2019 Inside Passage

Thanks. I'll have to look at my maps and find that lake. It's been quite some time since we drove the ALCAN in a motorhome we had at the time. (late 90's?) However, my late wife and I did take a summer vacation to the Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise area in a small camper a long time ago. (1985). (Favorite site was in Banff, seeing a Moose grazing less than 50 yards from a pretty gal sunbathing...:D ; the other scenery was spectacular as well!) It was gorgeous then, and I'm sure gorgeous now. When I do take the boat to Alaska, it will depend on if I join a Friday Harbor gathering as to how I'll drive up. However, coming home, I believe I will be on the ALCAN, and in Canada until I cross back into the US just north of Minot, ND. Thanks for that additional info!
 
Peter & Judy, I sure agree with you about Atlin Lake. A gem & my favorite of all the lakes we have cruised anywhere. In 2003 the first year we had the C-Dory, we cruised Atlin, Tagish & Teslin Lakes along with the first 200 miles of the Yukon River below Whitehorse & about 500 miles in SE Alaska out of Skagway. Then in 2010 we returned to cruise Atlin Lake again, following 2 months in SE Alaska out of Skagway. Before purchasing the C-Dory, we explored in a rubber inflatable many days on Atlin Lake with one day alone 115 miles. Our plans at present are to return once more to Atlin Lake this summer with one of our sons & his family.

Your choice of routing through the Ice Parkway has been another favorite of ours with seven of our trips north & about the same going south through there & our first choice of routes from & to our home in Cokeville WY. We spent the night at the Columbia Ice fields in 2007 with the great view as you described. This route for Colby would be considerably out of his way going north, but maybe a option on his return trip.

Jay
 
The route I described through Jasper and Banff would add less than 400 miles from Skagway to Minot, compared to the less interesting shortest route. When we returned from the Yukon we travelled the Alcan to Grande Prairie and then headed south on Hwy 40 to Grande Cache and to Hinton, Alberta. This was a beautiful drive. Here we could have taken the shorter route back on the Yellowhead Hwy 16 to Hwy 22 which would take us down the Cowboy Trail to our home near Sundre, Alberta. But we decided to drive the Icefields Parkway, Hwy 93 through Jasper and Saskatchewan River Crossing back to Hwy 11 and on to Rocky Mountain House and south on Hwy 22 to our ranch. We live 5 minutes off the Cowboy Trail. This was the longer route and I have driven the Icefields Parkway at least 100 times. It is described as one of the ten most beautiful drives in the world. I love it every time I drive it and I have had many adventures along it route, climbing and skiing on many of the highest peaks and glaciers in Canada. The weather was great and life is too short to always take the shortest route.
 
Peter and Judy, if I were to take that routing, how is Hwy 40? (I'd be on 1 and 97 until Grand Prairie). From there I would take the Icefield Parkway, and eventually pick up Hwy 1, and then jump off it close to Regina to take 39 to the US border. How are those highways? I think it only adds about 100 miles for the drive home. Also, where am I looking for Atlin Lake? Thanks. Colby
 
Peter and Judy, if I were to take that routing, how is Hwy 40? (I'd be on 1 and 97 until Grand Prairie). From there I would take the Icefield Parkway, and eventually pick up Hwy 1, and then jump off it close to Regina to take 39 to the US border. How are those highways? I think it only adds about 100 miles for the drive home. Also, where am I looking for Atlin Lake? Thanks. Colby

Hwy 40 from Grande Prairie to Hinton is a nice route. It is a mountain road that winds thorough some beautiful valleys. It is two lane, undivided, but the pavement is very good and wasn't too busy while we were driving on it. I pulled my C22 behind my truck camper and had no problems and I would do it again. South of Hinton Hwy 40 is known as the Forestry Trunk Road and is gravel and better suited to logging trucks. From Hinton to Jasper the highway is excellent as is Highway 93, the Icefields Parkway. From Banff heading west on Hwy 1 you are on the Trans Canada highway which is mostly divided and the main east west route in Canada. The TCH is better in Alberta than in Saskatchewan. The alternative route from Grande Prairie through Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina is nice if you like prairie, but cannot compare with the Rocky Mountains. It's been about 20 years since I drove Hwy 39 and I recall it as being fine. One stop to consider with your boat would be Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park. it is the only Lake you can take a motor boat on the Mountain National Parks, it has a great boat ramp and is a beautiful day trip on a large mountain lake.

Atlin Lake is located in NW British Columbia with a small portion of the lake in Yukon. It is one of the headwater lakes of the Yukon River and lies just east of the Alaska pan handle. The lake is glacier fed and the best boating is in the southern end of the lake, departing from the town of Atlin. The boating would be similar to what you might find in Alaska, with big mountains and glaciers rising out of the shore, minus the tides. The small but beautiful town of Atlin is the home base for exploring this lake. It can only be accessed from Yukon via Hwy 7. The turn off is just west of Jakes Corner on the Alcan and it is 94 kms south on a newly paved road. It has a good boat launch. I am working on a write up and adding more photos for this forum about our week on Atlin, hopefully in the near future. I also have the local reef maps and photos that I will post. My wife and I have travelled to many beautiful and wild places in the world and this is in our top ten.
 
Peter & Judy, I’m really looking forward to your write up of cruising & more photos of Atlin Lake. Before the two different years we cruised there in our C-Dory, we explored all of the shore area south of Warms Spring Bay in a RIB. It is a special place & likely to remain so for the foreseeable future, due to its remoteness from more major population centers, even though, since our last visit, there has been a large increase from the Whitehorse area. I’m not aware of any one including C Brats & other boaters other then Jo-Lee & I, who have towed their boat there to cruise from the lower 48, US. Most likely we would have passed it by too, when towing the C-Dory, if not for our finding it, when spending several previous years exploring remote rivers & lakes in the Yukon & Northwest Territory’s in a inflatable boat. Most & I suspect Colby will also choose to spend their limited time when that close to Skagway in SE Alaska, as it’s only about 100 miles further from Jakes Corner to Skagway, then from there to Atlin & Atlin is a 120 mile round trip drive out of the way if destination is Skagway. Would you have cruised Atlin Lake if not having purchased your C-Dory so close to it at Whitehorse? I also agree the longer routes, when time is available & even some times when it’s not is still the better choice. We too, while towing our C-Dory, traveled hwy 40 from Hinton to Grand Prairie. On that route going north in 2007, we spent our coldest night ever sleeping aboard the Hunkydory.

Our C-Dory time cruising Atlin Lake is included in this write up of our 1st trip north towing the C-Dory in 2003, which was the first of several, I’ve now done in the Grand Adventure Form.
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=7717
And this our write up of our 2010 SE Alaska cruise out of Skagway, followed by a cruise on Atlin Lake with photos in the thread.
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t= ... sc&start=0

Atlin, Tagish & many other lakes close to this area are well worth the time to cruise, but the distance is far & remote from the lower 48 & if one does make the drive through it to Skagway, it’s the choice of all I’ve known so far who have made this journey to spend their boating time in just Alaska, so I doubt many C-Brats from the US will ever see these lake jewels.

Jay
 
Jay and Jolee, thanks for the additional links and info about cruising at Atlin. I have read your write ups and they were helpful in planning our Atlin trip. The Atlin trip came about after I bought the boat in Whitehorse. I considered hauling the boat home in the fall, but decided to store it in Whitehorse for the winter and make the trip north as a vacation. Too bad I could only get away from my ranch for 3 weeks, I needed double that time. The previous owner Jim Bishop owns a cabin on Atlin and suggested cruising there. It was a great trip as I had never heard of Atlin before. I hope some day to do some cruising in that part of the world again, out of Alaska and them again on Atlin and Tagish. I just need to retire fully first and be able to take off for a couple of months. I think after cruising around Skagway, I would like to go to Atlin again and wash the salt water off the boat.
 
Wash the salt off the boat. Now that sounds like a perfect reason to me to go spend a few days there on my way back home, if that's the way I go! :D And it's almost like a dare when Jay says no one else from the 48 ever goes there. lol! Colby
 
Found Atlin Lake on my maps and charts, but now see my charting software both on my computer and on my boat's chartplotter does not include inland lake charting for Canada. Is this a lake that it would be beneficial to have electronic charting, or is paper charting available and sufficient? Colby
 
I guess that almost all lakes have some charting now. But we boated Atlin with no chart and no problem a few years back. (Same for many dozens of lakes thru my life.)--you can usually see the features of these lakes from topo maps--and use caution.

Atlin does have charts Here, where there are both an app and printed maps of Canada and Yukon fishing maps".

I doubt that you will find anything for the chart plotter. But unless you are specifically interested in fishing, probably just a little caution and you will have a wonderful time on the lake, without a chart.
 
Colby, I concur with Bob. When we originally explored Atlin Lake in a 12.5 foot RIB with an 18 hp 4 stroke Nissan motor in 2001, I couldn’t find anywhere to purchase water charts of Atlin Lake, but did purchase land maps & had a very early model Garmin gps, that gave an approximate latitude & longitude with a track on a blank screen & also the speed & distance traveled. When we returned to Atlin Lake & also explored Tagish & Teslin Lakes in our C-Dory in 2003, we had maps of the lakes on a notebook computer & used Nobletech marine software with a gps input. Those charts were topo maps like Bob said & had fairly good detail of the lake shore, but not of water hazards. I now have Canada lakes on Garmin with detail similar to The link Bob provided. The detail data is very poor in these remote lakes with only just general depths contour & really only semi good for maybe fishing, not obstacle avoidance. My present Navionics & Garmin marine maps on the IPad doesn’t even show the lakes in a close view. So unless someone that I don’t know about has come up with better Lake data, you’ll have to do similar to what Bob said & we have done & that’s a good visual outlook. It’s a Glacier Lake & for the most part deep enough for a boat even close to shore & the areas that are not, easy to tell by the water color. Of the many uncharted lakes we have explored on a power boat, Atlin Lake is one of the easiest to stay out of trouble from underwater obstacles. We have spent enough time on uncharted water bodies that not having charts is not a deterrent, though sure nice to have, when available. In my opinion Atlin Lake is well worth exploring without charts.

Bob, when you cruised Atlin Lake did you tow a boat there, rent or take a tour. Not surprised with all the places you’ve been that Atlin is one of them.

Jay
 
Peter & Judy":mngepbux said:
I am working on a write up and adding more photos for this forum about our week on Atlin, hopefully in the near future. I also have the local reef maps and photos that I will post. My wife and I have travelled to many beautiful and wild places in the world and this is in our top ten.
Click to expand...
We loved seeing the photos you just posted of your Atlin Lake cruise & hoping you do post a narrative of the trip too. We saw the biggest bear tracks we’ve ever seen, while hiking up the glacier valley to the Llewelyn Glacier you photographed. The grizzly in the one photo appears close to you. Where was that photo taken? Sure looking forward to your narrative of trip. The reef maps would be good for Colby & I would like to see them too.

Jay
 
I have just posted my trip report for Atlin Lake and 2 photo albums. The first is the general photos of the trip and the second album are the reef maps and aerial photos made and used by the locals. These were very valuable. Atlin is a very deep lake, 1000 feet in places, but there are many reefs, especially around the inlets and islands. We were in places travelling in as little as 3 feet of water. Atlin was very low in June 2017, as there had been a lack of snow the previous winter. On the same trip we also tried to launch on Teslin Lake, Yukon, but the boat ramp there is very shallow and with the low water levels we were unable to float our C-Dory.

For charts I used the Canadian Topographic Map 104N - Atlin 1:250,000 scale and I also downloaded topo maps on my iPad using the Gaia GPS App. This and the local aerial photos and maps that I had loaded on the iPad were very useful. The RCMP office in Atlin also provided us with color photocopies of the maps. Check in and out with the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to file a trip plan and they will come toking for you if you are overdue.

I have recently discovered that there are marine charts available for Atlin on an iPad App called Aqua Maps. The Yukon Maps show Atlin, but I am not sure if there is much on the reefs. I have not used this App.

http://www.globalaquamaps.com/AquaLakes.html#Yukon

I have not captioned the photos in my Atlin Album yet, but I will do so once I find a little more time.
 
Bob, when you cruised Atlin Lake did you tow a boat there, rent or take a tour. Not surprised with all the places you’ve been that Atlin is one of them.
Click to expand...

Jay, We had an inflatable about 10 1/2 feet long with a 9.9 hp outboard when we boated on Atlin (and lot of lakes/rivers in the Yukon and AK)--on an about 6 month trip with an RV. Easy to carry camping gear in the inflatable in waterproof bags.
 
thataway":1wesjd1o said:
Bob, when you cruised Atlin Lake did you tow a boat there, rent or take a tour. Not surprised with all the places you’ve been that Atlin is one of them.
Click to expand...

Jay, We had an inflatable about 10 1/2 feet long with a 9.9 hp outboard when we boated on Atlin (and lot of lakes/rivers in the Yukon and AK)--on an about 6 month trip with an RV. Easy to carry camping gear in the inflatable in waterproof bags.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob. That’s basically the same thing we did & had a wonderful time doing it. Although we towed the RIB inflated with motor & all equipment loaded for easy launching on a aluminum trailer. We used it in Alaska & the Yukon & Northwest Territory’s in 2001 & 2002.

Jay
 
Just an update. As of now, my plans have changed, and I will be cruising north in the south part of the Inside Passage after the Friday Harbor gathering in May. However, I'm still intent on doing the SE Alaska part of the Inside Passage summer 2019. Preferably I'd like to launch at Skagway and go south from there and return, taking 4 or 5 weeks. But if others are interested and desire to launch from Prince Rupert, I'd be agreeable to that.
 
Some more thoughts and questions. First, on my recent trip to the St. John’s River gathering doing a lot of hull speed cruising I figured out I got about 4.5 mpg, so at 40 usable gallons I think that should suffice. (Plus carrying 10 extra gallons!)
Talking with another person they asked about oil changes on the outboard. Since I was only looking at 2 months I never thought about that. Any comments or suggestions from others regarding this?
 
I believe that at displacement speeds (especially if you stay down at 6 knots or less--there is no problem with the standard fuel tank and 10 gallons. If you go down to 5 miles per hour, then you will most likely get 6 miles per gallon

Also if doing the inland passage at displacement speeds, look very carefully at your tide and current charts. Choose to move with the current going your direction. However one of the beauties of the fast outboard boats is that you do have the speed to do several passes a day, rather than time your movements for one. Thus you can use the range, and currents to your advantage when necessary, and then go fast when you want to make tracks.

As for the oil:
1. oil change as per amount of fuel used, rather than arbitrary hours (which are assumed to be at high speeds and loads). You can easily go 200 hours.

2. Synthetic oil--again will lengthen intervals.

3. oil change on the boat, using a vacuum extractor. Pat Anderson learned to do this--and only pulled the boat for lower unit changes.
 
As for the oil:
1. oil change as per amount of fuel used, rather than arbitrary hours (which are assumed to be at high speeds and loads). You can easily go 200 hours.
2. Synthetic oil--again will lengthen intervals.
3. oil change on the boat, using a vacuum extractor. Pat Anderson learned to do this--and only pulled the boat for lower unit changes.
Click to expand...

I run Mercury Synthetic Blend 25W-40 4-stroke outboard oil in my motor. Completely forgot about the oil change extractors. I prefer draining all the oil out when I do my maintenance on the trailer, but the extractor makes perfect sense for on the water. Anyway, what fuel-used oil change recommendations would be for the Mercury 115 4 stroke EFI? Routinely I change my oil annually at the end of the year, and that could be anywhere from 100 hours to 200 hours of use. I'm assuming I shouldn't worry about a lower unit oil change as long as nothing is leaking. (But really have no way to know without trimming the outboard all the way up. Colby
 
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