I've been doing my due diligence the last few non flying days over here in Afghanistan working on my next adventure for this coming July. Normally the year would be full of winging my way out to Wisconsin, Idaho or somewhere down south, but this year I've decided that I need to convince my wife and fishing buddy that it's time to go to Alaska. Fortunately it won't be difficult, as they are both always up for loading the 182 and finding what's just over that next ridgeline.

I've settled on flying the highway, and after perusing several blogs, articles, online charts and the resources here, I think most of the questions I know to ask have been answered (that just leaves the questions I don't know to ask), so now it's to the details that my wife is going to want to know.

For those of you experienced with the trip, I'm curious as to what most do for overnight accommodations? I see my stops have hotels (Fort St. John, Fort Nelson, and Whitehorse), but even six + months out they're indicating a possible shortage of rooms. Obviously these particular needs are subject to change as the weather can be a factor, but for planning purposes, that's kind of where I'm at now. None of us have any issues with pitching a tent under the wing, but considering I spend half the year in the 'Stan, a real bed with my wife is preferable, and she's requesting more than one shower in 3 days. Sounded kind of selfish to me, but I figured I'd try to get her an answer. .

Thanks, and if anyone has advice or local knowledge, I'm more than happy to listen. This trip has been on my list for a while, and if the company doesn't mess with my schedule TOO much in coming year, I figured, why wait?

Toad River has a motel right next to the airstrip and they just built a few new cabins about 2 years ago.

I did that trip a few years back in an old VFR 182 with crappy weather the whole time.
I stayed in Lethbridge after clearing customs to wait it out and a local told me about the "trench" where you can run under the weather usually.

So the next day I went through crows nest pass and turned right up the trench and had the flight of my life. VFR under the overcast and rain with usually a 2000' ceiling but your trapped in the canyon the whole way. Usually its big enough to do a 180 if you need to. I spent a lot of time practicing slow flight when the vis got low.

It was an awesome way to get to Juneau and it only took two short easy days of flying from Lethbridge.

I stayed in Golden BC at a hotel the first day then the next day cleared customs again in Skagway.

If you go that way try to get a Trench map it has all the forest service strips and fuel locations. I did not get that map till I got to Whitehorse.
Also take life jackets if you have to do an emergency landing sometimes the only flat places are those great big long lakes you will fly over. Not very wide as they are in Mountain valleys just really long.
It took me about 16 hours from Cheyenne to Juneau.

I'm close to Grande Prairie and have moGas and room to stay.
There is a bunch of us from the forum heading up in June. Maybe you'd consider joining us?

A1Skinner wrote:I'm close to Grande Prairie and have moGas and room to stay.
There is a bunch of us from the forum heading up in June. Maybe you'd consider joining us?

I would absolutely consider joining you! All i need is the date you plan to leave and some contact information. Unfortunately the mogas doesn't help, but I may try to impose upon you for an overnight.

Here's the link to our forum thread.
https://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/ ... 0?start=40

I did the trip in a Cub year before last. Here's my running TR:

viewtopic.php?t=15069

And the series I started but never finished:

https://www.backcountrypilot.org/cubcrafters-to-alaska

i used Watson Lake as an overnight stop back in 2014; it's reasonably between Lethbridge and Tok. Plenty of water for a thermal shower bag, too! There are motel rooms on the other side of the lake, but reputedly expensive and the taxi rides were $50 CDN, I was told. The next stop up the trench is Whitehorse, which although quite a trip from Lethbridge in one day, probably has the most options.



More pictures in my photo album.

If and when you do make it up here pm me. My wife is from Powell and may like to chat with some folks from 'back home'.
Greg

roamak wrote:If and when you do make it up here pm me. My wife is from Powell and may like to chat with some folks from 'back home'.
Greg

Sounds good. Is she familiar with the spirits from the Koltiska Distillery in Sheridan? Do we need to bring a bottle?