Now that you mention it the restaurant was closed at the SKYY hotel when we stayed there in September too. Since we were stuck for a day due to weather we had picked up a rental car so the closed restaurant didn't bother us much. Without a car it could have been a problem. The restaurant in the old hotel next door, like the rest of the place, left a lot to be desired. Lots of hotel options downtown and it would be a short cab ride to get to one.

If you need a car in Whitehorse..... we rented from Driving Force and were happy with the service. Was able to drop the car early the next morning at the airport and be on our way.

I do get the US Customs sticker. It's easy to order on line. How does it work without the sticker? Do you pay the guy at the border crossing?

It's been beaten like the dead horse here before... but don't let anyone tell you that you need large n-numbers on that route. There is no ADIZ along the highway route from AK to the lower 48. No ADIZ = no large numbers.

Oh yeah, bring tie down ropes. Bring extras as there were a couple of places I had to tie them together to reach a tie down.

I wasn't prepared to camp but that would be a good option if you are so inclined.

Yes, you can purchase the sticker when you clear US Customs upon re-entry. No big deal, but as you say, easy to order online as well.

Good tiedowns, Like FlyTies or the Claw, lots of good strong line and great camping gear are all essentials, in my opinion. It's pretty easy to land somewhere out there where there are no hotels and no tiedowns to escape weather. Camp gear and tiedowns are essential safety gear, and afford lots of options.

MTV

mtv wrote:Yes, you can purchase the sticker when you clear US Customs upon re-entry. No big deal, but as you say, easy to order online as well.

Good tiedowns, Like FlyTies or the Claw, lots of good strong line and great camping gear are all essentials, in my opinion. It's pretty easy to land somewhere out there where there are no hotels and no tiedowns to escape weather. Camp gear and tiedowns are essential safety gear, and afford lots of options.

MTV

What MTV said.

And don't worry about putting the sticker on the plane. I keep em with the plane's paperwork and show the sticker to the custom's officer when asked, never had a comment about it not being on the plane (of course I'm not crossing at jet airports either).

Be sure you've got survival gear aboard that meets at least the minimums of both Alaska and Canada.

Troy Hamon wrote:Lots of things you could do ahead are not really helpful or necessary. I don't get the US customs sticker and I don't do CANPASS. Hasn't been a problem.

Hey Troy, how do you register on eApis without a number from the sticker? My last trip (9/14) the number from the sticker was a "required" field that had to be filled in before I could submit the trip, fortunately I had an old one and it worked

Brett,
The other item I would highly recommend is Foreflight. This last trip was the first I had it vs. the stacks of charts and flight supplements I can't even begin to describe the difference in workload, ease of finding what you are looking for, especially when making changes in-route. If you have an I-pad or access to one, the cost was worth it even if for that one trip. In the end, by the time I added up the cost for all the potential charts/supplements I might need depending on the route I might end up taking, the cost for Foreflight was not much more and the subscription is good for a year.

Chris

David, that sounds great! Thanks!

It sounds like it'd be worth stopping in to see Gordon's Field, though it'd be a mid-day stop for us. I'll punch it into the flight plan.

I'll definitely pre-order the US Customs sticker but keep it in the paperwork folder.

That sucks to hear about the Skyy hotel. I had originally planned to camp for the majority of the trip but fell off the idea. Nice to hear there's some good camping in Whitehorse, it might be worth camping there to save some dough and a potential headache. I for sure will make the trek to see that bison skull at the old hotel that ya'll mentioned. This trip is about the people and experiences!

Understand all on the small numbers. This plane has them and I concur there's no ADIZ with our friendly neighbors to the north and east.

We'll have a full complement of survival gear. No way I'd make the trip without! I'll make sure I have some good tie-downs as well. I'm still putting the survival gear list together, but it'll look pretty similar to the packing list from my last fly-in hunting trip

I do have foreflight on my wife's iPad 2. I'm thinking of getting an external GPS antenna for it, the last time I used it in the mountains I lost GPS signal a few times at lower altitudes. My understanding is that I can use it as a digital pubs-bag in Canada so long as it's not my primary nav source? The plane has a 296 so that's easy to get around.


All great advice! Please keep mentioning anything you think of, I've never made a trip like this before!



-Cameron

Cameron,

When I went up, the digital VNCs weren't available. I did get all the other pubs and charts on Foreflight. I called them and explained that I was traveling the highway up and asked what the options were for a chart subscription shorter than a year. They were extremely accommodating and worked a out a much more affordable option to help me out. At that point, I was using the Stratus II to supplement the GPS a on my iPad.

I will say that it was exciting to fill the "completed charts" pocket in the airplane and see the pocket with future charts shrink. That kind of tangible progress isn't available in ForeFlight.

Brett

kg wrote:I wasn't prepared to camp but that would be a good option if you are so inclined.

When I said I wasn't prepared to camp I should have added the word "comfortably". I do carry survival equipment and could spend the night on the ground if I had too..... but, especially with my better half along, camping wasn't in my plan.

Well, my previous plan involved an admittedly long two weeks in the bank in case of weather and to allow some time for sightseeing.

Lucky for me my job decided to change my timeline!

I'll be leaving a lot earlier in July than planned and now I've got 4 days in reserve for weather with no time allotted for hanging out, other than the hours in the plane, haha. At the very least I should be able to get the plane to my dad's hangar in Idaho. Hopefully the weather is nice enough we'll be able to finish the whole trip in one go.

I have a ton of material to plan the AK-CAN legs thanks to Brett. I'm going to start laying out my TDH legs and waypoints this weekend.

Bummer! Well you're still welcome here if it works out for a stop.
David

Thanks David! Yeah, I'm still planning for the same route and stops as before. Just condensed now. Initial planning says I should be by your area the first week of July now, if that still works for you!

CamTom12 wrote:We'll have a full complement of survival gear. No way I'd make the trip without! I'll make sure I have some good tie-downs as well. I'm still putting the survival gear list together, but it'll look pretty similar to the packing list from my last fly-in hunting trip.

-Cameron

If you or anyone else happens to have a list of survival equipment, could you post it. Especially with the AK and Canada required items. I thought I had seen one on here somewhere before. I'm getting to he point I'd like to start collecting the items I'll need for our trip to AK in 2016.

kg wrote:In Whitehorse most people recommended the old hotel across the street from the airport. You can walk over.. but.. I've stayed there twice and it has gone way downhill. On this last trip I spent the first night there and then got weathered in for a day. Moved over to the new place right next door to it (Skyy Hotel I think it was). It was $30 more expensive per night but 100% better. .

Truer words have never been spoken. That is a shit hole!

CamTom12 wrote:Thanks David! Yeah, I'm still planning for the same route and stops as before. Just condensed now. Initial planning says I should be by your area the first week of July now, if that still works for you!

For sure that still works! Keep me in the loop and I'll be expecting you.

Grassstrippilot wrote:

CamTom12 wrote:We'll have a full complement of survival gear. No way I'd make the trip without! I'll make sure I have some good tie-downs as well. I'm still putting the survival gear list together, but it'll look pretty similar to the packing list from my last fly-in hunting trip.

-Cameron

If you or anyone else happens to have a list of survival equipment, could you post it. Especially with the AK and Canada required items. I thought I had seen one on here somewhere before. I'm getting to he point I'd like to start collecting the items I'll need for our trip to AK in 2016.

Here is the site for the Alaska list:
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/stat ... #02.35.100

Can't find the Canada list anymore, but as I remember it was fairly similar. I have never had anyone check if I had the items, so the main thing is, do you have the equipment you can survive with?

I'm building our survival pack based on the Alaska list. Any additions you guys recommend?

Don't worry about what Alaska or Canada require......nobody will ever ask or inspect.

If you're going to camp anyway, you've already got 90% of what you'll need.

Add a "Tracking device" such as SPOT or InReach. Add a PLB.

I would also WEAR some basic survival gear (good knife, 25 ft of para cord, three means to start a fire, PLB, two or three signals--flashlight, smoke can, mirror, small first aid kit. All this in a vest or?

If you can't get to your "camping gear" in the back of the plane, the "survival gear" on your person will serve till help arrives.

MTV

By far, the most important item to bring.


Gump

You may also want to throw in some emergency trapping supplies, in case you have to set it down in the Yukon...

RanchPilot wrote:You may also want to throw in some emergency trapping supplies, in case you have to set it down in the Yukon...



[emoji38]

Now that's just rude...... ooh beer!