Wings Over Misty Fjords-Flightseeing
Ketchikan Field Notes · Answer the Call
More Like Blue Sky Fjords
A seaplane flight from Ketchikan Harbor into wilderness that cannot be reached by road, and barely seems reachable by thought.
A unique Alaskan experience.
We took off from Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base and the self-proclaimed salmon capital of the world, the place where people do not get old, they rust... and rust never sleeps.
Up in the air for thirty minutes on the single-engine flying boat, the small remote mountain lakes below would have been next to impossible to reach on foot. It was a reminder that most of this area is still wilderness, accessible only by small boat or plane.
In the heyday, I could imagine how snail-mail delivery runs must have been done this way.
Field Note 01
Hey Hey, My My
The further the plane flew, the more the everyday world lost signal.
The lakes were spectacular by air, like waves, each one more powerful than the next.
Pilot Jeff Carlin picked out one of the lakes, landed the puddle jumper, and turned off the noisy engine. The sudden silence was a reminder that we had left the buzz of everyday life. A kind of Dorothy, “No Longer in Kansas” moment.
We stepped out on the pontoon. A big Sitka spruce log, left behind by lumberjack harvesters, led us to a small granite island. This was to be our platform and ad hoc dock for just now.
I breathed in the fresh temperate-rainforest air, listening to the silence and seeing the unspoiled beauty in a 360-degree panoramic view. It was awesome.
The plane itself was the only man-made object as nature took over. I could imagine being dropped off with fishing gear for a few days and living off this great land on my wits.
Roll Video
Landing Beyond the Road
Aircraft Field Notes
The Flying Boat
The Elixir
Some landscapes are not hidden because they are secret. They are hidden because there is no road.The flying boat turns blue space on the map into a runway and distance into access. Then the engine stops, silence takes over, and wilderness becomes the only thing left in view.