Flight Seeing

Last week, I got to hop in an empty seat in the Fish and Game's Cessna 185. I love flying with Steve, the department's pilot who's flown in this area for more than 40 years. The flight was a quick hop from Sand Point across the Peninsula to Port Moller. The map shows the villages, as well as the volcanic mountain range that hugs the South Side of the Peninsula. When I counted fish in Chignik for a summer, I could always see Veniaminof smoking. In 2007, I was lucky enough to watch Pavlof erupt from a safe distance. This mountain range acts as a barrier for the Bering Sea fog that is prevelent on the North Side. For most of the summer, I can look over towards the mainland from sunny Sand Point and see the huge fog bank stuck behind the mountains.


Here is a stretch of coastline facing Sand Point. The geography is just incredible, and how it is formed in such bizarre shapes is a total mystery to me.



It was a quick flight over the mountains, where on the otherside everything becomes totally flat. We saw several brown bears with cubs out in these mud flats as we flew over. Steve said there are days where he'll fly over at least 50 brown bears.


The weather kept getting nicer as we flew. I got to see the North Side on it's only sunny day!


There are a lot of hot springs on the Peninsula. This is a popular spot for fishermen to drop by and warm up over the summer. It sure looked good to me!

The snaking of this little river makes it really obvious how flat the ground is on the North Side.

Once you get to Port Moller and Bristol Bay, all you see are small boats that drift net. Seine fishing is only seen on the South Side.

The flight only took about 15 minutes to get from one side to the other. It was great to see the country first hand after looking at it on a map for so long! I feel so blessed to spend my summers in such gorgeous wildnerness. Wow!