I was considering this flight for several years now, but the terrain looks and is very intimidating. The gold containing Tranquille Creek is running in very deep, steep and narrow canyon. Definitively any mechanical or even environmental failure would be total disaster in that hostile environment. I started early in the morning to limit my exposure to expected turbulence, but it was still not relaxing flight. The strong headwind created mechanical turbulence behind and around the hills. This combined with warm and cold sides of the canyon created very good turbulence. Well, I made it through! It is very nice in the Red Lake area, which follows the Sparks Lake. The Sparks Lake became “famous” in June 2021 when someone set forest on fire. It was hell on earth: 52 buildings, over 90,000 ha of forest gone, and millions spent on aerial and ground fire fighting. It was terrible summer even for us living 40 km away from it.
The sky was very clear and visibility perfect so you could see the Costal Mountain Ridge still covered in snow.