Epic Alaska Adventure - Spring 2024
| << Leg 7 - Calgary, AB to Dawson Creek, BC | Trip Home | Leg 9 - Watson Lake, YT to Whitehorse, YT >> |
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Leg Stats
- Time Enroute: 2.8 hrs
- Distance (direct): 381nm
- Distance (actual): 409nm
- Fuel Used: 29.4 gal
On Saturday morning, we slept in a bit, and I looked again at the weather, which showed pretty acceptable cloud coverage, except some cloudiness in the mountains off our route. Fortunately it was also forecast to improve through the afternoon, giving us an opportunity to get all the way to Whitehorse.
It was good that things were trending in a good direction, because this would be the first leg over truly remote terrain, and there is absolutely no radar or official weather information along this route. (There are a handful of airports that report METARs and a couple TAFs available, but this is next to useless in the mountains, where weather can differ from valley to valley) What few WX Cameras I could find for the route also indicated fairly good weather, with blue sky evident in the photos in many places and only scattered clouds. We packed up and made the long walk to the airport (not so fun lugging all our stuff) and got ready to go.
The first portion of the leg as far as Fort Nelson was relatively un-interesting and un-eventful, as there isn't a ton of scenery on the prairies.
After we turned left to enter the Liard River valley, there was a definite feeling of adventure, since we were now really entering the mountains. The terrain is beautiful and the beauty only increases the further west you fly.
There turned out to be a few showers along the route, but they were easily avoided, and like the entire Alcan, it is easily transited at only 5500 or 6500ft, well below the clouds in most cases.
I got a few useful PIREPs from pilots flying eastbound on the Alcan that informed me it was very passable weather all the way to Whitehorse. Soon, Watson Lake was in sight, and we setup for a downwind and landed.
We taxied to the self-serve pump and fueled up, and I was careful not to top off because I wanted flexibility on weight for our upcoming legs, which might involve higher performance takeoffs. We checked out the very cool time capsule that is the Watson Lake airport, which has a decaying WW2-era airplane hangar, and a vacant terminal building straight out of the 1950s.
The only person in evidence was the radio operator for the Community Aerodrome Radio Station, which is something like a quasi-FSS, however he didn't come out to say hello. Looking at the old WW2-era hangar that I had previously only seen in my research, it was starting to sink in that we were really doing this. We were now a long way from home, and in the Yukon Territories, which sounds far away and is!
Leg Photos
Trip Leg Navigation
<< Leg 7 - Calgary, AB to Dawson Creek, BC
