Alaska: flying mountains, glaciers & ocean

Some years ago I flew my old ’69 Cessna T337 up to Alaska—with both of my sons along—for a month of airplane exploring and camping.  We departed Driggs (KDIJ) and flew up to Victoria, CA on Vancouver Island, where we spent a couple of days as tourists.  From Vancouver Island, we flew up the BC coast to Ketchikan, AK, where the fishing was phenomenal.   From Ketchikan, we flew up to Juneau, then Valdez, and after Valdez, up to Talkeetna.  

We based at Talkeetna for a while so we could go explore Denali Park.  Upon our return, it was a clear, blue-sky morning when we departed, so we were able to do a close-up fly-around of Mt. Denali before heading on to Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon Territory.  After Whitehorse, we worked our way south by flying down the ‘Trench’ in British Columbia, before finally making our way home to Driggs, ID.  All and all, it was just over one month of flying, exploring, fishing, camping, and generally being a tourist.

Many of the photos below leave much to be desired, mostly because they were taken from inside the cabin through aging discolored plexiglass windows, and often while being bounced around in choppy mountain air.  Moreover, the three amateur photographers behind the lens didn’t have a system for logging the shots as they were being taken, so the captions are just best guesses.  We also saw lots of wildlife, from pods of whales to countless black and brown bears; and from seals and otters to moose and wolves, but my camera didn’t end up with the wildlife pics because I was flying.  

On the last day in Juneau we booked seats on a sightseeing boat to the Tracy Arm glacier, which was very cool.  On board the boat was a US Coast Guard helicopter pilot, with whom I struck up a conversation and asking about our next day’s flight to Valdez.  The weather was forecast to be somewhat marginal with low ceilings, so I asked if I should go IFR and pop up on top for the flight to Valdez.  I’ll never forget his reply: “NOOOO!  You don’t want to do that.”  He explained that you never climb up through the clouds IFR in Alaska because you may not be able to get back down.  It turns out that the ceilings are often lower than the instrument approach minimums!  

So, this very kind USCG pilot laid out a detailed (of sorts!) VFR flight plan for us to Valdez.  He said: 

“You depart Juneau to the south, then hang a right and fly out the icy straights until you find the ocean.  Then hang another right and fly up the coast.  Try to stay between the water surface and the overcast!  You’ll know you’re getting close to Cordova when you see a 1000 foot thick hunk of ice (i.e. a glacier!) coming out of the clouds and down to the ocean.  Stay near the ice and coastline because after Cordova you just have a couple of fjords and islands to hop over or around before you see Bligh Island on the south side of the entrance to Valdez Arm.  Hang a right just past Bligh, and fly up the Arm to Valdez.  Easy!”  

I remember the flight plan so well because I took notes!  And then it turned out that our next day’s flight to Valdez may have been the singular best four hours of flying I ever had!  Just after we departed Juneau and were flying out the icy straights, we came upon a pod of humpback whales hunting in a circle and slapping their tails.  We dove down for a closer look and they were definitely bigger than our airplane!  We found the ocean and headed up the coast past stunning scenery, and countless black and brown bears.  And just as described, we found the 1000 foot thick ‘hunk of ice’ coming out of the clouds near Cordova (see photo below).  We watched for Bligh Island, then wound our way up Valdez Arm to the airport.  Easy!  

A truly unforgettable flight; thank you so much, Mr. USCG pilot–whoever you were!

Below are some photos from our month of flying in Alaska.  You can Click on any photo to launch a slideshow starting at that point.  If you like these, you might also enjoy my flying the Bahamas page.  I will say that If I fly in Alaska again, I want to have pontoons instead of wheels—or better yet, both!

If you have questions, or problems with the website, or if you want to chat about flying in Alaska, Contact Me.