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Floats to Alaska 2016

Thanks for getting back on the horse and carrying on with the dream Bill !
 
Bill
I missed you at the Aero ramp in Juneau, I was there when UPS came in with a package for you. Sounds like your having a great time traveling around as we are too.
Doug
 
Doug - sorry I missed you. Sounds like you have had a great trip so far.

Wayne - Thank you

Folks- I left the Cub in a hangar in Juneau. I'm headed home to work for a couple of weeks. I will return to AK in July for more adventuring. I'll try to do an update as soon as I'm back in a wi-fi location.

Thank you for your interest

Bill
 
Bill,

I sure hope your crew mate(s) like to hear stories because you've got 'em after this trip, WOW!!!


Fly safe,

Kirby
 
Folks


After going into Juneau to take care of business I launched out to go to a cabin on Baranof Island near Sitka. The weather was not too bad, got a special VFR out of Juneau then down Chatham Strait and tried to get into Lake Eva Cabin. It was completely socked in, in that inlet. Another 180 and back into the channel where the weather was probably close to 2000 over and 20 plus miles vis (when not in a rain shower), so the next idea is to go around the Northern part of the Island Via Peril Strait, and into Sitka, visit George Campbell (AKTango - the guy in the Kilt) then into another cabin. As I got further Northeast and closer to the ocean the weather kept dropping. When it got to about 300 and 1 that is about my limit so I did yet another 180, back out to Chatham Strait where the wx is pretty good, evaluated all my options and decided to divert to Petersburg about an hour away. Things are not like the lower 48. In this case that was the nearest fuel divert. Total flight time would be just over 3 hours. I got into Petersburg just fine, but the call out fueler had a death in the family so I had no fuel without trying to beg from local operators. No big deal. The weather was not all that great and a hotel seemed like a nice break. I'm on vacation. Who cares what the plan is?

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Downtown Petersburg. Neat place. I like this town. Not too far a walk from the airport. Has everything you need when passing through a town. Sporting goods to get fishing equip, camping stuff etc, grocery store, laundry, hotel if needed, etc


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Scandia House Hotel, where I stayed, is right in the center of the picture.


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Monday morning things are back to normal, I got fuel (prayers to the family of the fueler) and Mike Woodson said I should fly up and see the Le Conte Bay and Glacier. This is it. Stunning.


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This is looking down from the Glacier into a river of ice bergs. There are a lot of places in the SE where you pray the engine does not fail. If it does things are going to get very exciting very quickly. But with great risk comes great reward. You will never see these sights sitting safely on your couch.


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After a little exploring I ended up at the Kah Sheets (pronounced as one word Kasheets) cabin. A nice dock and a nice cabin. Lots of windows make it bright inside.



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Kah Sheets Cabin



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This cabin has a little loft area. This would be great for kids, they would love it.


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I tried a little fishing, got skunked so decided to "take a hike". There is a nice boardwalk trail all the way to the coast. By the time you go to the falls and back to the main trail you are looking at a little over 3 miles each way. "Hack it or die soldier, no whining"
Most of the trip I have not felt the need for bear protection; however, when flying into this cabin I kept thinking "this is bear territory" so I took my bear spray. (12 gauge, Remington) also my survival vest and backpack with rain gear , camera etc.




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The upper and lower waterfalls were spectacular. Upper Falls here. I think it is so cool to get to these places and not be standing in a crowd, with a fence, a gift shop, a viewing platform etc. Here, if you want to take a bath in the falls you can. No people, no crowds......just you, and the Lord, and all the wonder of his awesome creation.
This is my church where I worship him.


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So I hiked to the Kah Sheets Bay Cabin. It is right here. What a setting. Reminds me of the movie "A River Runs Through It"
Makes you want to own a fly rod.


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The view looking out towards the Bay.

So that is/was the Kah Sheets Cabin area.
More to follow in a bit.


Thanks for your interest

Bill​
 
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Folks

After a great night sleep, (after a six mile hike........) I got up to a blue sky day and decided to try again to get to Sitka to see George. Figured I would stay a night with him and visit.



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A little morning fog at the Kah Sheets Cabin dock. I love the docks but sometimes they detract from the wilderness setting. Compare this photo with the one a few pictures later in this post.


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Hero shot. Gotta throw a few of these in here so you guys will believe I am really here and doing this stuff. Really.......its the truth.....that fish was this big...........



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So , on the way to Sitka to see George, I stopped in to the Lake Eva Cabin (that I got weathered out of a day or two ago). Nice cabin with a lot of nice features but look at that gangplank. Looks like it was designed for a 300 Ton cruise ship. LOL


After visiting Lake Eva Cabin, I went through Gut Bay where it "sorta" joins up with Whale Bay to get to the West side of Baranof Island. This is a low route through across the island. You only need a 1500' ceiling. But that is pretty rare in this part of the world. Especially in the Sitka area where the weather comes in off the sea and just lays up against the Mountains on Baranof Island.

Here is a short video of going through Gut Bay. I learned how to add captions. This stuff takes a lot of work.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-A2igIAk-A&feature=em-upload_owner

I had a really nice lunch with George. He is truly one of the nicest people you will ever meet. 10 seconds after you meet George you are his friend and he would literally do anything for you. I did a load of laundry at his place while he flew a charter. We stopped into the FSS office and got a good weather brief and the weather looked like it might be bad the next morning so once again the plan had to be adjusted. I elected to hustle out of Sitka while I could. If the weather in the SE is bad, Sitka will be REALLY bad.


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So I bailed out of Sitka and went to a low entry Cabin near Juneau to set up for the following day. This is the setting at Young Lake North Cabin. The next morning I did another hike, to the Young Lake South Cabin just to see it. It is nice but I like the North Cabin better.


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Compare this setting to one with a fancy dock and gangplank. This just rocks my world. Love it.


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The next morning (June 15) I explored a little, checked out three more cabins, then flew into Juneau. I did a little maintenance on the Cub, fueled it up, checked the oil, lubricated everything, and got it ready for the next adventure. I left it safely tucked away in this hangar in Juneau, and I am currently on my way home for a couple of weeks to go back to work. I will return for part 3 of this "Floats to Alaska - 2016" adventure July 6th and it will continue in the SE until around the 16th or 17th, then it will be time to start working my way home. So.......no more updates for a couple of weeks. Look for more around the 8th or 9th of July.

God Bless and thanks for following.

Bill
 
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Guess who I saw in Sitka yesterday?

Bill and his sister were having lunch, and enjoying flying around in the blue sky.

6BR is a beautiful plane! Nicer than most cubs in Alaska, that is for sure.
 
Folks

I am back for part 3 of the adventure.
I returned the night of July 5th, jump seating on the redeye flight with UPS to Anchorage, then took a flight on Alaska to Juneau. My sister, Mona, came up a couple of days earlier and did a little Juneau sightseeing. She went whale watching, hiking, etc. I got in about 0930 on the 6th, met up with Rolin Young (the guy that was kind enough to rent me hangar space - REALLY nice gent) and got the airplane out of the hangar and ready to go again. With Doc Randy's help I got my Garmin 796 up to speed (loaded with too maps etc) and I am back to 100%.


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Mo has flown with me before but not quite like this adventure in Alaska. She just fits right in and I think had a great time.


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So we launched out and went to the Jims Lake Cabin. View here.


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This cabin has been refurbished and is quite nice on the inside.


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This cabin had a nice fire pit and we had a great evening with a fire on the shore of the lake with awesome scenery


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Next day the weather was EXCELLENT so we went to Sitka , saw the town and had lunch with AKTango, George.


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All of the cabins have a boat there and oars, but Johnboats are not really very good rowboats so I got a small outboard. It weighs 30 pounds (one of the lightest) and 4 stroke so no need to mix fuel and it is pretty quiet. I know everyone says a 2 stroke is better but finding one, rebuilding it, etc was just not an option this summer. Too many other things on the plate. It works great and has opened up a lot more opportunities. The lakes are just too big to try to paddle around on.


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One of the things the motor allowed to us to do was go right to the base of the water fall. Really spectacular.



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We had to go to the Baranof Hot Springs - such a neat place


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Mo just gets right into it. Waders and all. LOL


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It was great to share a small part of such an awesome trip with my family. I am indeed "very Blessed"
After staying at the Anan Lake Cabin a night we went to Skagway and had great weather so saw whales, sea lions, etc. Incredible, then back to Turner Lake for a night at the East cabin. I'll post pictures of that when I have time.

In Juneau now dropping Mo off and picking up my next victim, Mark Rusche (MMR). Will do more updates when I have time.

Hope this is worth your time


Bill
 
Glad you're back at it and enjoying the trip! Please keep the updates coming as you have time!
 
Folks

My sister and I flew up to Skagway for a few hours and had a great weather day so on the way back down to Juneau we took the high road on top of the mountains. Unbelievable scenery....


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Might be a little hard to see but there were two mountain lakes, a smaller one on top and a larger one below, connected by a waterfall. Just too cool....

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Glaciers everywhere


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After dropping Mona off to catch her flight home, Mark and I headed to a good fishing spot and Mark caught a couple of nice Cutthroat Trout for dinner. I got skunked....



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Fortunately Mark was kind enough to share. It was EXCELLENT.

Weather today was not as good as forecast so we came into Juneau to check weather and adjust the plan. Heading out to another cabin now.

Thanks for following

Bill
 
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The first night Mark was here we stayed at Turner Lake, fish from above photo. The next morning we hiked to the falls. Pretty place indeed.

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As noted above the weather was pretty low so we went to a cabin with a low elevation entry, which was Jims lake Cabin, that Mo and I stayed at. Mark and I with a fire in front of the cabin.


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After a "maintenance day" in Juneau (we changed the oil, greased the floats, adjusted the timing, etc etc) we flew into the Petersburg Lake Cabin for the night.


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Caught lots of fish but most were not very big. My largest so far has been an 18" Cutthroat.


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Mark went to Traverse City MI and got his float rating before the trip so here he is logging PIC time in Alaska.


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Mark in the sexy waders. I think they looked better on Mona - LOL


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The view from the Swan Lake Cabin
In Petersburg now, heading to the Swan Lake Cabin that we could not get into for weather yesterday. Weather is clear blue fabulous today. This may very well be the best Cabin so far. Stunning scenery and a great Cabin. Highly recommended. I will try for a little video on the next update.

Hope it is worth your time, and thanks for following

Bill
 
Folks

We had a couple of great days at the Swan Lake Cabin. Fun fishing, awesome scenery, and even a nap one afternoon. First so far. Just been too busy to rest.
We are passing through Petersburg now, got out of Swan Lake with pretty low weather. Had to come to town to shower, replace some fishing lures (I lost a couple of my best producers), get supplies, etc and thought I do a quick update while here. Headed down into Misty Fiords this evening and for the next couple of days.

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Mark and I stopped in to check out this cabin. Quite nice, this is the Sportsman Cabin. We did not stay. It is fun to drop in (as long as no one is there - don't want to disturb their tranquility) and look at the cabins. Everyone is different.


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The outboard has been a HUGE plus. I highly recommend you bring one when you come. It has really made a difference in both the fishing and also the sightseeing. Me at the helm


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Captain Mark at the helm on Swan Lake. Note dinner on the floor by his foot. Two nice Dolly Vardens.


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Inside the Swan Lake A frame cabin. It is nice and also has a sleeping loft. The lake is close to 1500" MSL so wx can be an issue. Easy to get trapped here.


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Weather like this, which we had today. We barely squeaked out. Video below shows what it is like on a good day. I will see how the video came out when we left later today.


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Had a great time fishing. Caught Cutthroat, Rainbows and Dollys


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Lots of waterfalls with outflow like this. Scenic and also a haven for trout.


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We boated to the other end of the Lake, then hiked to the falls. Awesome just can't describe this place.


Also Mark and I saw a BUNCH of whales and had an opportunity to see them doing "Bubble net fishing". The whale swims in a small circle and blows bubbles. This traps all the fish in the circle, they then have a food fest. It was a most unusual sight and one I'm sure few folks have the opportunity to see. We did not know what they were doing, just kept seeing them swim in circles and lots of bubbles. We later found a description in a local paper left in a cabin.


Here is a link to a 3 minute video. My best yet if I do say so myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqAer2vj4M


Hope you enjoy

Thanks for your interest and, as always, your support

Bill
 
Bill my hat is off to you! I really enjoy your post and your willingness to share your misfortune as a learning experience for us, ego be damned. You have incredible drive to live your dream! I'm blessed to get to live in a place that people make such an effort to visit and create life long memories, thanks for reminding us 'locals' how lucky we are to be here.
Keep coming up and exploring or just move here and save the travel time.
Best
Joe
 
I believe the De Boer cabin was sponsored (?) or at least named for a family that my father worked with. Sorry to see it has been abandon by the USFS. What happens when you need for air transportation disappears and the outdoor people don't want to pay for planes.

Good to see you kept going to many places. Yes, the weather this am was bad, sort of had my own fun on the outer coast early on.

if you are headed south without coming to Sitka, we will catch up next time around!
 
Jasper field and jprax - thank you for the kind words.
George - I'll see you soon, if not, Lord willing, next summer


Folks

After a great stay at the Swan Lake Cabin, Mark and I went on a Misty Fiords tour. We visited 5 cabins and flew past "The Wall" (a massive wall of granite like Half Dome in Yosemite), flew into and around "Punchbowl" Lake, Big Goat Lake and waterfalls, then into Wilson Lake. Unfortunately I had a GoPro flop so I missed a lot of great video opportunity. Mark got some of it but it will take more time to download and edit so that will have to be a future project.


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View from the Winstanly Cabin. We did not stay here, no one was using it so we stopped in, looked at it, took pictures and left. We visited several cabins in this fashion. It was fun.



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View from the other direction


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This is the view from the boat at the last cabin we stayed at on this adventure. The Humpback Lake Cabin. It is Southeast of Ketchikan and about as far South as you can get and still be in Alaska. We had our best fishing here. We each caught about 20 Cutthroat in about an hour. Lots of fun.


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The last "Shore Lunch" of the trip. Sigh......sure going to miss that.......


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Last campfire of the trip. Sigh......sure going to miss that too......


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Yesterday we left Alaska (sure going to miss Alaska - already do ) and flew down the Coast, customs in Prince Rupert, fuel in Bella Bella, then up the river to Bella Coola (shown here) and into Nimpo Lake.


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Our Cabin at Stewarts Lodge on Nimpo Lake. We had a great visit today with Logan (Nimpo Cub on the site here)


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View from our Cabin across the lake, with my Cub on the dock


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Today we flew over to Turner Lake and went to see the Hunlen Falls, one of the tallest water falls in North America. It was fantastic. No people, no viewing platform, go where you want. Wonderful. I will try to get some video edited on this


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It was a long way straight down.



Can't seem to get my video to upload. Will try later.

It is later and I managed to get it uploaded

90 second video of flight down the BC coast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCjtTjItjVo

Hope this is worth your time


Bill
 
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Folks

Today we started our journey home.


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Morning sight out the Cabin window at Nimpo Lake


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No visit to Nimpo Lake BC would be complete without a visit with our very own SC.org NimpoCub. We had a great visit with Logan. Great guy, I highly recommend you go see him and Nimpo Lake. Very neat place. Floatplane Heaven.


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Picture of my Cub in distance at Turner Lake where Hunlen Waterfall is located


Folks - here is a video of Hunlen Falls and also the flight through the mountains and down the BC coast. We left Nimpo Lake and flew through the mountains following the Mosley Creek, to the Homathko River to where it empties into Bute Bay, then went to Campbell River for fuel. That is a good stop. Food and fuel in one place. Nice airport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4iLArjgGHI&feature=em-upload_owner


Hope you enjoy

Bill
 
Ditto on the "I would never do that" to your photo, Bill. My stomach is queezy just looking at it!

Randy
 
Folks


After a great visit with Christian Sturm (Buggs66) in Spokane, we departed early to get over the mountains while the temps were cool and the air smooth.
First stop was Helena Montana.

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Low clouds in some of the valleys made the mountain crossing interesting, and quite pretty


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Nice weather on top

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First stop was Helena MT. This was good. They had a shower, bunk room you could stay in overnight, nice FBO office, with microwave, coffee pot, range, refrig, and a courtesy car. This made for a good stop.


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Office in Helena


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Self serve gas pump in Helena


After another stop or two along the way we started to see Thunder Storms ahead and decided to call it a day in Baker, MT. Got to visit with Roger Meggers and son, Darin. Great folks and an awesome restoration of SC serial #1
They took great care of us. Airplane in a hangar just in case storms roll in, courtesy car, found us a good, cheap hotel and a great dinner. Folks - Baker and Roger Meggers is a must stop for Supercub.org folks!!

Maybe home tomorrow, wx permitting.

Lord willing I will see you at NH on Wednesday

Bill
 
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Bill,

You have further contributed to my case of Cub insanity. I am going to Brown's in Aug for my Sea rating in a J3. Should be cool!

P.S. Do you have a real job?
 
Eddie

Congrats. Floats are a ton of fun and let you go where others only dream of.

No, I don't have a real job, I have a GREAT job!!! I have been Blessed.

Have fun, Browns is great, and FL is a good state for floats.

Bill
 
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