This is the last day of a trip to Alaska, part 12 of 12. Click here for the prior entry, here for the introduction.

I wanted a good meal so Dave and I hit the local W for breakfast. The don’t have a website, but they did make a good vegetarian omelette with great crispy cubed taters even if the coffee was weak.

Back at the hotel, I used their office space to get a weather briefing. Bad weather was still covering the Trench, but it was clearing out in parts so I would check again around 11am. Meanwhile, I read Yukon Wings, the book Bernd got me for my birthday. It’s a great book, and mine is signed by the author.

At 11, the weather looked better. We could definitely get to Prince George, and maybe Quesnel and Williams Lake. If not, we’d at least get over the mountains separating us from the Trench, and one step closer to home. I filed a flight plan to Williams Lake with an alternate for Quesnel. We checked out of the hotel, drove to the airport, and Bernd returned the car while I preflighted the plane and called the FBO to fuel us up.

We departed at 12:30 local time heading SW. Skies were mostly scattered, broken in isolated areas, at about 8,000′. This is enough for good VFR through the passes to Prince George.

The flight over the mountains, into the trench and past Prince George was scenic though uneventful. As we turned S toward Quesnel we could see small isolated thunderstorms in the distance ahead. I wasn’t going to fly into that so as we flew over Quesnel I called their MF and reported I’d land there.

Here, I encountered a difference between US and Canadian procedures. Quesnel (CYQZ) is a non-towered airport at elevation 1,800′, so pattern altitude is 2,800′. They have a class E airspace that goes up to 4,800′. I flew over and announced mid-field at 4,500′. This is a safe, legal way to approach a non-towered airport in the US. Midfield, you don’t conflict with arriving or departing traffic, and 1,700′ above pattern altitude puts you high enough to avoid conflicts with anyone in the pattern. And approaching from that height and direction, you have great visibility for any other planes in the area so you can smoothly merge into the pattern. However, in response to my radio call, the Canadian RCO berated me, saying I violated their airspace and should announce at least 5 miles out. They asked did I have a CFS on board? I assumed they meant a Canadian Flight Supplement and replied “affirmative”. Then the RCO said there were no other airplanes in the area so it did not cause any separation issues, don’t worry about it. I resisted the urge to reply that was obvious because from mid-field, 1,700′ above pattern at a non-towered airport, I was looking out for myself and could see that. Instead, I kept my mouth shut. “Nothing” is often a wise thing to say.

After I landed a local Canadian pilot walked up to my airplane, said he was listening on his radio, that I did nothing wrong, that RCO had been chewing out pilots for no good reason. He was going to call the RCO and complain about their poor service. I told him I was a visitor in their country and despite having studied the differences in US-Canada flight procedures, I could have missed something. I don’t know who was right: this friendly pilot or the RCO, so I’ll consider it a lesson learned: in Canada, the RCOs want you to announce before entering the class E area of an airport, even when the airport is non-towered.

After landing, we refueled and parked. About 30 minutes later, one of those scattered t-storms came through and dumped an amount of heavy rain that belied its small size.

Flight time: H 89.6 – 91.6 = 2.0 hrs
Flight track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20353/cyxj-to-cyqz

I called NavCanada to get a briefing. Wiliams Lake was socked in, MVFR, but if we could get past there, we’d have clear conditions through Hope, Abbotsford and to Seattle. We decided to wait a couple of hours in Quesnel and check again. They have a nice pilot lounge so worst case, we could stay there for the night. We ordered a pizza and charged our devices while waiting.

The second weather briefing for Williams Lake looked better; the weather was moving to the E. And, 2 pilots entered the lounge on their way to Atlin. They had flown N from where we were going. They were older guys, experienced with the area. The pilot was a former FAA inspector. They said conditions were OK and we’d pass by just fine.

Armed with this knowledge, I filed an international flight plan from Quesnel to Williams Lake, Hope, Abbotsford, then Seattle. The prior day I had filed the EAPIS. I called Seattle customs for our arrival notification. Then we departed at 5:30pm expecting to arrive in Seattle at 9:30pm. We’d be early if I could cut the corner and skip Hope. Seemed like we’d been gone a long time, felt strange to imagine being back in Seattle.

Over the phone, the NavCanada briefer gave me a discrete squawk code to cross the border. After takeoff, the RCO gave me a different squawk code. I told him the briefer had given me another one. The RCO said that is unusual, they usually don’t do that. He couldn’t find the other code in the system so I went with his code 0022.

Once again, the flight was scenic yet uneventful. Since the leg was over 3 hours, I slowed down to medium power cruise for efficiency (2400 RPM) which gives over 5 hours of flight.

The long way is to follow the Fraser river all the way around to Hope then back to the W. This avoids the high altitudes needed to cross the northern Rockies. The short way is to cut the corner. On this day the SE end of the Fraser river was socked in with bad weather so we cut the corner through clear skies.

I called Abbotsford tower as we approached; they cleared us through their class C airspace (same female controller we had on Day 1, with the great sounding Australian accent) and handed us off to Victoria Approach to cross the border.

Then we transferred to Whidbey Approach, after that cancelled flight following and continued direct to Boeing Field. We landed a few minutes ahead of schedule. Customs met us and the processing was quick and efficient. Taxi-ing back to NE parking, BFI ground didn’t reply to my radio call. Then the ground controller got grouchy with myself and several other aircraft and made several mistakes, mixing up our tail numbers and locations. Seems like he fell behind in whatever he was doing and was frustrated trying to catch up. No problem, we got our taxi clearance, tied down, unloaded and ended our 2-week adventure.

Flight time: H 91.6 – 94.8 = 3.2 hours
Flight tracks:
https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20352/cyqz-to-wn51
https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20351/wn51-to-wn93

Total flight time: H 59.7 – 94.8 = 35.1 hours

This is day 13 of a trip to Alaska, part 11 of 12. Click here for the prior and next entries.

We breakfasted at the hotel then took a cab back to the airport to rent a car.  The bad weather that came in the prior night was fully upon us today. The airport was IFR. While there, I checked my airplane. It wasn’t tied down because I was on the grass, and the grass was a thin layer over hard concrete-like Earth so my screw-down grass stakes wouldn’t dig in. It was fine.

We drove to the local rodeo, but there was hardly anyone there except for the participants, and we didn’t want to sit outdoors in the rain to watch it. We’d come back tomorrow if we were still stuck here in Ft. St. John with better weather.

The hotel had a pool with a big spiral slide, so we stopped at the local Walmart to get swim trunks. I also replaced the charger I had left in Gulkana. We lunched at the Canadian Brewhouse, which was a decent place. Then returned to the hotel, went swimming, sliding and hot-tubbing for a couple of hours. We ate dinner at a local Greek place, the Olive Tree. Bernd called his old friend Pete the Greek from Sebastopol who spoke with the restaurant owner. Both grew up in nearby towns in Greece.

That evening we finished what little whisky we had left and hoped for good weather the next day. If we were lucky, we’d make it all the way home.

This is day 12 of a trip to Alaska, part 10 of 12. Click here for the prior and next entries.

At the Takhini hostel, up at 7:30am, breakfasted on our groceries: coffee, Cheerios with bananas and toast with peanut butter. Skies looked clear but it was cold with low lying fog in the valleys. Optimistically, we checked out of the hostel and drove to the airport, which was IFR with a thin layer of fog. I used the pilot office to get a weather briefing: bad weather to the SE, a huge pile of cold moist air was socking in everything to the SE of us. Chances were, enough sun to burn it off would also be enough to make thunderstorms.

We drove into Whitehorse to Starbucks. I planned an alternate route down the trench, Whitehorse to Dease Lake to Prince George, using paper charts and my tablet. Calculating this with the leg distances, headings, and fuel calculations took over an hour. Then I used the Starbucks WiFi to get an updated briefing. Conditions were improving.

We lunched at the local Vietnamese place, then back to the airport. At the pilot lounge I got an updated briefing. The center of the bad weather was over the trench, hammering it with big thunderstorms. No way were we getting through that, whether direct or via Dease Lake. But it looked like we could make it to Watson Lake, Nelson Lake, and maybe down to Ft. St. John. I filed a flight plan to Ft. Nelson, 2 legs, with enough time for a fuel stop at Watson Lake. If upon arriving Ft. St. John looked good, we’d fly that leg. Either way, we’d be a step or two further along our way.

We flew above the layers at first, then the layers got thicker and higher. When we got to 12,000′ and the layers were still rising, we descended below them and followed the valleys, dodging scattered rain showers that would develop into thunderstorms later in the afternoon.

Flight time: H 83.9 – 86.0 = 2.1 hrs
Flight track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20338/cyxy-to-cyqh

At Watson Lake we refueled and departed for Ft. Nelson. Since we came up the trench on our way out, this would be a new destination, further E along the AlCan highway.

Flight time: H 86.0 – H88.0 = 2.0 hrs
Flight tracks:
https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20337/cyqh-to-ca-0207
https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20336/cbf8-to-cyye

After arriving at Ft. St. Nelson, we refueled again and I got a briefing for the flight S to Ft. St. John. The bad weather was closing in, but the forecast was we could beat it there since it is only a 90 minute flight.

We departed and I ran the airplane at high speed cruise (2600 RPM, 120 kts TAS). As we headed S we had clear VFR under a high layer at 7,000′ to 8,000′, but we could see dim grey and rain in the distance, where we were heading.

The weather got to Ft. St. Nelson ahead of schedule and beat us there. As we arrived the airport was reporting VFR, but we had to fly through MVFR heavy rain and limited visibility to get there. Fortunately, I always record the position of my destination airport with a VOR radial and distance. Without this, I would not have found the airport in these conditions, and would have had to turn around and head back to Ft. Nelson. VFR minimums (3 miles visibility) are sufficient for keeping the shiny side up, but not for navigation. My tablet app (Naviator) crashed just as we approached the worst of the poor visibility and had to find the airport, reminding me why I use VORs. We flew direct to the VOR, made a single left turn and the airport appeared right in front of us, spot-on the 100° radial at 6 miles. Winds favored runway 12, which was right in front of me. We landed, taxied to the grass, and unloaded, all in heavy rain as the ceilings lowered and weather worsened around us. Soon after, the airport went to IFR.

Flight time: H 88.0 – 89.6  = 1.6 hrs
Flight track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20335/cyye-to-cfj7

The FBO let us inside. We called around and found a hotel that sent a shuttle to pick us up. While waiting we met a security lady who told us about the local rodeo. From her appearance and demeanor, I suspect she was a cowgirl herself. We shuttled to the hotel, walked to Boston Pizza for dinner, then hit the sack.

These are days 10-11 of a trip to Alaska, part 9 of 11. Click here for the prior and next entries.

Bernd got a rental car delivered to the hotel and we drove to Starbucks for breakfast. We met the owner and also spotted a flyer for free guided nature hikes, one at 2pm. We checked out of the family hotel and into the hostel on Takhini hot springs road next to the public hot pools. Lunch at Whisky Jacks and saw David again. Stopped by the airport to get our sleeping bags out of the plane, then went to the float plane base S of town for the nature hike.

Ingrid and Janie led the hike. They were friendly and knowledgable, and we had a nice group of about 10 people. We hiked out & back the scenic Miles Canyon trail, learned about local history, saw a bear swim across the river and climb up on our side about 1/4 mile away.

After the hike we returned to the Takhini springs hot pools and spent over an hour in the water. We emerged completely enervated yet relaxed.

Bad weather was coming in and we’d be stuck in Whitehorse for another day or two.

At the hostel, another family checked in. They were a Swiss family of 5 and had spent the past 5 days hiking the pass from Skagway to Whitehorse.

Day 11, the bad weather had arrived. No way we’d be getting out today. We breakfasted at Bean North, lunched at the pizza place, and spent a few hours visiting the Yukon Transportation Museum.

We returned to the hot pools and met a Canadian couple, who recommended Ft. St. John as the best place to get stuck, of all the towns we’d hit along the way home. Back to town for grocery shopping, then back to the hostel. Met another arriving family, the parents were both teachers with 2 teenage daughters. We watched another movie and hit the sack.

This is day 9 of a trip to Alaska, part 8 of 11. Click here for the prior and next entries.

We got up early, and Rebecca & Jody were already at work. We helped Jody load the 185 for the mail flight. It was stuffed to the gills, even so we took care to ensure it was within weight and CG.

I got a weather briefing and things looked better. Rebecca was learning to fly, so we took her along in the right front seat for a local flight to see the sights, assess the mountain pass to the East, and give her some stick time.

Rebecca practised gentle un-coordinated turns (rudder only and aileron only) to get a feel for how too much rudder pulls you to the outside, too much aileron pulls you to the inside, and properly coordinated balances these forces, so it pulls you straight back into your seat. She also practised using a light fingertips touch on controls during cruise, trim it so the airplane’s inherent stability does the work. This enables you to better feel the airplane’s control forces talking back to you, reduces pilot workload and smooths the transition to instrument flight.

Flight time: H 78.8 – 80.3 = 1.5 hrs
Flight track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20304/pagk-to-pagk

The pass was MVFR at best, but clearing, so we landed back in Gulkana and prepared to depart. Meanwhile, Rebecca showed us a mini-projector she used to watch movies from her phone. It was unusable with a broken power adapter. We found some solder in the aviation shop, a soldering iron, and I fixed it. The fix wasn’t the cleanest, but functional if fragile, and the best I could under the circumstances.

We said our good-byes and departed Gulkana for Tok, then Whitehorse. Due to the overcast, we followed the river through the mountains to Tok instead of taking Mentasta pass

This worked great. We landed in Tok, refueled, got a new weather briefing, filed EAPIS and called Customs for the flight to Whitehorse.

We departed Tok at 3pm and flew to Whitehorse via Northway, Beaver Creek, Silver Springs, then E to Whitehorse. Along the way we flew over some scattered cloud layers around Kluane Lake, then descended to fly under others. At one point we encountered small scattered thunderstorms, wide enough apart to slip between them. This put us in true old-school VFR flying through valleys following rivers and roads. We approached Whitehorse from the W through the mountain pass.

Tower gave us L downwind for 34R. We landed and tied down under the tower (not at the north ramp this time).

Flight time: H80.3 – 83.9 = 3.6 hrs (Gulkana to Whitehorse)
Flight track to Tok: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20305/8ak1-to-pfto
Flight track to Whitehorse: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20306/pfto-to-cyxy

Just behind us landed Scott in his Piper Cub. We met while fueling up. He was ferrying the airplane from Texas to Alaska for an owner. We walked to the terminal together and looked for a hotel and a place to eat. Whitehorse gets booked in the popular summer travel/cruise season. After several calls we couldn’t get a rental car but we got a room at the Family Hotel and took a taxi there. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but they have nice staff (family owned) and great showers – incredible pressure and flow rate like standing under a waterfall! We walked to the local Boston Pizza for a hearty dinner, then hit the sack. Scott planned to get up early and on his way, so we would not see him again, at least not on this trip.

This is day 8 of a trip to Alaska, part 7 of 11. Click here for the prior and next entries.

Day 8, Sunday, was upon us, the halfway point of our trip. We checked weather again; it looked good through the passes NE of Anchorage and to Tok, and to Whitehorse. Given the fast-changing and unpredictable weather, we decided to leave this afternoon.

First, we visited the Sun Dog kennel. Jerry Sousa, the owner, was our guide. He’s a man of few words with a blunt, dry sense of humor. We met the dogs and they took us for a ride, followed by more dog visiting and a Q&A session afterwards.

When we got home I got another flight briefing; things looked good to Tok and Northway. From there, we could submit EAPIS and Customs forms and submit the flight plan to Whitehorse.

As we departed Talkeetna to the S, we dodged widely scattered thunderstorms. Then we turned E to go through Chickaloon and the other passes, which were VFR but MVFR in places.

As we emerged from the passes into the big plain toward Gulkana, the clouds over the mountains to the NE, which we had to cross to reach Tok, had turned into a giant wall of mist. This was a no-go, so we landed at Gulkana.

Here, we pulled up to the pumps to refuel and saw something unusual. A large private jet with 2 crew manually fueling up. They didn’t know how to operate the pump; we had to help them. I suppose that can happen when somebody else is always refueling your airplane year after year. And they needed 2,000 gallons! We had fun time kidding them, then walked into the Copper Valley FBO.

Here we met Rebecca, who was “manning” (I use that word loosely) the office. She welcomed us to tie down next to the office and use their computer to track the weather cam at the pass we needed to cross to get to Tok.

After a couple of hours the pass wasn’t clearing, and the day was cooling off, eliminating any chance it might clear that evening. We started calling to find a place to say in town, then Rebecca said we were welcome to crash at the FBO, and it might be easier. I knew we would wouldn’t be the first, nor the last, to do this.

We got our sleeping bags, gear and remaining food from the plane – local fresh eggs and sourdough rye bread – with onions and peppers, and cooked up a scramble to share with everyone. Rebecca said Jody was flying in tonight with supplies from Anchorage. She arrived around 9:30pm and we helped unload the supplies.

We stayed up until midnight with Rebecca and Jody, sharing engaging conversation and stories, lots of laughs. Stuck due to weather, but in good company. A wonderful evening.

Flight time: H 76.8 – 78.8 = 2.0 hrs
Flight track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20303/patk-to-pagk

This is part 6 of an 11-part series on a trip to Alaska, covering days 6 & 7 (Fri & Sat). Click for the prior or next entries.

Due to a bad weather forecast, we were stuck in Talkeetna for a couple of extra days, re-planning hotels & flights and making the best of things. In hindsight, the bad weather forecast for the weekend never actually arrived in Talkeetna, but King Salmon and Kodiak were socked in so we couldn’t get there.

We breakfasted at the hostel and had a nice conversation with Laxmi. Cancelled plans to visit Katmai Park and Kodiak Island (hotels & flights), due to weather. Given the unpredictable weather, we decided to head back early and made arrangements in Whitehorse. This time, we avoided the Westmark and instead arranged to stay at the Takhini hostel which is next to the hot pools. I walked into town for the zip-lining trip I signed up for the prior day. That was well-organized with interesting & fun folks in my group.

Dave and I lunched at the Bistro, which had a nice healthy dish of brown rice with veggies, and fresh draft beer. The people who run this place also own Sun Dog Kennel, which we visited a couple of days later. Bernd liked the Thai place and we met him there.

Dave and I walked to the river again, then back to town and met Bernd at the coffee place where Charlotte works. We bought fresh sourdough rye bread and farm eggs at the farmer’s market, then walked to the park to enjoy the free live music. We returned to the house and met Jin, a doctor visiting from Southern California.

The next day (Sat) we had a breakfast of fresh sourdough rye and eggs. Did some laundry then walked to the bike shop. It was way too expensive, like they were catering to cruise ship visitors. We googled bike rentals and found David, a former fireman who runs a trailer park S of town and rents good bicycles a lot cheaper. Recommended!

We rode to this place called Huskytown Kennel, about 6 miles S of town. We saw a flyer for it at the house. Turns out that kennel no longer exists. At least we got a good bike ride in on a nice day. On the way back to town, we stopped at the Squirrel Cafe for a fresh tasty light lunch.

Charlotte & Liz recommended the local Sun Dog Kennel, so we went to lunch at the Bistro again and while there, planned to visit the kennel the next day.

Dave and I walked to the river and around the N, toward the railroad bridge, then E and back to the hostel the back way.

When we got to the house we met ‘Sandro and Jin, and new guests Lance and Jack. Lance was a former photographer who had lost his sight a couple of years ago. Even so, he was hiking Alaska with Jack. They were great folks and we spent an enjoyable evening getting to know them.

This is Day 5 of a 14 day trip from Seattle to Alaska and back. Click here for the prior and next entries.

Today was Thursday. Over breakfast at the hostel, we checked the weather; clouds and rain were forecast Fri-Sun. On Sat, we wouldn’t be able to fly to King Salmon to visit Katmai Park and Brooks Camp as we planned. Time for a change in plans.

We called the hotel (Antlers Inn) and Float Plane to Katmai Park from King Salmon. Ideal would be push 2 days to Mon and visit Katmai Park on Tue. But the float plane was full all day Tue, couldn’t take us to the park until Wed. So we pushed it 3 days out, to depart Talkeetna on Tue.

The day was clear, but for a scattered to broken layer at 7,500′ obscuring Mt. Denali. We walked to the airport and took off for a 2 hour tour around Mt. Denali. This turned out to be the most scenic flight I’ve ever done. As we flew NW toward the E side of Denali, the moment we popped up through the cloud layer the peaks of the entire range came into view.

Denali and the range it dominates is so huge the scale throws off one’s sense of distance. Check the photo album for all the pictures, but they cannot do justice to the awe it inspires. This was the most incredible 2 hours I have spent in my airplane, well worth the entire trip.

We flew toward the E side of the Denali range, turned L and approached Denali, flying high (12,000′) and slow. We made a big slow circle, then continued W close to the mountain. It was dead calm and clear; winds at 12,000′ were only 3 kts. In our final pass heading W, we turned S to follow the Kahiltna Glacier out.

Flight time: H 74.9 – 76.8 = 1.9 hrs

Flight tracks:
https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20255/patk-to-33ak
https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20256/33ak-to-patk

During this flight, the Alaska Aviator Handbook came in handy, showing frequencies, reporting points and routes to minimize potential traffic.

When we returned to Talkeetna, we fueled up again at Sheldon’s and they gave us a tie-down spot on the asphalt right next to the fuel pumps. We burned 14 gallons in 1.9 hours, for 7.37 gph.

We walked to town for lunch at the Denali pub. Walked to the river, met some ladies from Oregon. On the way back I signed up to go zip-lining the next day.

At the hostel that evening, we met Danny and Laxmi, the other guests sharing the house.

This is Day 4 of a 14 day trip from Seattle to Alaska and back. Click here for the prior and next entries.

Whitehorse to Northway

We breakfasted at the Whitehorse Starbucks, which is pretty nice even though they didn’t have smoothies; it’s hard to find good coffee in Whitehorse. We checked out of the hotel, loaded the plane and departed Whitehorse at 11:00am for the 2.5 hour flight to Northway Alaska.

Note: I filed an international flight plan with Nav Canada. But I did not have or need a discrete squawk code. Normally, one would to cross an international border. But the AK-YT border is unique and does not require a discrete squawk code (it still requires EAPIS, Customs notification, a flight plan, and the usual documentation).

This is an incredibly scenic flight with mountains, Kluane Lake, some old abandoned airports, then exiting NW out of the mountains into the low lying grassy plains toward Beaver Creek (the Canadian airport just a few miles from the border), then Northway, which is in the middle of a big, flat wetland.

At one point we saw a tall, straight funnel or column sticking straight up from the river. What was that? Maybe it was a geothermal spot creating a column of steam. I don’t know!

Northway is the point of entry with Customs. We landed spot-on-time to our estimated 12:30 local time (2.5 hours, minus 1 hour since Alaska in summer is GMT-8, 1 hour behind Yukon which is GMT-7). First Alaska landing — check the box! The customs officer met us as soon as we taxied to a stop. He walked around the airplane with some kind of hand-held scanner. Then we de-boarded and declared our shotgun. He checked our passports and we had a brief conversation about living in CA, WA and AK. Then we were on our way.

Northway airport has no fuel. So after landing, we flew for 15-20 minutes up to Tok (pronounced: “Toke” – the “o” is long) to refuel. But before departing Northway we walked into the RCO and met Trek, who was manning the station. He had answered our radio calls as we approached Northway. Trek gave me the latest weather and flight briefing with some local flying advice and friendly conversation. He also told us that our flying acquaintance Paul had passed through just 20 minutes earlier. Then we departed for Tok to refuel.

Flight time: H 69.1 – 71.7 = 2.6 hours
Flight track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20258/cez5-to-paor

Northway to Tok

Tok is a very small town with a full-service FBO, only 15-20 minutes flying from Northway.

They have a well-equipped aircraft maintenance shop and have computers and weather info. We refueled, used their computer room and phone to get a flight briefing and check the weather to Talkeetna. The pass between Tok and Gulkana looked OK, but the corridor between Gulkana and Anchorage looked marginal especially near Chickaloon pass and Sheep Mountain. We waited a while and checked the weather cams again. The trend was improving, so we took off. Worst case, we’d turn around and land at Gulkana or one of the several closer airports along our route.

Flight time: H 71.7 – 72.1 = 0.4 hours
Flight track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20259/paor-to-pfto

Tok to Talkeetna

We departed Tok flying through Mentasta pass, then SW over Gulkana, then entered the narrow pass toward Anchorage.

All the while, monitoring and announcing on the RCO frequencies from the Alaska Aviator Handbook.  The Tahneta RCO said Chickaloon pass was IFR, but that was outdated and incorrect. After they said that, Paul chimed in on the radio, heading to Wasilla, and said he was flying it, and it was VFR.

It was indeed VFR, though MFR in a few spots. But the pass follows the river & the road, so you can’t get lost. We saw some incredible scenery.

Flight time: H 72.1 – 74.9 = 2.8 hours
Flight track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20260/pfto-to-patk

Total flying for the day: 5.8 hours.

We fueled up at Sheldon’s, then took a tie-down spot on the gravel. Dave from Sheldon’s drove up in a van to take us to the Talkeetna Hostel, where we were staying.

We recommend this hostel. Liz and Charlotte, who run it, were flexible and accommodated our plans which were made unpredictable by weather. Also, the house is a clean, warm, environment and we met different interesting young travelers every day.

We walked into town, bought some groceries, had a beer at one of the bars, and headed back. That evening we met fellow guests Kevin, Fred, Erin and Laura and had fun and interesting conversations.

This is Day 1 of a 14 day trip from Seattle to Alaska and back. Click here for the prior and next entries.

Preparation

The Trench route is the quickest and quite scenic, and we had been tracking weather for the past 2 weeks. Our target date was July 8. We were ready to delay the entire trip if necessary, but it wasn’t: things looked good all the way from Seattle to Whitehorse. I filed the EAPIS, international flight plan from KBFI to CYXX, and called Canadian customs the prior night. We got to the airport at 6:30am for a planned 7:15 departure. We loaded the plane, weighing each item and distributing to maintain CG within limits. With the 3 of us, all our gear, and full fuel, our total weight was about 2,460 # which is 90 below GW. CG was around 46.8″, which is toward the rear end of the range, which means slightly better cruise efficiency.

Seattle to Abbotsford

We took off at 7:15 as planned. I requested flight following and was transferred to Seattle approach. I asked if they could activate my flight plan; he replied negative. I asked if he had the local RCO frequency handy, he said negative. So I switched to 122.2 for flight service. The controller activated my flight plan and gave me a discrete squawk code. When I switched back to Seattle approach, the controller said he couldn’t service me because I changed my squawk code. Since I was on an active flight plan and had my squawk code, I didn’t need to talk to him anymore so I cancelled service. Incidentally, that Seattle approach controller was the worst service I have received in the air in nearly 1,000 hours of flying, so I can’t complain too much.

50 minutes after takeoff we were over the Whatcom HUH VOR. Abbotsford was 10 miles away so I called them up (I already had their ATIS). They gave me L base for runway 25.

Days earlier, I had called the FBO on the W side of the field, which has self-service avgas pumps. They said I could land there and Customs would come out to meet me. But the controller said to taxi to the Shell FBO on the E side of the field, because that’s where Customs usually meets people. So that’s what I did. We were spot-on-time to our estimated arrival of 8:20am.

Flight time: H 59.7 – 60.8: 1.1 hours

Here are our flight tracks for this leg. Some get split due to Naviator (the app I was using) crashing during flight, and restarting.

https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20214/kbfi-to-wn73
https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20215/kbli-to-cyxx

Abbotsford Customs

I called customs and had a 15 minute wait before getting a person. He was just about to clear us over the phone, when I declared that we had a shotgun with us, and the accompanying Candian paperwork RCMP form 5589. He put me on hold for about 10 minutes. Normally, they have an agent meet you in person to process this, but apparently there was some kind of screw-up and despite my 2-day advance notice with this declaration, they didn’t have an agent at the airport. When the customs agent returned to the phone, he said he’d process the form over the phone by us manually reading off the fields to him. All in all, clearing customs was a 50 minute phone call.

Next, we walked to the FBO to fuel up the airplane. I could make it to Williams Lake without extra fuel, but I had not flown the route before and wanted to be extra cautious about fuel. After that, I called Nav Canada to file the flight plan from Abbotsford to Williams Lake, fetched latest ATIS, contacted ground, then tower, then took off for Williams Lake.

Abbotsford to Williams Lake

We headed NE toward Harrison Lake, over the Northern Rockies to the Fraser River Valley, keeping below Vancouver’s “C” shelf at 6,500′ until we got far enough NE. The clear weather allowed us to fly high and cut the corner, not having to fly E to Hope then N. It was a beautiful flight. Then we followed the river N to Williams Lake.

Flight Time: H 60.8 – 61.9: 1.1 hours

Flight Track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20216/cyxx-to-cywl

Williams Lake is not a towered airport, so as we approached I made US-style radio calls on their frequency. On my first call about 8 miles out, Williams Lake responded giving the airport wind and barometer setting, asking which runway I would use. This was my introduction to how Canada is a little different from the US. Their untowered class E fields usually have an active RCO with mandatory radio comms. It all went smoothly because they’re not that much different from the US. A commercial flight landed after we did, so we did our best to stay out of their way at the self-serve pumps as they were de-boarding passengers.

Next, I called Nav Canada to check weather up the trench. Prince George makes a good transition point between the trench and Al-Can routes. With good weather, we’d go to Mackenzie and up the trench to Watson Lake. Otherwise, we’d divert NE and cross the mountains to Ft. St. John, then along the Al-Can highway to Ft. Nelson. That is a longer route, but sometimes has good weather when the trench is socked in. Weather was good up the trench, so that was our plan.

Williams Lake to Mackenzie

This was a short leg and I ran it at high power (2600 RPM, 120 kts TAS). We flew right over the Prince George VOR, which is atop a hill just E of their towered airspace. Then N to Mackenzie, which has no nearby VORs or ADFs, so you need to find it the old-fashioned way, with the Mark VII eyeball using landmarks and paper charts. It’s about 8 miles up from the S end of the big lake, on the E side.

Flight time: H 61.9 – 63.5: 1.6 hours

Flight Track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20217/ca-0477-to-cyzy

At Mackenzie we called the fuel phone number from the CFS because nobody was there. The same lady I spoke with a week earlier answered and remembered me calling. She drove out to the airport, helped us refuel, offered us (free!) ice cream cones and cookies, and local advice with very detailed charts of the trench on her wall.

I had noticed the plane was just a bit tail-low on short final during landing, so I readjusted our load, swapping a heavier backpack forward into the rear seat to bring the CG forward just a touch. And I moved the tent under the right side passenger seat, which not only brought the CG forward a touch, but also cleared a little more space in the airplane. We kept this loading for the rest of the trip.

This (Mackenzie to Watson Lake) would be the longest single leg of the trip: 346 nm. It’s well within my range, but I’d fly it a bit slower for better efficiency: around 2400 RPM which is about 10% more efficient than high speed 2600 RPM cruise.

 Mackenzie to Watson Lake

This leg goes N up the trench. It starts with a long, narrow lake (actually, the Williston Reservoir) lying in a gorge that runs perfectly straight for about 1,000 miles. The lake runs for about 160 nm, with Tsay Keh Dene at the N end. This marks roughly the half-way point of the leg; from there, it’s about 180nm straight to Watson Lake.

We found this leg incredibly scenic, and remote, though we saw numerous private dirt runways along both shores of the lake. If the engine stopped chugging, any of them would make a good safe landing spot. We also saw several lakes with amazing shades of turquoise, looking like Caribbean reefs.

Finally, we emerged out of the mountains into the flatlands getting closer to Watson Lake. Here we encountered light turbulence and 10 kt headwinds.

Finally, we landed at Watson Lake. Flight time: H 63.5 – 66.9 = 3.4 hours. It took 26.5 gals to fill up, so we had 13.5 remaining and were burning 7.8 gph. Fueling at Watson Lake is a little different. First, go to the terminal to get “the card”. Take the card to the pump terminal and activate it, then fuel up. Then, go back to the pump terminal and print the receipt. Then, take the card & receipt to the terminal to pay for your gas.

Flight Track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20218/cyzy-to-cej9

At Watson Lake we met a fellow pilot named Paul flying a 1948 Aeronca. He was also en route to Whitehorse, but planned to camp at Watson Lake for the night. Flying a 172, one doesn’t often meet people who fly lower or slower, but the Aeronca is one of them. As we prepared to depart, Paul changed his mind and followed us west toward Whitehorse. This far north (above 60* latitude) in July, we’d have light until past midnight.

Watson Lake to Whitehorse

We departed into the wind to the W and followed the 261* radial of the Watson Lake VOR, which goes straight to Whitehorse. About 15 minutes after we took off, we heard Paul on the radio behind us. On this route, 8,500′ MSL is sufficient to clear terrain and fly straight, which saves you 30 minutes or more over following the twists and turns of the Al-Can highway, which you might have to do with low cloud ceilings. We had 10-15 kt headwinds but only scattered clouds and were in no rush. Perfect conditions, daylight and amazing scenery the entire way.

We flew direct to the Whitehorse VOR. Their ATIS reported winds 22 gusting 35 from 200 to 220. About 8 miles E of the VOR I called the tower. They gave me a L base to runway 19, which is only 1,800′ long. With that stiff headwind, this would be plenty! Whitehorse airport is on a big elevated plain, running N-S, west of town. As you approach from the E side to land on runway 19, with wind from the SW, one expects a down-draft as the wind follows the terrain drop-off. And that is what we got. Landing was a cinch. Came in at 60 kts on short final, pushed in some power for the down-draft, then back to idle over the numbers. We had a smooth landing using only half the runway.

Flight time: H 66.9 – 69.1 = 2.2 hours. We fueled up and it took 16.1 gallons to full, which is 7.3 gph. Total flight time for the day: 9.4 hours. Surprisingly, I still felt fresh while landing. I didn’t feel any fatigue until after we hit the town.

Flight Track: https://hangar.naviatorapp.com/20219/cyqh-to-cyxy

Our tie-downs were too short to reach the runway hard points, which were widely spaced. And in a windy place like Whitehorse, tie-down is a must. We walked over to the fire department and they gave us some extra rope. We tied them into large loops which we used as extenders. While we were finishing all this, we saw Paul land in his Aeronca, about 1 hour after we landed. We grabbed a taxi to the Westmark Hotel, walked to the Big Bear Donair (the only place still open) for a tasty midnight dinner of falafels and draft beer, then walked back and hit the sack. Over 9 hours of incredible flying through some of the most scenic country in the world made this one of the best days of my life.

Click here for the Introduction.

Click here for Days 2-3.