Day 5, June 29, stuck in Ft. Nelson

The winds were still from the northeast and all the airports between here and Fairbanks (including Fairbanks) were covered in smoke, except Watson Lake, so we may as well stay in Ft. Nelson.  We decided we could stay one day and then if things didn't improve, head south and explore the western US (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming).  I was thinking, well, maybe we should just do that, but my dad probably really wants to get to Alaska, we've been talking about this for a few years.  I discovered later, my dad was thinking the same thing!  I think in retrospect that would have been a safer, and a less stressful trip. 

To pass the time, we went to the airport, where we saw some Cirrus pilots.  The Cirrus is a very nice fancy plane.  There was a group of 3 or 4 planes, all new owners and  traveling to Alaska.  They filed IFR to Whitehorse.  Then they would head on to Anchorage since nobody could get to Fairbanks.  I was a little jealous.  I thought I was going to be doing mountain flying in VFR conditions in the perfect plane, a STOL taildragger (STOL means Short-field Take-Off and Landing).  Instead, it seems a long-range IFR machine is the way to get to Alaska. 

Later that day, Bob's son was on the internet looking at satellite pictures and saw that Dawson City was in the clear.  We decided to head there the next day.   From there we could fly IFR to Anchorage, assuming I could get the necessary charts in Dawson City.