We flew along the Kuskokwim from McGrath to the confluence of the North and South Fork early this afternoon looking at the river ice.

From above McGrath looking up the Takotna there is a continuous stretch of ice flanked by open water as far as we could see from an altitude of 1000 ft.

From McGrath upriver on the Kuskokwim to Ephrem's cabin there's continuous ice in the center of the river, but water running on the sides for most of that stretch.

From Ephrem's roughly to Richard and Royleen's cabin there are bank to bank cakes alternating with open stretches every 1/2 bend our so.

Above Richard and Royleen's to Big River it is open with only a few ice blocks here and there.

Big River was open as far as we could see from an altitude of about 700 feet.

From Big River to Andrew Gorny's old cabin open stretches alternate with ice cakes bank to bank, and some stretches have ice on one side or the other.

Above that, it's ice covered all the way to Medfra. Above Medfra to the confluence of the North and South forks, there are intermittent bank to bank cakes.

On the South Fork, there's a bank to bank jumble of ice just above Petruska's cabin. We didn't fly further than that, but it looked mostly open above that jumble, at least as far as we could see.

Everywhere, even where there is continuous ice, it looks dark and rotten.

There is very little snow in the woods anywhere.

We hope to put the boat in the water as soon as we can, but we're in no hurry after this flight, but we're not scrambling to prep for a flood either.