down. There is a fight for who will pilot
the boat, though I think she picked the one she wanted. Later on that
night, they invite me over for smoked salmon and beer. Boy, these
Canucks now how to PARTY! A splended time was had by all.

After a good nights rest, I decide to taxi up to the inlet of the lake
and go fishing. Ah, but first I need a fishing license and some flies.
Hal had given me a rundown on the lake (where the hotels, resturants
and fuel was), and I flew over to the hotel. Looked so nice I vowed to
treat myself to a room that night. I get lunch and call a taxi to take
me to town. Turns out I could have landed on the river right next to
the fishing store in Port Alberni, well, you live and learn (would
have saved me 50 buck cab ride). Now, sporting my new license and
flies, I decide to fly up and try my hand near the inlet. There is
solid jungle between the inlet and river, I don't see any easy way to
fish the river. You cannot make your way through these lush forest
floors without a LOT of work (and a machete) and it LOOKS like bear
country. I find a sandbar, get out and look around. I consider taxiing
up the inlet, it would have been sweet, but decline due to not having
a passenger I could assign to fend off tree branches with paddle and
rope if necessary (not enough room to turn around). Nor do I want to
scrape my wings on those sharp tree branches. I spend some time
fishing, I don't see any fish, it doesn't look too good and I don't
catch fish. But I enjoy the lake immensely, very deep and very clean
water with beautiful mountains all around. British Columbia is one
gorgeous place! Ah, life is good.

After a few days fooling around Sproat Lake, it was time to move on,
my next destination was Tofino, which is up the west coast of
Vancouver Island. I fly over some beautiful small islands, flying low,
looking for whales. Found some (hint, find the whale watching boats,
that's where the whales are). Nice coast and some nice virgin old
growth. A truly remarkable place. I land at the Tofino airport, to
fuel up, borrow a grease gun. Three mechanics there are rebuilding
some old Edo floats and they are very interested in my Husky and it's
Wiplines. We trade some stories and I find out their opinions of
Edo's, Wiplines and Aerocets. Everyone is raving about the Aerocets,
with the one caveat that if they delaminate, you've got major problems
(they are very tough however). The aluminum floats (Edo and Wipline)
may actually last longer, as they just keep rebuilding the old Edo's
and Wiplines. The Edo's are stiffer and weigh more, the Wips are the
lightest, but maybe a bit fragile, and the Aerocets hold promise as
being quiet, fast and very tough, but are a bit untested. Everyone has
different opinions, they all seem to work. For the Husky Amphibs the
only choices are the Wiplines and the Baumann's. No one up there is
much interested in Amphibs, they seem to be something of a curiousity.
Of course most of these planes don't travel very far, or tour at all.
Usually just the same local flights over and over again. But these
guys do know their local country! After fueling up at the airport, I
fly over to the town dock, the Seaplane dock is full with three
Beavers, I spy a nearby unused dock and tie up there. I look around
for someone to ask if is OK, no one around and I get interested in the
Resturant, as I am very hungry for a non-camp meal. I get a great
hamburger, and walk up into town, buying my daughter a "Dream-weaver"
(some Native made item with feathers and bones and who knows what
else, sort of like one of those medicine wheels). I also pick up some
postcards and groceries. I go up to the post office to mail my items
and change some money, then it's back to the boat, er I mean airplane.
When I get down to the dock, somebody sticks their head out a window
and starts yelling at me (oh brother, what did I do now). She is upset
that I am at their private dock and to "Never do that again". Can't
say I blame her, guess I messed up on that one, sorry for the
inconvenience.I wonder what KENMORE AIR does? Getting out of that dock
by myself wasn't easy, it had one of those tall posts, but I managed
(did the little trick with rope looped over the dock and me holding
both ends, then letting go once I'm underway, because if I didn't
start I was going to blown into a bad place) Anyway, whew! glad I am
out of there, but a very picturesque town. Looks to be a bit windy and
exposed though. Nothing out there to the west until you get to Asia. I
follow the coast up north and around the bend, then into Port Hardy.
Absolutely beautiful!

When I land at Port Hardy, there is a contingent of Amphibians, two
single engine Otters and two Grumman Gooses (Geese?). All eyes were on
the Husky as I taxied in. Again, the mechanics all had to come out and
check out the Amphib Husky. We got into a discussion on anti-corrosion
techniques and magic formulaes (Dinatrol etc), and again, everyone has
different opinions. Also the "Marine Grease", the blue stuff is best
for the wheel bearings. I borrow the grease gun, gotta keep those
bearings lubed, and of course, fuel up. These mechanics understand
amphibs, having to maintain 4 of them for commercial ops. After
hanging around the airport for about an hour, I take off and head
south, looking for a good lake with a good campsite. I see one up a
valley, and do an overfly. There is a nice beach next to a nice creek
(oh boy, FISH!) so I put her down and taxi on it. The tie up is less
than ideal, large rocks and I can't get to the beach without getting
my feet wet. I do the best I can, get it run up fairly hard and
stabilized, I think I'll be okay if the wind doesn't blow too bad. I'm
getting out my fishing equipment when I hear this helicopter coming
in. "Man, What I have done wrong now?" I wonder, checking to make sure
I have my fishing license and pilots license. "These Canadians sure do
keep an eye on a guy". After the helicopter unloads one guy and some
gear I go over and talk to him. Turns out he is biologist working for
the logging company and they are setting up a radar that will count
the number of a certain type of bird to see the impact of the logging
on this bird's habitat. I'll be damned, what will they think of next?
I fish the creek a little, I don't see any sign of fish and I don't
catch any. Dang, the Vancouver Island fishing is mysterious? Where are
the trout? After spending a restless night I wake up in the rain. I
have to go without breakfast and load the plane with wet gear and fly.
Dang, I hate flying without breakfast. This float flying/camping is
difficult at times. I manage to loose a pair of sunglasses. I fly into
Campbell River in the rain, and choose the airport instead of the
Seaplane Base on the bay where the river comes in, hoping the airport
will have a resturaant. It doesn't, so I rent a car and go into town
(Canadian airports don't usually have courtesy cars). After getting a
GREAT breakfast, I drive around town and find a very, very nice Inn on
the Campbell River. I check in and enjoy a great view of the river and
a nice garden between me and it. The guy just upriver has a floatplane
tied up on the river, I guess I could have landed right at the Inn! It
is very lush on Vancouver Island. I go shopping, and buy a set of new
clothes, do my laundry and stock up on groceries for the next couple
of days. It is nice to get away from the plane for a while.

The next day it is fine weather and I drive back to the airport. I
have a good lunch stop circled on my chart (by someone I met at
Arlington), called "Blind Channel". Supposed to be a Seaplane Base and
a great resturant. I fly over the channel islands and enjoy the view.
Great country, lots of boats cruising up and down the channel, there
are some "rapids" marked on the chart. This is where the tides create
dramatic channel currents. After flying back and forth a bit, trying
to decipher which settlement is Blind Channel, I land and taxi up to
the dock. Sure enough, there is a dock hand and marine gas. I tie up
and there is a general store and a very nice looking resturant, with
some very nice looking waitress. I sit outside and order their
specialty, some sort of beef sandwich on a special bun with cheese.
They deliver it, and it is gormet, served with salad and just perfect
really. They obviously have a chef and not just a cook. I meet the
captain of a 85' luxury yacht that is tied up at the dock, he is
interested in my Husky, he used to pilot a Seaplane and wants to know
all about the Husky. There are blackberry bushes growing right in the
resturant gardens. Blind Channel is a major stop for all the yacht
traffic and I didn't even have to move my airplane so KENMORE AIR
could come in! I ask if I could camp there, they say no, but maybe I
should try over at Shoal Bay, just about five miles. There is a "pub"
at Shoal bay, and they have a "government" dock (whatever that means).
I fire up the airplane, take off and sightsee a bit, land on a lake on
one of the islands to wash off my plane, find Shoal Bay and land.
Trouble with Shoal Bay, it doesn't have a Seaplane dock, their dock
has all these tall posts. I cut the engine about 100 yards from the
dock, and a guy comes out in a boat and asks me if I need help. I tell
him I think I can get in if he will be my dock hand, and help me out a
bit. Gingerly, I taxi in and manage to get the Husky up to the dock,
between two tall posts, as a yacht was taking up the best "non-post"
spot. Hope I can get out without incident, I say to myself. Folks at
the "pub" are very friendly, Shoal Bay has a population of three and
all three are there. I ask if I can camp, and they say sure, I just
have to pay a dock fee of $17, which by the way is double what a boat
pays, those are the rules (because you can't "double up" a Seaplane,
that is, put another one next to it). Okeedokee, them's the rules, I
pay my fee and have a drink. The dock is loooonnnggg, I borrow a cart
and unload the plane an laboriously cart all my stuff to a nice
campsite near the pub. At least I have everything for dinner and
breakfast, it is a great campsite, and I accomplished my goal of
camping at a dock on the salt. In the morning, Mark, the owner of the
pub and I start talking, he is interested in flying over the island
area behind the pub to check out the old logging roads and see if any
might lead to the island's lake (which turns out to be the one I
landed on the previous evening). We pile in, I take off and we fly up,
Mark looking intently at the ground trying to figure out the logging
road maze. There really is no road all the way to the lake, but he
seems satisfied that he has found the way to get the four wheeler as
close possible. We fly around a bit, doing some more sight seeing. I
let Mark off, load up my gear with his help and push off the dock,
using the good space with no poles now that the yacht has left. No
problem getting out of there. I wonder what KENMORE AIR does? I take
off, and fly south, down the mainland coast, just enjoying the view
towards Powell River. Some nice islands with white sandy beaches. I
land at Powell River, fuel up and decide my time along the coast is
up, it's time to head inland, on the other side of the coastal range,
to Nimpo Lake, which is a good base for the lake system on the east
side of the Coastal Range.

I follow Butte Inlet up and the River from there inland, flying right
by massive Mt. Waddington. I get brave and land on the gorgeous lake
on the side of Mt. Waddington This lake was the inspiration for me
buying the floats (I came the same route last year, but on wheels).
The river pretty much penetrates the coastal range, and altough Mt.
Waddington is 13000' high, I only need a little more the 5000' to
clear the pass. Doing so, I enter the drainage system for the east
side of the British Columbia Coastal range, a different climate,
different lake system and head for beautiful and friendly Nimpo Lake.
I find Nimpo Lake, hmm where to land, where to land? There seem to be
two or maybe three places, I pick the one on the southeast end, which
turns out to be the right choice! Super Seaplane friendly, they have
fuel, a gorgeous lodge, log cabins, and a courtesy car. They fly both
the Canadian Flag and the American flag, the place is owned by
Seaplane enthusiasts, and sports 3 Beavers and 3 185's, most owned by
the owners of the resort, Wilderness Rim is the name. I am greated by
one owner (who has a beautiful Beaver) and I taxi up to the dock and
fuel up. He invites me to stick around, use the courtesy car and let
him know if there is anything I need. Now that is hospitality. The
place is run by a Canadian couple, Ryan and Tabby with 3 gorgeous
young kids, and is super friendly. I ask if I can camp, they say sure,
why not. There are showers and washer/dryers too! They have build the
most gorgeous log structures and log cabins abound that can be rented.
Wow, what a place! I have just stumbled into Seaplane Heaven!! I spend
some time talking to the pilots finding out where the good lakes are,
where the good fishing is and what all is going on around Nimpo Lake
(grocery stores, post office, resturants etc). I spend the next 8 days
camping at Wilderness Rim, flying out every day to different lakes for
fishing and lunch. All I have is my fly rod, and the trout fishing is
hard, but I do manage to catch a few fish, and actually get lots of
bites (trout were spitting out my barbless hooks). Then I would fly
back and have dinner, cooking my catch or indulging in a great steak
bought at the Nimpo Lake store. All the other pilots are super
friendly and so are the proprietors. I keep looking at my calender
figuring out the best day to leave, as well as the most interesting
route to Oshkosh. I plan to arrive Oshkosh evening of July 31 and
leave for Colorado on August 3. Two days at Osh will be enough this
year.

I say goodbye to Nimpo Lake and fly along the Chilcotin River to it's
junction with the Fraser, and fly on into Kamloops. It is very hot,
this is the dry deserty part of Canada, I am on the gorgeous river and
I follow it from Kamloops east to Golden, followning the river that
goes along the railroad tracks/highway. After fueling up at Kamloops
(I am following the river), something happens that has never happened
before, the engine stutters. Just misses a beat completely. I do a mag
check and it is running rough on either mag. A few miles later, it
does it again! Very mysterious, I hug the river so I can land if
necessary, after a while, it clears up and runs normally again. The
valley is very low, compared to the high mountains surrounding. The
sights are gorgeous, with many lakes along the way. I fly over Rogers
pass, into the Revelstoke area and onto Golden. I am following the
original route forged through the mountains by the builders of
Canada's transcontinental railway. The passes are very low, and the
valleys are very narrow and the mountains are huge (up to 13000' and
have glaciers). All in all, a great place to fly! At Golden, I treat
myself to a night in a motel, having camped for 9 nights straight.
There are a lot of firefighters at the airport, as fire season is in
full swing. Next day it is over the pass into Banff national park. I
fly up by the Columbia icefields and then into Springbank, Calgary.
Springbank is a great airport with self serve fuel, a cafe on the
field and friendly instruction staff. If you want to get some
instruction in Canada, this would be a great place to go. I get into a
conversation with two King Air charter pilots in the resturant. Well,
after a good rest stop, I check on the weather, Regina looks like a
good place for the next night, I've never been to Regina, so off I go.
I climb high to take advantage of the tailwinds, and do a long leg
making good time to Regina. I treat myself to a nice hotel room at
Regina, I hire a cab to give me a tour of the town on the way back to
the airport in the morning. From Regina, I file VFR into Grand Forks,
planning on flying on top of a cloud deck and into Grand Forks. All
goes well, near the border I contact US ATC and they assign me a
squawk code for my border crossing. I squawk it, cross and they put me
back on 1200. Then it's into Grand Forks. I land at Grand Forks. The
Custom guy confiscates my packet of roast beef (mad cow disease scare)
and I pay my $25 (my pet peeve, have to pay to get back into my own
country!). I eat lunch at the Grand Forks airport, not bad food for
airport food. Customs guy tries to tell me I should have my passport,
I look him in the eye and say, "Drivers license is good enought for
going to Canada".

From Grand Forks I plot a direct course to Oshkosh. It is too far for
the remaining time today, and I spy a Seaplane Base along the way in
my SPA book, near Mille Lac at Deerfield, Birch Lake. I overfly Birch
Lake and it looks deserted, but I land on this fairly small lake and
taxi up to what looks like the Seaplane Base. There is a 182 on Edo
straights tied up there. As I taxi in, two friendly looking guys
appear, and indeed they are friendly. We spend an hour talking and
getting bit by mosquitos, the Seaplane Base proprietor offers me the
use of his barn couch for the night and his buddy comes over in the
morning and invites me to breakfast! Now that is Minnesota Seaplane
Base hospitality. I fly into a nearby airport, right at the edge of
some clouds, call Flight Service, get the one in Denver because I'm on
my cell phone, and get the Oshkosh weather. They are showing broken at
600' AGL, I should be able to get in. I take off, and climb above the
clouds, listening to Fligh****ch on 122.0, lots of Oshkosh bound
pilots getting weather, and the weather is not looking too good. The
broken has gone to overcast, I am above in the clear, I pick up the
Oshkosh ATIS and it is reporting open, so at 20 miles out I start
looking for a hole. Luckily I find one and descend below the cloud
deck in about 4 miles of visibility. It is giving me the creeps to
think that everyone else headed in is doing the same thing, and we're
all going to converge at Ripon! But that is what happens, and I get in
line and land, no problem, on 27. They have me taxi over to the Amphib
parking, and whew! I have made it to Oshkosh. Oshkosh is a blast, but
much the same as last year, two days were plenty, I check out all the
new planes and Wipline, Edo and Aerocet. The Murphy Moose is there and
the Sherpa (worlds biggest bush plane), all in all a great show.
Witnessed a nice military fly by, complete with fake bombing runs
(including pyrotechnics), and lots of low speed passes, aerobatics
etc. Sunday morning arrives, and I am ready to go, trouble is, such
low ceilings the airport is closed to VFR, so we wait. They finally
open up, everyone fires up and gets in line, they line us up two
abreast and i take off, I fly over to the Seaplane Base, do a splash
and go, wish I could stay, should have, but I am itching to get home,
as I have been away 28 days.

My course to Boulder takes me right over Sioux City, Iowa, which is
where I bought my plane from Keith. Since I am passing right over his
airport, and it is Sunday afternoon, I figure there is a good chance
he is there. I land at Martin Field and taxi up to the fuel pumps. I
get out and ask if anyone knows Keith. "That would be me". I look
over, and there is Keith! He is very jazzed to see "his" Husky, and on
Amphibs! Dang! He hasn't seen me since I bought the plane with 240
hours on it 4 years ago. We sit around for an hour shooting the breeze
and I give him a rundown on my trip, and what all I have been doing
with "his" Husky. Anyway, it was a great stop, I fly on, and end up
spending the night at North Platte, but guess what? I had tailwinds,
down low below 1000 AGL, the winds were blowing east to west again! I
spend a great night in North Platte and fly on in to my home base, but
first I have to do one more spash and go then it's ahhh Boulder, home
again, I announce downwind for 8, and someone says over the radio,
"welcome home, Doug". "Thanks, it's good to be home." Well that is the
trip report, summer 2003.

Postscipt: When I got home, my daughter had not received her
"dreamweaver". Instead what she got was a pile of paperwork!
Apparently US Customs had opened the package and confiscated it!
Canada seems to be on some sort of bad country list, as first the wood
tariff (caused a recession in BC), then the SARS outbreak in Toronto,
now a Mad Cow Disease Beef ban and of course, hiding WMD's in feathers
and fish bones. Oh, well, at least I made it back all in one piece.
(Found my credit card BTW, and got full refund on my broken Camera).