August 1, 2024 - Alaska Flight
Day 4D: Northway to Tok to Wolf Lake
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| After takeoff from Northway, I follow David in his RV-9A to Tok. 50 miles. A short distance in Alaska! |
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| Approaching Tetlin, a 3,300 foot gravel strip by big Lake Tetlin. No services. |
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Following the RV-9A over the Tanana River.
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| Tok Junction Airport. The Alcan Highway (Highway 2) continues straight on to the west and ultimately ends up at Fairbanks. But Highway 1 (Glenn Highway), just visible on the other end of the runway, runs south and goes to Anchorage. |
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A good look at Tok Junction Airport.
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| 40-Mile Air is the FBO here at Tok. |
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| Just across the Highway was Fast Eddy's where we had a delicious lunch. The first hot food I've had in two days. David gave me the gouge on flying in Alaska over lunch. |
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Parked onthe ramp at Tok.
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| Following Highway 1 (Glenn Highway) south. The Tok River bends away to the west at that bridge. |
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Some rugged mountains to the east.
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And to the west, for that matter.
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| Transiting Mentasta Pass. |
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Following Glenn Highway. This particular segment, from Tok to Gakona, is also referred to as the Tok Cut-Off.
I'm again following David in the RV-9A, who you can see just right of center.
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Rounding the bend.
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| A low overcast hides the top of the mountains to my right. |
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| Looking at the big Copper River. It is famous for its salmon runs; over two million salmon use the river each year for spawning. |
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A close-up of the Copper River.
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| I see my first glaciers to the southeast. Those are the Wrangell Mountains. The tallest one, Mount Sanford at 16,237 feet, is in there somewhere. |
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We've entered a huge valley.
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| Still can't see Mount Sanford because of the clouds. |
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That's probably Mount Sanford underneath that mountain-shaped cloud. Mount Sanford is a 16,237 foot mountain!
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| David pointed out this square-shaped area on the ground and said it was some kind of high-powered antenna array. |
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| More Copper River with the Sanford River joining it at left. |
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| The Sanford River breaks off from the Copper and obviously flows down from Mount Sanford. |
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Gulkana Airport is just right off center. We cut the corner and did not fly directly over it.
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| Gulkana has fuel but we were good. |
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Looking at the famous Trans-Alaska Pipeline which heads south to the port of Valdez. It runs north through Fairbanks all the way to Prudhoe Bay on the north coast of Alaska facing the Artic Ocean.
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| Overhead a little private turf strip. |
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| Big Tazlina Lake comes into view south of the Highway. |
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Muskeg area to the north.
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| Tazlina Glacier flows down to Tazlina Lake. |
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| South of the highway, Sylvester Glacier comes into view. |
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Further along, I can see Nelchina Glacier on the left and Sylvester Glacier on the right.
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| The big valley ends and the highway takes us into the mountains. David is visible at dead center. |
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The scenery was nonstop awesome at this point.
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| Powell Glacier just visible at center. |
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| We're still following the Glenn Highway. Sheep Mountain airstrip is visible in the distance just to the right of the highway. |
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| David is down lower looking for Dall Sheep. |
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That's Sheep Mountain Airstrip and Lodge down below. We (the family) would be staying there in a few weeks.
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| Sheep Mountain. I've never seen a mountain with colors like this. It almost doesn't look real. Looks like a painting. |
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Wow.
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| That's the Matanuska River down below. |
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| Looking south. Wait for it.... |
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| And there is the Matanuska Glacier. |
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At first David though the white dots on that stand-alone mini-mountain were Dall Sheep but they turned out to be weather station apparatus.
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Looking up the impressive Matanuska Glacier.
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| The glacier peters out and turns to mud flat. |
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Looking northwest.
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| A private gravel strip. |
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Following the Glenn Highway and Matanuska River.
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| Pretty mountains to the north. |
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Snow-covered mountains to the south.
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I thought at the time this whole area was like seeing five Grand Tetons in a row.
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| Dead ahead the mountains end opening up in the Anchorage basin. |
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The mountains don't give up until the very end.
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| Looking south are all part of the Chugach Mountains. Many are over 10,000 feet high. |
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| I see more of the Anchorage basin with the Cook Inlet coming into view. |
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| Almost to the big Anchorage Basin. |
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Bye bye mountains.
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| I'm familiar with the area, having been here twice before, via commerical air. I see Palmer Airport just right of center. |
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Now Palmer Airort is left of center. Palmer is one of the big public airports in the area and is very busy.
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| It's only a short distance from Palmer to Wolf Lake Airport, my final destination. Wolf Lake is a private airport community. My daughter's house is nearby. She was able to find a Wolf Lake airport resident willing to let me park my plane at his house while I was here. |
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| My daughter and two granddaughters are here to meet me! |
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| The plane is safely tied down in Ray's yard. |
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| SPOT Track from Northway to Tok to Wolf Lake. |
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The cross-country from Essex Skypark in Maryland to Wolf Lake, Alaska took four days and 26 hours of flight time. I burned 208 gallons of avgas. I don't know how much I spent on avgas and I don't want to know! Whatever it was, it was worth it.
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