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Vines Airstrip is a remote backcountry strip cut into Big Creek Canyon within Idaho's Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, used almost exclusively by experienced backcountry pilots. Its short gravel runway, tree-lined approach and canyon setting make it one of the more demanding of Idaho's wilderness airstrips, intended for pilots who have received specific instruction in short-field mountain flying.
Vines Airstrip is a primitive, unattended backcountry airstrip set on the south side of Big Creek Canyon in central Idaho. It has no facilities, no based operator and no scheduled traffic, and exists purely to serve pilots flying into the surrounding wilderness. For simulator pilots it offers a classic Idaho backcountry challenge: a short gravel strip hemmed in by terrain and trees, demanding careful speed and approach control (mountainflying.com, shortfield.com).
The strip lies within the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho, in uncontrolled airspace typical of the region's backcountry airstrips. It sits on Big Creek, roughly three miles upstream from the creek's confluence with Cabin Creek, and about two miles west of the Cabin Creek Airstrip. Big Creek itself joins the Middle Fork of the Salmon River some eleven miles to the east (mountainflying.com, shortfield.com).
Vines has a single physical runway, 09/27, surfaced in gravel and 955 feet in length. There is no runway lighting and no instrument landing system.
No radio frequency, air traffic service or navigational aids are published for Vines Airstrip, and it has no instrument approach.
Local practice is to land on runway 27, approaching upstream along Big Creek, and to take off on runway 9, departing downstream. Tall trees obstruct the approach end of the strip, requiring a steep approach angle, and tight airspeed control is essential given the short landing distance available. Pilots are advised not to attempt a landing at Vines without prior instruction in the approach and short-field technique required (mountainflying.com).
The airstrip can be identified by its position on the south side of Big Creek Canyon, with the Cabin Creek Airstrip lying about two miles to the east as a useful reference point, and the confluence of Big Creek with the Middle Fork of the Salmon River a further nine miles beyond that. The canyon terrain and tree line bordering the runway are the principal visual cues on the approach (mountainflying.com, shortfield.com).
Vines is one of several historic backcountry airstrips - alongside Dewy Moore, Mile-Hi and Simonds - that were in regular use at the time Congress enacted the legislation protecting Idaho's wilderness airstrips under Public Law 96-312. That law was intended to guarantee continued public access by air to remote wilderness areas, and organisations such as AOPA have subsequently pressed the U.S. Forest Service to maintain unrestricted public use of Vines and its sister strips rather than limit access or reserve them for emergency use only (aopa.org).
Vines remains open for public use as a backcountry airstrip within the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, though it can be difficult and overgrown, and its short length and tree-obstructed approach mean it is suitable only for pilots experienced in mountain and short-field flying. There are no facilities, fuel or based services at the field.
