June 1, 2021 - Johnson Creek Airport, Idaho

All too soon, the Real Man's Weekend ended, and it was time to get back on the road.  After a delicious breakfast at The Pancake House in McCall, Pete and Dale dropped me off at the airport.

Here's a picture of the McCall Aviation FBO -- on the left.
   
Pete gives me the go-ahead for launch.
   
After takeoff, looking down at McCall Airport.  I'm heading north, to see if I can find Loon Lake, where Pete, Stan and I had once hiked to checkout a World War II B-23 bomber that had made a forced landing on the frozen lake in winter.  Link.   I had time.  My destination for today, Johnson Creek Airport, is only 25 miles or so to the east as the crow flies.
   

The problem was, I really didn't know where Loon Lake was.  I knew it was north of McCall but that was about it.  There are numerous lakes north of McCall, none labelled on the sectional.
   
Looking down at a lake but I knew it wasn't Lake Loon.
   
Looking south with Payette Lake and McCall in distance.
   
I decided to give up looking for Lake Loon and turned east towards Yellow Pine, which is just north of Johnson Creek Airstrip.
 
Here, I'm looking south at some 9,000 foot mountains.
   
And then I looked down and saw this little circular lake with a squiggily river running into it.  I thought to myself, you know, that could be it.
   
So then I thought, well, let's look for the plane wreck.  And sure enough, there it was, at the south end of the lake, big as day.
   
Looking west.  Somewhere out there is the trail head to hike to Lake Loon.
   

Another look at the wreck of the B-23.  And so, just by sheer luck, I found the B-23.

 
   
Looking south over Lake Loon.
   
Following a creek and road through the mountains to the town of Yellow Pine.
   
Overhead Yellow Pine.  The town is small but I hear they do have a bar.   I turned south at Yellow Pine and flew down the valley to Johnson Creek.
   
Looking down at Johnson Creek.   I had found some standard operating procedures for Johnson Creek Airport, as well as watched a video on YouTube so I knew what to do.  You're supposed to fly a normal pattern, land on 17 and takeoff on 35.  So I flew an upwind then downwind for 17.
   
Turning final for 17 at Johnson Creek.  It looks pretty short from here but actually the grass runway is 3,400 feet long, much longer than my homefield at Essex Skypark.  And much wider too.  It's just that flying a pattern here at Johnson Creek puts you pretty close to some big mountains off your wing.
   
Safe on deck at Johnson Creek Airport!  Looking north.  I've heard of Johnson Creek for many years; I finally made it!
   
Looking south.
   
Right away I was struck by how nice the airport was:  beautiful manicured grass runway, big pine trees, nice facilities, surrounded by tree-covered mountains.
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JJJ My campsite was just behind my plane.
   
My campsite neighbor was Erich who, along with his dog Annie, flies around the west in this Cessna 182 for five months every spring-summer.  He had been camping at Johnson Creek for a week already.
   
There were bikes available for free use, so Erich, Annie and I went for a bike ride along the creek heading south.  The scenery was stunning.
   
 
   
Johnson Creek glides by.
   
 
   
 
   
Erich would throw a stick in the creek and Annie would retrieve.
   
But the creek had a pretty good current so Annie would have to work pretty hard to get back to shore.
   
Glad to be ashore!
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
The pilot's shack and shower house is in the background.  You could charge up your Smartphone there; Wifi was also available.
   
A bunch of other planes were camping down at the north end.
   
I went hiking by myself in the late afternoon.
   
The runway boundaries are marked with white rock.  Don't want to run over these!
   
Looking south from the north end.
   
Off the north end of the runway was this abandoned cabin that has seen better days.
   
I wondered what this thing was in the Creek but after awhile I realized it is a hydro-electric power generator.  There is a cylinder between the pontoons that rotates due to the current, generating power.
   
Johnson Creek flow north.
   
Looking south down runway 17.
   
At about the runway halfway point, on the west side is the trailhead for the famous Johnson Creek Warm Springs Trail.  Of course, I had to hike up to the Warm Springs!
   
The first half of the trail was a pleasant flat hike through the pine woods.
   
 
   
The trails second half was uphill, and the last third was somewhat steep.  It was a warm day so I had to ration my water.
   
Looking up hill.  The trail was not well marked towards the end and I wasn't sure if I was going the right way.
   
But then I saw the Springs!
   
Yes, the Warm Springs is a cast-iron bathtub which is filled with spring water that warms up in the sun.
   
Letting my sore dogs soak in the warm springs.
   
Warm Springs does have a very nice view, I must say.
   
 
   
 
   
The black hoses get water somehow which flows down to the tub.
   
Then it was time to head back to camp.  The hike downhill was a piece of cake.
   
 
   
 
   
Back at Johnson Creek Airport.
   
A buck casually strolls down the edge of the runway.
   
Erich started up a fire and a bunch of us had dinner together.  I had some leftover Jack Daniels from the weekend with me, plus some Schweppes ginger all, so we all enjoyed an outdoors happy hour.  One of the pilots was a local and gave us a lot of great information about mountain and canyon flying.
   
 
   
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