The following excerpt and photos are courtesy of Eric MacDonald from Sicamous, BC Canada. Eric purchased his 912 Chinook Plus 2 in 2001 and wanted to share this wonderful trip he just recently enjoyed with a couple of his friends, Harry with the Rans S7 and Allen with his Tripacer:


Left September 12th , 9:00 a.m. The idea is to stop at as many small airports as possible. Our first stop was Revelstoke, BC with Harry Winterhalder in the Rans S7, Allen Langworth in his Tripacer and myself, Eric MacDonald in my 912 Chinook Plus 2.

On the way to Revelstoke	Revelstoke Dam
East of Revelstoke	Close To Roger's Pass

We left Revelstoke for Golden., BC and had lunch at Golden. We fueled up after lunch and left for Invermere, BC. After landing in Ivermere, we had to wait an hour as there was a fire and the water bomber was working just south of the airport. We later left Invermere for Creston, BC then to Nelson, BC where we stayed overnight.

Roger's Pass	Roger's Pass
Clear of the Pass	Golden Airport

The Airport in Nelson is interesting to land circuits because it is a bit different due to the mountains. Next morning, got up and left Nelson for Grand Forks, BC and passed control zone at Castlegar. There was lots of traffic.

Columbia River on the way to Invermere	Next leg to Creston
Kootenay Lake on the way to Nelson	Down for the night in Nelson

Harry checked out the Rans dealer in Grand Forks where it was very hot (around 36 degrees Celsius). Shortly after, we left for Osoyoos. Al in his Tripacer, left first. He can’t climb like the Chinook and had to get to 5500 to clear the hills west of Grand Forks.

Leaving Nelson on the way to Grand Forks
Grand Forks	On the way to Osoyoos

Got to Osoyoos. Al landed and told Harry and I not to land in Osoyoos because the winds were too squirrelly, so Harry and I went to Oliver which is just north of Osoyoos. We had to land airspeed 35 miles because of the nice crosswind, looks like fun got down safe. When we got down, we had to hang onto the airplane as the wind was blowing it around. Finally we got it tied down, got the cooler out and made lunch.

A flying club member gave use the code to get into the clubhouse so we decided to have a quick nap. As the winds continued, and we had no place to go, we slept in the club house (which was very cheap - LOL).

Osoyoos to windy to land, went to Oliver

We got up at 5:30 a.m. and left for Cache Creek, BC which was a 2 hour flight direct. Fueled up in Cache Creek and headed for 108 Mile House, BC and had some breakfast. We went further north to Quesnel, landed there and they had showers so we got freshened up. Got back in our airplanes and left for McBride, made a right turn just before Prince George leaving the Cariboo Plateau which is a very flat area back into the mountains.

Caribou Central Plateau	Logan Lake Mine
108 Mile for breakfast
	Quesnel

The valley to McBride is very wide and after a short stop off to Valemount, the sun was starting to set. Got the planes tied down for the night, and it took us an hour to figure out how to get into the building and finally ordered Chinese food plus some beverages to wash it down. The airport is several miles from town. Got up early for the last leg of the trip but we can’t leave yet, we need the sun to melt the frost.

Dawn in Valemount
Can't leave. Frost on wings.	Hwy 5 South, on our way home.
Head of Adams Lake.	Salmon Arm Airport - Home.

Finally off to Blue River and could not ask for a better day. Had a tail wind and it took only 42 min to the airport at Blue River, the mountains were just awesome.

We made a left turn just before Avola to get to the Adams River, which was a 6 thousand feet shortcut. We got to the lake went left to Shuswap Lake and the only places to land are logging roads, then back to Salmon Arm which is where we started on Friday morning at 11:00 A.M. Total hours flown 17.5 hours and our mileage approximately 1200 miles, had the time of our lives!!!