ROUTE YAKUTAT TO CORDOVA
SCROLL DOWN FOR PAGE CONTENT
The following webpage is again presented by days of the trip and with further breakdown into the flight landing legs. As indicated on Page 1, the trip was routed up the coast to Yakutat with intent to explore the status of property they own at Icy bay and afterward to continue up the coast to Prince William Sound and then inland to Talkeetna and Farewell Lake. The return route was first directed inland to visit Dawson City In the Yukon Territory and then return to the coast near Prince Rupert via the Casiar Highway. This provided the option of diverting inland if coastal weather was not friendly at the time of their return.
Again, most of the photos were taken from inside the plane and the fidelity is effected by the windshield which presents some reflective discoloration and streaks. Also, the images have been reduced in size and memory to provide for reduced downloading time. In spite of the reduced photo memory size, download may take a while. The original photos have been reduced to 900 pixel width size and further reduced for page display to 450 pixel width.
To view any of the photos at the higher 900 resolution increased size, click on the photo. You will have to use your 'BACK' key to return to the webpage program.
TRIP LOG AND PHOTOS
PAGE 2
DAY 5
YAKUTAT TO TALKEETNA
September 9, 2010
On Thursday, September 9, David and Bill took off from Yakutat and headed north, flying direcly across Yakutat Bay as fog precluded flying within reach of the shoreline. After crossing the bay,they proceeded along the shoreline past the moraine of the Malaspina Glacier which is the largest piedmont glacier in the world; about 35 miles across. They had hoped to make another pass by the Chaix Hills but fog and low clouds forced them to proceed across Icy Bay and to follow the beach past Yakataga and the Bering Glacier. As they approached Kayak Island and Cape St. Elias they were able to turn inland across the Copper River Delta toward the Cordova (Mud Hole Smith) Airport. Upon landing, they found that 100LL gasoline was not available and they had to fly to the Cordova Municipal airstrip, a gravel strip 8 miles further alongside the highway and Eyak Lake; adjacent to the city of Cordova. 100LL fuel was available at the floatplane dock and the hose reached up to the gravel road at the end of the airstrip.
After refueling at Cordova,they proceeded across Prince William Sound. They flew over Hawkins Island and across the sound to Eleanor Island. The weather was improving and they flew above the lower clouds directly toward Kenai They descended near Cooper Landing to the Kenai river and flew directly to the Kenai Airport. After refueling they had an excellent lunch at the airport cafe. (Bill said his milkshake was the finest he had ever had!).
From Kenai, they flew across Cook Inlet and the Susitna flats past Mt. Susitna to Talkeetna, where they were met by Dean and Joanne Young who have a summer home residence nearby in the Montana Creek area. Before proceeding to the Young's home , they stopped for dinner at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge which is a n outstanding deluxe resort with an excellent restaurant (Foraker Room) and the lodge has a fabulous view of Mt. McKinley.
The Youngs have a super Alaska home with outstanding view of Mt. McKinley. They have a very nice guest cabin where Dave and Bill stayed overnight.Their home enjoys commercial power, satellite TV and a DSL telephone connection. They have done a great job in furnishing their home for the Alaska environment. This was the third visit that Bill and David had made to their home.
Total distance flown during the day was about 430 miles in 4 hours flyig time.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
CORDOVA MUNICIPAL (PCKU) | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
TALKEETNA GUEST CABIN |
|
 |
 |
DAY 6
TALKEETNA TO GLENALLEN
September 10, 2010
The Youngs served a fine breakfast and took Dave and Bill to the airport for an early start on Friday, September 10. The weather was beautiful with not a cloud in the sky. After fueling they took off heading for Rainy Pass and Farewell Lake where Bill had guided for Dall Sheep and Grizzly during his vacations while working in the early Alaskan oil operations during the late 1950's and 1960's. The flight over Rainy Pass rekindled memories of those days.
After passing Rainy Pass and the Rhone cabin they were shocked to see miles of recent forest fire burned area. The real shock came when they reached the site of Farewell Lake Lodge where the fire had burned all of the buildings to the ground. After several passes over the ashen ruins they decided not to land at either the old guide strip or the Tin Creek airstrip and turned back over Rainy Pass and Rainy Pass Lodge heading for Palmer just north of Anchorage.
The flight over the Susitna valley was uneventful but both were impressed with all the housing expansion that has occured in the past 50 years since they lived in Alaska. After refueling at the Palmer Airport, the manager of Alaska Air Academy kindly loaned them a car to drive to town for lunch. While waiting on their luncheon they were reviewing charts when the waitress expressed interest and returned with the owners wife. Her husband has just purchased a Cessna 180 in California and flown it back to Alaska. They had quite a discussion and a very enjoyable lunch.
After reviewing several alternate routes, Dave and Bill decided to head for Dawson City before turning back south. For route they chose to fly up the the Glenn Highway route to the Glennallen/ Gulkana Airport. The weather was still beautiful and the route is quite scenic as it follows the Matanuska river with the Talkeetna Mountains on the north side and the Chugach mountains to the south. As they were leaving the Palmer airport , Bill oticed two C82 type aircraft which in the 1960's were operated by Bob sholton and Carson and which Bill had chartered for his company for north slope freight hauls.
About halfway the route passes the Matanuska Glacier followed by Sheep Mountain where they spotted several Dall sheep basking near the mountain summit..
At Gulkana they called for a hotel in Glennallen about 15 miles away. A man (Park Criner), came to pick them up who turned out to be a most interesting and entertaining man. He owns nearly all the business buildings in Glennallen, including the hotel, restaurant, bank building, grocery store building,etc.and does the airport pickups for enjoyment of meeting people and talking about flying . Most interesting was that he knew Bill's next door neighbor through a long time business relationaship. He also provided transport to the airport the following morning. they also found the Caribou hotel to offer very good accomodations.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
LODGE DESTROYED BY FOREST FIRE | |
 |
 |
LODGE DESTROYED BY FOREST FIRE |
LODGE DESTROYED BY FOREST FIRE |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
TWO C82'S PARKED AT STRIP END | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
DAY 7
GLENNALLEN TO DAWSON CITY, YUKON TERRITORY
September 11, 2010
On the morning of September 11, after waiting for fog to clear, Park Criner drove Bill and Dave to the Gulkana airport. They fueled the airplane and departed for Tok, Alaska. (Tok Junction Airport 6K8). After the fog cleared , flight conditions were excellent. While at Tok, Bill looked at a couple of Piper PA12's which brought back nostalgic memories since he had owned a highly modified PA12 in the 1960's while in Alaska.
They took off and flew directly to Dawson City airport which is about 10 miles up the river from Dawson City. No other airplanes were seen along the way. Not many touring planes were still in the region as morning temperatures were beginning to drop to freezing level.
Again the hotel sent another interesting man to pick them up. On the way to the Eldorado Holtel he drove around town pointing out various sites and relating their history. Upon reaching the hotel, he refused a tip , and advised that he again was the owner of the hotel. He also took Dave and Bill to the airport the following morning.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
   on the following envelope:   This page and the other associated pages covering the Alaska 2010 adventure have been assembled by Bill Whitney for his personal pleasure and the possible enjoyment of his friends and visitors. There is no commercial intent and viewers utilize any information presented herein at their own risk. |