In the Back Country

The 'back country' comprises the mountains, forests and valleys of rural Idaho.

First though, yesterday was back to the desert, complete with tumbleweed and sage brush (which I discovered has a sweet musky smell and is known as Cowboy Cologne on account of the cowboys of old slapping a bit on before heading for the saloon). Holdout airstrip is located in Oregon cattle country to the southwest of Nampa, and sits on a plateau just below Quartz mountain. I picked up a few small samples of quarts for my Dad and my eldest son, both avid geologists. Hope that's legal around these parts.

In this second photo you can see how rutted the strip is after some snow earlier this week. We spent some time filling in the worst ruts and removing the odd ammo casing (they tend to ruin the tyres). It is a soft strip and so care must be taken when taxiing, landing and taking off. We've been learning techniques for 'soft field' operations, and at Holdout they came in very useful.

And so today it was into the backcountry. Here is Smith Prairie strip 30 miles east of Boise. As you can see there is snow up in them thar hills. This strip is at 5000ft above sea level, but at 5400ft long it is a great strip to practice aborts, emergencies and negotiating close in trees! There are some 50ft mountain pine trees all around and at one end (the end we don't land from or take-off towards!)

To get there my instructor had me fly up some narrow canyons and following rivers along valley floors. Absolutely stunning. It's more backcountry tomorrow so I'll try to get some shots in the air.