Fork of the Kuskokwim River about 200 miles NW from
Anchorage on the other side of the Alaska Range. The
weather was perfect; clear skies, cool temperatures, and
smooth air. It took us about 1.5 hrs to fly over there
(Greg's C-185 is a lot faster than my Supercub; about
135 knots vs. 80 knots), and we arrived about 11 am.
Some Iditarod dog teams had already arrived, and soon
the air traffic became pretty heavy and more teams began
to arrive. By about 1 pm there were about 20 aircraft
crammed around the arrival parking area. We watched the
teams come in and then observed how the mushers took
care of the dogs first, and only after the dogs were
comfortable, did the mushers relax. They are not
allowed to have anyone feed or handle their dogs, so
they are quite busy after first arriving at the
checkpoints. We left about 3;30 pm and flew over the top
of the Alaska Range at about 8,500 ft.altitude. The
first DIGPIX are of the trip over with an accompanying
airplane, some of the scenery, and scenes of the village
of Nikolai which has a population of about 100 people
comprised mostly of Athabascan Indians. The villagers
are very friendly and we enjoyed the visit immensely.
The last couple of DIGPIX are of the trip home. Hope
that you enjoy them!
