Well, I’m finally here! The flight up from Twin Falls this morning was beautiful, taking me over the vast agricultural area on either side of the Snake River. The Snake cuts a deep channel like a scar through the topsoil, and provides the water that allows such abundant harvests of hay, feed grains and potatos.
Passing to the east of Boise, I cut into the mountains across to the north, then northeast after crossing the Cascade Reservoir. The mountains are lower here, but still impressive. I cross several deep valleys with rushing streams carrying the snowmelt towards the Payette and Boise Rivers. There is a lot of logging activity in these mountains. While I know it is necessary, it sure does “ugly” up a beautiful area.
After a little over two hours, I enter the deep valley formed by Johnson Creek and follow it downstream towards the airport. No wide patterns here because the wider you go, the higher you have to be to miss the terrain. The airport is at almost 5000 feet MSL so I made a quick descent from my cruising altitude of 8500, threw the flaps out and landed on the 3400 foot groomed grass runway. It looks like a golf course. I taxi into the tiedown area and shut down. There are only a few other airplanes here now, but they expect over 100 for the National Bushwheel Awareness Week event beginning on Thursday. Like many of the back country areas, there is a webcam for the strip. Search for Johnson Creek Idaho webcam and check it out. You should see N9496D sitting there unless I am out flying. Very Cool!
Judy and I spent several days here last summer so it is wonderful to be back. I really miss her not being here with me though. The rushing waters of Johnson Creek are right beside the campsite. Temperature is in the 80’s which feels warm in the sun but delightfully cool in the shade. I set up my Kelty tent, unloaded everything I expect to need and toted some firewood. The caretakers do a marvelous job of keeping the whole area in great shape, including splitting a mountain of firewood for campers to use.
I’ve met a few of the other camper/pilots so far and look forward to lots of flying stories and a few tall tales over the next few days. I plan to borrow one of the courtesy vans and drive into Yellow Pine later for groceries. Yellow Pine is worthy of an article by itself, so I’ll try to add some info in a later post.
I’m writing this sitting at the small shelter building where there is internet service, a freezer for ice bottles and picnic tables for relaxing
Ken Wittekiend is an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner, professional flight instructor, aircraft owner and founder of ProMark Aviation Services, a flight training company based in Burnet, Texas.
Ken is a commercial pilot with over 11,000 hours of experience in a wide variety of general aviation aircraft. He began flying in 1970 while attending the University of Texas at Austin.