It was my turn to pick the departure and arrival for this week’s adventure. Alaska and BC looked pretty socked in, but there was still “daylight” at the time, so off to Stewart @OrigBullethead and I went, with a trek through some lovely scenery including canyons, rivers, and beautiful mountains. Our destination was Annette Island, with a great ICAO code “PANT” which brought on many a joke after our departure into the usual M-VFR / IFR (or as BH puts it “I Follow Rivers”) due to the fact that upon arrival, we would both need new PANTS. 
The departure 'port was pretty well fogged in, but hey. You can’t let weather stop you! Not sure who this NEO was that was eager to fly with us. . .but he vaporized before announcing taking off rwy 36, which was good because BH was getting light headed and a little warm in all that left nacelle exhaust!
BH was a bit more cautious after departure, insisting on staying “within eyesight of the ground.” I think he was cruising at water-ski height, which worked well for me since I could see him, I knew where the water level was. 
Occasionally some ominous tree lines appeared in the clouds. But with enough squinting, they were avoidable. And hey, I could see them, so I was indeed able to maintain visual separation from the ground. . . .marginally. 
What was probably the most ominous was when the sun would disappear and the cloud shadow made it almost (note: almost) impossible to discern the ground from the sky. . .
At one point BH got “lost” and I was determined to just follow that river until a time and location where we could re-intercept. That involved climbing up in to those chilly clouds. . .I managed to get up to ~4500’ before becoming too fearful for ice, since the carb heat was working overtime. I was excited to dive back down into this valley that led back to the main river of our “IFR” adventure. Plus, the clouds were thinning out a bit.
BH reported his location at which point I was lost enough that I decided to take a “direct” route through. . .this next valley on the right.
The walls seemed awfully close!
And just my luck. . .the cloud bases were dropping again off in the distance!
I got “marginally” below the clouds and stumbled out into this fjord-ish area, which I think is officially in Alaska at this point. . .and what do I see off in the distance? Position lights and strobes!?
It was! The great MVFR/IFR formation flight would resume!
Someone else was way out there (just aft of the leading strut). . .but couldn’t tell who it was. 
With the visual range ever increasing, we decided to cut the corner over this island. . .Probably should have climbed a little higher. . .but we were safe.
“You okay down there, good buddy?”
“Roger that, clear of the trees and airport in sight!”
“10-4!”
BH landed on the northerly runway, whilst I picked the southwesterly one. LAHSO would be in effect whether we liked it or not. 
There was actually a pretty busy ramp here. . .
. . .and BH pointed out that the skies were awfully blue directly overhead! Sure enough!
Shutdown and secure. . .and off to find a new pair of PANTs!
. . .and if we woulda waited long enough, the skies would have been perfect for a sight seeing flight! (Unless the sun went down first.)
Until next time. . .
edit:
OMG BH. . .this place we landed is Totally Legit!
