Marshes, morraines, mountains, and rain

Day 7, part 3: Northway to Palmer, Alaska

It was hard to top the Wrangell-St. Elias overflight. I can see this in hindsight because I simply stopped taking photos immediately afterward. The scenery wasn't any less interesting, nor was I less thrilled to see what was beyond the next mountain pass, but those mountains and ice spoiled me.

I departed Northway, the first stop of my journey where it was comfortable, warm t-shirt weather since the day I arrived in Portland a week before. A mountain pass visible from the ground to the south, through which the Nabesna river flowed, was obscured in a heavy rain shower with towering cloud overhead; while I didn't see lightning it tipped the scale of "convection I won't fly near" and had me wondering about the next mountain pass I couldn't yet see, the Mentasa, that I intended to fly through to gain the Copper River near the start of its nearly-cyclonic path from Mt. Wrangell to Valdez. Without any weather radar in the area, it was a matter of pilot reports (none) and eyeballs to figure out whether the convection would block my path, so off it was to go take a look.

The pass was open, with the stronger convection localized to where I'd seen it earlier, and occasional rain going through Mentasta. I gave a pilot report to the friendly flight service specialist I spoke with in Northway, and was able to easily fly through at 6,500' with broken to overcast skies not far above. Once in the Copper River Basin, it was easy flying. I spotted the Alaska pipeline and HAARP site, which I had previously read about but forgot the location of. I hope they turned it off as they promise to, as airplanes fly by.

One disappointment about this area was that I'd lost the relatively clear skies that blessed my glacier overflight just an hour prior; an isosceles triangle of large volcanoes that mark the western extent of the Wrangell-St. Elias range (Mt Sanford, Wrangell, and Drum) was hidden in cloud.

Rain on the western side of Sheep Mountain, Tahneta Pass

One final geographic barrier, Tahneta pass, remained separating the Copper River basin from my destination at the far reach of the Cook Inlet. It was clear from 20-30 miles away there was some weather in there, and I wanted to know my odds of getting through as I was again thinking about fuel reserves should I have to backtrack to Gulkana for gas. Flight service gave me a favorable verbal description of what the passes three weather camera sites were showing. A few miles before the pass some desolate foothills with a lake at the top invited a close inspection. The pass was no problem, but into the lowlands beyond was more frequent rain with visibilities dipping down to 5 miles or so. Marginal, but at that point I had Palmer made and landed.

Why Palmer? I had made contact with a fellow Mooney pilot who lived nearby before the trip who suggested we might be able to rendezvous if our schedules aligned. Palmer is a pleasant little town at the northeastern end of the Knik arm of the Cook Inlet -- the body of water Anchorage, just a short flight now to the south, resides on. Once in this weather 'zone', I could make little hops without any significant barriers to cross, and I wanted to stay in the area until meeting my wife. Other than that, I knew nothing about the place prior to showing up.

The field did have a flight service station who closed my flight plan, and directed me to a (free) pilot car provided by a local private school. The big brown beast epitomizes a pilot car: Something you'd expect to see at a demolition derby, with three doors that don't lock, the keys under the floor-mat, and exhaust leaking in. Still, it started right up and ran... just put some gas in it when you being it back.

After three days of camping in the Yukon, a hotel and good burger hit the spot. Oh and hey, I just flew to Alaska!