We love finding new things in the wilds of Alaska.  There are two special things Isaac and his dad are always looking for while flying around, caves and hot springs. This fall we found a cave  better than any other we have found previously in Alaska.  It appeared to be a big arch from the air.  Isaac and Curt quickly found a spot to land nearby and hiked down to the Arch.  They climbed down about 30 feet and explored what they thought was the bottom.  Just before leaving they found a small dark hole barley big enough to shimmy though on their bellies.  Of course they had to crawl down the hole and see where it went.  They found the hole opened up after about 15 feet into a room the size of a small bedroom.  The ceiling was full of crystals.  There was one other room and three shafts branching off from the first room.  So exciting!

Here is a collage of some fun pictures from this summer.   They were taken around the Iliamna area.  The bottom picture is of LOTS of Sockeye Salmon on the Upper Iliamna River.

September is always an exciting month.   Isaac's dad came out again to help with flying.  The weather was cool and made for great moose hunting.  Our hunters worked hard and were rewarded with some amazing moose.  There were 3 moose over 70" this season and 3  others that were close.  We are all finshed and grateful for another safe season and freezers full of meat.  We want to thank you hunters who came, worked hard and took care of the meat of the moose you harvested.  You have left our family with great memories and stories.

Isaac got to go out with his dad and son Gideon.  They weren't looking for a large bull but this is what came out of the bushes first.  Gideon made a nice clean kill and they brought home over 840 lbs of meat!  A typical mature bull has around 600 lbs of meat.  This thing was huge!

This country is amazing out here!  We are grateful to be able to raise our kids out here.

It was an awesome day of flying with Ben counting fish today.

Man do I love flying fish surveys with the State Biologists.  These folks are great to work with, down to earth, and care about God's Creation.   We covered over 3,100 miles in 5 days counting Chinook salmon.  The Maule allows us to fly 7 hrs (with 45 min reserve)with out refueling.  Because the Maule is so much faster than a Supercub or Husky we can get much more accomplished in the same amount of time.  We cruise much faster but are still able to survey at the same speeds I used to in the Cubs and Huskies.

Here is a slideshow of some of our flying in Alaska.  If you are interested in what it has looked like to run a family owned and operated part 135 air taxi you can get a glimpse in this slide show.

Yesterday, while counting Chinook salmon from the air in our Maule M7, we found this beautiful place to land and take a break.  The flower pictured above is a Lady slipper from the Orchid family. This was the first one I had seen in this part of the country. The picture on the bottom right is of Sockeye salmon from last years survey.  I didn't get any new pictures of fish yesterday.