I thought I was going to spend just another friday sitting in the office working on proposals. We have one that is important to do but is running into a lot of red tape. So I thought I would be stuck in the office working on it. Then I was aksed if I wanted to join a patrol over the park for a three hour flight. I really wanted to go but I new the boss wanted me to work on this proposal. So I turned it down.
An hour later and another road block on the proposal and I was banging my head against the wall. My boss told me to do something else and get my mind of the problems we were facing. He said I was spending to much emotional time on this certain project that I needed a break so. I asked if I can go flying. He said yes!
I quickly headed to dispatch to see if they had left yet. No she said hurry and catch them. I got to the LE office and asked if the offer still stood. Yes, if the pilot okays it. I went to the pilots office. Asked if I could go. He looked at me. I said I haven't eaten since 6am and I have my dramine and plastic bag with me. I will bake you something sweet to eat tomorrow. Please can I go? He smiled and said yes.
The itenerary was to fly over all the lodges and cabins that are located in the park. Some of the cabins are privately owned others are historical cabins. This trip would mean that I would get to see more of the park than I had before. I was pumped. We took off and headed for Contact Creek. The snow had melted quite a bit in the past week with the warmer weather. All the lakes and ponds were frozen.
It was beautiful as we turned our direction towards the mountains. They were totally white and shining in the sun. Snow was tens of feet deep. We headed towards Brooks Camp. The falls were frozen but the mouth of the river was still open. Then we headed for the Valley. We managed to make it to three forks and the canyon looked so narrow with all the snow piled up. I was hoping to go to the crater but the cloud layer was too low so we headed up to the preserve.
This was all new territory for me. The winds were blowing at 35 mph. You could watch it blow the snow across the flat lands of the tundra. Then I saw a creature run across a river. I only caught a quick glimpse but my first thought was a wolverine. Then a few minutes later we saw a fox running across a lake. On ward we flew. Another spot on the ice, this time it turned out to be a wolf. One lone wolf of grayish color. Good size too. I am guessing it was a male.
The rivers were amazing to view. Most of them were frozen but some of the rivers are thermal heated and flowed freely, with stream coming off of them. Next up the Alagnak River.
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