Epic Alaska Adventure - Spring 2024

Leg 18 - 6/11/2024 - Watson Lake, YT (CYQH) to Dawson Creek, BC (CYDQ)

Leg Stats

• Time Enroute: 2.9 hrs
• Distance (direct): 381nm
• Distance (actual): 437nm
• Fuel Used: 35.4 gal

At Watson Lake, I sat in the terminal and studied the weather quite a bit. There is extremely minimal weather information along the route between Watson Lake and Dawson Creek. The forecast models called for the same ceilings to prevail all the way to Fort Nelson, and Fort Nelson (the only METAR available) was reporting quite acceptable VFR, with close to 5000 foot overcast. I did know that there was a chance of afternoon thunderstorms down in the Dawson Creek area, so I was keep to get going quickly. This would definitely be a more challenging passage than our first one, which was largely under blue skies and scattered clouds. Fortunately, although there are really no divert options, I noted from my careful study of the terrain that the Liard River valley is a quite low passage through the mountains, and the entire route is easily flown as low as 3000 feet if necessary. I decided it was doable so I filed our flight plan while Katherine and Magic waited in the airplane.

We quickly started up and departed. On opening our flight plan, FSS advised us of the forecast weather in Dawson Creek, which we were aware of. We made our turn to the east over the Watson Lake town, and started making our way down the valley.

The weather was much the same as what we saw on the leg to Watson Lake, if maybe slightly lower.

I watched all my terrain displays carefully (Hazard Advisor in ForeFlight is a great tool!), and I was relieved when we passed the last constricted area without issue.

Although we were now past the mountains, with the terrain descending ahead of us, I could tell that there was considerable cloudiness to our southeast.

This forced us to fly much further to the east than I had originally planned, and we encountered some large areas of light rain and lower visibility.

Being careful to remain well clear of terrain, I was able to find a way through, and I finally found a way south and into clearer weather and high overcast.

This weather had come as a surprise to me since the METARs at Fort Nelson (very near where we passed) continued to report good VFR with ceilings near 5000 feet and no rain throughout our passage, however these are the kinds of surprises that can happen when there is no weather radar over a vast area! Now that we were past Fort Nelson, we were beginning to enter an area where radar actually is available, so I fired up the Iridium GO! and took a look at the weather ahead, noting that the forecast afternoon showers did seem to be appearing as forecast.

Fortunately the storms stayed just south of Dawson Creek, so we were able to land before the rain made it there.

I fueled up and watched the rains move in.

I parked the plane where I had on our previous visit, and we decided to call a cab this time to get to a hotel rather than walk. By the time we got to the hotel, the rain had begun, so we just left Magic in her crate and got dinner and drinks across the street on our own. I was absolutely relived to be finished with the Alcan!

I had hoped that we would continue onwards to Vancouver the following day, but it became clear that the rainy weather would persist and prevent crossing the mountains to the Quesnel area. We ended up extending our stay in Dawson Creek, and we pretty much used the time to rest and recover in our hotel, going on only a few short walks, and getting Magic a new toy.

As we waited out the weather, I also managed to grab a photo of my airplane on the ramp at Dawson fromn the WX Camera.

The weather remained pretty poor for the duration of our stay, which confirmed my decision to stay put. The next leg would take us back across the Canadian Rockies towards the Vancouver area, which wouldn't happen with storms about.

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