Float Plane Trip #2 to BC (Part 1) - 1981
On 2 July 1981, I had the opportunity to take a 2nd float plane trip deep into British Columbia w/ 2 other people. On this trip, which lasted 4 days, I was a passenger, but I also got to do more navigating than I had done previously; this was really good experience for me. I found navigating in BC to be difficult due to the high number of lakes. It is easy to “get lost” with so many lakes being visible from the air. I had to pay extra close attention because of this. The first night we camped at what Geoff called “Fish L.”, which might not be its official name. At any rate, it isn’t far from Whitton Creek [SW of Charlotte L.]. On the 2nd night we camped at Kakiddi L. We gassed up at a resort on Kinaskan L. The 55 gallon barrel went dry, so we had to drive to Iskut (near Eddontenajon) to get gas. A bush pilot named Ted recommended that we fly around Mt. Edziza Provincial Park, which was well worth the time. We gassed up again at Burns L. and Lou gave us a tip: He recommended that we camp at Fenton L in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, which has a government owned cabin. Hence, on the 3rd night we camped at Fenton L., which is at an elevation of 4600’. This was our favorite camp site. We discovered that if we pitched the tent after the sun went below the horizon, we didn’t have problems w/ mosquitos getting in the tent. We enjoyed reading the journal in the cabin. The log book had some entries going back to 1970 or earlier. We were told the cabin was constructed or rebuilt by the government to be used for taking caribou counts in the mid-sixties. One of the dates on the log book made me believe it was originally built in 1959. We did some fly fishing on this trip, and caught some trout. On the flight back to Seattle, we passed Mt. Waddington (13,175’ elev.). This part of the Coastal Range was the most spectacular that I saw on this trip; and some of the mountains were over 10,000’. We hit some updrafts while flying over the Coastal Range, and saw some amazing glaciers. We had to stop at Customs on the way up to BC and coming back.
Note: Part 2 of this set of slides can be found at Canada->British Columbia->Float Plane to BC Trip 2B.
