Carbon Cub EX to Alaska

[Dan L]

Earlier this month I flew my EX north through BC and Yukon to Alaska where I met some Alaskan friends. From Wasilla we flew out to western Alaska and fished the rivers for big rainbows, Dolly's and Graying. We'd land on the gravel bars and catch and release until we grew tired or hungry.

The other guys flew Cubs too, one an experimental and the other a certified PA18. The EX on 31's performed just fine with these guys on their 35" Bushwheels. Our typical gravel bar LZ was 300' or so and usually had some drift wood trash on it. The shortest I used was a paced 200' with a cutbank on the approach end and fast water on the other.

Our main camp sat on a little higher ground and was a good 700' feet long.

This was my third trip to Alaska in a GA plane but the other two trips were in Cessnas. This one was the most fun.

I will post some pictures.

image.jpg

Our main camp.

image.jpg

Typical fishing gravel bar

image.jpg

Lake Clark Pass

image.jpg

Tied down in our main camp.

image.jpg

A nice Dolly.

[Dan L]

For those interested I flew the Trench north from Cranbrook BC. Customs in Cranbrook was easy and I made it to Mackenzie the first day. The next day weather kept me from making the almost 400 mile last leg of the Trench to Watson Lake. But the following day was nice and I made it to Whitehorse before weather again stopped me. With a Customs stop at Northway and fuel in Tok, I made it to Wasilla to meet my friends.

On the return the Trench wasn't looking like a good option because of weather and I flew down the Dease highway 37 route to Smithers. I have the big tanks in my EX and it makes these long leg trips much easier. With stops at Williams Lake and Castlegar I cleared US Customs at Porthill ID this time.

I was surprised at how good the cell service in Canada is along the highway. I stopped at Teslin Yukon to out wait some T storms and this little village had 4G service.

image.jpg

Teslin Yukon

image.jpg

Flying over the AK Highway in Alaska under a ceiling.

image.jpg

Rather than return to Golden BC when showers blocked the Trench on the trip north I landed on this little section of road to wait for the showers to move through. This part of the Trench is a reservoir near Mica Dam and this is what is left of a flooded road.

image.jpg

sitting on the remnant road. I landed with a tailwind and then had to takeoff later with a tailwind too.

image.jpg

somewhere in the Trench south of Mackenzie.

image.jpg

this is in the Trench north of Mackenzie. I stopped on this river gravel bar for a short break.

image.jpg

Camped at Watson Lake for the evening on the return trip.

image.jpg

I had more poor weather than nice but the trip was all fun. The EX performed flawlessly and is well suited to rough off airport landing areas. Just what I bought it for.

[twoeleven]

Hello Dan,

Thank you for that. My name is Larry, I'm new to the site, I'd like to buy a CC one day (soon)...Hello!

Your EX looks amazing. My Uncle John was a Premier of Yukon, he lived in Whitehorse and when you mentioned that I smiled, I have been up there in that Yukon, eh? I didn't know him well, I was quite young. I remember he liked to scare little kids...I'm a long way away now in L.A., but his little sister is still alive and well in Colorado, and I still call her 'Mom'.

I am going to send this over to her, she grew up a Canadian coal miner's daughter and she will love this.

Thank you,

Larry.

[GreggG]

Great photos and write up. One of the reasons I bought my CCEX is to do a trip just like this. I can't wait to finish. I'm hoping to be ready by spring.

Gregg

[stede52]

Great photos and write up. One of the reasons I bought my CCEX is to do a trip just like this. I can't wait to finish. I'm hoping to be ready by spring.

Gregg

Ditto Gregg
Dan, great photos and write-up, I've got a flying buddy who was an Alaskan bush pilot that has been bugging me to take a trip back to Alaska with him.

[Dan L]

One of the other Cub guys emailed me some images. So I thought I'd include them too.

Aniak fishing 7-15 019 (2).jpg

Landing at our main camp.

Aniak fishing 7-15 024 (2).jpg

Salmon on a fly rod. It looks like he liked my camo chest waders.

IMG_0057.jpg

Just about right for a touchdown point on these gravel bars.

IMG_0102.jpg

A poor picture from a quick iPhone shot. We flew over two old plane wrecks on our way out to the fishing area.

IMG_0232.jpg

We weren't the only fishermen. We had brown bears around us but there wasn't any trouble. One of the guys brought an electric bear fence that didn't get tested.

IMG_0228.jpg

Our first landings at the main camp.