AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2011 - 64

Floatplanes can get a few visitors at a time to the camp’s rustic cabins, but they are relatively slow and expensive to operate, and there’s no place here for them to refuel. Lockhart’s answer was to convert one of the lake’s nearly 5,000 islands to a gravel-surface landing strip where airplanes with wheels (or skis) could take off and land. And one winter in the early 1950s, he bought a front-end loader and hired a crew to drive it 400 miles across mining roads and frozen lakes to the island. (The heavy machinery is still on the island, and it’s used each spring to clear and grade the 4,700-foot strip.) Lockhart attracted fishermen and hunters from all over Canada and the United States using chartered aircraft that included lumbering PBY Catalina flying boats and Douglas DC–3s. (The ill-fated Gooney Bird that remains is said to have been done in when the crew forgot to remove the rudder lock before takeoff.) The lodge thrived for many years with Lockhart and his wife Linda running it. But he eventually became ill, retired, and passed away, and the family decided to sell. Littlechilds, a former Canadian wildlife conservation officer who knew
Our Bonanza A36 performed beautifully on the 1,500-nm flight to Reindeer Lake. Don Bates (far right) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been flying there with friends and family for many years. The rustic cabins (below right) are on one of the lake’s estimated 5,000 islands. The main lodge (below) is the place for driftwood fires, sumptuous meals, and no shortage of fishing and flying stories.

the Lockharts when they operated the lodge, fell in love with this part of the far north when he was posted here 20 years ago. He bought the lodge and, with wife Jan and son Kelly, has made great efforts to upgrade the facility. Everything from the oven, pool table, generator, and fuel had to be brought in by boat or barge. The Littlechilds have a fleet of a dozen 50-horsepower skiffs, and they are typically operated by Native American guides who bring two guests each on fishing excursions. There are six similar lodges on the 200-milelong lake, but Arctic Lodges is the only one with an airstrip, and the Littlechilds use it to attract general aviation pilots from Canada and the United States. “The runway is a huge asset to Arctic Lodges, and it has been ever since it was built,” Ray says. “It makes us unique and accessible despite our remote location.” Rest your arms A 20-minute boat ride brings us to Arctic Lodges where, despite a steady rain, Jan welcomes us at the dock. We deposit our gear in one of the log cabins, then dry out by a roaring driftwood fire in the main building. The taxidermy inside the lodge suggests some of the possibilities:

a toothy northern pike that measures four feet in length, and a rotund lake trout that weighed 70 pounds when it was caught (and released) by a guest a year ago. The sunlight never disappears during the summer solstice here. But this is the last week in August, and sunset takes place around 8:30 p.m. with twilight lasting another hour. The rain stops. I pull out a fishing rod and make a few casts from the dock in front of the lodge, just testing the equipment, and am surprised to reel in a 20-inch trout and a 22-inch pike. Littlechilds tells us those are just warm-up fish. “Rest your arms,” he said. “They’re going to get tired tomorrow from reeling in fish.” Extraordinary experiences Our guide is George Clarke, 62, a commercial fisherman and member of the Woodland Cree tribe who has lived near Reindeer Lake his entire life. He navigates the seemingly endless lake’s countless twists and curves by memory. Clarke doesn’t carry a GPS and disdains the electronic fish finder. I ask him whether he ever gets lost because so many parts of the lake look

AOPA PILOT •

64 • FEBRUARY

2011

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2011

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