Moose Creek

In the KAVU Cub, by: Kara Shapiro

By KAVU

June 16^th, 2020

KAVU Morning, KAVU Day!

Jeff and I looked at the forecast the night before and saw that although weather was coming in....... typical for Spring time in Montana...... the morning would be beautiful with light winds and glorious sunshine! We decided it would be a perfect morning to hop in the KAVU Cub to head into Moose Creek (1U1) airstrip for my first time into the Idaho backcountry!

After the preflight and pushing the plane out of the hanger, we hopped in, warmed 'er up and took off for a cruise down the valley. Jeff has learned that there are a few "sneaks" through the canyons which allow crossings over lower passes in the back of the Bitterroot mountains. Once across the crest, we could drop into the Selway drainage, just north of Idaho's Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

It's always so Rad to fly past, and look into many of the Bitterroot canyons that we've hiked, climbed and walked the dogs in, over the years. We flew right over a few of Jeff's wingsuit BASE exits and their non-existent landing zones...... ha ha ha!

It was a gorgeous morning and so beautiful but, also my first time flying over so much wilderness for so long (at least low and slow..... that is the tempo;-)

"Tiger country" as Jeff calls it. No place to land if there was a problem. Good thing our Backcountry Supercub SQ is running like a champion!!

It was so wild to fly past the deepest parts of the canyons I've lived so close to for more than 20 years, seeing parts of them I've never seen. We stayed low, eyes out the windows.

Jeff said, "if we can't see animals, we're too high."

Makes perfect sense!

On the way into Moose Creek's historical airstrip, we passed another pilot heading out.

It was a fun banter back-n-forth by two back country pilots enjoying another unique and lucky day of flying in the mountains.

Located in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness near the Montana-Idaho border, X marks the spot of the airstrip which, was cut out of a swath of pine trees in 1932 by the Forest Service at the intersection of Moose Creek and the Selway River. The Moose Creek Ranger Station had been built in 1921 as the "base of operations" for several surrounding fire lookouts in Idaho’s remote Panhandle region.

The airstrip was cut during the development of the smokejumper program, and "has the distinction as the first place that smokejumpers – Rufus Robinson and Earl Cooley – ever parachuted in to fight a fire on July 12, 1940."

Jeff told me..... "in terms of back country landing strips, Moose Creek is huge". But it was so cool, (after overflying the strip to make sure there were no elk or deer on the grass runway), to make a canyon turn and drop into what felt like a slot in the trees.

We parked the plane in the tall grass that met the tree line, got out into an ideal Spring morning and stretched the legs.

Green grass, bordering on florescent, tall pine and cedar trees, and the cool, old group of buildings that make up Moose Creek Ranger station made for a perfect intro to this beautiful place. We could hear the river raging which got me excited to come back when the water is a bit lower with our fly-fishing gear.

Explore

When a Mule Deer walked by us at 30' and didn't seem too concerned, I could tell this was obviously a popular spot..... yet on this morning, there were only two other airplanes..... pilots camped out while enjoying one of many back country airstrips the Idaho wilderness has to offer.

Although it felt awesome to hike down to the river and explore a bit of the history of Moose Creek Airstrip, weather was coming and wind was forecast so, after an hour or so, we climbed back into the KAVU Cub and took off to see a bit more of the Bitterroot on our way home.

There is so much to explore!

We flew past another private ranch's strip, and the "Shearer" airstrip on the way out.

Shearer is the runway that's further away in the photos and is one of Jeff's favorite "close to home" places to land.

All the creeks were raging. This place is so remote for being so close to home!

Landing back at the Stevensville airport to put the plane away had me already stoked to get back into the mountains for more exploring!

The Cub has opened a whole new world.... right in our back yard..... one that even after living in Montana most of my life, I hadn't been able to see until now. So cool!