Check out the Harding Icefield
The day after silently gliding down Exit Glacier from the Harding Icefield in my Cessna 182 with the power off, we hiked up the same glacier from the bottom. It’s not an easy hike at 8.5 miles and 3,000 feet of elevation gain, but worth it! There are a lot of icefields (where glaciers are born) in Alaska, but not many as accessible as this one.
From the top you can peer out over the Harding Icefield, an incredible sight! We’ve seen tour planes (a Cessna 206 on skis) land on the snow field. They land, get out and walk around for a few minutes, then get back into the plane and head back down the glacier. We also saw a guy pulling a sled walking out across the snowfield. Wow, tough dude (or lady). It’s about 100 miles long and I think every day you see the same thing. Which isn’t very exciting.
Watch for bears! A few weeks after we did this hike a couple of people were attacked by a grizzly bear on the lower section of this trail. They survived and drove themselves to the emergency room. I’m not sure we all had bear spray – but we should.
West Coast Flying Adventures 
Hello,
Love your website, you passion and your photos.
I have a passion and do aerial photography in Australia. A ltot of my focus is abstract lanscape which I shoot mainly striaght down. I am coming to the states unexpectedly this June for family reasons. I have always had a passion and interest for attempting to photograph areas of the southwest in the US (e.g. death valley). I am not a pilot so I am looking for some one/pleace that I might be able to charter a suitable small plane (at hopefully reasonable rates). At I am still planning the trip but don’t have much lead time. If you could, I would appreciate any information on places and persons who I could charter a plane for doing shooting.
Thank you for any help or advice you can provide,
Cheers,
Tom
Hi Tom,
Unfortunately, that’s a challenge. Just about all of us operate under FAA Part 91, private operations. Under part 91, the operator can only share expenses, not take a fee. It’s probably similar in Australia. Most of the guys that bother with getting their airplanes certified under part 135, commercial, are busy doing air taxi, etc.
But you can try by calling some tour operators at the places you really want to focus on. Let’s see, I know Canyonlands Field outside of Moab does tours. There are grand canyon tour operators out of Page, AZ, but that will be expensive unless there is smaller operation there. Look at Kanab, that is in middle of great terrain. Bryce canyon airport is tiny but right next to the park. Maybe they have a tour operator.
Finally, try to get in touch with some ultra-light guys. They are a tight-knit group and may know someone who can take you up. This guy is amazing: http://www.shotfromabove.com
Good luck!
Thanks for the reply and the tips. Yes, same rules apply in Australia. It is hard to find reasonable small planes for photography but there are a few options in outback australia and somewhat less expensive it appears than in the states.
Cheers
Tom