Adventure
Life is a highway? Not with these fantastic airborne adventures.
The sound of silence is just a quick plane ride away.
Between 1947 and ’67, de Havilland Canada built 1,692 Beavers, called “the airplane that opened the North.” There are competing claims to any “oldest Beaver” assertion. On permanent display at the Canadian Bush Plane Heritage Centre, restored Beaver CF-OBS (serial number 2) is “the oldest production Beaver in flying condition.” But at Stewart’s Lodge, some 250 miles north of Vancouver, you can still charter a Beaver for fishing, hunting or hiking excursions, or a scenic flight over wilderness so rugged it stood in for the Himalayas in the film Seven Years in Tibet.
Beavers gained cult status for being designed around the needs of pilots, not engineers or marketing suits. After World War II, de Havilland solicited bush flyers’ feedback for its new plane. The result was features unique to the Beaver, including oversize controls making it easier to fly while wearing mittens; cargo doors large enough to accommodate dogsleds and 55-gallon oil drums; ability to land on wheels, floats or skis; and enhanced short takeoff and landing (STOL) power. Pairing a Pratt & Whitney 450-horsepower engine with an impressive 48-foot wingspan, de Havilland created a powerful beast that isn’t fast or nimble but can get in and out of remote lakes and primitive landing strips in almost any weather.
Can’t make it to Nimpo Lake? Operators like Bent Prop Flying Service in Idaho and Alaska, and Crystal Creek Lodge in Alaska, also fly Beavers.
Middle Fork Salmon River, Idaho
To reach the best of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, you need to fly. From a put-in at Indian Creek, whitewater paddlers ride 100 rapids in as many miles during a week floating one of the most remote areas in the Lower 48. The finale features 3,000-foot granite cliffs in Impassable Canyon. Middle Fork River Expeditions gets you there in a Cessna 205. From $2,499
Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska
Many Alaska destinations involve picking across glaciers or bushwhacking—the Talkeetnas demand neither. Hikers here cruise across open tundra surrounded by toothy peaks, forging a trail-less route through rivers and berry bogs where grizzlies graze. After a week in this treeless place, roads seem foreign. Chulengo Expeditions accesses it in a Cessna 185. From $2,200
Brassua Lake, Maine
In forested northern Maine, Birches Resort flies paddlers to Brassua Lake, a remote, 9,454-acre paradise reached with owner John Willard’s 1947 Piper Super Cruiser PA 12. Day-trippers use kayaks and canoes he has hidden along the shoreline to explore open water framed by the Canadian Appalachians and plumb narrow tributaries where deer, moose and bear roam. From $200