Idaho Mike’s Blog

A Visit to Sulphur Creek Lodge in Idaho

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0600

My brother from Kansas wanted to fish and I wanted to fly. So we combined the two for a Fly2Fishing - flying into the Idaho backcountry for flyfishing. Originally, I had my heart set on camping at Moose Creek in the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness. I had landed this strip while learning my mountain flying skills at Middlefork Aviation. It was a magical place and I wanted to return. Then I came across a video shot by Steve Wright showing his landing at Sulphur Creek Ranch just inside the Frank Church wilderness at the headwaters of the the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

Seeing the meandering stream on his approach was enticing. That had to hold some trout and I had to find out for myself. I contacted the Sulphur Creek Ranch and booked a cabin for one night and possibly two if the fishing was good. We would do Moose Creek after Sulphur creek. While there is a satellite phone at the ranch, the best way to contact the folks there is via email.

Sulphur creek is an amazing place. Nice long runway (3,300’) with a gentle but noticeable uphill. Like many backcountry strips, it is oneway with go-arounds not such a good idea. As we circled overhead, the ranch hands cleared the horses off the runway. We touched down as the sun cleared the ridge.
We unpacked the plane and were greeted by an authentic cowgirl, Kiere, who manages the ranch with her partner Valdene (a lanky, authentic cowboy). She chided us for the rather large number of bags we had (backpacks, fishing gear, cooler of beer, more fishing geer). We told her not to worry, the big packs were just for makeup.

The reality was that I had packed for tent camping so we had a tent, stove, water, and sleeping bags you don’t really need at Sulphur creek. In fact, the accommodations are rustic but still pretty posh for the wilderness. Our cabin had a wood stove and a nice load of fresh wood. Fall at 5,800 feet has a nice chill. In addition to firewood, our cabin was equipped with electric blankets. The hydropower from Blue Moon Creek is obviously free, so why not? So posh.

As we moved into our cabin, a group of hunters was leaving. So far this season, hunters and guides at Sulphur creek are batting 100%. Not so good if you are an elk I suppose, but they are abundant in the hills around these parts, which may also explain the presence of wolves in the valley as well.

As I sorted flies, outside our little cabin, a visiting hunter told a great story from earlier in the week. “I looked up and saw wolf in front of me. In a panic, I turned around only to find a line of four more wolves on the trail behind me. I reached for my 45 to fire a warning shot, but the pack strap was over the shoulder strap preventing me from drawing the gun. As I uselessly struggled at my shoulder, the wolves got bored and left.“

This story went a great way toward explaining the reason the crew living at the ranch packs heat. Wolves really aren’t known to attack people, but there is something about being one notch down on the food chain that makes a person want to be armed while on the trail. My brother and I mostly enjoyed the sound of wolves howling at the moon from the comfort of our cabin beneath the warmth of the electric blanket.

Meals at the ranch are great, portions are large (potentially resulting in aft CG), but the quality is amazing. We ate family style with the crew. Hard to beat the food and company, so even if you don’t stay the night, Sulphur Creek makes a great backcountry breakfast place.

Before hitting the stream, we walked past the pond next to the runway. Immediately, my brother had a fish on - a nice cutthroat. Nice touch to have fishing off the runway. We lingered and caught a few more. Then continued on to the namesake stream.

Fall fishing on Sulphur Creek using dry flies was a bit tough. You could see the fish but they stayed near the bottom. I had two 18” fish take my dry fly but that was all for the day. Next year, I will try to make it there a bit earlier in the season. Still, I enjoyed watching a school of white fish migrating upstream as I sat streamside with a sack lunch provided by the lodge.

As my brother and I hiked the stream, we came across the carcasses of salmon from the summer run. Amazing to imagine fish swimming upstream a thousand plus miles horizontally and one mile vertically to these headwaters. You can see these amazing fish live at Dagger Falls on the Middle Fork of the Salmon by hiking 7 miles down Sulphur creek and over to the Boundary Creek launch site. Earlier in the summer I was there with my son and a passle of boating friends launching on a 7-day whitewater rafting trip.

That time of year, there are amazing flying fish as well as great flyfishing as the migrating salmon struggle up Dagger Falls. In July, we lingered at the falls watching a pair of otters dine on the salmon that were not fortunate enough to make it past the falls. A bit of looking around and you will find obsidian chips and other signs from the ancient fishing camps of native americans who once liberated fish from this area as well.

After a day of tough fishing on Sulphur Creek, we were told that the fishing at Moorehead lake was amazing. Abundant big fish, 18-22” still hitting on grasshopper patterns. So the next day we lined up some pack horses and were guided up the trail by Chris, the resident outfitter along with Valdene who joined to help Chris on some trail maintenance while we fished.

If you haven’t horse-packed, I tell you, it is awesome. We bolted up 3,500’ and 7 miles in no time (compared to the time it would take to hike it on my own). After passing a heard of elk, we were at the lake by lunch. As advertised, the trout fishing was amazing. In 3 hours we had a dozen or more BIG fish on the end of the line. I would definitely like to return to Moorehead lake.

So whether you are looking for a backcountry breakfast, fly fishing, hunting or simply relaxing in a rustic setting, Sulphur Creek Ranch is a great destination. Just be sure you have some mountain flying comfort before you drop in.

NEXT entry, will describe the next leg of the trip Moose Creek and Fish Lake.

The view from in front of the Hangar Today

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:54:47 -0600

Idaho Falls is hosting the Blue Angels this weekend so I have to taxi around Fat Albert and a bunch of F-18s these days. Nice eye candy, but extremely loud. I will try to catch the show but I am getting ready to leave for Airventure on Tuesday and there is a ton of work to be done before I can leave. Check out the Gallery...

24+ hours of flight training.

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:24:10 -0600

The trip was amazing. The trip started out in crappy weather and some of the toughest night VFR I have ever been in. It had been wet evil IFR all day in Idaho Falls and then a gap in the gnarly low pressure system opened up. We departed at 9:30PM to take advantage of the briefly clear skies in idaho Falls. The major airport on the other side of the pass had 5,000 foot ceilings that would be going to low IFR the next day. If we were to stay ahead of the weather system, this was our window, but we kept the back door open for a return back to IF if weather didn’t break our way.

The transition between clear skies and the low pressure system hit us just after Malad pass where we bumped into light snow (at night). I was circling the Malad airport and ready to exercise my “out" of either returning back to Idaho Falls or landing at Malad, ID. By the time we were over the airport, we had passed through the snow, on board radar showed it clear and could see the track of the Interstate 15 heading down valley to Salt Lake so we pressed on and the ceilings did rise a little.

Salt Lake City International had actually closed earlier in the afternoon due to visibility dropping below 1 mile due to blowing dust. By evening it had settled down, but the visibility was still under 6 miles. At night with cloud cover, it was tough. The VFR corridor through class Bravo airspace hugs the Wasatch Mountains - the Garmin terrain alert is nearly continuous as the controllers vector you along the Mountain Road corridor. For us the problem was the ragged ceiling. it probably was 5,000 ‘ over the airport, but the ragged ceiling dropped as the clouds pushed against the mountains. We had to be vigilant to stay in the clear and away from the rocks.

We landed at Provo to assess our situation. On the ground in Provo, the gas station was closed, but I used my iPhone to check weather at our next airport (Delta, UT). It was definitely clearing to the south and we needed to be further south to be clear of the system the next morning. We continued on to Delta, UT. The wind was howling still (15-20 kts) as we took off from Provo but it was at our back. The tough part was crossing ridges - big bumps when on the lee side of every ridge. fortunately, the wind aligned with most of the terrain.

The next bit was probably the hardest flying I have ever done. We climbed to 8500 and then further up to 10500 in order to clear the ridges. We had visual contact with the ground and 5 miles visibility, but no lights, no roads, just empty mountains between Nephi and Delta. Bumpy, no horizon line to speak of, but the the moon was starting to rise. Technically it was VFR, but by all rights it felt like I was under the hood. It was the kind of flying I wouldn’t be doing solo, but it was great stuff for instrument training and I did have my Instrument Instructor with me. Fortunately, Delta is only one range away from Provo. We landed Delta, UT, gassed up and filed IFR for the last leg to St. George Utah. Skies were reporting clear. We landed around 2:30 AM and stayed with relatives of my CFI. Flying the last leg in the system was a sweet relief.

The next day, we had a nice rest and a good breakfast and we took advantage of the clear skies to enjoy the scenery with VFR flight following. We flew nearby Zion NP, Grand Staircase NM, Pariah Canyon, and over Page, AZ with lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam off the left wing and the Grand Canyon off the right.

Unfortunately, the system from the night before was pushing in behind us with lots of wind. We had moderate turbulence for the next 5 hours. We had to stay at maneuvering speed when passing ridges and higher was not better and had more headwind. Pilots were reporting mountain wave activity above us and all the radio chatter was airliners asking for smoother rides.

As we approached Albuquerque, ATC called out a C130 at our altitude 5 miles ahead and turning. Man was that a lot of wingspan to see. Airnav.com showed Mid Valley Airpark (E98) outside of Albuquerque had the cheapest self-serve gas but there was a steady 15kt crosswind that was nearly 60-80 degrees off the runway heading. it was also a pretty narrow runway <40’ wide, but cheap gas beckoned us to give it a shot. With a lot of rudder in, the plane was safely on the ground, facing into the wind and filling up with fuel.

After gassing up, a bit of walking around stretching and enjoying some warmth in the sun, we launched again into more bumps that lessened as the day wore on. I had lots of time to practice flying from one VOR to the next under the hood. After another few hours, we stopped at Andrews County, TX (E11) for even cheaper gas ($4.00). I called my Mom and told her we would be in the Rio Grande Valley late.

As night began to fall again, we decided to do one more fill up just to go into the night with full tanks. The bumps had finally relented. Our first gas stop was a miss, Iraan, TX (2F0) requires calling a County Commissioner to unlock the pump, so we headed to Del Rio, TX International Airport. One Localizer approach and a fill up and we would be on to our final destination.

By the time we arrived in the Rio Grande Valley, Valley Approach informed us the McAllen field would be closed for evening runway construction so we diverted to Edinburg, TX. The bad news was that it would require my Mom to drive 20 minutes more, but the good news was that it was some of the cheapest gas in Texas, at just over $3.51/gallon. We landed around 11:30pm local time (10:30 PM by our biology). Another 10 or so hours of flying in for the the day.

Return Trip Description coming soon....

From IDA to MFE for my IFR - Planning a 2,800 nm X-Country

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:11:18 -0700

I actually eased into my IFR training over the past few weeks and months, but now I am getting serious. The centerpiece of my training is a planned 1,400 nm cross country trip from S.E. Idaho (KIDA) to the extreme Southern tip of Texas (KMFE). My mom’s birthday is at the beginning of April and my CFI and I have calendared a long weekend for the trip. His wife will be joining us.

Between now and then, training and prep consists of planning the trip and doing approaches when weather allows. I am also studying and obsessing over the bookwork and regs. I obviously have to be thinking about flight safety. Between Idaho and the Texas gulf coast there is a lot of granite beneath the wings. I have to cross the Snake River range, the Uintas/Wasatch depending on route choices, the San Juans, perhaps the Sangre De Cristos - thats just counting the ranges with peaks above 13K. Lots of MEAs and OROCAs between 12-16 thousand feet. The ranges between 5-10K are plentiful than NRA members at a Sarah Palin rally. Having once lived year at 10,000 feet, I know that April is still essentially winter.

Airspacewise, I will pass through one Class Bravo (Salt Lake) and graze or pass through 5 Class Charlies (ABQ, MAF, SAT, CRP, HRL. Lots of MOAs and restricted areas ending 5 nm from the Mexican border ADIZ.

Finally, there is a whole lot of nothing beneath much of the route - what I call the Fosset factor. In addition to the Rocky’s the barren lands of New Mexico and West Texas make for a lot of blank spots on the old sectional.

My expectation is that a solid 20-24 hours of flying with a CFI on board should have me pretty well prepped for the check ride when I get back. His wife will be joining us for the treck and as they visit S. Padre Island, I will wish my mom a happy birthday - that is the plan at least.

The Chicken Strip

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:42:44 -0600

Before deciding to head to the chicken strip, I first had to do a bit of research. I heard about the strip from several apocryphal mentions. It is mentioned on Wikipedia and several pilots have posted web pages and youtube videos. In general, there was not a lot of information, so I called the National Park Service at Death Valley to find out if it was still open and, if so, what was its condition. I didn’t get a call back from the NPS, but confirmed by other web sources that it was still accessible.

After calling Edwards Airforce base and talking to a fellow who called himself “Ish,” I confirmed that I would be joined by fifteen F-18s and a 737 doing maneuvers in the Saline MOA (PDF Pilot Briefing Pamphlet, PDF R-2508 user brief). A more detailed video report is available on YouTube.com/N225M.