Chopper

What an unusual couple of days I have had. The last two mornings have required a 4 am rising, but for very different reasons. Yesterday morning Ken and I took part in a continuing search south of Cody. Because there was a helicopter available we needed to get to the airport very early to try and beat the winds that have been a constant later in the day for the last few weeks. 

The pilot is a friend who was generously volunteering his time and equipment for the morning. All he needed was two willing spotters to go along. To make searching easier, the doors of the chopper were removed, meaning photographs were possible. The camera was also to be a tool for forensic photography - shooting any areas that looked like they would warrant further investigation from the ground. 

The sun was just coming up as we flew over the southern part of the Cody Reservoir and headed downstream. 

 The second part of the mission was to have the helicopter fly in two searchers in kayaks who would search the upper part of the river. To do that, Ken and I got out while the pilot took first one and then the other kayaker in with his equipment.
In the photo above, Bruce is landing to pick us up after dropping off the boaters. We then continued to search the river from the chopper until low fuel forced us to return to Cody.

Part of the difficulty of this particular search area is the steep canyon up stream. In this photo you can see the shadow of the chopper against the sheer rock wall on one side. The other side looked the same.

As we flew over the steepest part of the canyon I looked down and saw the two kayakers shouldering their boats to portage around a particularly dangerous section of whitewater. It is not often you get a top view like this one!