Don and Ed?s Alaska
Adventure
Im certainly not a writer by comparison to the others on this
page, but here goes.
Finally after 9 months of planning and anticipation its August
19th we?re loading the last of our gear in the Explorer
(Homebuilt Bushmaster). Of course we are bringing along
everything we own relating to hunting and fishing. Ed 250#,
Fuel 288#, Me 275# and the entire backseat and baggage area
loaded to the ceiling estimated at 450#, comes in as a load of
1263# oh, and the oil in the engine. Really had no place inside
to carry anything else. Latter found Ed had 50# of sinkers. Heck
we are only 175# over gross, thats not bad!
My buddy Ed who is along on this trip is a friend with which I?ve
shared may hunting, white water rafting and fishing trips over
the last 20 years. Ed has a RV-6 he finished in 1992 and is an
experienced and accomplished pilot. You would think that since
I?m a 275 pounder I would have lighter friends. Not so.
Off we go headed for Penticton British Columbia our first stop on
our fishing and hunting trip to Alaska. Our plan for the day
was customs and fuel stop at Penticton, fuel stop at Mackenzie
and end the first day at Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory.
Right off we had trouble reaching flight Service to open our
flight plan on my trusty Com 11B. Hummm, is this going to be a
problem for the entire trip?
Weather was great all the way from Eastern Oregon to Penticton
and made it there in about 4 hours flying. Had trouble reaching
the airport flight advisory but airport is uncontrolled so not a
problem. Just called Canadian customs on the phone and they gave
us an authorization number. Rules have changed since 2000 and I
understand since we were carrying guns a custom agent would have
to meet as at the first stop to collect some fees.
We fueled the Explorer, ourselves, filed a flight plan to
Mackenzie and off we went again. Some scattered thunderstorm
activity on the route to Mackenzie and had to divert around some
of the worst of these. Raining in Mackenzie when we arrive but
no problem landing except that the Explorer is harder to do nice
landing when loaded that heavy in the rear. Not pretty but we
made it. Weather is worse to the North in the ?TRENCH? so we
hung around the FBO for a while. One of the local charter pilots
was planning a trip up to the South end of Williston lake and
said he would radio back a pilot report if he made it that far.
About 30 minutes after he departed he called back and said he
broke out of the worst of the weather just South of Williston
lake and it looked pretty good North as far as he could see.
We filed, jumped in and departed. Weather was just like he
reported improving as we flew Northward. It?s about 450 miles
through the Trench from Mackenzie to Watson Lake. There are
several airstrips along the route and some gravel bars on the
bigger rivers on which a safe landing could be made, especially
in a cub type airplane. Beautiful flight, especially North of
Williston lake, which the route follows for about 100 miles.
There were a few thunder showers along the way but nothing
serious and we made it to Watson Lake no problem. Seemed like we
had to be within 4 miles of the airport to reach them on the
radio. What a pain. Could be a real pain in case of an
emergency.
Day one was complete and we made it to the Yukon the first day.
In June or July you could keep flying because it doesn?t get dark
in those months, but by end of August darkness settles in even
though the days are still quite long. Guess guys with faith
could fly in the dark, but with marginal weather, mountains in
the clouds, and few lights on the ground, Ed and I decided to
pass.
Watson lake is a nice place to stay over. There is a great
airplane camping area on the West side of the airport. The Loons
were really singing on the lake, which is something I haven?t
heard a lot. Reminded us of ?On Golden Pond?. There were some
mesquitos (them bugs with beeks) so we pitched one of our tents
under a shelter that was there, brewed up some Mountain House for
dinner and settled in for a nice evening. A few light showers
during the night.
Day 2:
A few scattered showers around the next morning at Watson Lake.
Ed and I got fuel and a weather briefing and was told that if we
could see a particular mountain top, that VFR should be possible
to Whitehorse. Ed?s turn to fly today. We took off in light
rain. Weather decent until Telison Lake. Ceiling lowered and a
lot of scud with heaver rain. Slow flying along at about 300 ft.
Always looking for escape routes and places to land. Followed
along the highway except for the portions which were in the
clouds. Real marginal all the way to Whitehorse, which made it
worse knowing we had some radio problems.. Figured we could land
at one of the small strips in the Whitehorse area if it was IFR
or we couldn?t reach the tower. Only flew into IMC conditions
once and made a 180 to the left just about 10 miles east of
Whitehorse. Instrument ratings are nice even if you only have a
turn and bank. If you are going to scud run, you had better
expect to have the world disappear occasionally and had better
plan on a direction and altitude to escape.
White Horse tower answered on the first call and the weather
improved dramatically in the area of the airport. Pilots lounge
was full of pilots going both ways waiting for the weather to
improve. A couple of young fellas there in a J-3 heading back to
Anchorage from Oskosh. Said they had flown 50 hours just to
Whitehorse. Wow, we were there in about 12 hours flying time.
Weather improved to the West and we departed for Northway,
Alaska. Pretty good weather until Beaver Creek right on the
border. We land their to check on the weather and its raining
pretty good with low ceilings.. A local 185 driver there, was
going to Northway and thought we could make it ok. We took off
behind him. Pretty crappy all the way to Northway and when we
get near, the airport was reporting IFR conditions. Need to go
through customs which really limits your choices.. Brush up on
your special VFR procedures or you might get into trouble like I
did. It had be 11 years since I had requested a special VFR and
I didn?t exactly follow the right procedure. They were not too
mean to me but that is another story. The short of it is I still
have a pilots licence. I got in trouble and ED was doing the
flying. Having a crappy radio was part of the problem. Made it
on the ground and through customs just fine.
Next stop was Glennallen, Alaska where a gal I know lived with
her husband and first born. We requested and received a special
VFR clearance out of Northway, flew the highway to Tok Junction
and made a left. Weather wasn?t a factor from there to Gulkana
airport where Heidi was to pick us up. About 6 hours of flying
this day, but the weather made it seem like much more.
Spent the night at Glennallen on Heidi and Erich?s living room
floor. Rained most all night.
Ed and I were not planning on meeting our friend Jim who lives in
Kenai until Tuesday afternoon. We got up Monday morning
wondering what we were going to do. Weather reported not good to
the Anchorage area but pretty good to Valdez. Heck, Erich said
the fishing was good in Valdez so we flew there for a days
fishing. The flight started off Ok and then ended up flying
between layers of clouds for a while. Things improved on the way
and had a beautiful smooth flight through Thompson Pass to
Valdez. Got our first good look at glaciers and mountain on this
trip. Ed commented that he had not seen an Alaska Mountain
before this day. They had always been in the clouds the days
before. We rented a car , went to town , bought Alaska Fishing
licences and some junk food.
Drove around the Bay to Allison Point, which is just East of the
Pipeline Terminal. We just fished from the shore casting lures
into the Bay. Others there fishing were catching some nice fish.
We hooked acouple on nice Coho (silver) salmon but they broke us
off. Had to buy some new heaver line.
Flew back to Erich and Heidi?s that evening and had a great
flight. Was some thunder storm activity when we left Valdez but
other than some light showers it was real nice flying. It is
about a one hour flight.
Another night at Glennallen. Tuesday morning dawned all rainy
and foggy. Spent the morning at the airport, along with several
others, waiting for better weather. Met some nice people and got
some good information about places to hunt and fish. About noon
it got better and we took off for Kenai. Jim has a hanger at a
private strip there and using his instructions had no trouble
finding his strip.
Spent the night there with Jim and his wife at their beautiful
home on a private lake. Some float planes on the lake. Had
moose for dinner that night and told lots of lies.
Wednesday; Ed and I went to town, purchased hunting licences and
tags, and a few groceries. That afternoon we followed our friend
west across the Cook Inlet where he showed use some rivers by
which we could land and fish. He just happened to have a cabin
over there which he offered to let as use as home base for our
Alaska adventure. We landed in 2 ft. grass next to his cabin and
he showed us the ropes.
Later Jim left in his cub and Ed and I were alone. Well time to
go fishing. One of the rivers he showed us was only a few miles
away so we flew over there to fish. Landed next to the river in
a swap but could see others had landed there before.
I have Goodyear 26" tires on the Explorer and they proved to be a
good tire. Not a Bushwheel or Airstreak, but a good compromise
at an affordable price. They don?t seam to effect the speed of
the Explorer much because I can?t tell a difference than with
8.50's.
We fished for a while with no one else around to show us how .
Finally we figured it out, after while had our limit of silvers
and headed back to the cabin. On the way back we flew around and
had no problem spotting moose and those Biggggg Bears. Found
bears to pretty much be everywhere. Makes you kinda keep your
nose open.
If you what to hear the next two weeks of stories about flying,
fishing and hunting Alaska let me know.
Don D
Adventure
Im certainly not a writer by comparison to the others on this
page, but here goes.
Finally after 9 months of planning and anticipation its August
19th we?re loading the last of our gear in the Explorer
(Homebuilt Bushmaster). Of course we are bringing along
everything we own relating to hunting and fishing. Ed 250#,
Fuel 288#, Me 275# and the entire backseat and baggage area
loaded to the ceiling estimated at 450#, comes in as a load of
1263# oh, and the oil in the engine. Really had no place inside
to carry anything else. Latter found Ed had 50# of sinkers. Heck
we are only 175# over gross, thats not bad!
My buddy Ed who is along on this trip is a friend with which I?ve
shared may hunting, white water rafting and fishing trips over
the last 20 years. Ed has a RV-6 he finished in 1992 and is an
experienced and accomplished pilot. You would think that since
I?m a 275 pounder I would have lighter friends. Not so.
Off we go headed for Penticton British Columbia our first stop on
our fishing and hunting trip to Alaska. Our plan for the day
was customs and fuel stop at Penticton, fuel stop at Mackenzie
and end the first day at Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory.
Right off we had trouble reaching flight Service to open our
flight plan on my trusty Com 11B. Hummm, is this going to be a
problem for the entire trip?
Weather was great all the way from Eastern Oregon to Penticton
and made it there in about 4 hours flying. Had trouble reaching
the airport flight advisory but airport is uncontrolled so not a
problem. Just called Canadian customs on the phone and they gave
us an authorization number. Rules have changed since 2000 and I
understand since we were carrying guns a custom agent would have
to meet as at the first stop to collect some fees.
We fueled the Explorer, ourselves, filed a flight plan to
Mackenzie and off we went again. Some scattered thunderstorm
activity on the route to Mackenzie and had to divert around some
of the worst of these. Raining in Mackenzie when we arrive but
no problem landing except that the Explorer is harder to do nice
landing when loaded that heavy in the rear. Not pretty but we
made it. Weather is worse to the North in the ?TRENCH? so we
hung around the FBO for a while. One of the local charter pilots
was planning a trip up to the South end of Williston lake and
said he would radio back a pilot report if he made it that far.
About 30 minutes after he departed he called back and said he
broke out of the worst of the weather just South of Williston
lake and it looked pretty good North as far as he could see.
We filed, jumped in and departed. Weather was just like he
reported improving as we flew Northward. It?s about 450 miles
through the Trench from Mackenzie to Watson Lake. There are
several airstrips along the route and some gravel bars on the
bigger rivers on which a safe landing could be made, especially
in a cub type airplane. Beautiful flight, especially North of
Williston lake, which the route follows for about 100 miles.
There were a few thunder showers along the way but nothing
serious and we made it to Watson Lake no problem. Seemed like we
had to be within 4 miles of the airport to reach them on the
radio. What a pain. Could be a real pain in case of an
emergency.
Day one was complete and we made it to the Yukon the first day.
In June or July you could keep flying because it doesn?t get dark
in those months, but by end of August darkness settles in even
though the days are still quite long. Guess guys with faith
could fly in the dark, but with marginal weather, mountains in
the clouds, and few lights on the ground, Ed and I decided to
pass.
Watson lake is a nice place to stay over. There is a great
airplane camping area on the West side of the airport. The Loons
were really singing on the lake, which is something I haven?t
heard a lot. Reminded us of ?On Golden Pond?. There were some
mesquitos (them bugs with beeks) so we pitched one of our tents
under a shelter that was there, brewed up some Mountain House for
dinner and settled in for a nice evening. A few light showers
during the night.
Day 2:
A few scattered showers around the next morning at Watson Lake.
Ed and I got fuel and a weather briefing and was told that if we
could see a particular mountain top, that VFR should be possible
to Whitehorse. Ed?s turn to fly today. We took off in light
rain. Weather decent until Telison Lake. Ceiling lowered and a
lot of scud with heaver rain. Slow flying along at about 300 ft.
Always looking for escape routes and places to land. Followed
along the highway except for the portions which were in the
clouds. Real marginal all the way to Whitehorse, which made it
worse knowing we had some radio problems.. Figured we could land
at one of the small strips in the Whitehorse area if it was IFR
or we couldn?t reach the tower. Only flew into IMC conditions
once and made a 180 to the left just about 10 miles east of
Whitehorse. Instrument ratings are nice even if you only have a
turn and bank. If you are going to scud run, you had better
expect to have the world disappear occasionally and had better
plan on a direction and altitude to escape.
White Horse tower answered on the first call and the weather
improved dramatically in the area of the airport. Pilots lounge
was full of pilots going both ways waiting for the weather to
improve. A couple of young fellas there in a J-3 heading back to
Anchorage from Oskosh. Said they had flown 50 hours just to
Whitehorse. Wow, we were there in about 12 hours flying time.
Weather improved to the West and we departed for Northway,
Alaska. Pretty good weather until Beaver Creek right on the
border. We land their to check on the weather and its raining
pretty good with low ceilings.. A local 185 driver there, was
going to Northway and thought we could make it ok. We took off
behind him. Pretty crappy all the way to Northway and when we
get near, the airport was reporting IFR conditions. Need to go
through customs which really limits your choices.. Brush up on
your special VFR procedures or you might get into trouble like I
did. It had be 11 years since I had requested a special VFR and
I didn?t exactly follow the right procedure. They were not too
mean to me but that is another story. The short of it is I still
have a pilots licence. I got in trouble and ED was doing the
flying. Having a crappy radio was part of the problem. Made it
on the ground and through customs just fine.
Next stop was Glennallen, Alaska where a gal I know lived with
her husband and first born. We requested and received a special
VFR clearance out of Northway, flew the highway to Tok Junction
and made a left. Weather wasn?t a factor from there to Gulkana
airport where Heidi was to pick us up. About 6 hours of flying
this day, but the weather made it seem like much more.
Spent the night at Glennallen on Heidi and Erich?s living room
floor. Rained most all night.
Ed and I were not planning on meeting our friend Jim who lives in
Kenai until Tuesday afternoon. We got up Monday morning
wondering what we were going to do. Weather reported not good to
the Anchorage area but pretty good to Valdez. Heck, Erich said
the fishing was good in Valdez so we flew there for a days
fishing. The flight started off Ok and then ended up flying
between layers of clouds for a while. Things improved on the way
and had a beautiful smooth flight through Thompson Pass to
Valdez. Got our first good look at glaciers and mountain on this
trip. Ed commented that he had not seen an Alaska Mountain
before this day. They had always been in the clouds the days
before. We rented a car , went to town , bought Alaska Fishing
licences and some junk food.
Drove around the Bay to Allison Point, which is just East of the
Pipeline Terminal. We just fished from the shore casting lures
into the Bay. Others there fishing were catching some nice fish.
We hooked acouple on nice Coho (silver) salmon but they broke us
off. Had to buy some new heaver line.
Flew back to Erich and Heidi?s that evening and had a great
flight. Was some thunder storm activity when we left Valdez but
other than some light showers it was real nice flying. It is
about a one hour flight.
Another night at Glennallen. Tuesday morning dawned all rainy
and foggy. Spent the morning at the airport, along with several
others, waiting for better weather. Met some nice people and got
some good information about places to hunt and fish. About noon
it got better and we took off for Kenai. Jim has a hanger at a
private strip there and using his instructions had no trouble
finding his strip.
Spent the night there with Jim and his wife at their beautiful
home on a private lake. Some float planes on the lake. Had
moose for dinner that night and told lots of lies.
Wednesday; Ed and I went to town, purchased hunting licences and
tags, and a few groceries. That afternoon we followed our friend
west across the Cook Inlet where he showed use some rivers by
which we could land and fish. He just happened to have a cabin
over there which he offered to let as use as home base for our
Alaska adventure. We landed in 2 ft. grass next to his cabin and
he showed us the ropes.
Later Jim left in his cub and Ed and I were alone. Well time to
go fishing. One of the rivers he showed us was only a few miles
away so we flew over there to fish. Landed next to the river in
a swap but could see others had landed there before.
I have Goodyear 26" tires on the Explorer and they proved to be a
good tire. Not a Bushwheel or Airstreak, but a good compromise
at an affordable price. They don?t seam to effect the speed of
the Explorer much because I can?t tell a difference than with
8.50's.
We fished for a while with no one else around to show us how .
Finally we figured it out, after while had our limit of silvers
and headed back to the cabin. On the way back we flew around and
had no problem spotting moose and those Biggggg Bears. Found
bears to pretty much be everywhere. Makes you kinda keep your
nose open.
If you what to hear the next two weeks of stories about flying,
fishing and hunting Alaska let me know.
Don D
