Labor Day Breakfast

Over Labor Day weekend, I took a quick trip with Gordon Nielson to Smiley Creek for breakfast. Not a bad thing to do on a beautiful Saturday morning. We left Pocatello around 7:00am and headed towards Twin Falls for a little sight seeing. We then turned north and flew over Hailey and Ketchum and then dropped over Galena Pass into the Sawtooth Valley where the Smiley Creek Airport is located. As you walk over to the local cafe, you cross a little footbridge which spans (no bigger than a ditch) the headwaters of the Salmon River.

Final approach at Smiley Creek runway 14. This is my first flight into an airport with a grass strip. Note the brush trail to the right of the landing strip which contains the Salmon River.

Looking North up the Sawtooth Valley. What a neat setting.

Breakfast is just across the Salmon River which is in the brush right behind me.

Gordon cleans the windshield on his plane. What a nice ride!



Redfish Lake in Sawthooth Valley. Stanley is just to the north.



The Sawthooth Range with 22 peaks over 10,000 ft



Heading east from the Sawtooths, we intecept Lost River Range which includes the 12,668 ft Mt Borah, the highest point in Idaho. This shot is from the north side of the peak.



SW side of Mt Borah



13,500 ft! This is the highest I have flown in a private plane!



If you look close, you can see the climbers on Mt Borah.



Autopilot Stinks!



We passed just to the north of Craters of the Moon National Monument on our way home to Pocatello.



Back to Pocatello with a feather landing on runway 21. Nice job Gordon!