The sometimes frustrating thing about waiting to fly home from Bella Coola is not knowing if you will actually be flying home or not. OK, let me change that a bit…..the frustrating thing is not knowing if you will be flying out of Bella Coola or not. If I look at the mountains and I can’t see to the top…it’s a good bet the plane will not come into the Valley and the passengers will have to find their way up The Hill to Anahim Lake. Typically there is a little bus, but in the past if one had not purchased the more expensive fare, there may not have been enough room on the bus and you were on your own. There is (apparently) a new bus….but I didn’t get to experience it on coming in since the driver apparently wasn’t driving that day.
But today, the clouds were there in the early morning…but they seemed to be lifting. So it was one of those ….maybe?? maybe not?? days.
The flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until just after noon, so I had plenty of time to clean the room, wash the bedding, do some personal laundry, and go for a drive up the valley to Belarko….assuming the plane was going to fly out at noon.
If the plane wasn’t flying out at noon…the bus would be leaving at least an hour earlier, and with little cell coverage int eh valley, straying far from the airport could mean missing a flight.
I popped into the airport around 9:15 to see if there was any hints.
Still uncertain.
So I went to the estuary where I knew I’d still get a signal and be able to enjoy the area a bit. I’d hardly left the hatchery other than Thursday when we did two chum egg takes on Snootli Creek and Saloompt River. Beyond that I’d either been in the boardroom at the hatchery, or in my room working on my presentations.
I drove back up to Hagensborg and called the airport. Still not 100%, but looking positive. Be there at 11:55am please.
OK, not a lot of time, certainly not enough to get to Belarko and back, but I could go for a little drive up towards Firvale and then back. I’m a little ticked at myself for not stopping and taking a photo of some sheep sleeping against the side of an old wooden barn. When I came back down they’d gone. Dammit!
I settled for the local gnome before heading back to the airport where there was still apparently a chance of no flight. Robyn had intel that the valley was currently clear enough, from a helicopter pilot, and she forwarded that information. The pilot flew the length of the valley and decided to take off in a westward direction instead, as apparently the clouds were more favourable that way (?).
It was a quick turnaround, and we were on and off pretty close to on time.
Usually the plane heads up the valley but with the fussy weather, the pilot took us down the valley and over the estuary, which was a nice change of view.
The flight home was punctuated by intermittent clouds, but it was clear enough to get some good views down onto the Coastal Mountain Range and out to the coastline.
Every year there is less and less snow on the mountains, and every year the glaciers are smaller. Looking down on a glacier, I could see huge bergs on the lake that formed where it was melting. Bright blue lakes on the tops of mountains were pretty, until I realized there were melted ice. When they are gone, the rivers they fed will dry. It’s beautiful, but it makes me sad.
