A1Skinner wrote:Heading back down the trench Cory?

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Not sure. Depends on he weather. We will decide in the morning.


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So it appears there isn't much in the way for camping here at Whitehorse...at least as much as I thought. It doesn't appear to be the facilities at North 60 either...unless it's only when they are open.


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Ok. Well if you come down the east side let me know! I'll come meet you part way in the 180. I'll PM you my #.

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Sounds good!


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Day 20: We woke up this morning after getting a good nights rest to beautiful skies in Kenai. After breakfast we said our goodbyes and got to the airport. Weather over the passes was looking ok and forecasted to improve. We launched and man! Did we put the miles down. 7 hours of flying and 600+ miles. When we came to AK, we imagined that we'd be doing more flying with obscured skies and low level flying. But then we had good weather and it didn't happen...until today. Most of the 600+ miles was below 1,500' and most of that was under 500'. But it worked out. Our crossing plan worked so well and was so smooth that when we hit Beaver Creek, we decided to push on another 200 miles to Whitehorse. That got us a little farther from the weather too. A big day of flying but a good day. Sad to leave Alaska though.

Our planes' accommodations last night courtesy of AKgreg.


One of the last glaciers we'd fly close by.


Some cool private strips along that stretch of road.


More pretty country. Both of those passes coming over Gulkana to Tok were really pretty.



Big tire envy in Tok.


We slipped by some low stuff to make it to Beaver Creek.


Clearing at Beaver Creek. Super simple and on the ground just long enough for a bathroom break and a weather briefing.


More rain getting out of Beaver Creek, then it opened up nicely to Whitehorse.



Tim Horton's for dinner in Whitehorse.


Our accommodations for tonight. So, for some reason I thought I had read that Whitehorse had an actual camp ground. Well, the tower told us where we could set up but it looks like the showers and such are no more. Or at least we didn't find them. So, we decided to set our tents up in this little cabana just in case it rained. Not ideal but we have good cell service for internet and will be dry if it rains tonight. We can manage for one short night. It's a shame they don't have a campground on the east side with an access gate near the stairs down to town. That would be awesome!


Our planes parked down the hill.



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If you come Fort Nelson way we have lots of room and a hot shower. We would be glad to have you stay. Gordons Field CBL3. Cell # in the CFS.

Rod
UpNorth

Thanks Rod. The weather looked to be improving so we went down the Cassiar. Sorry to miss you guys but we had a beautiful flight. In Quesnel for the night.


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You made a good choice. Heavy thunderstorms here this afternoon. Glad your flight went well. Catch up with you next time.

UpNorth

UpNorth wrote:You made a good choice. Heavy thunderstorms here this afternoon. Glad your flight went well. Catch up with you next time.

UpNorth

Glad to hear. Sorry we missed seeing all of you guys over there though.


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Day 21: We woke to pretty nice skies this morning in Whitehorse, broke camp, got a weather briefing and decided to try going down the Cassiar route. The weather cooperated and wow! What a flight! Amazingly beautiful, albeit very remote, big country. It was another big flying day. 7 hours with a fuel/lunch stop in Dease Lake and fuel in Smithers. At Smithers, we decided to push on and get to Quesnel to spend the night. There was a lot of moisture being kicked over the coastal mountains and I think we made the right decision to get out of Beaver Creek yesterday. If we hadn't, we may have had some weather delays. Our last border crossing tomorrow and then the home stretch. Kind of sad about that. The trip is winding down.

Good skies while packing this morning in Whitehorse.


Wow! We some some big, beautiful country along the Cassiar route. Some of the best all trip.


The developing thunderstorms stayed over the mountains and the valleys stayed clear. A little bumpy but not bad.


Dease Lake for fuel and lunch.





This area reminded me of Banff.



Following Allen and Stan.


Smithers for fuel. We had made such good time we decided to push on to Quesnel.


Back in Quensel. It was hot. Much warmer than anything we had felt since our first day in Fairbanks. But once the sun got low on the horizon, it turned into a spectacular evening.


Dinner in Quensel.


Dee cooking brownies one more time in our oven.



Kids playing with some fun toys our helicopter friend gave them.


Camp in Quesnel.



Such a pretty place.


Well, our trip is winding down. We starting talking about all we have been able to see and experience tonight. It's gone by so fast and I'm sad to see it winding down. It's been an amazing trip, in no small part to friends that selfishly gave to us. We are so thankful. Tomorrow will be our last border crossing, then the final push home...maybe tomorrow but probably the next day.

GregA, I'm sorry we didn't get to see you in Atlin. We opted to go slightly to the east to have an escape route to Watson Lake if we needed it. Also, we knew the Low was kicking stuff inland and decided we had better put miles behind us while we could.


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Grassstrippilot wrote:
Unfortunately, we are going to start heading home tomorrow. Nizina, it doesn't look like we will be making it to the Wrangel/St. Elias area...which I'm really disappointed about. I really wanted to see that country and drop in to meet you.


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It would have been good to visit with you and your family, but we look forward to your next visit. Alaska is a large state with a myriad of natural features and pockets of people. You will certainly enjoy the Wrangell St. Elias when you return. In the mean time it was fun revisiting Alaska through the eyes of your family. Glad you had a nice trip. Fly safe and continue to share your flying experiences with your pretty family.

Eric/Nizina

Nizina wrote:

Grassstrippilot wrote:
Unfortunately, we are going to start heading home tomorrow. Nizina, it doesn't look like we will be making it to the Wrangel/St. Elias area...which I'm really disappointed about. I really wanted to see that country and drop in to meet you.


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It would have been good to visit with you and your family, but we look forward to your next visit. Alaska is a large state with a myriad of natural features and pockets of people. You will certainly enjoy the Wrangell St. Elias when you return. In the mean time it was fun revisiting Alaska through the eyes of your family. Glad you had a nice trip. Fly safe and continue to share your flying experiences with your pretty family.

Eric/Nizina

Thanks Eric. We will and we will look forward to our next visit.


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Grassstrippilot wrote:

UpNorth wrote:You made a good choice. Heavy thunderstorms here this afternoon. Glad your flight went well. Catch up with you next time.

UpNorth

Glad to hear. Sorry we missed seeing all of you guys over there though.


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It's alright Cory. No need to he sorry. We'll meet up sometime! Glad you're having a safe trip home and glad you've enjoyed it all so far.

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I've looked forward to reading this trip report every day over the last few weeks. Well done Wolf family! So many memories made, such a great trip. Get home safe and cherish the time you've spent in AK/CAN! This is what it's all about.

MM

Three thumbs up for the dedicated reporting in-situ. Great TR.

Thanks Matt! It's been an adventure.


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Zzz wrote:Three thumbs up for the dedicated reporting in-situ. Great TR.

It's not been easy! Cell service/internet access on the Kenai was sketchy at best...and many nights at midnight waiting for pics to upload! Surprisingly, the best consistent 4G was through Canada!


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We flew from Watson Lake to Airdrie yesterday afternoon. Flew the trench to MacKenzie due to the TCU forecast Ft. Nelson to Ft. St. John. We saw a few storms in the trench but none of them blocked our path. Flew almost direct from MacKenzie to Airdrie. Enjoyed watching the divide from MacKenzie to Grande Cache and seeing the headwaters of many rivers with familiar names.

I wondered if we might cross paths, and watched for your airplanes. We were close, but no visual contact!

Oh wow! I'm sure we would have had we gone that way. But I'm glad we got to see the Cassiar route. It was awesome! Safe travels!


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Day 22: Another big day that came to a screeching halt! We got a great start out of Quesnel with beautiful weather. We made it down to Penticton, grabbed some lunch and filed our flight plan, and crossed over to Dorthy Scott. It was a super simple crossing and the officer was very nice. We topped off and headed south only to be greeted with a lot of thunderstorms moving NE from SW in the middle of Oregon. We really thought we would make it home today until this speed bump developed. Who would have thought it would be Idaho and Oregon weather that would cause us a divert and delay!

We ended up ducking into Lewiston to wait out the storms. Soon we were booted from the FBO and, with the weather breaking, decided to get over to Grangville to camp under the wing. Our options on where to go were limited by storms and the lack of good camping options in the direction of good weather. Unfortunately, on the ground at Grangville, we were informed we couldn't camp there. So, here we are at a hotel. I guess at least our gear will be dry, is packed, and I get a shower. Too bad we couldn't have made some place in the backcountry. That would have been icing on the cake!

A beautiful morning in Quesnel.



The only other traffic we saw there. Scheduled service.


Quesnel. What a great place to camp!


A quick stop in Penticton to eat lunch and file a flight plan.



Back to the USA at Dorothy Scott. We had a super simple crossing and the guy was really nice. FYI, I got the CBP form showing I owned my gun before leaving and they were really happy to hear I had it. The whole process, including the walk around with the plutonium sniffer, was quick and simple.


Road block.



Angry skies at Lewiston. The storms split and missed us so that was good.


A pretty ride over to Grangville.




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