Trip Story

We had a wonderful breakfast at the lodge and headed out to go up the Jarvis Inlet to Chatterbox Falls. It was an extremely long Inlet and it was a gorgeous sightseeing flight even along the inlet there were many waterfalls coming down the granite cliffs from the snow above.

  It was hard to believe that those snow capped mountains went straight up from sea level like that! Chatterbox Falls is in a very steep narrow fjord off of the main fjord. It has a narrow opening and then a wider pocket with an island, and then another narrow spot before a slightly wider spot where the Falls are. With extremely tall mountains and such a narrow canyon, I did not want to take any chance on coming upon a extreme downdraft or updraft. I flew close to the mouth trying to feel for strong turbulence and then we went into the first part and made a circle where we could look carefully at where we would land in the inner part by the falls. It all felt good and it was spectacular to land in the bottom of that gorge, absolutely breathtaking!

Here is a YouTube of it. https://youtu.be/FVJz4a1e-Do

We then went the rest of the way up the inlet sightseeing more waterfalls and even some small glaciers and then headed back past the marina because it was not time yet for the current to subside and give us our opportunity to try and dock.

We decided to go South to Sechelt where they had an airstrip that sells fuel. When I put the landing gear selector down, three of the wheels came down for landing but one did not move. The pump was still running and trying to put it down but that wheel was still up in the float. I tried once more to move the switch up and back down but that wheel still would not extend. I could have tried hand pumping it down but it seemed like I probably had an oil leak and I chose to leave the gear up and land in the water by town where I had seen some other float planes docked. First just in open water I looked for leaks and tried it again but it did not work so we taxied over and docked by the other float planes. The dock attendant was very helpful but he was about to leave for the day and we would be stuck there because I did not feel comfortable with our fuel quantity for flying back to the resort and then somewhere else to get fuel. We decided not to troubleshoot anymore and his boss said he had to get cash from us for any fuel because they are not set up to sell fuel. He drove me to the ATM and then we put about an hour’s worth of fuel in. I was thinking it must be the piston seal leaking in the cylinder that extends that wheel and that I would be leaving the wheels up only landing on water all the way back to Sonoma County! I decided to try and pumping the gear just in case that gave me some new information and sure enough it did. I found that the emergency hand pump selector lever (on the floor by my right heel) was in the up position and not in the neutral position where it needs to be for the electric pump to work right. I was sure I must have moved it with my foot by accident but when I pointed it out to Julie she said that when I told her to put the water rudders up with the black handle she saw that and moved it to the up position. She felt terrible, but I could totally see how she thought that’s what I was telling her to put in the up position, (two days before). We still had some time to kill before the current was supposed to reach its lowest point so we dropped into a beach along the way just for fun. It was a beautiful spot and we waited around the shallow water picking up souvenir rocks and looking at the little baby crabs. 

We got back to the marina and tied up for the night and had another wonderful meal with incredible views at the lodge.

We had to get up before sunrise and the off the dock just after sunrise due to the timing of the slack current. Julie was a great sport even though we had been up late with another wonderful long dinner at the resort and neither one of us wanted to be getting up at that time. We headed down to Sechelt to get some gas. I noticed on departure that even though the runway to the West is desirable because it is down sloping, off the end of it there is a large canyon and then a tree covered ridge that is above the departure end of the runway and it has a large set of power lines on the right that would prevent you from turning and following the Canyon to the right. The Husky did not have a problem climbing over the ridge, but I could feel the downdraft as we went over the canyon and I certainly did not like the departure situation.

(Note: there will be more on this in the Day 25 post) We then headed up Salmon Inlet to look at possibly landing on an alpine lake called Phantom Lake which is at about 4000 feet elevation in the mountains. The flight there was gorgeous!  We climbed up to 6500 feet and it gave us a new perspective of the enormous mountain range all along that part of British Columbia.  Whistler was just two canyons to our right, and we certainly could have flown over there in about 20 minutes if we wanted to, but we were enjoying the calm morning air and I would not want to be around those mountains as things warmed up and turbulence started coming off of everything. We flew over Phantom Lake and we certainly could have landed there. I expect we would have had an easy departure but I had not had the chance to talk to local pilots about how the mountain winds behave as things warm up and my instruments were already showing that because of above average temperatures the density altitude (that represents how thin the air is) was almost 2,000 ft above actual attitude and that would mean to the plane it would feel like it was taking off at 6000 feet.  That definitely would give us poor takeoff performance. We headed back down valley enjoying the sightseeing and looked over Clowhom Lake. It was a nice lake but it definitely had some deadhead logs floating around and the inlet rivers looked a little difficult with shallows and stumps and rocks. We also took a very careful look at the outlet end where we would be climbing out on take-off because I knew the winds would be picking up soon and there were some very big power lines strung across the canyon down there. It looked like we had plenty of room but we needed us to memorize where everything was before we made our take off later. We decided to land and check out one of the waterfalls that was coming into the side of the lake. It did not look like I had a chance of getting up to the shore with all the rocks but it looked like it would be beautiful to taxi close to. When we got close it was a gorgeous waterfall and the way the sandbar was and because the wind was still calm in that part of the lake, I dropped an anchor offshore and kept adding rope as I paddled backwards to the rocks. It worked out okay and I was able to get the plane positioned in a safe place as long as there was no wind. Here is a short YouTube https://youtu.be/5lgxvEsZjpk

Right as we finished that video we noticed what seemed like large boat wake swells coming up on shore. It was wind swells being generated from the strong winds farther down the lake we knew that if those winds got to us in that position the plane would probably be pushed into the trees and rocks so we jumped on the plane and drove it offshore dragging the anchor. The departure was fine, we had carefully memorized a path that did not have any logs so we just back taxied enough of it that we could confirm nothing new blew into our way. At the far end of the lake on take off there was definitely rough air and very strong winds but we did not have a problem getting out into the main inlet. We then flew back past the marina and around Harmony Island Marine Provincial Park looking for bears or wolves along the shoreline. We did not see any but there is a beautiful waterfall, Frey Lake Falls that comes down the cliff there.

We then headed about 10 miles West to Powell River airport for gas. I taxied up to the pumps and a guy came out and informed us that the airport had not had fuel for 7 years. We chatted with him for a while and he was about to take his Cessna 180 that is on amphibs also out flying so we tagged along with him and over the radio he gave us a tour and pointers of Powell Lake and some of the other lakes around there. We then then enjoyed flying across some other mountain Lake sightseeing and again over the Skookumchuck Narrows that is just South of the marina. It has a crazy amount of tidal water that goes back and forth through it with the tides. It creates big standing waves and rapids that is popular for surfers but has caused many deaths including a coast guard boat and a big tug boat flipping over.

And then we landed back at the marina for one last night at the lodge.

Well, this was our last morning breakfast at the lodge and as usual it was beautiful.

We packed up and gave a good deal of thought to our options for a fuel stop. We could have gone back Northwest to Courtenay for fuel but even though I was positive I had plenty to make that it was certainly closer to go back to Sechelt (and I always get nervous when the fuel level gets down around 30 minutes remaining ( < 5 gallons) and that’s how we would have been landing if we went to Courtenay). I had awakened thinking about how I did not like the previous departure at Sechelt and on the flight down there.  It continued to haunt me. When I called the airport common traffic frequency as I was approaching, I asked if anyone was familiar with the downdraft off the end of the runway because it sounded like they were using the same runway. The plane that was getting ready to depart said he did not think there would be any problem and I asked him more about the winds and he said that he would give me a report after he climbed out. I continued in and he did not get back to me and I went ahead and landed. As we were rolling out on the runway he told me over the radio that he had experienced a bad downdraft and almost didn’t make it over the ridge! We then noticed another plane take off in the other direction uphill with a slight tailwind and he did ok even though he was taking off up-hill but he did not have a direct tail wind, at that time it was more of a quartering tail wind. I talked with one of the local pilots about my concern and he told me that there had been a fatal accident with someone not making it over that ridge just last week! (I googled it and a Cherokee 140 with 4 on board did crash 7/5 with one fatality) I watched the winds for a while and really did not like the way they were switching up so much, even though taking off up hill would be with a quartering tailwind at least I had a good departure route where I could turn towards lower terrain right after the end of the runway. I discussed all the options with Julie including the possibility of waiting until closer to sunset when the winds would be calm and we decided to go ahead and take off in the up-hill direction. It turned out to be fine, I did make a 45 degree turn to lower ground as we went over the end of the runway rather than continuing straight over higher ground and it definitely had me on my toes and nervous taking off in those conditions. We headed out across the strait toward Nanaimo. It was fun to have one beaver flying just slightly ahead of us and two other beavers just behind and below us on the crossing. We then went down to Victoria and it was a beautiful sight seeing flight. We had made arrangements for the rental car to be left at Victoria Flying Club where we were tying up for the night and then we checked into the same bed and breakfast we had been at before and picked up the gear we had left. Then it was off to a fun dinner at a very authentic Swiss Restaurant.  Their menus had big cow bells on them and you could hear when anyone was looking at the menu.The bed and breakfast has a Rolls-Royce and the owner gave Julie a 3 a.m. ride over to the airport to catch her flight home while I got some more sleep. I had a leisurely morning at the bed and breakfast visiting with the hosts as they made breakfast. Then I spent some time with the owner and his Rolls-Royce. We raised the bonnet on the car and chatted for awhile about cars and I learned a lot about a Rolls-Royce. I then went out and spent almost 7 hours thoroughly washing every part of Double Shot that might have gotten salt water on it, it felt good to get it all cleaned up. I then had a nice lunch and a leisurely flight back up to Courtenay.

At Courtenay I met one of the float plane pilots and we talked a lot about the lakes in the area. He recommended a lake up north in Desolation Sound that sounded great and I decided to head out there the next morning.

I got a few basic lunch items the night before and headed out to Stafford Lake. It was almost an hour and half flight North but again, it was beautiful country to fly in. The lake was nice and straightforward to land in with plenty of room to take off and even circle if I wanted to. It had been logged quite a bit in the last 10 years and you might notice in the video on my landing approach it looks almost like a highway is going by the lake but when logging is going in up there they build very high-quality year-round roads for the heavy logging trucks and then when they are not logging they dig enormous trenches across them where they go down by the inlet to keep anyone from using the roads and driving up there for hunting or fishing. Here is the link to the video

https://youtu.be/_hoJk_JVEYs

The main river inlet was a beautiful place to tie up but it was difficult to fish because the fish were farther out than I could cast and closer in I was just catching the smaller trout.I looked around in the sand and sure enough, found some Grizzly tracks. There were also wolf tracks but they were difficult to get a good picture of.You can tell it is not a black bear because the toes are almost in a straight line. I went down and tried another inlet for a while, but it also did not have conditions that were really good for anchoring and fishing from the plane or fishing from shore. I went back and tried anchoring off the main Inlet but it was a sandy bottom with nothing to catch the anchor on and the winds were picking up. I headed back to Cortenay rather disappointed that I had not caught any really big trout or Dolly Varden on the lake that day. I was feeling rather down about it and thinking that I would try some other place but then I decided to go back the next day and give it another try.

In the Pilot’s Lounge I bumped into a guy (from San Luis Obispo) that I had called a few months before for advice, he has a Husky on straight floats, (without wheels) and has been coming up to the BC area every year for almost 10 years. He ties a kayak on the side and flies with it. That would solve a lot of my big fishing problems but I am not ready to mess with the additional weight and drag, but maybe one day.

I did go out to Stafford lake for the second day in a row. It was another beautiful flight out there and the lake was again gorgeous to spend time on. I chose to land in the same way I had the day before, it puts me relatively close to the sandbar that is my destination on the lake and it allows me to set up for a glassy water landing with the shoreline relatively close by and with a nice go around option in case I decide not to land at the last moment. Here is a video of the second day landing and taking off, I know it is very similar to the first day but I just can’t resist because it is so beautiful.

Link to Video

The fishing was difficult.  I kept catching the trout that were under 16 inches and no Dolly Varden or larger trout. I tried every type of lure, several types of bait and a whole bunch of different fly fishing including things that looked like nymphs, leeches, minnows and spiders in all different colors and sizes. I even tried some larger salmon lures after I saw a 14 inch trout trying to attack the 6 inch trout that I was reeling in. Sometimes the larger fish have very specific feeding habits regarding exactly when and what they eat and in my middle of the day fishing, I just couldn’t duplicate it. Then in the early afternoon the winds picked up enough that the anchor pulled loose and it was time for me to head back to Courtenay. I took my time on the way back and explored some different lakes along the way but the afternoon winds were whipping up and I chose to just land back at Courtenay.

I headed out to Gold Lake, it is in the mountains of Victoria Island about 50 miles North, Northwest of Courtenay, just Northwest of upper Campbell Lake. Gold Lake is a beautiful spot and is plenty big for an easy takeoff and climbing up over the tree line but I chose not to land. I did a good deal of circling the area to look at what my departure would be like and I did not really like the conditions even though I’m sure it would have been fine. The lake is located in a East – West canyon and the outflow is to the West, that is normally the direction that I would use for my takeoff but even though it was the outflow there was a lot of higher terrain in that area and not much room to circle for altitude.  I would have been making a straight out climb to the West where I would be in a narrow canyon for the first 1/4 mile without room for a 180 degree turn.  That would give me less options to work with possible downdrafts that might be developing as things warm up in the next few hours. To the East it had a wonderfully flat wide spot that would be easy to circle in for a climb out in that direction, but again I was feeling very cautious about not knowing what the winds would be doing when the land warmed up a little more and started things moving. The predominant wind direction would put the winds coming through the canyon and giving me a tailwind (from the West) on takeoff in that direction but I expected that the inland mountains would be warming and sucking the cooler air from the lowland in the east up the valley in a Westerly direction, that would give me a nice headwind on takeoff but it would put me circling in turbulence to climb over the higher train to the East. I figured that it would be a fabulous lake if I came prepared to land in the morning, spend the day fishing and leave the next morning but I was not prepared to comfortably do that.  I was just feeling very cautious in unfamiliar territory with a plane that I would feel very comfortable flying with 1/2 the room on wheels but I’m not yet confident with on floats. Here is a video of flying around the lake.

Click for Video of Fly Over

I then headed over to explore upper Campbell Lake. I flew around it enjoying the scenery and the beautiful shoreline and dramatic setting. I was looking for a place to land and maybe do some fishing but I was not seeing perfect conditions, most places had large rocks and stumps where small streams and rivers were coming into it and the wind was already starting to pick up. Here is a video with a number of short clips of flying around the lake.

Click for video of Upper Campbell Lake

It was about time for some fuel at that point and I decided it would be interesting to check out Campbell River Airport. Campbell River Airport has a Radio Service there that works like a cross between a control tower and a Unicom frequency. Small airports with not much traffic tend to have a Unicom frequency where the pilots are on their own to monitor that frequency and listen for what other planes are doing around the airport and to broadcast there current location and intentions for anyone else using the airport. In Canada they often at medium sized airports have a flight service representative monitor the Unicom frequency and keep track of the reportings that are given by the different aircraft, then when someone is coming or going the flight service person lets them know what planes are in the area and what is happening so that things are clearly understood by everyone. Also the flight service representative is watching radar for the area and assigning squawk codes to the planes as they come and go so that he or she can more clearly identify and report on what is happening. The interesting thing is that the flight service person has no authority to direct traffic, they only give advisories and information, it is up to the pilots to decide what they will do with the information and how they will avoid any other aircraft.

As I flew over the airport to get a look at where everything is, I could not see any fuel pumps so I asked on the radio and the flight service station person told me to go to land-sea on taxiway Delta. As I taxied past taxiway Bravo and Charlie I could not see anything in the direction I was going that resembled fuel pumps. I asked again on the radio and they told me I would be going through a gate and that if I click my microphone three times on the frequency for land-sea it would open. Sure enough I found taxiway Delta and it was kind of a road going off the airport with a big gate at the end. As I got close to the gate I clicked the mic and sure enough the gate opened, I taxied across the street and into their beautiful facility. Here is a video.

Quick Video of taxi into Sealand

It was actually the owner of the place, Bill, that came out to help me at the fuel pump. They do not yet have a system for self-service so he needs to take your credit card information and write up a ticket manually.  I had a great time chatting with him. I then went over and had lunch at the cafe in the terminal and had another chat and tour with him before I left. Not long after I got back to Courtenay, Bill called my cell phone and asked if I was missing a fuel cap, sure enough I had left my fuel cap on top of the wing when I was fueling and talking to him and it was found on the runway. When Bill saw it he noticed some yellow paint and knew exactly what plane it went to. I actually carry a spare fuel cap as part of my rather extensive spare parts and tools kit. I can’t remember the last time I forgot to get a cap back on but I carry the extra because I would not want to be stuck somewhere without one. I then flew back up and retrieved my fuel cap.

I had been staying in motels the last few nights but when I checked pricing that night the prices had skyrocketed and I really liked the idea of just sleeping out anyway so I camped by the plane and really enjoyed it.

I set out that morning to explore a number of lakes down to the southwest of Courtenay. There are quite a few including Comox lake, Great Central lake, Elsie Lake and National Lake. As I got to the south end of Comox lake the wind really picked up from the Southwest and there was an enormous amount of marine layer clouds dumping into the valley from the direction I wanted to go. I turned around and decided to head East across the channel and check out the lakes in the Powell River area instead. It was beautiful crossing, the channel and the winds were very calm, I could even see the clouds laying still around the mountains to the East. Powell Lake is a very large lake, it is over 30 miles long and 1100 ft deep. It also has an enormous number of floating cabins on it some of them are basically very large homes with even garages attached for their boats. When I got there the winds were already getting strong on the majority of the lake, I continued up to the far Northern tip and the strong winds had not gotten up there yet. I found a landing spot but there were quite a few logs floating around. I then taxied up to the river inlet but there was kind of a forest of dead trees.

As I taxied though them I imagined what would happen if I lost power and the wind kicked up, they looked like they were just made to take wings off of float planes. Sure enough the strong winds soon reached the Northern end of Powell Lake where I was and I took off and headed back south. The winds were extremely strong across the lake and I was getting tossed around with quite a bit of turbulence. I had not had any breakfast yet because I expected to be landing  just 25 miles away from Courtenay and having  a breakfast stop on some peaceful lake, instead,  I had been chased around  by the wind for over two hours and really wanted a break.

I noticed a nice lake that was mostly protected by a large mountain on the west side, I looked it over and landed. I noticed it had a walking path along the shoreline and just a few row boats at the South end. I was a little concerned that float planes might not be allowed on it so I landed at the far north end away from everybody and looked for a place to tie up on the leeward side of two small islands. The rocks around the islands in the shallow water were definitely prohibitive of me tying up.  I just drifted for a bit in the wind and took a quick break before I took off to the Northwest avoiding the other end of the lake where I saw the rowboats. (Now when I Google that lake, I see that it has a maximum 10 horsepower restriction on it so I hope I do not get a citation in the mail one of these days)! I then went all the way back across the channel to Courtenay and used the rest of the day and evening to work on this trip report.

I woke up with mixed emotions.  This was to be the day I would fly back into the US.  I was not at all happy to have this wonderful adventure winding down, but at the same time after a month I was also feeling ready to get back home.

I had filed my online Homeland Security flight notification (ePIAS) (with the unbelievable amount of detail that they require for crossing the border) the night before. This morning I still needed to file a flight plan from Courtenay in to Friday Harbor (in the San Juans) where I would be clearing customs and phone the customs office in Friday Harbor because they require that you get a inspection time appointment approved by them in advance. The flight was beautiful and nicely uneventful. I intended to cruise at 2,000 ft but it seemed like the other float planes (and there were quite a few) along my route were either at 1,500′ or 2,000′ so I stayed at 1,700′ to 1,800′ and that helped a lot with traffic avoidance, gotta love those Canadian Pilots for how accurate they are.

I landed at Friday Harbor right on time and parked in the white Customs box in front of the terminal. Pretty soon the Customs agent that was dressed for a SWAT raid took my paperwork and passport and then scanned every square foot of the plane with some handheld thing that was probably looking for radiation. After that he asked what I had to declare and then he had me open everything up. He dug through all the compartments, bags and everything! All the time asking questions that I’m sure were meant to look for nervous behavior. Before he finished, a Customs helicopter landed right by and their two pilots came over and started asking a ton of questions about the plane, where I’ve been and what I was doing. I expect they were just curious pilots but I don’t think they realize that when I am in that position of not yet being admitted into the country and if they feel anything is suspicious I could be in for a nightmare, is not the time for pilot chit chat. And I did say something very polite to that effect when one of them saw the GoPro mounts and asked if there was a place online he could see any posted videos of my trip! Finally they left and I put everything back together.

I then flew over to Orcas Island airport because I know it is a great camping spot and just walking distance to town. I had Googled the night before about camping there and I noticed that the airport website had my friend Paco’s plane in their airport camping picture. But then to my great surprise when I arrived his plane was parked there in real life! He lives in the Sacramento area but the San Juans and Orcas airport is his summer nesting ground. He has been spending his summers up there for a number of years and has all kinds of friends. I got to meet and hang out with one of his friends, “Inventor Steve” who has a fascinating hanger with tons of really cool projects in it. I wish I had a picture from hanging out with the two of them in the evening in that hanger but I did get a picture of Paco in the hanger the next morning before I left. Also when I arrived at the Orcas camping area I was surprised to find out that there is a Gay Pilots group “National Gay Pilots Association” (NGPA) and that was their fly in weekend. I walked into town for some dinner and a few breakfast and lunch items for the next day. I chose to park and camp in the asphalt parking area, I find that with my excellent sleeping pad I can be more comfortable on flat asphalt than trying to find a place in the grass that does not have little humps and bumps to annoy me all night.

I woke up to a beautiful but cool and breezy morning. As I was packing things up, the airport attendant that goes around to all the planes and leaves a overnight fee envelope ($10) on each plane came by. As he was walking up I said “OH, I just got here”. He looked a little startled and exclaimed, “I saw you yesterday, and you have a tent”! He then saw my smile and we both got a big laugh.

I spent a good deal of time Googling on the Washington State float plane pilots map, looking for some fun lakes to land on but I was not coming up with anything in particular until it occurred to me that I could land on Lake Union! I did some research and even got a hold of a Kenmore Air pilot to confirm with him what the procedures are and, basically, it is rather wide-open according to him.

It was really fun to fly into Lake Union, I actually look forward to doing it again the next time I am up that way. It was gorgeous to fly by the Space Needle, I wish I would have put another GoPro on the other side because the one on the right just does not do justice to the view I had of the Space Needle on my left and everyone at it’s railing, eye level with me! It’s rather interesting that any other time I land on Lake I would circle low over the lake looking for obstructions and scrutinizing where any boats are before I land but with Lake Union I felt it was best to just come in and pick an open spot in the water and land. I certainly could have done a go around and not landed if there was someone in my way at the last moment, but that is not the same level of landing site review that I prefer to do. I then took off and flew over to Lake Washington where I landed in a slightly protected area to have some lunch and take a break.

Here is the Video, I did speed up the en-route parts so it would show the area but not be as long.

Click here for the link

After that, I flew down to Pierce County airport, it is a great stopping point because it has cheap fuel, a restaurant and a nice view of Mt. Ranier. As I was having lunch, I Google Mapped around the Northern half of Oregon for a small airport to camp at that is close enough to town for me to walk to a restaurant for dinner. Sportsman seemed to meet that criteria and I called them up and confirmed just to be sure. It was a bumpy afternoon ride down there with convective turbulence and I was glad I had not chosen to spend the night farther south. The airport is a family operation and I think it is third generation running the fuel truck now. Kind of a strange time warp place and the Pilot’s Lounge had been a house previously and it still looked very much like someone’s living room.

I worked on this trip story site on the table while I listened to M*A*S*H*  reruns on the TV. I walked into town and had a great Mexican food dinner. And fell asleep gazing at the stars.

I woke up before my 4:45 a.m. alarm, daydreaming about the day before and enjoying anticipation of the flight I had before me. I had looked at quite a few smoke forecasting websites the night before and it looked like I would have a lot of smoke all across Southern Oregon and Northern California stretching out over the ocean. I expected that I would have to drop down under the smoke and go along the coast but I just didn’t know how that would work out with the forecast for fog along the coast in the morning.

Just as I got up before 5:00 I was surprised to have a car pull up by the dumpy bathroom that is connected with the maintenance hangar. Next thing I know that one is leaving and another one is pulling up there and then another and then several more cars are coming in all of which are heading farther down the airstrip out of sight by some hangers. I was thinking maybe some Flying Club was getting an early start for a fly out. Pretty soon I saw 6 pickup trucks each pulling a hot air balloon trailer come out of that same hanger area. They went down to the far side of the Airfield we’re a bunch of cars were pouring into that parking area from another driveway. It looked like they would be setting up off the side of the runway and that’s all I needed to know for me to get out. Sure enough I had a gorgeous view of them on my takeoff here is a video of it!

Click Here for Video of Taking Off With Hot Air Balloons

The flight through Central Oregon was beautiful cool smooth air and the fog out along the coast and in the valleys with the sun rising was gorgeous.

A few times there was some fog around and the smoke did get rather stratified and had some thick patches drifting in low but I kept maintaining options of airports I could go back to and land if I had to and it worked out quite well to get all the way down to Arcata. I put some fuel in and took a rest break watching the fog bank that was sitting right at the edge of the runway and then I had a smooth flight back home to Santa Rosa.