Ellen left Saturday morning. I got to drive the school's truck and take her to the "airport". This is a large gravel "+" on the top of a hill about two and a half miles outside of St Michael. The pilot will decide which direction to land depending on the wind. Once the plane is on the ground, the pilot will turn the plane around, taxi back to the intersection between the two strips, and pull up right next to the trucks waiting for the plane. Then we load the plane (all the luggage/cargo goes behind the last row of seats (at least when flying Bering Air, their smallest plane, that I have seen, seats 10 including the pilots). My last few flights have been with Era Alaska on a little 6-set Cessna. In the plane the small carry-ons go in the nose of the plane behind the propeller and the large bags (weight-permitting) go behind the last two seats. When the plane is loaded the plane taxis down the gravel strip, turns around, and takes off.
Saturday, I left school in the truck, drove home to pick up Ellen, and drove out to the airport. The gravel road to the airport slowly climbs up the hill in a variety of ups and downs. After one such hill, I saw what looked to be a rock wall ahead of us. As we drove closer I realized that wall was in the middle of the road. And that is wasn't rock....it was reindeer! The large herd of reindeer I had seen earlier this week from a distance was slowly making its way to the airstrip also. As we pulled up right behind them, some would look back, but none of them really cared we were there. There were some reindeer with amazing racks--any hunter would be proud to have that on his wall. After about 5-10 minutes following the herd, they decided to move off the road and let us pass. (Of course I left my camera at home. Ellen had the video camera so she did some filming which she will share back in Oregon.) We pulled onto the airstrip and waited. We got out of the truck and enjoyed the panoramic view we had of the wilderness outside of St. Michael. A few moments later we turned around and the reindeer herd was walking up the curvy road to the airstrip. From inside the truck we watched them walk around the truck and onto the runway. They took their time getting out there. By the time the plane arrived they were down at the far end of the runway so the pilot didn't have to bother with them. The plane pulled up, we said goodbye, Ellen boarded the plane, and I went back to school.
According to the Era Alaska pilot I have flown with twice, reindeer are a common sight on the St. Michael airstrip. Sometimes the pilot will have to buzz the runway to scare them off before he can land. Our pilot also said that in Stebbins, the village 11 miles away, children are a common sight on the runway. I guess that is why the airstrip for St. Michael is so far outside of town.
I haven't heard anything else about the bear that lives between us and Stebbins since it was in our dump earlier this week. I'm sure we will hear about it again when the blueberries ripen.
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