Planning to arrive with the 30' travel trailer in Alaska early next June through August and feeling overwhelmed at the possibilities for things to see and do... especially from the air. We enjoy wildlife photography and scenery photography, as well as visiting the many towns and villages. Planning to spend time at the Lake Hood seaplane base capturing photos and video, also hoping to film and photograph some of the 747s that come and go at Ted Stevens Intl. Also planning to visit the Southeast and the busy town of Ketchikan for float plane action.

We'd like to do some personal flying while in Alaska, but not sure if the SES rating is in the cards. If we rent a float plane (and instructor) for 2-5 hours while we are there to visit other lakes, and scenery phogography, perhaps I might as well get the rating ? Or would it be considerably less expensive to just hire a pilot and airplane as an aerial tour guide ? I'm a private pilot SEL , one hour in a float plane but no tailwheel time.

Is early June a good time to arrive in Alaska as far as Wx is concerned ? We don't mind a little cool Wx but would prefer to miss any heavy snow.

How does one find safe and reputable pilots (or instructors) and airplanes to hire for float flying as well as landing on gravel bars and hoping to photograph brown bears ? I don't mean to offend anyone by asking this but, well, I know pilots from my local airport that I would never fly with.

Are there any campgrounds or dry camping sites near the action at Lake Hood, Talkeetna, Ketchikan, and other places ?

Are there some good places for filming the 747 cargo planes arriving and departing Ted Stevens ?

We are really looking forward to this trip and want to cram-in as much scenery, wildlife, photography, and flying as possible. Any ideas, advice, recommendations are appreciated. Feel free to reply by private message if you would rather. Thank you.

Sounds like a good time. If you're willing to get off the road system into one of the most beautiful parts of Alaska, check out The Farm Lodge in Pt Alsworth. It's a (relatively) inexpensive lodge with all meals provided. There are planes on bushwheels for tundra exploring and float planes for float'sploring, bear viewing, etc. Trips/tours fully customizable. Bear viewing at Katmai, tours of Lake Clark NP, fishing, whatever.

Website isn't the best but you'll get some info and find contact numbers. https://lakeclarkair.com/. I would personally disregard the "packages" and simply email them asking for what you want. They arrange flying you into Port Alsworth and everything.

Maybe I'll be your pilot.

Thank you asa for the recommendation, that sounds real interesting and we'll look into it. I hope it works out that we get to fly with you !

Does anyone else have advice or recommendations ? We hope to have three months to enjoy the area.

Alex Clark from Homer does float ratings and maybe some flightseeing (not sure exactly what his portfolio of services is at the moment) in a Cessna 180. His business is Dragonfly Aero. Most float instruction up here does not happen in an airplane large enough to accomodate a 3rd person, but his might if you wanted to combine efforts on the instruction for SES and seeing the country missions.

Talkeetna is a fun town Talkeetna air Taxi for a Denali tour and Don Lee Floats and skis. Nice Campground as you pull into town on right. Lake hood has several Operators for bear viewing.
DENNY

It is nice you will have that amount of time up here! How are you planning on doing Ketchikan? You are going to have to use the state ferry if you want your trailer and that will be expensive. It is a nice town but if you are wanting to see float operations Lake Hook will be awfully close. I think early June is about the best time to be here. Weather is normally great and because the fishing hasn't really started tourists are light. You will have more of a chance of running into snow in late August than June. If you are into fishing then July and August are when the salmon are running. One thing to consider with your trailer is to REALLY make sure it is up for the trip. The roads are better than ever but still will never be good, the permafrost makes sure of that. The Tok Cutoff is especially poor. Make sure your suspension is in good shape for sure. A Milepost is still the best guide for travel up here and around Alaska. With your truck and trailer you might consider leaving the trailer and driving into some more remote spots that not everyone sees. Some side trips to consider would be Eagle, Nabesna (I would put this high on the list. The Ellis brothers have bed and breakfasts there. They are both the most genuine Alaskans you will every meet and it is a beautiful setting.) McCarthy/Kennecott, Arctic Circle on the haul road, I'm sure there are more. You are not going to have time to do them all.

When it gets closer you should be able to make some contacts in the flying community. There are lots of people who like to show visitors around. Your first trip to Alaska will just give you ideas of what you want to come see more of again.

Troy Hamon wrote:Alex Clark from Homer does float ratings and maybe some flightseeing (not sure exactly what his portfolio of services is at the moment) in a Cessna 180. His business is Dragonfly Aero. Most float instruction up here does not happen in an airplane large enough to accomodate a 3rd person, but his might if you wanted to combine efforts on the instruction for SES and seeing the country missions.

Thank you Troy, Alex and the 180 would be a strong possibility as my wife enjoys flying as much as I do and combining flightseeing with instruction sounds like the best of both worlds.

DENNY wrote:Talkeetna is a fun town Talkeetna air Taxi for a Denali tour and Don Lee Floats and skis. Nice Campground as you pull into town on right. Lake hood has several Operators for bear viewing.
DENNY

Thank you DENNY for your input. Great ideas and love the idea of an aerial Denali tour.

jprax wrote:It is nice you will have that amount of time up here! How are you planning on doing Ketchikan? You are going to have to use the state ferry if you want your trailer and that will be expensive. It is a nice town but if you are wanting to see float operations Lake Hook will be awfully close. I think early June is about the best time to be here. Weather is normally great and because the fishing hasn't really started tourists are light. You will have more of a chance of running into snow in late August than June. If you are into fishing then July and August are when the salmon are running. One thing to consider with your trailer is to REALLY make sure it is up for the trip. The roads are better than ever but still will never be good, the permafrost makes sure of that. The Tok Cutoff is especially poor. Make sure your suspension is in good shape for sure. A Milepost is still the best guide for travel up here and around Alaska. With your truck and trailer you might consider leaving the trailer and driving into some more remote spots that not everyone sees. Some side trips to consider would be Eagle, Nabesna (I would put this high on the list. The Ellis brothers have bed and breakfasts there. They are both the most genuine Alaskans you will every meet and it is a beautiful setting.) McCarthy/Kennecott, Arctic Circle on the haul road, I'm sure there are more. You are not going to have time to do them all.

When it gets closer you should be able to make some contacts in the flying community. There are lots of people who like to show visitors around. Your first trip to Alaska will just give you ideas of what you want to come see more of again.

Thank you jprax for your reply, great information. I really want to see Ketchikan in case we never get back to Alaska, but perhaps it's not practical with the pickup and trailer... unless we leave the rig behind at a campground in the closest driveable town for a day or two ???

So Ketchikan is on an island, you can't drive to it, or anywhere close to it for that matter. And not sure why you'd want to visit it, unless on a cruise that stopped there, or you are fishing there, or are using it as jumping off point for a black bear hunt, or landing your plane there to clear customs or fuel, or you have friends or family there. There is nothing wrong with Ketchikan but there are other coastal towns in Alaska that are a lot easier to get too by vehicle and would actually be somewhat on a route to/or in South Central Alaska. Like Valdez, Whittier, Seward and Homer for instance. And if you need to see South East there is Skagway or Haines.

Stop in at Icefield Discovery (https://www.icefielddiscovery.com/) on your way north and take a fly around the St Elias Mountains & land on a Glacier in a Helio Courier!

Barnstormer wrote:So Ketchikan is on an island, you can't drive to it, or anywhere close to it for that matter. And not sure why you'd want to visit it, unless on a cruise that stopped there, or you are fishing there, or are using it as jumping off point for a black bear hunt, or landing your plane there to clear customs or fuel, or you have friends or family there. There is nothing wrong with Ketchikan but there are other coastal towns in Alaska that are a lot easier to get too by vehicle and would actually be somewhat on a route to/or in South Central Alaska. Like Valdez, Whittier, Seward and Homer for instance. And if you need to see South East there is Skagway or Haines.

Thank you for your input Barnstormer. My main reason for wanting to spend time in Ketchikan is for filming and photographing the busy seaplane operations in the Narrows, but perhaps I could get almost the same thing at some other coastal town farther North such as Skagway or Haines ?

Kiwi wrote:Stop in at Icefield Discovery (https://www.icefielddiscovery.com/) on your way north and take a fly around the St Elias Mountains & land on a Glacier in a Helio Courier!

Thank you Kiwi, that looks great.

red sled, you want to go to Lake Hood. It’s the busiest float plane base in the world with the biggest variety of aircraft. And if that isn’t enough it has the highest concentration of wheeled Bush planes in the world- although most will probably be out working- but it will still be more than you will see anywhere else. And the weather is a lot nicer than South East unless of course you only want to take pictures in the rain. And Lake Hood ATC is the best, they move aircraft extremely fast, efficiently and safely. You will be in a picture rich environment.

Oh, and you also see the largest concentration of top notch pilots anywhere.

Barnstormer wrote:So Ketchikan is on an island, you can't drive to it, or anywhere close to it for that matter. And not sure why you'd want to visit it, unless on a cruise that stopped there, or you are fishing there, or are using it as jumping off point for a black bear hunt, or landing your plane there to clear customs or fuel, or you have friends or family there. There is nothing wrong with Ketchikan but there are other coastal towns in Alaska that are a lot easier to get too by vehicle and would actually be somewhat on a route to/or in South Central Alaska. Like Valdez, Whittier, Seward and Homer for instance. And if you need to see South East there is Skagway or Haines.

I wholeheartedly agree. In fact it would be much simpler and cheaper just to fly Alaska Airlines to Ketchikan from Seattle and stay there a few days. If you drove to Haines, then you'll still need to fly Alaska seaplanes to Juneau, and then Alaska Airlines from Juneau to Ketchikan. And the ferry system is not really a viable option these days with it undergoing significant downsizing and uncertain schedules.

However, if you're really set on Ketchikan during your drive up north, your best bet would be to take the Cassiar highway north, then take the side road to Hyder where Taquan air (https://taquanair.com/flights/) has scheduled flights from Hyder to Ketchikan.

Barnstormer wrote:red sled, you want to go to Lake Hood. It’s the busiest float plane base in the world with the biggest variety of aircraft. And if that isn’t enough it has the highest concentration of wheeled Bush planes in the world- although most will probably be out working- but it will still be more than you will see anywhere else. And the weather is a lot nicer than South East unless of course you only want to take pictures in the rain. And Lake Hood ATC is the best, they move aircraft extremely fast, efficiently and safely. You will be in a picture rich environment.

Thank you Barnstormer, Lake Hood Seaplane Base is definitely on the list. Might be my home away from home.

AKclimber wrote:

Barnstormer wrote:So Ketchikan is on an island, you can't drive to it, or anywhere close to it for that matter. And not sure why you'd want to visit it, unless on a cruise that stopped there, or you are fishing there, or are using it as jumping off point for a black bear hunt, or landing your plane there to clear customs or fuel, or you have friends or family there. There is nothing wrong with Ketchikan but there are other coastal towns in Alaska that are a lot easier to get too by vehicle and would actually be somewhat on a route to/or in South Central Alaska. Like Valdez, Whittier, Seward and Homer for instance. And if you need to see South East there is Skagway or Haines.

I wholeheartedly agree. In fact it would be much simpler and cheaper just to fly Alaska Airlines to Ketchikan from Seattle and stay there a few days. If you drove to Haines, then you'll still need to fly Alaska seaplanes to Juneau, and then Alaska Airlines from Juneau to Ketchikan. And the ferry system is not really a viable option these days with it undergoing significant downsizing and uncertain schedules.

However, if you're really set on Ketchikan during your drive up north, your best bet would be to take the Cassiar highway north, then take the side road to Hyder where Taquan air (https://taquanair.com/flights/) has scheduled flights from Hyder to Ketchikan.

Thank you AKclimber, great information. We've been wondering about taking a ferry either by ourselves or with the pickup/travel trailer.

Vern Kingsford @ alaskafloatratings.com is a crusty old feller but a good instructor and has a great location for maximizing flight time (no busy airspace like @ Lake Hood). He has a 172 on straight floats down at Moose Pass on the way to Seward that might work for ya. Believe he still has a 206 on floats as well for touring. Decent school, particularly if you get with Darlene.
Don's good in Talkeetna.

Don't forget to go through the museum while at Lake Hood! The film on the Aleutians during WWII is memorable, as are the displays.

Timbuk2 wrote:Vern Kingsford @ alaskafloatratings.com is a crusty old feller but a good instructor and has a great location for maximizing flight time (no busy airspace like @ Lake Hood). He has a 172 on straight floats down at Moose Pass on the way to Seward that might work for ya. Believe he still has a 206 on floats as well for touring. Decent school, particularly if you get with Darlene.
Don's good in Talkeetna.

Don't forget to go through the museum while at Lake Hood! The film on the Aleutians during WWII is memorable, as are the displays.

Thank you Timbuk2 I appreciate your input. The 172 sounds interesting, and so does the museum.

I will throw this out for anyone's comments: I'm used to flying a Cessna 172 so would it be crazy to take float plane lessons in a Cub or Pacer instead of a 172 ? In other words, I would be learning to fly a new airplane in addition to learning float flying.