Day 21, June 25, 2010 (Friday)
Leaving Iliamna early in the morning, cut through a narrow canyon east of Iliamna lake and reach the coast line (advised by a guy at FBO), this is a tight canyon, not sutible for faster airplane.
I encounter low clouds along the lake and canyon a few minutes after departure, I flew a few hundred feet along Iliamna lake, the Wx didn't clear up until I reached the other side of the canyon, the bay was right in front of me when I come out of the canyon. A little bit cloudy, but gradually shows some blue in the sky when I go further north. I cruise along the coast line, see beautiful beaches, some sutible for landing, there is a famous beach call "Dry Bay", it's a popular place for bush landing and finshing, Beautiful scenery all the way north.
I was going to follow the coast line and stay on the west side of Cook Inlet, but it was cloudy west of Anchorage, so I ammended my flight plan and cut across cook inlet to Kenai airport, then fly direct to Portage pass, the Wx forecast was good on the route, 5 knots westerly wind at Turnagain Bay. I encounter low clouds when come near the bay, I stay as high as possible to cross the channel, then fly north over Palmer, then head east toward Gulkana.
The following pictures were taken from Lake Clark National forest coast line
Iliamna Vocano, 10016 feet
There are many nice beaches to land on this coast line and many places to watch bear
Another view of Illiamna Vocano, 10016 feet.
I landed at Sheep Mountain gravel strip to wait for the Wx, the pass was closed, low clouds, I had lunch at Sheep Mountain lodge, borrowed their phone to call CANPASS for border crossing, and filed eAPIS to U.S. Customs (they have wi-fi service) and call Bellingham to confirm my arrival.
Sheep Mountain gravel strip, landed due to the Wx. The blue sky you see is to the west, the terrain goes higher on the east side, the clouds are touching the ground to the East, the pass is closed. The airport elevation is 2750 feet.
Sheep Mt. Lodge and Restaurant
Two hours later, the pass open again, I was able to proceed to the east, stopped Gulkana for fuel, then landed at Northway to adjust the border crossing timing. At 17:00 I arrived at Beaver Creek, Yukon, Canada.
I met Randy at Beaver Creek (Port of Entry), he loan me his cellphone to call CANPASS to clear the Customs. He lives in Anchorage, has a Super Cub on tundra tires, but he is taking his Cessna 152 to Monterey California for spot finishing. He decides to travel through Yukon Trench with me, this will be his first time going through the Trench.
I took a few nice pictures of Kluane Lake and rainbow on the way to Whitehorse.
The rainbow isn't a random shot, I slow the airplane down, open the window, fly parallel to the rainbow, wait till the best angle and take the perfect shot.
Kluane Lake, Yukon, Canada
Kluane Lake, Yukon, before Haines Junction
Randy and I arrived at Whitehorse around 9PM, all hotel were booked, there is an event going on in the town, ATC actually advised me before landing. After the dinner, I went to SKKY hotel to use their Wi-Fi, I still have their code from last year. Since there is no room available, Randy and I decided to camp out at the airport. It starts to rain after dinner, we both end up sleeping in our own airplane.
I asked Randy about any close call during his flying career while having dinner at the restaurant, he did have some nerve breaking moments in the past. One of the oppotunity to meet bush pilot here is to learn something from them, they can tell you more stories than any pilot down at the lower 48 states. Every body knows airplane, seems like they all grew up with airplane.