Cayenne, Alaska Bush Pilot

“Baby, I love that ruby on your finger!” He watched her from their bed, happy to be back from the Bush.

Mike’s fiancé, Cayenne, smiled at him. “I’m flying media people over the Wickersham Wall on Denali, so I must head out now. Love you!” She kissed him, handing him a hot mug of coffee.

**

Cayenne flew the Super Cub north, stopping quickly to load up the media crew for their scenic photography flight over Denali. Filming for a documentary, she had a narrow window of clear weather.

The blue ice of the glaciers sparkled below in places; other areas showed brownish trails on top. Glaciers, rivers of ice, flow, move, grind, and change the landscape. From the air, the film crew captured the look of a multi-colored landscape: turquoise, white, and sandy brown. She grinned, listening to her passengers exclaiming of the rugged, uncommon beauty. There was no open water this time of year, just frozen land below with jagged rocks poking through. She told them to hang on as she tilted the plane to the right, pointing to Denali’s peak through a cloud break. The blue sky above contrasted with a dirt-strewn, vast wilderness of glacier-topped valleys.

Thick snow clouds engulfed them now, but the film crew expressed satisfaction as she banked the plane back toward base.

Cayenne dropped the crew and took off immediately to return to Mike before the blizzard came. Meeting her outside, he grabbed her in a bear hug, whispering, “Welcome home, Sweetheart.”