The plane gained 5,000ft rather slowly in large upward circles. The sun was nearing the horizon and the distant hills were darkening into shadow. I sat on the floor next to the pilot and watched the ground get farther and farther away through the bottom opening on the half door. Looking straight down over the […]

During the summers while I attended college I worked for my father’s helicopter agriculture spray company. My job was to drive around in a large truck with a 1900 gallon water tank, mix up chemicals and fertilizers and with main rotor blades running load up the aircrafts tanks. I was the loader. One day our […]

After weeks living on the ice and snow our plane finally arrived. We had been waiting for several days for a clearing in the weather and finally we had a break. The ski covered wheels of the Cessna slid across the snow as it came in fast, turned in a half arc and with the […]

My Grandfather Elmer Hood was a man of many trades. During the Great Depression of the 1930’s he used his skills as a mechanic maintaining mining equipment in Colorado. Towards the end of one of his shifts at the mine he was called to the foreman’s office and told that a small gas engine/compressor that pumped […]

It was a late spring weekend as we hiked up the ridge to our camp above Silver Creek. We set up our tents and with the whole day ahead we headed up Kachess Ridge to the high point around 5500 feet. Snow patches still remained on the ridge as we approached the rocky summit block. […]