A short hop to the Brothers Wilderness

[Tony_T]

The Brothers Wilderness lies just outside of the Olympic National Park and is noted for the double peak which is 6860 ft MSL. The area is just a short flight from my home base at KPWT. This morning was clear and sunny with a brisk north breeze and mountain clouds. The Oympics looked clear of clouds for a short time but that window closed before I could launch and climb to altitude. The Brothers were obscured but still afforded some pretty good photography:


The clouds were moving, so I circled at 6500 feet and got a little better look. The two distinct peaks are now discernable:


Just to the East of the Wilderness on Hood Canal lies a little marina near the mouth of the Duckabush River. There are many such Marinas on Hood Canal. In the picture the mouth of the Dosewallips River can be seen in the background. Much of the geography in the area have Indian names and they are fun to say; say Dosewallips :


This is the mouth of the Duckabush:


The two rivers lie just south of the town of Brinnon on this map of Hood Canal:


We also have floating bridges. Some no longer float but have been sunk by storms. This is the Hood Canal floating bridge (number 2), the original bridge was sunk in 1979 by a catastropic windstorm. Hatches in the concrete pontoons were blown open and a large segment of the bridge went to the bottom:


There is a center drawspan in the bridge which opens to allow large vessels into the Canal. Nuclear subs frequently enter to visit their Bangor base:


I was hoping to get shots of Mt. Olympus but it was shrouded today and I'll look forward to doing that another day.


Tony

[DakotaHawk]

Beautiful photography!

I was flying just a few miles away from you today. The weather was so awesome, I headed up to the San Juan Islands for a little "island time". After a short stop in Anacortes to rest on the Pilots Seat looking west over the airport and off to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, then a quick hop over to Roche Harbor to walk the docks and look at all of the boats covered and closed up for the winter. And finally some touch and gos back home at Arlington.

It's a great time to be flying in the Pacific NW!

[Vlad]

That's impressive landscape Tony. Great shots! However I don't see nuclear subs on the way to Bangor could you email me high res?

[Tony_T]

Thanks Grumpy.

A few shots of interesting scenes on the way back in to PWT. On autopilot to WOMUX to fly a practice VFR RWY 19 ILS, passing restricted area P-51, a home base for the Trident subs. Telephoto because you can't get too close:


Turning at WOMUX to the runway, the naval shipyard lies close a port:


Here is a telephoto of the yard, with mothballed carriers. I grew up in Bremerton and our house was in the lower left of this shot.


Tony

[DakotaHawk]

Originally Posted by Vlad

That's impressive landscape Tony. Great shots! However I don't see nuclear subs on the way to Bangor could you email me high res?

Vlad, here's some photos that I took awhile ago - nuke subs heading home to Bangor, Wa.

[newt]

Originally Posted by Tony_T

Here is a telephoto of the yard, with mothballed carriers.

Their flight decks are probably long enough to take an RV. Ever been tempted to land on one?

- mark

[Vlad]

That's cool hunt Scott. On my bucket list

[IFlySlow]

Hey Scott, Is there anything left of the USS Long Beach (CGN-9) still at Bremerton? She was the first nuke guided missile cruiser (christened a year before I was born). I was stationed aboard her for 3-1/2 yrs, part of that for an overhaul and later again for some upgrades. I miss the PNW a lot, and seeing those pics just brings it all back. Practically cried though when my old "home" was brought there to be scrapped.

[DakotaHawk]

Originally Posted by IFlySlow

Hey Scott, Is there anything left of the USS Long Beach (CGN-9) still at Bremerton? She was the first nuke guided missile cruiser (christened a year before I was born). I was stationed aboard her for 3-1/2 yrs, part of that for an overhaul and later again for some upgrades. I miss the PNW a lot, and seeing those pics just brings it all back. Practically cried though when my old "home" was brought there to be scrapped.

I haven't been down close to see which ships are mothballed at Bremerton. I was a nuke electrician on the USS California (CGN-36) - three years underway and two years in the shipyard at Bremerton for a refueling overhaul. The California was decommissioned just a few years later (with 15 years of reactor life still to go!) After bouncing around the US for a couple of years, my wife and I decided that we really loved the PNW, so we moved back up to Washington, hopefully to stay!

[Tony_T]

Originally Posted by DakotaHawk

I haven't been down close to see which ships are mothballed at Bremerton.

Originally Posted by newt

Their flight decks are probably long enough to take an RV. Ever been tempted to land on one?

The Bremerton Naval Shipyard is a "National Security Area" and "Pilots are requested to avoid flight at and below 2900 in this area". I think this is something that came into being after 9/11, I don't remember it before then. According to the AIM, pilots are expected to volutarily avoid flying through the area.

Anyway, I suspect those mothballed carrier decks are full of debris and open hatches , probably not good idea to try a touch and go.

There is another NSA on Indian Island which is a Naval Magazine (meaning munitions) up near Port Townsend Jefferson County Airport (0S9).
Indian Island Naval Magazine is center right in the picture:


Tony