Page 28 - Volume 15 Number 12

The group departing from MCWfor the night. The plane was fresh out of annual, but when taxiing we learned that the mike jacks in the rear seats were inoperative. A test flight after the annual had confirmed everything, but no one was in the rear seats then.At the end of the runway, I selected “R” on the right engine mag switch. The engine smoothly rolled back about 700 rpm... Back at the shop, we pulled the engine through by hand and sure enough, there was no impulse coupling snap. The spring had broken... After three hours and a failed attempt to fix the intercom, we were on our way to Minot.We woke up to light rain, a foretelling of the deluge that Minot would soon receive in the form of the worst flooding in the city’s history. A short fuel stop at CYXE, Saskatoon, SK, and we were on our way to CYXJ, Fort St. John, BC.Mile Marker 1 of the Alaska Canada Highway is at Dawson Creek. The weather broke up east of that point, and the canyons and bluffs of the Peace River were the first indication that we entering a different world.26 • TWIN & TURBINEOperating on a schedule is a bad plan. Look at the weather and if it isn’t good for flying or sightseeing, sample the local culture. This meant we were never really sure where we would sleep. The weather briefing at CYXJ looked good to continue to CYXY, Whitehorse, YT.That left the small matter of finding accommodations. Despite the perception that the north is a wilderness, the terminal lunch counter at CYXJ, and nearly every other stop we made, was hot with WiFi. We quickly found a room at Whitehorse and were on our way to the Yukon.The Highway enters the Canadian Rockies just west of Fort Nelson. The mountains are barren yet beautiful. The young peaks are sharp and rugged, but the valleys are wide and the passes low and staying right over the highway provides a safe, albeit winding, passage and breath- taking vistas.The weather was just low enough to make the trip interesting without being intimidating. However, the bellies of the clouds were getting darker. The briefer had warned that there might be some afternoonthunderstorms in the mountains, but they would be isolated, easy to see and circumnavigate. Which way to turn?Heading up the Highway, turning left into the heart of the Rockies is a poor choice. To the north, the hills recede below the treeline and there is really nothing but trees and tundra to the Arctic Ocean, in short, wilderness.Had we been in a Bonanza instead of a Baron, we would have retreated to an airport and allowed the weather to blow over, but, with the security of a pair of IO-550’s, we turned north, into the wilderness.Wilderness is a word we use lightly and might not fully understand. A 10-minute detour north of the Highway will provide a clear image. We could look in all directions, as far as our eyes could see, and detect no evidence of human intervention. Not a road, trail, cabin, tower, powerline – nothing. It was an experience. The trip was filled with experiences.Whitehorse is the gateway to the Yukon. It was a fishing and trading camp until the Klondike GoldDECEMBER 2011