Alaska's Innoko River - Summer 2018
by Ohiopikeman
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
06/22/2018
Entry Point:
Other
Exit Point:
Other
Number of Days:
28
Group Size:
4
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (17 messages)
Day 20 of 28
Wednesday, July 11, 2018 - Exit Day
We awake at 8:00 AM and have everything broken down and ready to go by 10:30 AM for our scheduled noon departure. At 11:45 AM the Garmin Inreach goes off and it’s our pilot alerting us that he hasn’t taken off yet as there is some weather in the mountain pass… he advised that it should clear out soon and figure on maybe a 6:00 PM pickup.
We proceed to unpack the tent and sleeping bags and go back to sleep for a couple of hours. We get another text around 2:00 PM saying to be ready for a 4:00 PM pickup. We are all pleased to hear the sound of the engine approaching and then finally see the floatplane.
Flying through mountain passes in the Alaskan Range was truly amazing. We flew in an out of a few rains which was cool as we saw numerous rainbows with snow covered mountains in the background.
After crossing the range and heading over the flats we could see Anchorage in the distance and were only about 10 minutes out when the engine sputtered a few times then flat out stopped. It’s shocking how quickly the plane starts to fall out of the sky when the engine in not firing! Joe drops his cellphone and quickly switches the fuel tank to reserve and fires the engine right back up and all is well once again. Surprisingly, none of us wet our pants!
After unloading the plane and packing up the camper, we head back to the Anchorage YMCA for some showers and them head to the “MOOSE’S TOOTH” for some pizza. It is quite possibly the best pizza I’ve ever had!
After the pizza, we pull into the Walmart parking lot about 2:00 AM for some minimal sleep as Steve needs to be dropped at the airport at 5:00 AM for his flight back to Dayton, Ohio.
We awake at 8:00 AM and have everything broken down and ready to go by 10:30 AM for our scheduled noon departure. At 11:45 AM the Garmin Inreach goes off and it’s our pilot alerting us that he hasn’t taken off yet as there is some weather in the mountain pass… he advised that it should clear out soon and figure on maybe a 6:00 PM pickup.
We proceed to unpack the tent and sleeping bags and go back to sleep for a couple of hours. We get another text around 2:00 PM saying to be ready for a 4:00 PM pickup. We are all pleased to hear the sound of the engine approaching and then finally see the floatplane.
Flying through mountain passes in the Alaskan Range was truly amazing. We flew in an out of a few rains which was cool as we saw numerous rainbows with snow covered mountains in the background.
After crossing the range and heading over the flats we could see Anchorage in the distance and were only about 10 minutes out when the engine sputtered a few times then flat out stopped. It’s shocking how quickly the plane starts to fall out of the sky when the engine in not firing! Joe drops his cellphone and quickly switches the fuel tank to reserve and fires the engine right back up and all is well once again. Surprisingly, none of us wet our pants!
After unloading the plane and packing up the camper, we head back to the Anchorage YMCA for some showers and them head to the “MOOSE’S TOOTH” for some pizza. It is quite possibly the best pizza I’ve ever had!
After the pizza, we pull into the Walmart parking lot about 2:00 AM for some minimal sleep as Steve needs to be dropped at the airport at 5:00 AM for his flight back to Dayton, Ohio.
Donate - BWCA.com