My wife and I took our three kids camping in the Maule over the July 4th week end. We met up at Kisaralik lake with the Flack family who flew in with their super cub. Andy is a fantastic cub pilot who is known around Alaska for his ability to operate a supercub where most can't. Before we brought our families, Andy and I did some scouting by ourselves and found some great spots to land in some really beautiful country.
[/img Here is our maule parked at Cascade lake. There is good lake trout fishing in the lake and a beautiful glacier about five miles up the Valley within hiking distance.
Kisaralik lake. The strip is about 400 feet with a dog leg. There is 15 foot terrain on one end and a mountain on the other. It is a two way strip but you need to make a tight turn right away on the mountain side.
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138 foot strip on the milk river. Not a good strip to bring the family camping but fun to land at. It is steep making the short distance doable with out wind.
We thought our families would enjoy camping at Kisaralik Lake. So we decided to camp there and go fish the other lakes on day trips. We arrived on Friday the 3rd. The weather was great, and we all enjoyed roasting food over a camp fire and looking at the amazing scenery.
Now this is camping!
Two of the kids slept in the back of the maule.
My wife and I got up at 530am and had coffee at the edge of the lake shore. As I was finishing my first cup of coffee we noticed the wind start to pick up. I looked to the east and saw very dark ominous clouds moving quickly towards us. You could see the wind pushing rain out in front of the edge of the system. This was unforecasted weather but it was obviously coming to visit, despite the forecast. I ran to push the plane with the kids inside further into some nearby willows. As I reached the plane the first big gust hit us and laid our fully guyed out, Mountain Hardwear tent flat. We made sure our baby was ok and found her safe and still fast asleep. We pushed the plane into the willows and tied off to everything we could.
Here is my oldest daughter showing where the plane and our tent rode out the storm.
The winds blew 50 knots all day on the 4th but we found ourselves somewhat protected by the surrounding terrain. The winds were raging above our heads, but only occasionally would they drop down to our level and really shake the planes. Somehow my wife was able to cook us a wonderful breakfast of Hashbrowns and eggs and biscuits over the fire despite the blustery conditions. She is amazing!
I had never had biscuits cooked on a stick before but I liked it.
My daughter and son helped with the never ending chore of finding firewood in a place with only willow and alder.
The camera, like everything else, was wet making for less than crystal clear pictures.
The wind and the rain continued all day and most of the night. If you have never slept in a tent when it is blowing it is hard to picture just how loud it can be inside of the tent. My friend Andy was smart and wore earplugs when in the tent. The next morning, we woke to much lighter 20 knot winds and no rain which felt like a treat. We used our Delorme messengers to get the weather forecast. The winds were lighter but they were blowing directly across the strip and we knew there would be down drafts caused by the wind over the terrain. When we heard the forecast called for increasing winds for the next two to three days we decided to get while the gettin' was doable. I had a larger strip nearby that we planned on using to shuttle gear from our smaller cross winded strip at the lake. By the time we loaded up, the wind was starting to increase. I cut enough willows to make a shorter but more into the wind strip. Andy took off first with a partial load. We could see as he lifted off that he was getting pushed back down. I departed and turned out about thirty feet sooner and found that the downdrafts were not as bad that way. Andy checked on the shuttle strip and found that it was in much stronger winds and had about a 40 knot cross wind. The terrain at the shuttle strip did not allow for landing into the wind so Andy found a little 100 foot nob in the middle of the valley directly into the wind. We both hovered down and came to a stop within one or two tire rotations. I climbed out and threw my gear directly behind my tire so I could hold on to the plane when the gusts would start to lift the plane. After unloading we jumped back in and I had to lift my tail over the gear I had just placed before i could rotate. When we made it back to the Kisaralik lake strip it was protected enough that we were able to land and pick up our families. The take off was uneventful. We were able to pick the rest of the gear and took off with a FULLY loaded Maule in less than 100 feet due to the very strong head wind. The Maule is truly amazing. It went everywhere the cub did on this trip, got stopped as short or shorter, and took off shorter with more gear on board. I have always loved what the Maule has allowed us to do and see, but after this trip I couldn't imagine a better plane for my family and me. My family enjoyed the adventure and are looking forward to our next trip.[/img]
