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Wilson Bar USFS Airport (C48) is a small U.S. Forest Service backcountry strip on the Main Salmon River in Idaho County, Idaho, about eight nautical miles south of Dixie. It is a classic Idaho canyon airstrip, appealing to sim pilots seeking a demanding one-way approach amid steep terrain, with no radio services or instrument approaches to rely on.
Wilson Bar USFS Airport is a public-use backcountry airstrip owned by the Nez Perce National Forest, tucked into the Main Salmon River canyon south of Dixie, Idaho. It is a favourite among backcountry and taildragger pilots for its short turf runway, tight approach and river-canyon setting, and it offers the sort of tight, visually demanding flying that appeals to sim pilots looking for a genuine Idaho backcountry challenge.
The airfield lies in the Idaho backcountry within the Nez Perce National Forest, in Idaho County, Idaho, roughly eight nautical miles south of the central business district of Dixie. It sits directly on the Main Salmon River, with the privately owned but open Mackay Bar airstrip about two miles downriver. There is no controlled airspace or air traffic control associated with the field; it operates as an uncontrolled backcountry strip.
Wilson Bar has a single physical runway, 06/24, with a turf surface. Runway 06 measures 1,341 feet and Runway 24 measures 1,342 feet, both grass. Field elevation is 2,274 feet. There is no ILS or other instrument approach available.
No radio frequency, air-ground service or navigational aids are published for the field, and there is no instrument approach; pilots operate visually under their own judgement in this uncontrolled backcountry setting.
Wilson Bar is flown as a one-way strip with a non-standard pattern: aircraft land downstream on Runway 24 and take off upstream on Runway 06. Final approach is flown with the river to the left, and the runway itself remains out of sight until short final, requiring careful positioning on the approach. Pilots should also be alert for wheeled traffic already using the runway, and should take care not to mistake the strip for Mackay Bar, which lies only about two miles away.
The Main Salmon River canyon is the principal visual guide to the strip, with Wilson Bar sitting directly alongside the river. Dixie lies roughly eight nautical miles to the north, while the Mackay Bar airstrip, two miles downriver, is a useful and easily confused landmark that pilots must distinguish from Wilson Bar itself.
Wilson Bar USFS Airport, formerly identified as ID76, is a public-use Forest Service airfield owned by the Nez Perce National Forest. For the twelve-month period ending 24 June 2011, the airport recorded 220 aircraft operations, averaging 18 per month, of which 91 percent were general aviation and 9 percent air taxi.
The strip continues to serve general aviation and occasional air-taxi traffic as a backcountry destination, popular with pilots flying taildraggers and bush-capable aircraft such as the Aviat Husky and Super Cub types into the Salmon River canyon. It remains a simple, unimproved turf airstrip with no facilities beyond good camp spots near the strip, both at the east end and toward the west end of the field.
