We Crossed the Yukon River

Twice. Once flying in to Whitehorse and once in the cab on the way to town from the airport.

Today was our most challenging day as far as flying goes. Not wanting a repeat of yesterday where we flew half way to Watson Lake and had to turn back, we looked for other options.

The weather in Fort Nelson this morning seemed somewhat better than yesterday but the pesky low pressure trough off the Pacific is still sitting over the Rockies to our east and bringing rain showers, thunderstorms and low visibilities. The weather in Watson Lake was still reported as lousy with fog and rain showers. Not good for low level flying up river valleys. So we explored the option of going direct to Whitehorse by flying high and between cloud layers. The weather in Whitehorse was also reported as good for the whole day which was important as by the time we got there we'd have very little remaining fuel and no alternate.

We got a little assistance when a aerobatic show pilot by the name of Melissa who landed at Fort Nelson in her blue Extra while we were getting organized for the day. She was headed to Alaska for an airshow but today was also heading to Whitehorse. We all got weather briefings and decided to follow her and go direct to Whitehorse by picking altitudes along the way that would keep us above the terrain (mountains up to 9,000ft or more) and between the cloud layers. She was much faster than us and could also change altitudes quickly so from her view of things she could radio back to us what it looked like at various altitudes. When she told us she had to go to over thirteen thousand feet to get above one solid chunk of cloud we knew we had to ask for almost maximum effort from our Piper Archer. The temperature was also just about right for there to be ice in the clouds so we needed to be very careful. Unfortunately, the time between when Melissa reported the cloud tops and we got to the same place, the tops had risen and even at 14,000 ft were were still going to be in cloud. We knew from another report that the cloud bank only extended about 20 miles before giving way to scattered layers and good visibility. So we called up Whitehorse Radio and picked up an IFR clearance and were cleared direct to Whitehorse at 12,000 ft. in cloud but fortunately with no ice.
As predicted we were not in the clouds for long and broke out on top of a scattered layer that gave some great views of the still partly snow covered mountains, deep gorges, and snaking rivers below.

We flew through just a little more cloud on our approach into Whitehorse and then broke out to a stunning view of the airport, the town, and the Yukon River.

We had hoped to go on to Northway and so make it in to Alaska but found that US Customs closed at 4pm and we wouldn't make it in time. So here we are in Whitehorse where it was difficult to find a hotel and impossible to find a rental car. Apparently things get busy up here. But Billy's Taxi got us to a motel in town with an entertaining run down on the town and the Yukon as we drove in.

We also found today that the four hour flight not only stretched us and our airplane to capacity but our bladders as well. Luckily we had brought the required equipment along for just such a situation.