North Cascades Tour

North Cascades Tour

The tour begins at Orcas Island (KORS) and heads east to Bellingham (KBLI). From there, the route continues with a flyby along the north side of Mount Baker, turns south past Mount Shuksan, and descends for a landing at Concrete (3W5).

The route follows the Skagit River valley into North Cascades National Park. After Marblemount, it leaves the river and crosses the high ridgeline between Mount Fury and Mount Terror, passes Mount Challenger, and turns east near the Canadian border at Mount Spickard before overflying Ross Lake. The prominent peak on the far side of Ross Lake is Hozomeen Mountain, which Jack Kerouac wrote about while serving as a fire lookout at Desolation Peak Fire Tower a few miles to the south.

At Castle Peak, the route turns back toward Ross Lake. We descend to the lake, pass Ross Dam at waypoint 8, and continue over Diablo Lake and past Diablo Dam at waypoint 9. Turning south, the route follows the Newhalem Creek drainage to the pass below Little Devil Peak, then follows the Cascade River past Hidden Lake Peaks and Johannesburg Mountain to Cascade Pass below Sahale Mountain. After crossing Park Creek Ridge below Buckner Mountain and passing between Storm King and Goode Mountain, the route continues northwest over the North Cascades Highway to reach Lost River Resort (W12).

Reversing course to the southwest, the next stop is Stehekin State (6S9) at the upper end of Lake Chelan. Departing Stehekin, the route follows the Company Creek drainage toward Bonanza Peak. We cross the saddle between Bonanza Peak and Martin Peak, then turn west toward the imposing mass of Glacier Peak. After crossing the pass between Glacier Peak and Tenpeak Mountain, the route turns west-northwest toward Three Fingers and Whitehorse Mountain before descending for a landing at Darrington (1S2).

The tour concludes with a long 44 nm leg to Anacortes (74S).

Flightplan HERE

The route is 320nm and I plan to fly the Blacksquare Caravan. As ever, fly what you like.

Freeware Scenery

•         KORS Orcas Island

•         KBLI Bellingham Int

•         W12 Lost River Airport

•         6S9 - Stehekin State Airport

Recommended but optional Orbx payware scenery:

•         KORS Orcas Island Airport - Microsoft Flight Simulator - Orbx

•         3W5 Concrete Municipal Airport - Microsoft Flight Simulator - Orbx

•         KBLI Bellingham International Airport - Microsoft Flight Simulator - Orbx

•         1S2 Darrington Municipal Airport - Microsoft Flight Simulator - Orbx

•         74S Anacortes Airport - Microsoft Flight Simulator - Orbx

Recommend Departure time of 3:00 PM

Particulars:

•         Date and time: Saturday July 25, 19:00 UTC    

•         RTWR Multiplayer Discord Channel

•         MFS Multiplayer: Southeast Asia5 Server

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