Clark Pass and Talkeetna
I got into Anchorage around 10:30 pm. My brother said that I simply HAD to spend at least a day or two there
before we headed back south so the next morning we took a flight down to Clark Pass
There's not much down here folks - other than spectacular, frighteningly lonely and almost sinister ranges of endless mountains
Oh yea, and glaciers too - bunches of 'em
So what are we doing out here? I guess we're displaying our faith in our equipment
or our faith in the creator of us and all of this
What the hell were Niel and Buzz doing on the Moon?
Be not daunted by the clouds and fog - there's not a damn place to land down there anyway
Plenty of survivable 'crash' sites though - like on the snow
I mean, you could survive the crash but after that.....
We're threading our way through this gauntlet to get a good view of Redoubt volcano
It's actually not nearly as bad as it looks. we are pretty high here, about 7500 feet and the view straight ahead
is of quickly descending terrain, green valleys and the coast. Alaska is awesome because of the contrasts
We're going to head out and then come back in rather than follow Clark Pass because there's some significant fog in there
We are pussies when it comes to fog obscuring sinister mountains
There she is - Redoubt volcano. Last eruption was not too long ago
So after that adventure it's still early in the long Alaskan summer day so we head up north to Talkeetna
I thought that maybe it was my imagination but about 20 miles south I felt a strange vibration
We're entering downwind now
Talkeetna is kind of legendary. Read 'Wager with the Wind - The Don Sheldon Story' for a starter
Sheeyoot, that's an M7 just like ours
well, except for that oil burner and the amphibs
We were just passing through. I wanted to see if I could get on a Denali flight tour or if we might be able to do a flight up
there ourselves but the tour guys said it wasn't a good day, lots of clouds and they weren't doing glacier landings.
So we took off with the idea that we'd head out for California the next morning
looked like I wasn't going to get to see the big mountain after all
But shortly after takeoff that vibration became very evident. It sounded like the engine was missing and we thought we were
losing power so we turned back for Talkeetna and landed
We did runups and messed with all manner of things but couldn't find anything wrong. We did a couple of test flights orbiting the field
but the vibration was still there and seeming to get worse. We were stumped so we got a hotel and went to the Pub
My brother was bumed out because his baby was sick. I tried to cheer him up.
I even bought a six-pac and took him back out to the plane. It doesn't get dark up here until after midnight
No point in brooding in a cramped hotel room with no AC or TV
Notice, I've got the beer and the license - he's got the wrench
Alaska has it's own personality. At 10 pm a couple of locals came by. One was an A&P and said he had his tools
in the back of his truck so he brought them over and we checked the mag timing and a bunch of other stuff
We didn't find anything wrong - Nine Alfa Whiskey had determined that we would spend the night in Talkeetna