After my flight to Alaska, people kept asking if I'd seen polar bears on that trip, so I figured needed to go somewhere I was more likely to see polar bears. Churchill is known as the "Polar Bear Capital of the World", so it went on my bucket list.
The peak polar bear season in Churchill is in October-November, but that didn't seem like a great time of year to make a flying trip up there. I decided July was worth a try, as there are generally sightings scattered through the summer, plus a variety of other wildlife viewing opportunities. Being anxious for a trip, and wanting to keep the entire trip inside a single chart cycle, I moved it up to the last week of June.
Here's the story of my journey...
Planning
June 23-28: San Diego to Churchill
June 29-July 5: Churchill to Fort Smith
July 6-11: Fort Smith to San Diego
Logbook
Spoiler: I didn't see any polar bears. I'll have to make a return trip sometime!
On the return leg, the availability of US Customs was a consideration. With my loop to the west, the best choice looked to be Great Falls. Kalispell is nestled in the mountains and I was concerned about the ease of making it in there if the weather wasn't good. Cut Bank offers Customs on 24/7 callout from the Sweetgrass border station, but I figured it would be easier dealing with the duty staff at GTF than have an officer drive an hour out to meet me. Sweetgrass itself has a turf runway, but I wasn't about to make that a required Customs stop sight unseen.
As with my Alaska trip, my rough plan was to plan for one or two legs each flying day. With lots of airports to choose from in the US, I chose stops mostly based on cheap fuel. With fewer airports to choose from in Canada, stops were planned mostly by necessity.
In particular, Churchill no longer has avgas available, so I needed to make sure I had enough fuel for the round-trip from the nearest airports that did (Thompson or Gillam), plus whatever sightseeing I might want to do. Thompson Airport is paved, with rental car and other services in town, but is roughly 1.5 hours from Churchill, which didn't leave a lot of margin. Gillam's airport is gravel, but is only 1 hour from Churchill. Using a conservative figure of 4 hours fuel + reserves, I opted for Gillam.
Because I was going at a slower time of year, I looked into but didn't make any firm reservations ahead of time for the tours in Churchill. In retrospect, my Alaska tour was a whirlwhind, so I planned for a week's stay in Churchill to relax and explore.
I departed on June 23 with only an outline of the trip. The rest would be worked out along the way.
Paper charts you ask? EFBs are all well and good, but I learned from my Alaska trip that when I'm on a long leg out in the middle of nowhere, I really preferred unfolding a paper chart to get "the big picture" instead of trying to pinch-zoom and scroll around a small viewport.