Loading ...I recall first going to Jasper in the ’80’s. Revisited it a few years ago on my way to visit my son in Chilliwack, the town and park had changed markedly in the forty years since that prior trip, (surprise!) but still a gem. The railway station has been upgraded and trains aren’t nearly as frequent as they used to be.
In 1992 I bought an aircraft near Vanderhoof B.C., an Aeronca Sedan taildrager. My plans were to follow the Yellowhead route east through the mountains since that route elevation was lower and in emergency I could put down on the highway. I’d only flown aircraft with tricycle landing gear up to that time but after an hour of instruction at Vanderhoof I was ready to go. I filled a couple of gas cans to extend my range over the mountains and away I went.
Weather was perfect, little wind, no cloud and as we pilots say, CAVU; Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited.
The four hour trip over the Rockies was exhilarating, with nothing untoward regarding conditions or aircraft function until I reached jasper where I planned to fuel up with the extra gas on board. Today the airstrip is part of a regular airport with paved runway but then it was a grass strip with no facilities adjacent to the runway. Wheeling over the airstrip approach I noted that there were still residual patches of snow, unmelted in the March seasonal transition. Of greater concern was the large herd of Elk that were dispersed over about a third of the runway, feeding on the runway grass: I was low on fuel and obliged to land and refuel.
I made a buzzing run on the Elk and they moved a bit but not off the landing strip. It took a couple of more runs before they finally trotted off into the nearby bush. Landing the Aeronca turned out to be more adventure than I anticipated as the remaining snow drifts were compacted, but eventually I came to a stop unscathed. The Elk didn’t return while I was there and was able to soon depart after gassing up. Final leg of the day brought me to Hinton airstrip, and spent the night in the town ending a day of magnificent scenery: it was undoubtedly the most engaging, beautiful and intersting flight of my flying career.