Have any of you guys been to any of these public cabins in the Wragell-St. Elias NP? Looks like a cool place to go back country.



http://www.nps.gov/wrst/planyourvisit/u ... poster.pdf

I live in the Wrangell Mountains and have been to many of the airstrips. I have not overnighted in all of the cabins, but they are all quite nice by back country standards. In addition to the airstrips listed in the poster, there are many other strips that you can fly to that are not listed. The Wrangell St. Elias Mountains contain nine of the sixteen tallest peaks in North America. There are also numerous glaciers and sandbars on which to land and camp, hike, etc. The nice thing about the Wrangells is that while it has very high mountains, most of your flying and landing will be at elevations in the 1,500' to 6,000' msl range, and most of your landings will be down around 2,000 feet. This is incredible country for back country flying.

Wrangell St. Elias National Park is the largest park in the U. S. park system. It is roughly six times the size of Yellowstone and is generally considered a wilderness park. There are only two dirt roads into the park, and most back country activities are accessed by bush plane.

Nizina

Thanks Nizina and fellow Husky brotheren. Is there nothing this BCP website can't answer?

Hey I saw SPOT sitting on your glarescreen. Does SPOT have decent coverage in that part of AK. The reviews said SPOT was spotty in AK.

Hi Baddog

The spot dose and adequate job up here in Alaska. Not perfect. Seems like I can always count on its missing a transmission or two. It somewhat depends on where I have the unit sitting on my glare shield. I mount it with velcro so it won't slide around or end up in my lap on take off. The farther forward that I mount it, the better the tracking. I get about 70% in the location in the picture below, but if I move it farther forward, I can generally expect 90%. BTW, this picture is an approach to landing on a gravel bar next to Knik Glacier.

Hope you are enjoying your Husky. It's a great airplane. I just mounted 31 inch Bushwheels and the BBW on my dog and am going to try them out for the first time today, weather permitting.



Nizina

Thanks for the info. I am expecting the arrival of my Husky in mid Oct. so I am living my Husky fantasies through guys like you till then. Im going to start with 26"ers to do cross country and some asphalt until I can really get to the back country. I guess I'm going to have to put the McCarthy area on my list of things to get done. Lets see Idaho, Utah, Beaches of Florida and Alaska. I better get started.

You will like those 26" Goodyears. They last for ever, even on asphalt. I am sure you are living vicariously until you get your Husky. Which model are you getting? You're going to have fun, but take our time in learning to fly the Husky. Make sure to get an SGS kit for it as that will improve your landings, and remember to slow it down. The airplane wants to fly, even when you are trying to get it to land.

Have fun!!!
Nizina

I chose an A1C 180hp with Gyros and VFR radios. If I find I need to fly IFR I'll update the radio. I got a Husky so I could see the country so flying in clouds seems to miss the point visually.Tom Dietrich has got a set of SGS's on the way! Keep the advice coming. My dealer is Tom Welch the author of Husky 101. He's going to give me my checkout so at least I'm going to get a good start. I have had an opportunity to deliver a couple of Husky's in the past and did a fair job of flying but never put them through the back country. Now when it comes to my little J5 I put it everywhere off road. No mountains just soybean fields, lots of fields, fields everywhere cause it's the midwest and it's fields from horizon to horizon. It's a real cream puff (cream happens to be it's color as well).[/img]

Baddog

Cool that you will be getting the A1-C. From what I understand, the "C" can get you in a bit shorter then the others. Also sounds like like you already have some experience in flying the Husky. You are going to love the airplane, although I suspect that you can't just float in the way that you have with your J-5. That must be a fun airplane to fly.

I went out and flew my 31" Bushwheels and Baby Bush Wheel for the first time today. What fun. I just did a bunch of gravel strip landings at Palmer, Willow, and Wasilla, but will head up to the Knik Glacier/Lake George area for some off-airport landings tomorrow. Then I'll head out to the Wrangells for some real fun -- just need to figure out the refueling situation.

Nizina