Eight years ago my wife and i flew our Ercoupe to Alaska.
http://www.lordjoe.com. This year we are returning. I will post
messages periodically. This covers the trip from Seattle to Whitehorse
Yukon,
Traveling to Canada June 2008
After we found out that my wife had a job starting July 1, we decided
that it was time to take the rest of June as a vacation. The plan is
to fly our Ercoupe into Northern BC and perhaps Southern Alaska. The
first problem is weather. Seattle June, 08 was so bad that the Seattle
paper had a headline proclaiming that Seattle was colder than
Fairbanks Alaska, Colder then Frostbite Fall Minnesota, Colder than
Siberia. It was also wet, cloudy and miserable.
After looking at not great weather reports, after my wife had
muttered about a driving vacation, we postponed for day and chose the
best day in awhile. Not great but better then the rest of the week.
he predication was cloudy in the morning then improving except for the
destination, Port Hardy ad the northern edge of Vancouver Island which
promised light rain throughout the day. We went to airport to discover
that Paine Field, where I keep my plane was still IFR with low clouds.
Since Paine is on a plateau1), we could get a special clearance, take
off and at least have sane minima. We waited for an hour and that got
a special as the weather, especially to the North was clearing.
By the time we hit the San Juan Islands, the sun was shining. We had
flight following into Nanaimo, where we met Jeremy Howard. He has an
Ercoupe and has recently bought an RV. We chatted about flying in
Canada with him and a couple of buddies from the Nanaimo Flying Club.
We chatted for an hour or so and then decided to go on to Port Hardy.
We were briefed and warned about moderate turbulence and light rain in
the Port Hardy area.
We flew up the BC Coast staying under clouds at 2500 feet or so. We
passed Comox, a large military base, about 30 miles up the coast,
Campbell River. After Campbell River, the character of the trip
changed. The road went inland. The wide straight to the mainland
became a twisted web of narrow passages with a single channel heading
north. With higher ceilings, we might have gone up and flown direct.
Under the current conditions the best course was to stay over the
water following the channel. We flew east for about forth miles,
essentially perpendicular to the course. The country got a lot more
rugged. There were no roads, no habitation, no nothing. The passage is
just gorgeous. We passed two cruise ships heading the other way down
the passage. The sides descend several thousand feet without a break
into the coastal mountains. Wind sweeping down the valleys badly
tosses my light plane.
Finally, about 15 miles from the next airport we hit a slid sheet of
heavy rain. Visibility dropped to less than a mile. Shortly after
entering the rain we looked at each other and made a 180 degree turn
back to Campbell River. Back pas the cruise ships. Back past the
turbulence. Back 60 miles for Campbell river.
How does defeat affect a man? How, even knowing you have made the
correct choice, does it feel to turn back short of your goal. Why is
is so much more tiring to have almost made your goal than to have
flown twice as long and hard without incident
We landed at Campbell River, rented a car and a room and had a
well-deserved beer. We retired to the room with a bottle of Canadian
Merlot to watch the channel, right below the room. We watched the
cruise ships pass. We watched the barge loaded with logs pass. We will
look at the weather again tomorrow. It is not predicted to be good.
Saturday, after tomorrow is.
Friday June 13 We awakened to a glorious day. The sun was shining,
there were few clouds visible and over then, the tops of the coastal
range. We packed up and headed for the airport. There the briefing
offered no good news. To the north it was cloudy with light rain. To
the west there was little data and some evidence from reports at
Whistler that we would not be able to come down if we were to cross
the mountains. When we reached the other side the next day, we learned
that all cautions were overstated and we could easily have made it to
Anaheim Lake and on to Smithers.
As it was we decided that the best weather around was in Campbell
River. We found a lovely bed and breakfast on the beach, rerented the
car and went for a hike up the Campbell River. The power plant has
three large towers, they never say what for but they are several
hundred feet high and are topped with a large cylinder for holding water.
Saturday, the 14th was even nicer. Even without weather reports from
the interior, the satellite pictures showed that we could get over the
mountains and down. The last time I flew the Homatka River, I flew
under the clouds. This time I went up, over the clouds, over the
glaciers and the ice field. The view was spectacular, the ride smooth.
Somehow, Verna was troubled. She kept saying she felt safer the first
time when we were sheltered in the valley and could not contemplate
the vast majesty of the entire range.
We flew past a huge peak with a glacier in a U shaped valley
extending miles into the terrain below. Finally we dropped through a
valley to the high plain below. We landed at Anaheim Lake a fishing
camp and refueling station. Then there was the long flight across a
high plan with lakes, marshes and a lot of nothing. One thing was very
apparent from the air, the forests in middle BC are dying. The trees
have some kind of an infestation and a huge fraction of the evergreens
are brown and dying.
We eventually landed in Smithers BC having been tossed around for
several hours, Verna announced that we were spending a day on the
ground. It was a lot of fun. we rented a car and had a nice hike up
one of the mountains in the provincial park.
The next day we had two of the toughest legs on the trip. First we
flew the Cassiar highway from Smithers to Dease Lake. It is 270 miles
and while there are several airports on the route, none of then have
fuel (officially). The distance is well within the range of the coupe
assuming no headwinds and everything goes right. The route is clear
and you are following a road but the first third you are really not
flying directly toward your destination. I spend much of the trip
looking at the airspeed and the estimated time. Yes we had a modest
headwind. Yes we made it with lots of fuel to spare after three hours,
twenty minutes.
We got to Dease Lake and the folks came out of the FBO to take
pictures of the coupe. They were very nice and loaned us a van to
drive in to town for lunch. The next leg was shorter and should have
been a piece of cake except we spent the first 40 minutes arguing over
which valley we needed to follow. The last time we flew Dease Lake to
Whitehorse it was in the other direction and with no ceiling we dialed
in the GPS and flew over everything. This time there was a 6000 ft
ceiling so some navigation was needed. Eventually we found the right
valley. By the end of the trip we were dodging showers and one
thunderstorm. Fortunately the valley was a wide and we did not get wet.
By the time we got to Whitehorse it was time for another day on the
ground.
