Postcards

From Moose Jaw to beyond La Ronge

The Canada of Saskatchewan and Alberta offers plenty of open farmland, lakes, and vast expanses of uninhabited forest. Flying this relatively unknown part of Canada is also the opportunity to test the verity of the curmudgeon's view of Canada: "A few acres of snow," as expressed by Voltaire.

Moose Jaw, in Saskatchewan, 430 nautical miles northeast of Gallatin Field (BZN) in Bozeman, Montana, is a good port of entry to "Canada unknown." The name fairly sings of the frontier (nearby Medicine Hat is a close second). The municipal airport (JS4) — not to be confused with Moose Jaw Canadian Air Force Base (CYMJ) — sits in the middle of a wheat field 10 miles east of town. Fortunately, after Customs gives a friendly go-ahead, Bill Nyman, FBO owner and crop duster extraordinaire, takes pity on the aviators from Canada's southern neighbor, makes hotel reservations at the Best Western Heritage Inn, and drives them to town. On the way he points out the various crops, including canola, which has been a boon to the local economy. Those beautiful fields of yellow are plants that yield oil that is useful in the fight to lower cholesterol and prevent heart attacks.

The Moose Jaw of today (population 35,000) is conventional and wholesome, with shopping malls, McDonald's, doughnut shops, and locals driving unmuffled pickup trucks. But in the 1920s it was Saskatchewan's "Sin City."

Al Capone and fellow gangsters visited Moose Jaw for rest and relaxation when things got too hot in Chicago. Back then, brothels and bootleggers ruled River Street, and the city served as headquarters for rum-running rings to the United States. Moose Jaw was then the layover city for train passengers, traveling salesmen, and fellows from Regina looking for women. Shady past or not, today's Moose Jaw is a friendly city. It's a stop on the Trans-Canada Highway, base for the Snowbirds (Canada's military flight demonstration team) and home of a transportation museum featuring vintage airplanes, cars, trains, and boats.

The Hopkins Dining Parlour, a turn-of-the-century Victorian mansion converted into a multi-story restaurant at 65 Athabasra West Street, is considered the best in town.

It's odd to see a 1962 Volkswagen Beetle as an historical artifact in the Western Development Museum's History of Transportation exhibit. Airplanes on display include a Gypsy Moth biplane; the Pheasant, oldest and only such aircraft in Canada; and the twin Cessna Crane. Especially chilling are the early snowmobiles (called snow planes because they used aircraft engines) that one pictures rumbling across the snow and tundra.

Some 270 nautical miles northeast of Moose Jaw is Deschambault Lake Resort (306/632-2166), where hosts Cam and Twylla Newton await the American pilots.

En route, the gray-and-white Cessna 182 flies over checkerboards of canola, wheat, mustard, and peas, which evolve into heavy pines, serpentine rivers, and streams.

The 1,080-square-mile area of Lake Deschambault is hard to miss as a landmark. Nonetheless, the airplane carries an Operational navigational chart, a Canadian facilities guide, Jeppesen's en route charts and approach plates, loran, and a handheld GPS. At the water's southernmost point, where the Puskwakau River enters, take a right and follow Route 106 for nine nm and watch for a 320-foot radio tower. The resort is right below it. Two miles east along the road, on the left, is the 2,900-foot turf strip distinguished by a blue tarp covering the hangar. (In the event you don't want to land on the turf at Lake Deschambault, go to Flin Flon, Manitoba [CYFO], 80 nm to the east, where Cam Newton will pick you up.)

The turf strip, which is slightly inclined, has sloping shoulders and a width of about 10 feet. Another pass over the main lodge to alert Newton precedes a landing that excites the deer flies. Our arrival is timely, since a roaring thunderstorm knocked out some of the electricity an hour earlier. Newton helps stow the Cessna in the hangar, loads the bags in the pickup, and drives the entourage to the main lodge — which serves as the region's general store, restaurant, lounge, gas station, and hunting and fishing gear supplier.

For the guests and campers, there are modern bathrooms and hot showers, supplemented by four outhouses scattered among the cabins and 45 campsites. The winterized cabins come with bedding, dishes, pots and pans, refrigerator, stove, and cold running water. Down the hill, 16-foot Lund boats with outboards are available for fishing in Lake Deschambault. The warm and shallow waters at Long Beach, bordered by a quarter mile of white sand, make for great swimming.

The water is as smooth as glass the next day, perfect for land- based pilots, since otherwise westerly winds can kick up eight- to 10-foot waves. The twin outboards race 18 miles to the western arm of Lake Deschambault, where the walleyes, pike, and other lunkers lurk. A flight of pelicans, common to this region, takes off and skims the water just ahead of the onrushing boats.

The first line isn't in the water two minutes before a two- pounder is hooked and netted, promising success for the rest of the day. Indeed, 10 fish — including a monster pike — are caught, filleted, cooked, and then eagerly consumed at one of the three fishing camps Newton maintains just for these occasions.

A prospective heavy load on a turf runway made soggy and slow by the night's rain requires a solo takeoff and then a landing on the paved Route 106, westerly toward the lodge. Newton blocks traffic with his pickup.

A Cessna 182 taxiing to park in front of the lodge doesn't seem to draw much attention. Loaded with bags, and with crew looking both ways for car traffic, the aircraft lifts off for La Ronge (CYVC), the refueling stop on the way westward to Lac La Biche (CYLB).

"There is no duck l'orange to be had in La Ronge" goes the lame joke, but there are Indian crafts, Bob's trading store offering genuine Cuban cigars, and beef au jus at the Harbor Light Hotel restaurant.

A courtesy truck from the FBO provides transportation into town. The La Ronge airport has commercial service and is the staging area for Saskatchewan's forest fire-fighting air fleet.

An aerial tour of Lac La Ronge itself puts on display about a thousand islands and 500 miles of shoreline — a great scenic flight. Still standing, the Hudson Bay Trading Company structure on Wasasik Bay is evidence of the area's fur-trading heritage.

Floatplane Twin Otters of La Ronge Aviation Services Ltd., docked at the town pier, fly to various fishing camps ("Beyond La Ronge" is one of them) for a week's worth of walleye and pike fishing. It's tempting to get on board as a party carrying coolers packed with great slabs of iced fish fillets disembarks, each member having caught his or her quota.

The most direct route to Lac La Biche from La Ronge, 235 nm on a 245-degree heading, takes you right through the Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range; and that's fine on Sunday, when it's supposedly inactive. In any event, contact Cold Lake Approach, 126.4 MHz, for advisories. From 1,500 feet agl, you will notice the burned-out tracts of pine and spot what appear to be fighter aircraft and rocket launchers on dirt runways slashed into the forest. They're decoys, but spooky nonetheless.

The Skylane's arrival at Lac La Biche coincides with that of a Beech King Air returning from an air-ambulance flight with pilot Wendell Humble at the controls. Typical of the cordial hospitality one receives from the aviation community in Canada, Humble arranges for rooms at the La Biche Inn, featuring the Truckers Saloon, and drives the visitors to the front door.

In the heart of Alberta's lake country and one of the province's oldest communities, Lac La Biche — meaning Lake of the Red Deer — was established by fur trappers in the 1790s. Still standing is Hudson Bay Company's Greenwich House, the firm's first trading post in the Athabasca River area.

The McArthur Inn, now a hospital and nursing residence, was a luxury hotel that had to close its doors when four sportsmen drowned, locals will tell you.

Our intention the next day was to head southwest 175 nm, toward Rocky Mountain House (CYRM), and then westward among the Rockies to Lake Louise in Banff National Park. High winds, convective activity, and mountain obscuration prevented plying the mountains or landing at Banff (CYBA), however. British Columbia's spectacular peaks and crags — part of the Canada that is well- known — are dramatic counterpoints to the flat terrain of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

After fueling at Rocky Mountain House, it's on to Springbank (CYBW), 15 nm west of Calgary, and renting a car for the hour-and- a-half drive west on Interstate 1 to Banff and Lake Louise.

The inspiring mountains and the distinctive aquamarine water of the lake and river make the side trip a must, but don't plan on staying overnight at the Chateau Lake Louise from June 4 to October 10 unless you want to pay from $333 to $920 per day. On the other hand, the dungeon-like rooms of the Westwind Motel in Calgary, though convenient to the airport and recommended by the Calgary Flying Club, FBO, and flight training centers, might make for a doubtful sleep.

The 176-nm flight from Springbank to Kalispell, Montana, is spectacular and features the peaks, valleys, and glaciers of the Livingstone and MacDonald ranges, the Salish Mountains, the Waterton Glacier Park, Whitefish, and the Flathead National Forest.

Holman Aviation at Kalispell's Glacier Park International Airport (FCA), where U. S. Customs is located, has to be one of the nicest FBOs in the country. Its service desk, pilots' lounge, meeting rooms, and artwork are in a western motif that you'd be pleased to have in your home.

Voltaire's dismissal of Canada ("...a few acres of snow") seems unfair after one crisscrosses that country's less well-known parts by private airplane. With an open mind and heart, you'll welcome the chance encounter of good food and good people in an often spectacular setting.

California: Apple Valley

Beverly's Casa Del Mar Bed and Breakfast on Highway 18 offers a wide variety of amenities and activities to accommodate your needs and wishes, whether you are there "for business or pleasure, or just for your leisure."

If you fly your own airplane, Beverly's will provide transportation from the Apple Valley Airport at no charge. Within easy traveling range of Las Vegas, as well as Calico Ghost Town (north of Barstow) and Big Bear City in California, Beverly's is an ideal hub for side trips. Or, if you prefer to spend your entire time in leisure activity, you may just kick back with a good book or engage in an indoor or outdoor game. Beverly's offers golf packages, fishing, horseback riding, and hiking, as well as a spa.

When it's time to retire, you will experience Beverly's promised "home away from home" in one of the four bedrooms, each of which features antiques and the work of local artists.

Whether your goal is relaxation or recreation, Beverly's Casa Del Mar is the place to visit. For reservations, call 619/242-2256. — Donald Keagy, AOPA 307897, Apple Valley, California