When I flew out of camp Debs chose to stay in with Chris. They had another flight coming in with hunters, so she would fly out then. There was some discussion with the pilot about where I was going that I didn’t quite follow. It was the busiest day of the year for Wright Air, the day before moose season opens. They have to get all the hunters into camps like Debs’, all over Alaska. You can’t fly and hunt the same day (so you’re not spotting from the air), and the season is short, so the hunters want to make the most of it.

Debs’ family has been using Wright Air Services for decades and trusts them to safely get into and out of Wood River Camp. They have two different type of aircraft that service that area, the small Helios that carry 3 passengers and can land on Debby’s airstrip, and the larger Cessna Caravan that can carry up to 14 passengers and is too big to land at Wood River. That day they were using another longer air strip in the area to drop hunters from the Caravan, and they were being shuttled into camps on the Helio.

A Caravan had dropped Chris at the Gold King Creek airstrip and he had flown the Helio into camp that I was now on. We were told the Caravan would wait for me at Gold King, but now I know that was never going to happen. It was going back to Fairbanks to get another load of hunters, including the two that were going in to hunt with Debs and Chris at Wood River.

Daniel (the Helio pilot) loaded up two hunters and left two behind for the next trip. There we stood, they from Michigan and having absolutely no idea where they were or where they were going (excursion organized by someone back home). I joked about being happy they had guns since there we were and I only had bear spray. They looked very concerned and asked how easy my bear spray was to find in my bags, because their guns were locked up tight and separated from ammunition so they could fly. So I grabbed my bear spray and they cracked a beer and offered me one.

Soon enough Daniel came back, loaded them up, and took off again. At that point I had absolutely no idea who or when or how I was going to get off that airstrip. Luckily if I held my phone up high enough I had one bar of cell coverage and could text with Debs on her InReach and with Rob at Wright Air in Fairbanks. And there I waited with Bear Spray in one hand and a Beer in the other hand.

At Debs and Chris’ house in Fairbanks that week, Rob had met the two who were going to Wood River to hunt, so he knew them when they came into Wright Air. When he saw them get on the Caravan we all knew they’d be coming to Gold King to catch the Helio shuttle. I was never happier to see a plane land than this one on the runway, knowing he was heading back to Fairbanks to get more hunters.

This is Gold King Creek from the Caravan, a view I was happy to see.

But this is the better picture, with the Fairbanks airport in view. Rob was there with Nonnie’s Diner ready to go south, and we were on the road 10 minutes after I landed. My adventure with Bear Spray and A Beer was over.