Epic Alaska Adventure - Spring 2024
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Leg Stats
- Time Enroute: 2 hrs
- Distance (direct): 172nm
- Distance (actual): 262nm
- Fuel Used: 21.7 gal
Towards the later part of the week in Juneau I began to think about where we would head next, and I decided that we would go directly to McCarthy. I had originally intended we would tent camp at McCarthy airstrip, however I decided I would rather not risk meeting any bears with no bear defenses, so I decided we would stay in some cabins. But first, we would make a trip up the coast! Originally I was still hoping to make a stop in Skagway for lunch. On Friday, the weather was beautifully clear all along the coast.
Unfortunately for my ambitions of stopping in Skagway, the wind was out of the north, which would have meant departing Skagway into the fjord and executing a very challenging VFR departure and a tight 180 turn in the fjord.
I decided this was not worth the risk unless we went with very minimal fuel to stay light. That would then mean a return trip to Juneau, because there was no other source of 100LL until Yakutat. That would realistically take half the day and entail another trip into the hornet's nest which is PAJN, so I decided we would skip it. I checked the WX Cameras and they confirmed the forecast model was correct, the weather was brilliant. We would depart and head up Lynn Canal to make a scenic tour of Glacier Bay.
We departed Juneau and set out on our first of several scenic flights of the day.
As planned, we headed up Lynn Canal and entered into Glacier Bay via the low terrain of the Endicott River.
The scenery on the way into the bay is beautiful...
As the name would suggest, there are glaciers everywhere!
We flew up and back, taking in the sights. There were several cruise ships in the bay doing some glacier sightseeing. It was truly spectacular, and I can see why it is so popular with tour flights and cruise ships.
After we were done with Glacier Bay, I climbed up to fly over Brady Glacier towards the coast.
The coast north of Juneau is quite beautiful, with nonstop very tall mountains (some rising above 15,000ft) and many, many glaciers.
The coast is also much better for flying, as it offers flat beaches and emergency landing options all the way to Cordova.
Immediately on landing in Yakutat (which has a very bumpy concrete sectioned runway, unfortunately), we were met at the fuel pump by the very friendly couple that runs the place and offered fresh baked chocolate chip cookies!
There is not much in Yakutat, but there is a lodge and restaurant attached to the airport itself, which I checked out briefly. Katherine and I had packed a picnic lunch for the day, so we elected to sit with Magic by the airplane in the beautiful sunny weather and have our lunch and some cookies.
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