Amazing Scenery Today in the Alaskan Intercoastal Waterways

Flying Down the Canyon Into Skagway, Alaska

The Airstrip at Skagway Comes Into View

Fueling At Skagway

Departing Skagway for Haines, Alaska

Flying the Intercoastal Waterways from Skagway and Haines, AK

Airport Tug at Whitehorse

SVS on the IPAD

June 22 (Whitehorse)

Got up this morning and took off for Watson Lake, following the highway again.  We fueled there and Roger did some flight planning.  We are so glad we got this IPad – it’s amazing and does wonders for navigation and planning.  We weren’t there long, and took off for Skagway, Alaska, just as a bit of a side trip.  Wow, the scenery was amazing in the mountains, and coming into the airstrip was a bit scary for me, but Roger loved it.  You come down this canyon, straight onto the airstrip at the bottom at sea level.  It’s a seacoast town, and there was a cruise ship parked there and the people were in town for the day.  We had to clear customs which went pretty smoothly.  We got fuel there too, and that was an experience.  They didn’t have a truck or anything to come do it, but you told them how many gallons you thought you needed and they brought it out in a barrel on a skid loader and hand pumped it into the tanks.  Roger didn’t think too much of that system!  It took quite some time, because they couldn’t prime the hand pump and it didn’t work very well.

We had just snacked so far today, so finally about 4 pm we had a real meal at a restaurant along the water.  We walked around town a bit, then took off again, this time for Haines and followed another road back to the Alaskan Highway where we caught it again at Haines Junction, and then back to Whitehorse, the capitol of the Yukon.  Amazing scenery again – lots of snow-capped mountains on both sides of us, just peak upon peak.  

When we landed in Whitehorse we had to clear customs again, but CanPass did it over the phone again.  At Whitehorse they also had a camping area – this one had high grass and only a porta-potty, but it also had a shelter place with picnic tables, and firewood if you wanted to make a fire (we didn’t).  This, at an international airport!  We went into the terminal restrooms and did a bit of a wash-up shower.  We only arrived there about 9:30, so didn’t go into town tonight anymore.  Hit the sack about 11 (sun still pretty bright) and even Roger went to bed and slept pretty good!  JOLENE