Chicago to Alaska via Piper Arrow

Fantastic! Looking forward to the writeup and lots of pictures. :)
 
Have you flown in Alaska before? I’ve always wanted to go and will right before I need a drool cup
 
First time, I’d like to find a camping spot near a river, do some fly fishing, build a camp fire, cook and eat it. Not sure where or what it’s like, learning experience, never really went fishing before (except as a child).

Current plan is
KUGN-Y19-KGTF-KCLM-PAKT

Then re-evaluate based upon weather.
 
Can your Arrow make 530 nm in one leg from Port Angeles, WA to Ketchikan? Many stop at Port Hardy, BC (north end of Vancouver Island) for fuel. That shortens the last leg by 200+ nm. Got the few runways between Vancouver Island and Ketchikan identified?
 
mandm said:
I’d like to find a camping spot near a river, do some fly fishing, build a camp fire, cook and eat it.
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Just a few suggestions to think about.

There will be a fairly good chance you will attract the bears by cooking near the river. Don't store food in your plane. The bears know they are the king of the woods and you are lower on the food chain.

For bear protection I carried magnesium flares. Magnesium flares are effective because they affect more than one of the bear's senses – sight, smell and hearing. I never used one but a few folks that did told me Mr. Bear left the area immediately after the flare was lit.

On the other side, I spent a little time in Alaska and never got eaten by a bear. Might of soiled my trousers a couple times, but never eaten...

It will be a fun trip. Don't forget the pictures.!!
 
Zeldman said:
On the other side, I spent a little time in Alaska and never got eaten by a bear. Might of soiled my trousers a couple times, but never eaten...
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Why on earth did the bears even try to wear your trousers?

I’m looking forward to the follow-up on this trip. I’ve wanted to go to Alaska forever but I never do because of decision paralysis about where to go. Having a plane there would help with some of that by letting me go more places in one trip north.

To the OP: Your planned legs are pretty long, especially in an Arrow and over the Rockies. If you shorten them a bit, I think KCFE usually has cheap avgas and a courtesy car. Y19 is a good stop for the same reasons. I can’t speak to the rest of the trip as you’re going farther west at this latitude than I have to date. Good luck, we’re all counting on you.
 
Michael, there might be a few useful tidbits garnered by skimming this 9-part series 2021 Alaska tour:
(we were in a similar-speed aircraft, 285hp C182)
Happy to help with any questions,
Wayne

BTW, on an earlier (i.e. 2017) attempt of Seattle area -to- Ketchikan, we planned a fuel stop on Port Hardy (CYZT). When we arrived at Port Hardy we shot the approach to 200' AGL... no trees below, nada, nada. So we went missed, abandoned Alaska on that tour, turned back, and went to Idaho instead. Moral of that story: don't depend on Port Hardy.
 
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I’ve done a 4.5hr leg before in the Arrow (not entirely the most enjoyable), and I put in the UGN-Y19 leg (615nm) more as an endurance test point for the KCLM-PAKT leg (~531-556nm). I’m going to have to lean up the mixture and run at economy cruise to add extra reserves. POH shows range at 675-750SM plus 45m reserves at sea level, increases slightly with higher DA.

I’ll have foreflight with ADSB-in and have identified airports en-route on the KCLM-PAKT leg which are not many, also planning to fly more coastal, will keep an eye on cruise ships and fisherman boats along the way.

Weather is looking ok right now up to PAKT then will have to re-evaluate. I am IFR equipped but prefer to keep this VFR.
 
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I've done the trip twice from Vermont, and had to turn around on a third try. (See this link if interested.) Bear attacks are rare but very gruesome when they do occur. We took powerful pepper spray (my cousin was attacked by a grizzly) and stored it in a PVC threaded tube for the flights, and also carried a shotgun with flare shells and rifled slugs with the theory that we'd try to scare him away first then hope the rifled slugs would work if not. Of course, we never got attacked but we were also very careful not to carry any food in the aircraft, even though we had originally planned to do our own cooking for much of the time.

I felt very safe flying up the Alcan, with continuous road beneath me for emergency landing if needed. Of course that won't apply if your destination is Ketchikan, but that coast is pretty rugged. Is Ketchikan your final destination or just a stop on the way further into the state?
 
mandm said:
I am IFR equipped but prefer to keep this VFR.
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IFR is almost useless for most of the state unless you have de-icing and in some cases even a second engine . . .

Most MEAs are well into freezing levels, and you would also miss a lot of the scenery.
 
I vote strongly for the Alcan Highway route. The coastal route has much more risk of zero zero conditions at you refueling pints and leaves no in range alternate. I have gone to Alaska on a cruise ship, and fog was not unusual, and for a day at a time. To see the coastal regions, a ship is the way to go. The ferries are a low budget choice.

I have driven the Alcan, and have planned to fly it, but weather was too unpredictable to make the trip. The drive in a camper was pleasant, the fogs were tolerated in campgrounds, and I rented planes after arrival.

A notable fight from Fairbanks, for 2 days, the visibility conditions were too poor to start, the 3rd day, ground fog burned off just after noon, we flew to Central, Circle, and Eagle in great visibility, at low altitude, but a gathering of overcast well above us. Departing Eagle, the pass through the high mountains ahead of us was barely useable, there were low clouds in the pass, falling from the previous report. We climbed IFR through the clouds to nearly twice the height of the pass, and proceeded direct. Fairbanks was still clear at arrival.

We spent 3 weeks total on 2 trips, and found the weather changeable in large amounts, from day to day, and within a day, hour to hour. The last week of June, we had 2 inches of snow just a hundred miles north of Anchorage, and the first week of September, we had a quarter inch of snow in Fairbanks.

An hour of reserve is marginal and two is just fair on the coast and in the mountains along the west coast. Reserve is less up the Alcan. After driving the Alcan, I realized that there are very few real options to landing on the highway.

Be sure that you contact your insurer to determine that your insurance covers the Canadian and Alaska portions of the trip. Some do not, but give you better rates.

I would still love to fly to Alaska, but renting after arriving is more practical in many ways.
 
Some website recommendations that you should be learning before you go: https://weathercams.faa.gov/ and https://www.windy.com/. I'm assuming you have https://www.foreflight.com/ .

Just remember your greatest friend when traveling throughout the North Country especially the coast is PATIENTS. The most common mistake we see in pilots traveling Alaska is 'sticking to a schedule'. The pilots who live up there have memorized every square mile of the territory they operate in. Following pilots or asking them for weather reports can get you in scary trouble. :confused:

Make every leg of your trip a sightseeing leg. If the forecast is not giving good ceilings hold out and enjoy the place you're at. There's so much to see and do in the smallest of communities. Most the communities still use the bars, coffee shops and restaurants for keeping up with the local news and events. The locals like to brag about their home and will share fishing holes and hiking trails information. There's a lot of very interesting history in every little corner of Alaska. Look into the past transportation, mining, fishing, logging, native culture, military, oil and natural disasters of the area. Always plenty to do while waiting on good sightseeing weather for your next leg. ⛅
 
Originally I was going to take a slow route to Alaska with some longer/more stopovers along the way, but now the goal is to get as far as I can, then work my way back. I have almost a month for this, and of course if due to weather then I will stay as long as needed.
 
Let me know the detailed route you end up taking and what you learn along the way as a Midwesterner covering new territories!

That's a true bucket list item for me and my arrow as well :)
 
mandm said:
Originally I was going to take a slow route to Alaska with some longer/more stopovers along the way, but now the goal is to get as far as I can, then work my way back. I have almost a month for this, and of course if due to weather then I will stay as long as needed.
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It's quite possible that starting in Chicago the Alcan route would actually be faster when all is said and done. I think you have many more "outs" along the way, and that's critical when making this kind of trip.

geezer said:
I vote strongly for the Alcan Highway route. The coastal route has much more risk of zero zero conditions at you refueling pints and leaves no in range alternate.
<snip>
After driving the Alcan, I realized that there are very few real options to landing on the highway.
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There are certainly parts of the Alcan that aren't terribly suitable for an emergency landing, but IMHO that beats NO suitable places to land along the rocky ocean coast with few if any so-called beaches. I'm told that even in a float plane you risk flipping in ocean swells and or being destroyed by the surf and rocks as you drift ashore.

My recollection of the highway is that most of it looked somewhat like this - long stretches of roadway but not much on the sides.

Alaska105w.jpg
 
And with respect to getting there quickly the direct non-stop route to Northway isn't much different than what you'd be flying with stops anyway. Flying from Vermont to Anchorage on our first trip, the highest we had to fly was over the Adirondacks in New York. The highest point on the Alcan is only 4250 feet MSL, and it's even lower if you bypass Summit Pass and fly through the adjacent Liarrd River Valley (although there's no road there).

Clipboard01.jpg
 
We did the first night in Edmonton. Thence Prince George and Ketchikan. the inland strait is beautiful- Baranoff Island.....If you get there prior to Aug 1 the chance of zero-zero moving is in quite small. After Aug 1- not so much.
 
For those who are following, tail number is N7645J.
 
Did the AlCan highway several years ago. Was a great trip
 
+1 for Alcan route.
Done it 5 times now, and the weather is always better along the Alcan than in Southeast. Plus there’s a highway to follow.

—kath who is currently is South Dakota after flying the Alcan.
Will be heading back in July.
 
I totally agree with @dbahn about the uncertainty concerning the Coastal route. It's IMHO advisable if and only if on the morning of the departure the entire coastal route is pretty darn CAVU or at least high ceilings. Alcan or Trench routes seem higher probabilities.
Wayne
 
We flew back through the Trench, which was awful. The scenery in the adjacent forest was massively clear cut and the lake was littered with abandoned logs, many still floating in the lake. It's also a long distance between fuel availability along that route.

The flight from Prince George to Calgary was much nicer, but it would have been better to have been allowed to land at Banff.
 
Zeldman said:
Just a few suggestions to think about.

There will be a fairly good chance you will attract the bears by cooking near the river. Don't store food in your plane. The bears know they are the king of the woods and you are lower on the food chain.

For bear protection I carried magnesium flares. Magnesium flares are effective because they affect more than one of the bear's senses – sight, smell and hearing. I never used one but a few folks that did told me Mr. Bear left the area immediately after the flare was lit.

On the other side, I spent a little time in Alaska and never got eaten by a bear. Might of soiled my trousers a couple times, but never eaten...

It will be a fun trip. Don't forget the pictures.!!
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I get that if you have filet mignon in your plane a bear is happy to create a huge hole in about one second, but what about prepackaged food? Or food removed two months ago? Or semi food items like chewing gum or cough drops? If it’s ever been through human trash then everything is a problem?
 
Timbeck2 said:
Hey I’m still trying to figure out how to cook and eat a campfire :dunno:
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I don't like spicy foods, either.
Randomskylane said:
I get that if you have filet mignon in your plane a bear is happy to create a huge hole in about one second, but what about prepackaged food? Or food removed two months ago? Or semi food items like chewing gum or cough drops? If it’s ever been through human trash then everything is a problem?
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We decided to not have ANY of those items. All we carried for survival food was peanut butter in sealed jars. Bears have a tremendous sense of smell and are not particularly finnicky about what they eat.
 
Randomskylane said:
I get that if you have filet mignon in your plane a bear is happy to create a huge hole in about one second, but what about prepackaged food? Or food removed two months ago? Or semi food items like chewing gum or cough drops? If it’s ever been through human trash then everything is a problem?
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We carried a 90 pound, or 70 pound, I forget which, survival bag with prepackaged food. I never heard of anyone having bear problems with that. However the planes usually weren't on the ground for very long in the bush villages. Weather would move in occasionally and some of the planes would be caught out in villages for up to 5 days and no bear problems.

There were a few charters I did where I got hungry and opened up some survival food.... :vomit:


https://k0lee.com/2010/01/bear-chews-up-plane-duct-tape-to-the-rescue/
 
mandm said:
Completed
1) KUGN-Y19 615nm 40gal fuel (4.75/gal)
Decent FBO with a shower
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Welcome to North Dakota! How did the long leg go for you?
 
It was long, my longest flight to date, uneventful, but was a bit hot. I probably should have flown a bit higher, especially going into the afternoon temps really came up.
 
En route to Great Falls KGTF, some weather along the way but phone reception at 8500’.
 
Completed
1) KUGN-Y19 615nm 40gal fuel (4.75/gal)
Decent FBO with a shower

2) Y19-KGTF 430nm 34gal fuel (6.95/gal)
Staying the night in Great Falls
 
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When I flew to Alaska from Seattle in 2018 with a couple of friends, I planned 3 routes. One along the coast, one through the "trench" or Fraser River Valley, and another further east along the AlCan highway. The coast route has long legs and is unforgiving, requiring cooperation from winds & weather that didn't happen. So we flew out along the trench, and on the way back flew a mix of AlCan and trench.
Detailed trip log.
 
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