It was designed to operate into short strips, and it does that wonderfully. It will stop on a dime.
With low approach speeds the radius of turn is tight. So great in the mountains.
In the bush you can put "Medium flotation gear" on it. Fat tires to you and me. With these on, you do not even need a runway.
The PT-6 has a free turbine, so is a cold starter, and very forgiving. Having operated it in the desert, into short mountain strips, and the beach. it is ideal for that job.
British Antarctic Survey has used them down south in for generations. Bradley Air Services used them in the high Arctic. It is simply the aeroplane for the difficult out of the way places.
The bad bits of the DHC-6 are. It is a handful in a crosswind, and has a slow cruise speed. That is about it.
I loved it. For all 3500 hours of it.