Alaska Tour

[Eric Yould]

Feel happy that you are not flying to Fairbanks today -- a balmy -32F -- as along the Yukon and Kuskokwim River villages it is quite a bit colder today. June temperatures when you guys come up for your visit should be in the 60s and maybe 70s and later in the summer even the 80s.

 

[MTV]

Actually, in that part of the world (along the Yukon, Tanana and Koyukuk River drainages) the summer temps in late June/early July can get into the nineties and I've seen Fort Yukon at over 100 a number of times. But, the temps Eric mentioned are more common. The monsoon generally starts in the interior of Alaska around the middle of July. Rainy mornings, but sometimes decent flying in afternoons. Bring rain gear, and be patient. Good news is, at that time of year, if you get a late start, you can fly very late in good light.

MTV

 

[Floyd]

Here is some scenery at Icy Bay, to bad the sun was the wrong place on Landing but I wasn’t going to do it again for a better shot. Pucker factor was right up there. It is definitely something I will never forget.

 

[belloypilot]

Here is some scenery at Icy Bay, to bad the sun was the wrong place on Landing but I wasn’t going to do it again for a better shot. Pucker factor was right up there. It is definitely something I will never forget.

Wow! I guess that’s why I want to go to Alaska .

 

[belloypilot]

What route did you take to get to Icy Bay?

 

[dogday]

Floyd, was it the landing or all of the snow/ice that gave you the "Pucker" factor?

When I first started flying, I few over the Harding Ice Field in my 172 and it gave me the creeps: ~700 square miles of uninhabited snow and ice (1100 square miles if you include the glaciers). Flight was between Seward and Homer Alaska.

 

[Kent Wien]

Floyd, was it the landing or all of the snow/ice that gave you the "Pucker" factor?

When I first started flying, I few over the Harding Ice Field in my 172 and it gave me the creeps: ~700 square miles of uninhabited snow and ice (1100 square miles if you include the glaciers). Flight was between Seward and Homer Alaska.

I flew from Seward to Homer in a Twin Otter over the Harding Ice Field 28 years ago and couldn’t believe there weren’t a ton of companies offering sightseeing flights there from Anchorage. It’s absolutely stunning.

Went back last summer and found it’s just like I remembered it. One of my favorite places in Alaska.

 

[dogday]

I flew from Seward to Homer in a Twin Otter over the Harding Ice Field 28 years ago and couldn’t believe there weren’t a ton of companies offering sightseeing flights there from Anchorage. It’s absolutely stunning.

Went back last summer and found it’s just like I remembered it. One of my favorite places in Alaska.

Kent,
After reading your comment, I will fly over Harding again this summer and spend a little more time with detours to view more of its glaciers. It was 35 years ago when I last/first made the trip as a new pilot with less than 100 hours. I agree that the view of the ice field and its glaciers is spectacular and unforgettable. Perhaps what gave me the "creeps" was being a new pilot and suffering from imaginary engine sounds/roughness when there are no options for gliding to a hospitable area.

 

[Eric Yould]

The 700 sm Harding Ice field is great because of it's proximity to Anchorage. Yet, just the east of Icy Bay is the 1,500 sm Malaspina glacier and to the west is the 2,000 sm Bering glacier. Both of these glaciers, as well as Icy Bay, are fed by a several hundred miles long glacial field that flows out of the Chugach Mountains and beyond. Just flying this stretch is beyond words. If you want to explore glaciers while in Alaska, come to McCarthy in the Wrangell - St. Elias mountains. Plenty of low level flying and landing in the area, and yet it is the most glaciated area of North America and has 9 of the 16 highest mountains in North America.

 

[belloypilot]

The 700 sm Harding Ice field is great because of it's proximity to Anchorage. Yet, just the east of Icy Bay is the 1,500 sm Malaspina glacier and to the west is the 2,000 sm Bering glacier. Both of these glaciers, as well as Icy Bay, are fed by a several hundred miles long glacial field that flows out of the Chugach Mountains and beyond. Just flying this stretch is beyond words. If you want to explore glaciers while in Alaska, come to McCarthy in the Wrangell - St. Elias mountains. Plenty of low level flying and landing in the area, and yet it is the most glaciated area of North America and has 9 of the 16 highest mountains in North America.

Thanks for that, Eric. It will help me sell my recommended route to the team . Any advice on a good information source for back country strips we could visit? I’m sure there are plenty that aren’t on the sectionals.

 

[Eric Yould]

Thanks for that, Eric. It will help me sell my recommended route to the team . Any advice on a good information source for back country strips we could visit? I’m sure there are plenty that aren’t on the sectionals.

There are dozens of airstrips and places to camp out. Many like to set up tents right on the McCarthy airstrip. A few of the more popular sites can be found on the following: https://www.nps.gov/wrst/planyourvisit/upload/WRST airstrips and cabins poster.pdf


Seems like the Peavine site is most popular with pilots, (overnight cabins that you don't have to reserve) but they all are nice and easy to get into. My airstrip is on the North side of the Nizina River across from the May Creek airstrip and I could point you to some other sites. There are a couple of cool strips at the head of the Nizina River (Amphitheater and Doubtful) that don't have cabins but are nice destinations for camping.

You could learn more about the area from going to the Wrangell St. Elias NPS web site at: https://www.nps.gov/wrst/index.htm WRST is the largest national park in the US park system. It is known as a wilderness park and is about six times larger than Yellowstone, but gets only a fraction of the visitors. Where ever you land you will not see another person there (bring a sat phone just in case).

Avgas is available in McCarthy but you need to make arrangements in advance by talking to Laurie at 907-554-4498. You can also get self service fuel in Glennallen (PAGK). Best call sign for McCarthy is 15Z or PAMX.

 

[belloypilot]

Thanks, Eric. That’s enough to keep me too busy reading for a while. Very much appreciated.

 

[belloypilot]

If we can arrange to get fuel at McCarthy it would save us a stop after clearing at Northway. That would be a big help.

 

[belloypilot]

Does anyone have real world experience with XM weather reception in the Northway, McCarthy and Talkeetna areas? They don’t advertise satellite coverage in that area, but I know first hand you can get reception much further north than their coverage maps indicate. At least while airborne. A couple years back I was able to get reception north of Inuvik. About 70 N. I just don’t know how far west that extends. They don’t publish satellite imagery, and there is no weather radar up there, but just being able to get TAFs and METARs was helpful.

 

[Floyd]

To answer your questions first with the pucker factor, coming down over that glacier right into the fiord you had to keep your mind on flying instead of sightseeing. The scenery was amazing but the task at hand was terrifying.. Just no room for a mistake. We left Sterling and flew along the coast past Valdez then fuel in Cordova. Were able to get to our camping spot and back to Cordova for fuel next day.