Good day all,

My wife and two kids are leaving next week to Alaska from our home in Saskatchewan. We are doing an animal transfer for Paws n Pilots. After we deliver the animal to Homer, AK we are planning to spend a couple weeks touring with our old 182A. We were thinking of doing some whale watching in Seward for a couple days, then head up to Talkeetna for a lunch and maybe see if we are lucky enough to view Mt. Denali. VERY rough plan. Eventually end up in Tuktoyuktuk, YK through Fairbanks, Dawson City etc. to see the arctic ocean then back home through the NWT.

I'm just wondering if there are any jewel airstrips that we can take in. (I'm sure their are) Something with a lodge, restaurant or campground nearby that I haven't found on the forum or google. We are also bringing our camping gear so an airstrip campout is an eventual must. Perhaps a camp-friendly airstrip.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Paul Ricklefs

Where in Saskatchewan are you leaving from? I'm not in Alaska, but you are welcome to spend a night at my place near grande prairie if that is on your route.
David

Hi David,

We are from La Ronge, SK. Unfortunately our route doesn't seem to take us near there. We are going to boogie there weather permitting and then come back through Yellowknife eventually. I will keep you in mind though. Thank you very much for the offer!

Paul Ricklefs

Your welcome! That is a little far north to take you by my place.

Seward is a good visit, Talkeetna is a definate stop for over night.
If you stop at Tok, the folks @ 40 mile air are good folks, Fast eddies has good food, and there is an OK motel, all with in walking distancs
Have fun.

You might try Chena Hot Springs, Bettles and Skwentna. I have never flown into the first two and it has been 30+ years since the last one but they are all on my list for when I get my plane up and flying. They are all remote strips with lodges.

Denali National Park has a strip with a campground and visitor facilities nearby.

Probably best to call all of the above to confirm availability etc.

As long as you are in Homer maybe fly over to Seldovia across the bay. I've never been but have spent several weeks over the years at private lodges on Resurrection Bay and it is a beautiful place. Seldovia is on my must see list.

BTW it is Mt. McKinley or just simply Denali.

If you are through the Fort Nelson route, you are welcome to stop and camp here at Gordons Field (CBL3). A bit muddy on the west end when it's wet (like the last 3 days), east end is always good.

Carcross, Yukon has a nice strip as well. Beautiful place to camp.



UpNorth

Thank you very much for all the suggestions folks. I may end up staying over at the Ft. Nelson strip the first night as suggested by Upnorth. We were going to try for Watson Lake, YK but that depends on weather and time as we would need to go through the mountains. We would also like to camp as much as possible so this would work great!


Paul Ricklefs

You need permission to land at Chena and that will be unlikely.