In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the great German desert geomorphologists (e.g., Penck 1891 Passarge 1904 Mortensen 1933) and various French geomorphologists (e.g., Birot 1954 Pedro 1957a, 1957b Tricart 1960) greatly extended our knowledge of salt weathering. 2003 Van Grieken 2003 Coussy 2006 Espinosa-Marzal and Scherer 2010 Shahidzadeh-Bonn et al. I haven't flown any other services out of Soldotna or anywhere else on the Kenai, but Natron was a great experience.Salt weathering has been implicated as a cause of rock disintegration since the time of Herodotus, and systematic investigations of salt weathering have been performed over at least 200 years (e.g., Thury 1828 Miller 1841 Luquer 1895 Cooke 1979 Goudie and Viles 1997 Williams and Robinson 2001 Doehne 2002 Tsui et al. At the same time, once in the air, he exuded a comfort in his flying that put everyone at ease.

The weather on both of our flights wasn't spectacular, and Tim impressed on us that years of experience have told him when to stay on the ground. Perhaps what impressed me the most is the balance Natron struck between being serious about the safety of their passengers while allowing everyone to enjoy the experience. Although I didn't take a specific bear-viewing tour with Natron, the quick flight across the Inlet is gorgeous, Tim was a great tour guide on the flight, and gave us a smooth landing on the beach at Silver Salmon Creek. We eventually did get out and Tim made my wife (a nervous flyer) very comfortable and at-ease. Gizmo and Toby also serve as great ambassadors for Natron (spending a few minutes with them will immediately make your day better). Both Tim and Janet were great during our delay - friendly and kept us updated on when (or if) we might be able to get out and what they were hearing from pilots flying in the area. We arrived at Natron with a weather hold on our flight (understandably). Sadly, the weather was rainy and overcast with a very low ceiling (it's Alaska - gotta be prepared for the weather to dictate your travel schedule, especially to/from SSCL).

We flew with Natron to/from the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge the first week in August.

Natron air bear viewing review