Geico266
Well Known Member
Just got back from a 4 day trip to Alaska via the coastal route. Words or pictures cannot describe the raw beauty of the area. My Alaska trip was a dream come true for me, and knocked off #49 of the states. Hawaii is next.
The weather is always an issue going into Canada and Alaska as XM weather does not work there reliably. So you have to rely on good ol pilotage and experience.
The trip up was under 1,000 - 2500' ceilings, but over the water it is easy traveling for me. They don't put towers in the water, and there are good places to divert to in Canada if weather or fuel is an issue, or just reverse course.
The trip back was under sever clear. Simply amazing.
I wanted to make it non stop from Washington to Alaska so mission accomplished twice! An easy task for the RV-10.
The coast and inside passage are simply beautiful. Water falls, mountains, ocean, surf, tidal flows, fishing boats, whales. Past Ketchikan the scenery really gets pretty around Juneau and north. I flew over glaciers, and snow packed mountains melting in June's warm days.
On the way back after stopping at Bozeman for the night I decided to check out Yellow Stone also!
Approx 4,500 miles in 4 days. 32.5 hours on the Hobbs.
What was really cool is coming back today I was monitoring 122.75 and heard two guys talking about being at FL11.5. I asked them what they were flying and sure enough they were RV-7s! Both are avid VAF members! and they were returning from AK also! Too funny.
What a great trip. Nothing compared to Rosie's excellent adventures, but I'm trying to keep up!
*******************
Here is a link to the route I took via inside passage if you are interested. Launch point from Washington was Port Angles, KCLM for cheap fuel. Not a fancy place, but good folks for sure. Very helpful with travel tips and coast flying advice.
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0vsdB8xXOyElkzUILHj4DeQ5EWlyUxWK3
Link to Pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/102247913595773157652/AlaskaViaInsidePassage#
The weather is always an issue going into Canada and Alaska as XM weather does not work there reliably. So you have to rely on good ol pilotage and experience.
The trip up was under 1,000 - 2500' ceilings, but over the water it is easy traveling for me. They don't put towers in the water, and there are good places to divert to in Canada if weather or fuel is an issue, or just reverse course.
The trip back was under sever clear. Simply amazing.
I wanted to make it non stop from Washington to Alaska so mission accomplished twice! An easy task for the RV-10.
The coast and inside passage are simply beautiful. Water falls, mountains, ocean, surf, tidal flows, fishing boats, whales. Past Ketchikan the scenery really gets pretty around Juneau and north. I flew over glaciers, and snow packed mountains melting in June's warm days.
On the way back after stopping at Bozeman for the night I decided to check out Yellow Stone also!
Approx 4,500 miles in 4 days. 32.5 hours on the Hobbs.
What was really cool is coming back today I was monitoring 122.75 and heard two guys talking about being at FL11.5. I asked them what they were flying and sure enough they were RV-7s! Both are avid VAF members! and they were returning from AK also! Too funny.
What a great trip. Nothing compared to Rosie's excellent adventures, but I'm trying to keep up!
*******************
Here is a link to the route I took via inside passage if you are interested. Launch point from Washington was Port Angles, KCLM for cheap fuel. Not a fancy place, but good folks for sure. Very helpful with travel tips and coast flying advice.
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0vsdB8xXOyElkzUILHj4DeQ5EWlyUxWK3
Link to Pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/102247913595773157652/AlaskaViaInsidePassage#
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