April 7, 2025 at 7:50 a.m.
Flight of Discovery - June 13, 2004: Across the Great Divide and Down the Columbia
This is the thirteenth and final installment on the Flight of Discovery, an aerial scientific expedition that retraced the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail from Indiana to the Pacific Ocean. A complete accounting of the 2004-2006 expeditions is recounted in his book, “On Wings of an Eagle: Tragedy and Triumph of the Flight of Discovery.”
"Great joy in camp we are in View of the Ocian. This great Pacific Ociean which we been So long anxious to See. And the roreing or noise made by the waves brakeing on the rockey Shore (as I suppose) may be heard distinctly." [sic] -- William Clark November 7, 1805
Mike’s Journal June 12, 2004
The crew put on their flight suits for the last time, and after breakfast at the Homewood, headed over to Pearson Airfield to meet the public. Expectations were that we would have a lot of students show up because of the number of Trunks of Discovery we’d placed in the general Portland/Vancouver area. Outlying visits to Woodburn and Jefferson High School had not materialized, and only a few students showed up at the airfield accompanied by a respectable and inquisitive number of adults who loved having their picture taken with Roger Wendlick in period buckskin and badger hat. Our crew enjoyed that as well.
Thanks to John Nold and the Museum staff for allowing us to use their theater for what turned out to be a great hour of entertainment for me as each member of the crew stood up and talked for a few minutes about their role in the Flight and what they had observed along the Trail. Rosemary Andrews at CSI kindly ran off to get lunch for everyone and refused to be reimbursed.
Roger Fraser flew the 182 downriver with the AOPA Editor while Randy and Roger Wendlick took the photographer up in the Hughes for some action shots along the Columbia. We’re hoping for a nice article in AOPA Pilot sometime in the future.
The entire crew lifted at around 1:00 p.m. for the final push to Astoria. I asked Roger Fraser and my son Lee to ride with me in 724RJ on the final leg, and Gene Elmore, motor home pilot deluxe, took his first flight of the expedition. Offered his choice of any aircraft, Gene chose to fly with Jill in the Twin Comanche.
There is a lot of industrial development along this stretch of the Columbia River - rafts of logs, lumber and pulp mills, and more barges and ships than we’d seen anywhere previously. I wonder how Lewis and Clark felt when they encountered it. Not! In a fairly short order we rounded the last bend of the widening river mouth and could see the Pacific. I think it was Jill, flying high cover in the Comanche, that first called out: “Ocian in view! O, the joy!”
Landing at Astoria all engines were kept running until the last aircraft had landed. After shutdown, we assembled in front of the Caravan while Pat Cooney-Nida, went across the field to liaise with the local Tribal representatives. We watched Mike Mann’s youngest son play on the tarmac in front of the flag-carrying Chinook delegation. His wife Candy had brought the family up from Orange County for the event. I asked Roger Wendlick to stand by me and present our intentions to the Chinook in sign language.
Tribal Chairman Gary Johnson approached with his group and welcomed us in his Chinook language; it was easy to imagine a somewhat similar scene two hundred years ago. We walked together down the crew line, Gary giving each crew member a bag of ceremonial shells while I introduced each one of our group in turn and their role in the expedition.
When we reached Jeanette and my son Lee, Gary stepped back and directed his gaze to an area of the sky just above our aircraft at the end of the taxiway. Following his lead, we all were startled to see a bald eagle wheeling in the air followed closely by three ravens. After a few moments of observation, we turned our attention back to Gary, who spoke:
“You have done something good,” he said. “The eagle has come to greet you.”
“You have done a good thing; the eagle has come to greet you!” Tribal Chairman Gary Johnson and his group greet Mike Harding and company at the airport following their landing in Astoria. Photo credit: Mike Harding.
It was a very emotional moment, and like me, others have said that after Gary had spoken and they turned back to look for the eagle, the birds vanished on the wind.
After a very pleasant exchange of gifts with other members of the Chinook Alliance, we departed for the motel and dinner. Gary said that the Tribe has some extensive erosion problems on the north side of the Columbia River, and I promised that during my summer educational tour for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality that I would stop in and offer some advice if he’d like. I’m looking forward to using my expertise to return the Tribe’s hospitality to us.
Roger Fraser and Jill took off in the Comanche to begin their journey back to Big Fork, Montana while the ground crew, Pat, Ross, Joe, and Roger Wendlick wheeled it back to Portland. The rest of us checked into the Shilo Inn. We proceeded on to dinner at Doogers and there was much rejoicing.
