John (JT) McMillion, a Gunflint Trail resident, released a memoir earlier this year of his years as a bush pilot in the wilds of Alaska, ‘Arctic Circle Dreams: My Time Flying in Alaska.’ He writes with clarity and a humble and humorous self-understanding.
After a touching, self-deprecating introduction, JT leads off with his summer work in 1976 as a dock boy for Gunflint Lodge and Outfitters near the end of the Gunflint Trail—a job he took after his first year in college. His boss, Bruce Kerfoot, operated at least a dozen fly-in camps in Ontario, and almost every day of that first summer JT would help “catch the planes” at the lodge’s dock.
“To me, every time a floatplane came in, it was just the coolest thing ever,” he wrote.
Fascinated by airplanes and flying as a boy, JT wrote that as a 19-year-old dock boy he really admired those seaplanes and their pilots. He always thought flying those planes was something other people would do, and he didn’t imagine he’d be doing it in a big way in the years to come.
Mentored by Kerfoot, he quickly became a seasoned wilderness fishing and canoeing guide. It was there that he experienced his first wilderness flight in a float plane. To say he was hooked seems like an understatement these days.
He tells the story of a traumatic romantic breakup in 1979 that led him to drop out of college and buy a one-way ticket from Duluth to Anchorage, AK. With no real plan and no money, he had been told a couple was looking for someone to help them develop a lodge that was literally in the middle of nowhere in the interior of Alaska. That couple was Jim and Pat (Kerfoot) Shoffner.
JT turned out to be a natural when it came to flying the bush. His stories about the homesteaders he delivered supplies to, the Medevac flights he did, and the search-and-rescue efforts to find and assist lost pilots and recover overwhelmed wilderness travelers are delightful. He tells his stories as well as anyone, and you find yourself going from laughing out loud to wonder and amazement about JT’s experiences with the independent-minded people who live and fly planes in the most hostile and remote places in the USA.
While JT wrote this book for friends and family, it is an inspiring tale of how a young man who seemed to have no direction in his life found that he could build a fulfilled life serving the people living in the Alaska bush, flying airplanes with floats and skis. He has interspersed pictures of people and planes that he writes about in each story.
People who love the Gunflint Trail will really enjoy his stories about his time there, the people he knew, and the fact that he retired to the Trail with his own plane, a Piper PA-12 Cub, in the fall of 2020 after years as a senior pilot for Southwest Airlines.
The last page of the book, “About the Author,” ends with this, “This is his first (and last ) book.”
When asked about that, JT said, “Definitely my last book.” He said that about a year and a half ago he’d seen an article in the local paper for “Leave a Trace,” a writers group in Grand Marais that encourages people to write down their memories for loved ones and the next generation. In the introduction to his book, he credits his biggest cheerleader, Cherlyn Morrison, for dragging him to those meetings where he shared pieces that you’ll read in the book and keeping him motivated to see it through to publication.
“I was amazed with everyone else’s writing skills. I just wanted tips on how to write about my time in Ft. Yukon for my son, and any future grandkids, should that ever happen,” JT said.
You can get your own copy of ‘Arctic Circle Dreams’ at the Chik Wauk Museum on the Gunflint Trail, or order it from Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais, or Back Forty Books in Two Harbors. It is a satisfying look at the wilderness and people of Minnesota and Alaska, and it will leave you hoping for more, despite JT’s pronouncements.
