As with most great adventures, getting there is half the fun!

Though one has to figure in an extra day or two of travel time with a weeklong trip to the Egdorfs, this is merely due to the sheer remoteness of the destination, and the payoff is well worth the effort.

Travel to Anchorage, Alaska
Guests begin their trip traveling from their home to Anchorage. Depending on the time of arrival and the available connections, it is often possible to continue directly from Anchorage to Dillingham, though many people will want to overnight in Anchorage, before heading on into “the bush”. West Coast travelers,in particular, may be able to skip the Anchorage overnight and go directly to Dillingham on their first day of travel, paring a day from the itinerary,while others will find it is not possible to get to Anchorage in time to catch the last flight out to Dillingham.

Once the reservation is confirmed, The Fly Shop's clients receive a very complete "Pre-Trip/Planning Package" that outlines hotel, sightseeing, restaurant, and other Anchorage options. Though Anchorage’s population is hovering around a quarter million people, it is a city virtually cutoff from civilization (outside of air travel) by the realities of enormous and trackless wilderness. This ensures that despite its size, it still maintains somewhat of a “frontier” ambiance; people here are friendly, fiercely independent and quite outdoor-oriented…and it is not unusual to see a brown bear amble down a main avenue, or a moose stop traffic at the airport.

Getting to Camp
The tiny outpost village of Dillingham is the final commercial flight destination for anglers destined to Egdor's Nushagak Camp. Regularly scheduled (Alaska Air or Pen Air) flights to Dillingham, where they'll spend the night before beginning their angling adventure. There are numerous overnight options in Dillingham, and most veterans choose the Beaver Creek B&B. Their service is top-notch, and the Beaver Creek folks have worked closely with the Egdorfs for many years. If they're full, no worries, because there are several other good options.

Dillingham is a rough-and-ready little coastal fishing village, its Native population supplemented with a lot of both transient and permanent “outsiders”; mostly fishermen, or those whomake a living from the fishing industry. There is essentially one restaurant and, thankfully, it is surprisingly good…we recommend the Yukon Cheeseburger for lunch (their blueberry milkshake is to die for, if they haven’t run out of ice cream), and their Crusted Halibut dinner special is excellent.

The next morning, the Egdorf staff will pick you up at your accommodations and drive you to Aleknagik Lake, a 25-minute drive, where you'll board a float-equipped bush plane and make the exciting flight (a little over an hour) into camp. The flight to Camp is an amazing visual experience often highlighted by sightings of wolf, bear, moose, and caribou. Dave will land right on the river near camp, and his guides will be there to meet you and transport you the final mile or so in jet-powered river sleds. Home, sweet home!

At the conclusion of a week of memorable wilderness fishing, anglers are flown back to Dillingham, where (depending on airline scheduling and personal travel preferences)) they'll either connect with an evening flight back to Anchorage (Pen Air), or again overnight in Dillingham before starting home the following day. Typically, both Alaska Air and Pen Air offer early morning flights that connect comfortably with all major airlines, allowing for a comfortable schedule.

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