Day 2 of our Skytrekk

We pitched our tent last night in the campground at the Whitehorse airport.  We woke up to a beautiful clear blue sky overlooking the runways.  Unreal – this is such a cool place to wake up (that is if you are a pilot, the jets started roaring early).  We met a great couple, Troy & Sara, who were also on a skytrekk.  They had flown all the way from Florida and were on their way to Alaska.  We got caught up exchanging stories and it was really nice to learn about their adventures and share some tips and tricks amongst each other.  After a late breakfast we fueled up and headed out.  We left Whitehorse just before 12n.

The weather was looking good for the Cassiar route, so we headed to Dease Lake for fuel and our next planned stop was going to be Smithers.  It was Scott’s leg; we trade back and forth. Not long after Dease we hit what Scott referred to as “looking into the heart of darkness”.  A thunderstorm cell closed the pass .  Lightning, thunder – the works!  We turned back and landed at Bob Quinn lake.  A young man heard us self-announcing in the pattern and met us to provide fuel.  He also gave me a ride up the road a few miles to a payphone where I called Kamloops (equivalent of the FAA’s flight service) to revise our flight plan and get a weather briefing.  We were advised the ban of cells (which were not reported earlier) was moving to the north. This was good news to us, so we sat at the gravel strip and waited out the thunderstorm which passed within an hour.  Having topped off with gas we were able to revise our route and go mostly direct to Prince George.  We cut over to the lower part of the trench and shaved about an hour off our time making up for the weather delay.

We landed around 10:00 PM in Prince George, called a taxi and booked a room.  All of the restaurants nearby were closed so we headed to the local casino for a birthday drink.  We met a couple there – and the strangest thing – the wife was celebrating her birthday too.  What are the odds?  So, dinner was a hot dog from the casino snack bar.  Believe it or not, I consider it one of the best birthday dinners ever! 

Home sweet home in Whitehorse - this is not the view overlooking the airport (which was killer!!)

Departing Whitehorse

There are SO MANY lakes in Canada!!

Dease Lake

Fueling at Bob Quinn before the TS passed through

Sitting through the thunderstorm - glad to be on the ground.

Waiting on weather - aviation acronym = WOW

Skies cleared after the ban of thunderstorms passed.

A few more isolated cells - it looks worse than it is.

Lakes, lakes and more lakes in Canada.

Sunset around 10:00 PM ish on final

Prince George

Scott actually had the "39" candles ready.  I'll reuse them when I am 93.

Not our exact route - we cut out Smithers and went direct to Prince George.

Day 1 - June 29, 2013

Although Sunday June 30^th was looking like the most probable departure day we were able to get organized to leave on June 29^th (our preferred day anyway).  We spent most of the day on last minute preparations, which was perfect because the weather was marginal in the Copper River Valley until about the time we flew through.  We left Merrill just at 4pm and were pitching our tent in Whitehorse by 1:30 AM local (12:30 AM ADT).  The flight was uneventful with the exception of some marginal VFR weather after leaving Beaver Creek.  The weather got nicer and nicer as we approached Whitehorse and we enjoyed a midnight (really) sunset just as we approached Whitehorse.  I couldn’t have asked for anything more – it was a perfect birthday present to land in Whitehorse just after midnight.

   

FOR PILOTS: 

• When you file eAPIS online, make sure your port of entry matches the final destination on your flight plan. 
• You can file your flight plan with the FAA when departing the US.  The FAA will then hand off your flight plan to CANPASS.  CANPASS expects your flight plan to terminate at your port of entry.  Upon arrival into Canada you are expected to notify the Telephone Reporting Center (TRC) of the arrival of your aircraft. GOOGLE my friend.  
• CBSA may choose to pay you a visit or they may issue you a clearance/report number over the phone.
• You will then need to close your flight plan with CANPASS.  A new plan should then be activated for any additional travel.
• In Canada, at airports with a control tower the controller will automatically activate your flight plan on departure and close your flight plan on arrival.
•  There is one BIG note of difference between US and Canada flight plan filing, which is, in Canada when you call and file your flight plan it is essentially open.  If you don’t depart they will come looking for you.  If you cancel or delay your departure call them!
• While airborne in Canada you can contact Flight Information Services Enroute (FISE) for any updates to your flight plan or receive weather briefings.  RCO’s – don’t seem to be listed on the sectionals.  They are listed in the Canada Flight Supplement (CFS).  Reception is limited at best in mountainous terrain.
•  I highly recommend purchasing the CFS. This is a great bible with lots of information!
• Don’t depend on cell phone service.  In addition, not all airports have payphones on the field.  Instead of submitting flight plans for each landing we just filed one long flight plan per day with extra time for fuel stops and weather contingency.  That way, we were not trying to open/close flight plans via radio with FISE while in mountainous terrain
•  Don’t plan on walking into a flight service station.  Previously (several years ago) the Canadian FSS’s pretty much had an open door policy.  It is my understanding due to budget cuts they are required to direct pilots to their toll free telephone service.  They are also limited on volunteering information.  If a briefer asks you “is there anything else I can help you with” that is your queue to ask for whatever you wish.  They are willing to help – they simply need a ‘request’ from the pilot in lieu of offering all of their trade secrets.  

Getting Ready - check!

Traveling takes planning and flying private out of country with limited fueling locations takes much more planning than usual.  In addition to our 'paper' planning we had to update our GPS with Canadian Topo and add several charts to our other tools such as Foreflight.  Completing US and Canadian customs & border patrol paperwork was a little added extra work but not difficult at all.  We also had to get an endorsement to our insurance coverage for the aircraft.  Liability insurance is required to fly through Canada.

Kaylee says, "I am not going on this trip - it's too long!"

Did I mention Scott's birthday is coming up too?  His birthday is July 8th the day after we are supposed to return home.  That leaves very little time for me to go shopping while we are trying to make our way along hundreds of miles south.  We decided to get each other new sleeping bags for the trip.

So, we are nearly ready.

• Flight planning - CHECK
• Travel documents & paperwork - CHECK
• Housekeeper/dogsitter - CHECK (thanks Trevor!!)
• Birthday presents - CHECK
• Wine - CHECK
• An aircraft equipped for density altitude??  - Questionable.

A birthday to remember

For some strange reason I decided it would be a fun to fly our 1976 Cessna 172N from our home base in Anchorage, AK to the South Lake Tahoe area where Scott's family has a home on the Nevada side of the lake.  I've been talking about it for quite some time and now I finally have a break in my work schedule which allows the journey.  While this idea was not initially received very well by Scott, he seems to be on board now (no pun intended) and perhaps a bit excited too.

Logistically this trip will be a bit on the strange side.  For reasons too long to elaborate on, we are planning to fly the aircraft down to the Lake Tahoe area and park it in a hangar.  We will then fly commercially back to Anchorage.  In mid July we will return to South Lake Tahoe to enjoy an already scheduled summer holiday and hopefully some great flying in the nearby area.  At the end of our short holiday we will return to Alaska in the plane.  We think.  Mother nature will ultimately decide when and where we go.

Landing and taking off at South Lake Tahoe is a bit dicey in our 150 hp machine, so we decided we would plan on parking the plane at the nearby Carson airport instead.  The elevation of Carson is 4,705' vs. South Lake Tahoe at 6,269'.  Because of the heat and elevation, density altitude issues are a concern for our little bug smasher.

We hope to leave Anchorage on June 30th depending on weather and last minute packing, provisioning and planning.  June 30th happens to be my birthday.  Regardless of how this trip plays out (we all know they never go as planned) it seems this may be a birthday I won't likely forget.