Random Final Thoughts
Bugs - not nearly as bad as I expected. It seems the Se part of AK is not as bad as some other parts. Only used bug spray twice and the headnet a couple of times as well. Worst area was the Hunlen Waterfall area near Nimpo Lake in BC.
Customs - Smaller customs stations do not get, or follow, eAPIS, thus you need to call them directly and tell them you are coming. You still have to file eAPIS but they don't pass the word on. If the place you are clearing customs has a 24 hour control tower the customs there probably works 24/7 and they might get the eAPIS but I got the impression that they have no word either, they are just there 24/7 anyway so a drop in to clear customs is no big deal. If you do not call in advance at the smaller stations there will not be anyone there. You will have to wait and it could be a LONG while as you are now an un announced drop in, = Bad.
Don't forget that customs is not a 24/7 operation in most places. Thus if you want to clear really early or late, it ain't gonna happen and that could add a day to your schedule.
Tom Bass website, here..... http://www.publiclakecabinsak.com is critical for this trip. Tons of info there. I can't imagine how much time and money he has invested in that site, so if you go there be sure to send an email saying thanks. It is awesome!! Thank you, Tom Bass.
Most of the time the best fishing was at the inlet to the lake.
The EXPED SYNMAT 9 DLX sleeping pad was excellent. Link here https://www.campmor.com/c/exped-synmats-9-pump-dlx-sleeping-pad-91306
I REALLY liked the chair that Mark hooked me on to. The Helinox is light, strong and comfortable. Highly recommend. http://www.helinox.com.au/camp-chairs.php I have the Camp Chair. Mark had the Chair one. I think we both agreed the Camp Chair is better. The Chair One is lighter and smaller but it sits pretty low to the ground and is a little less comfortable because of that. The Camp Chair sits at about normal chair height and is more comfortable.
Jetboil - I brought two of these, so I could cook two things at once. I reasoned that I would likely do a fair amount of cooking inside to get out of the rain and that I might want more than a one course meal. LOVE THEM. Jetboils are great. Never leave home without it.
Survival vest - get one and wear it. But if doing the floatplane thing you might consider putting some stuff in waterproof baggies. i.e. - it will be great when you swim to shore to have all that survival stuff but could be pretty useless if it is water logged.
Extra Charger/battery - got a battery about the size of a pack of cigarettes from Best Buy and was able to use that to recharge my iPad, iPhone, etc. It would charge 4 or 5 items (or one item 4 or 5 times) and really came in handy. I used it to recharge my iPad/foreflight on the long days in the air. Having a port or two in the panel would also be handy. On a trip like this you might have 6 or 8 items to charge. Camera, iPad, iPhone, DeLorme, GoPro, etc.
Delorme - the InReach is excellent. Worked perfect. You basically have three options. SPOT, DeLORME, and Spidertracks. You can research them here with the search feature here on SC.org. I had SPOT last time and it worked. I used the INReach this time and I think it was much better than SPOT for a very small increase in cost. Well worth it for my family and friends to track by (and also in the flip mishap).
Parking - A number of the cabins I visited only had room to park one floatplane. Thus if you wanted to do this with a group of floatplanes you would want to do a little homework to try to figure out which cabins had room to park several floatplanes.
The Forest Service Cabin Website notes in several places that the boat at the cabin requires a "long shaft" motor. I used my short shaft (15") on 8 or 9 boats and it worked fine on them all. I do not think you need a long shaft motor.
Fly Rod - It seemed that a lot of the lakes and fishing areas had trees right up to the water which made the fly-rod a little less useful (unless you are really good with a roll cast). Generally I think I would leave it out next time. The spinning rods worked just fine. However; if your whole purpose is to go fishing, and all else is just an afterthought, bring it.
Fuel - don't count on "call out" fuel unless you make a reservation in advance. There are only a few places where you can get fuel 24/7 in the SE.
Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka have 24/7 FBO operations. Petersburg, Wrangel, etc the fuel is sold (as an afterthought) by a commercial operator. That is not his primary business so it may or may not be available. Just a heads up. Generally they do good and are available but..........
Floats - I still just love the manual float retract system. Simple and light.
Rain - be sure your aircraft cabin is water/rain proof. You may fly in the rain a lot and having a leaky door seal can be a big pain. Or a leaking roof, or a leaky window etc etc
Trash Bags - be sure you take some and use em. I was sometimes a little surprised by the trash folks left. Most cabins were excellent but sometimes, especially the cabins that you could hike to, were less than perfect. I suspect that the folks that toted it in decided that they did not want to tote it out so they convinced themselves that the next visitor would really appreciate the half empty bottle of Ketchup.
Delorme - I mounted it right on the inst panel. That helped me to remember to turn it on/off and also to send the messages. Perhaps I should have mounted my float pump on the inst panel as well.
Fishing Net - I brought one. Don't bother. Used it once and it took a long while to untangle/unsnag the lure the fish managed to spit out. Bottom line - ya just don't need it, Unless you are catching Salmon. You may not be able to land a 6 pound Salmon without a net, as it will break your line when you try to lift it out of the water. So, as always.........it depends.
Maps - The Forest Service Dept puts out a map of all the SE Cabins. http://www.nationalforestmapstore.com/product-p/ak-1.htm
If you are thinking of someday going to one of these Cabins - get this map.
This map is pretty important for folks that might be tracking your trip as well. That way they have an idea of where you are when you say you are going to the Eagle River Cabin. Otherwise they are out of the loop. They are printed on a waterproof paper and are well worth the investment. I wish I had provided them for many of the folks that were tracking me. I think it would have made it a lot more interesting for them.
Garmin/Foreflight - The Garmin 796 with the topo maps was awesome in the USA/Alaska. Foreflight was much better when in Canada. Perhaps I did not have all the right maps but I thought the Garmin products for Canada were lacking whereas Foreflght was great in Canada.
I put 60.6 hours on the plane prior to the flip and 81.1 after, and a total for the trip of 141.7 hours
I stayed in 17 different Cabins and visited a total of around 30 (not 100% sure of that #, will double check)
I did not eat a single Mountain House Meal.
After landing at home at the end of the trip I weighed everything that came out of the plane for Mark and I (except the paddle on the float, headsets, wing ropes and the ropes on the floats). Came in at 275 pounds. Thats a lot of junk. We did have about 3 gallons of fuel left in one 5 gallon jug. This was all camping gear, airplane gear (ropes, bumpers, grease, couple qts of oil, etc), clothes, tool kit, tie downs, outboard motor etc etc. Add two people and fuel and you can see how quickly it can add up.
It took 36.6 hours to get to Anchorage going up
It took 29.4 Hours to get home after leaving the last Cabin at Humpback Lake and heading home.
I burned roughly 1020 gallons with an overall average burn of 7.3 GPH
Least expensive fuel was at Roundup, Montana at 3.90 Gal. Most expensive was in Cordova AK at 6.95 Gal
Hope this helps
Bill
