Lower Stikine River, 7 days, Class II, Alaska and BC.

August 2015

This trip had probably the most scenic 3 days we have ever had on a river.  The first 100 miles below Telegraph Creek you are surrounded by towering granite mountains capped with glaciers.  We lucked out with perfect weather for the first 3 1/2 days.  After that we had non-stop rain and didn't see too much (typical weather here), but the scenery is less spectacular in the bottom section so we are told (we saw nothing). 

We started the river at normal August levels of about 100K cfm.  We did the braided/wood-hazard section (Scatter Ass Flats) at that level and it was fine though attention getting.  You need to be fully competent in turning 180 degrees in a strong current and doing a ferry when needed in this section.  Then the river rose 6 feet in a few hours to 150K cfm.  But then we were in the less wood-hazard area and paddling the high water was fine. We stayed at the forest service cabins (Shake's Slough and Garnet Ledge) for 3 nights during the worst of the weather.  We spent 3 hours at the hot springs and got them to ourselves.  They are to die for.  Really special.

Full blog with pictures, maps, packing lists: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/lowerstikineriver

There is a good guide book that covers the trip: Canoe Trips in Northern British Columbia, Vol 1.

Logistics
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Getting there: We flew to Wrangall on Alaska Air from Seattle and then took a flight with Sunrise Aviation from Wrangall to Telegraph Creek. Sunrise Aviation is at the same (tiny) airport that you arrive at with Alaska Air.  Flight from Wrangall to Telegraph Creek was 45min and $850.  Unfortunately the plane they had is a bit on the small side (their Beaver was in Petersburg).  Weight limit was 900lbs and we were 965lbs but more importantly, we physically could not fit 4 people and 5 duffle bags (gear plus 2 boats) into one plane.  We had to take 2 flights (ca-ching). The flight was spectacular.  We got to see a lot and the pilot did a little sight-seeing for us on the way in.  The airport is 2 miles from Telegraph Creek.  There was a bit of traffic on the road and we were able to hitch-hike.  Then we paid a local $20 to come back in an hour and 1/2 to meet the 2nd plane trip.  Other people we met had driven to Telegraph Creek and then took a boat back up the river.  Cost is similar to 2 plane flights but you can take rigid canoes on the boat.  We have skin-on-frame canoes so we can go in airplanes.  We saw a boat going to Telegraph Creek daily with canoes strapped on top.

There used to be the Riversong Lodge in Telegraph Creek but it closed (for good?), two weeks before we arrived.  You can camp right near the lodge if needed, but we paddled out of town.  There is a grocery store up above the river about a mile walk up.  Ask people because you won't know where the grocery is otherwise; you cannot see it from the river and it is not in the cluster of buildings by the river.  It is small but has the basics, including some vegetables, cheese, etc.  You probably wouldn't want to get all your food there but you can get some.  I didn't look to see if they had camping fuel.

Camping fuel, bear spray etc:  When we arrived in Wrangall, we got a taxi and went to the local hardware store ($20 round-trip).  They have white gas.  We also got a tarp because airport security took a knife to the duffel with our canoes inside wrapped in a tarp (seriously!).  Fortunately, they only destroyed the tarp.  The airport is 2 miles outside of town.  Easy walk if you don't want to take a taxi.

Maps and river info:
Flow: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=15024800
Maps: Search online.  You can download free topos.  YOU NEED TO BRING TOPOS!  The river is very braided in spots and you'll want topos.  That said, the one time we got into a unpleasant spot with lots of wood-hazard was when I took what the topo said was the main channel rather than read the river.  After that we read the river and followed the main/widest flow.
GPS: Helpful for knowing where you are generally and knowing which side streams are coming in.  Not so helpful for choosing where to be on the river.  You start in Canada so make sure your GPS maps include Canada.  Always check how your location looks in your GPS before you leave, otherwise you could be in for an unpleasant surprise when you get to the river.
Guide book: Canoe Trips in Northern British Columbia, Vol 1.
Big map: bring some kind of map that covers the larger area.  Lot's of peaks that you'll want to id and helps with navigation to know what the peaks are.

When to go and # of days:  Most of the parties who signed into the cabin log went late July to end of August.  Most took 7-8 days.  We took 7 days.  We could have gone faster if we had wanted.  90-150k cfm is probably ideal with 100k cfm providing relatively easy water.  200k cfm is for very strong, experienced paddlers due to wood hazards.

Weather:
Most people who wrote in the cabin logs had about 50% rain.

Wood hazards:
During our trip and the 2 weeks before, the river had 3 'flood' events.  During those times, the river would rise about 4-6 feet in 1/2 a day and stay up for 1-3 days and drop just as rapidly.  There are sections that are very braided (obvious on the topos).  Those have significant wood hazard.  Wood everywhere.  Stay in the main channel and stay alert.  Choose the cautious path and get in the path you want very early.  The river is strong and you don't want to be spinning around to front ferry right about wood if you don't need to.  We went through the worst of the wood area (Scatter Ass Flats) at 100K cfm and good weather.  It was fine, but we had to be alert and 'on'.  We picked a poor line once and had do a full-on front ferry (well above the wood, but current was taking us towards it fast).  Otherwise we were able to see good lines and stay in them.  There was one section where a tree came down ahead of us.  We eddied out below another tree and inched our way forward to make sure it had not blocked the channel (it had not).

Rapids and eddies:
The rapids were straight forward class II.  Big waves in places but straight runs---except Bad Rapids.  What required more care was where the river took a sharp bend into a rock wall.  There were a number of these places.  The result was choppy water (fine) and a big eddy line with BIG whirlpools (yipes).  Just know that that happens and take an inside line on the turn so you stay well away from the eddy line and the rock walls.  If you get too far outside as you come into the turn, you can't ferry out (the current is perpendicular to the eddy line), so you have to ride the eddy line and avoid the whirlpools.  If that happens, stay alert and paddle hard past the whirlpools.  But for us, the inside line was always easy.  Also the current is strong enough that anytime there is a 'point' jutting into the current, you'll have an eddy with whirlpools.  Be alert for these give them room.  Don't space out on this river.  Stay alert and keep away from wood, rock points, and take the inside line on sharp turns.

Bad Rapids: mark this on your map so you know it is coming up.  It is in the RL (left as you paddle downstream) channel.  Massive rock in the channel.  Scout it at high water and take RR if needed.  We ran it RL at 100k cfm and slid through hugging the right shore of RR starting well above the rapid.  It was easy but we were cautious.  We did not want to get anywhere near the rock, waves and big eddy + whirlpools.

Other hazards:
Bears are around.  We saw 3 bears and there were prints all over.  Didn't hear of anyone having trouble with them.  Keep a clean camp, make lots of noise when hiking, and steer clear of those you see.  We carried bear spray with us at all times.

Cold water! This is glacier water.  It is very cold, the river is wide and the current is strong.  Capsizing would be bad; you wouldn't be able to swim very far.  We wore dry suits (and our pfds, obviously) at all times.

Camping:
At 100K cfm, there was easy camping on gravel bars and islands.  If it is raining, do not camp within 4-5 vertical feet of the river.  The water comes up fast on this river.  When the river is higher, you'll want to know where the high camps are. Read the guidebook and mark them on your map.  You can't camp just anywhere in the forest. It is very dense forest.

* Glenora.  There is a forest recreation camp.  Not much there.
* Whitesands.  Very nice camp. Room for lots of tents.  UPRIVER of the river coming in. Big easy eddy to get in.  Don't miss it or you might not be able to get back up river.
* Great Glacier.  Nice forest recreation camp.  Picnic tables, outhouse, trail to lake.  Can get busy.  The guidebook says it can be hard to land at but that is at higher water.  At 100K cfm, it was easy and there was a rocky beach for 2 boats.
* Hot Springs.  Maybe ok in dry weather but very buggy and would be soggy in rain.
* Shakes Slough cabins.  #1 sleeps 6.  #2 has a loft and you could sleep 10 easy and 12 fine.  There is a tent spot next to #2.  You need to bring heating oil if you want to run the heater.
* Garnet Ledge cabin.  Has a loft.  You could sleep 10 easy and 12 in a pinch.  I can't imagine tenting near the cabin in rain.  It's a bog.  Try the woodshed or the porch.  Nothing in the trees either.  Regarding that nice flat spot in front of the cabin... that flooded at a 3+ foot tide when river was at 150K cfm.  Worse comes to worse, paddle a little south to the creek coming in.  There is a spot in the woods next to the creek.  Not much but better than by the cabin.  You can get cell phone service (including 3G) from the cabin so you can call a boat to pick you up from Wrangell.
* More tent spots are marked on the US and BC forest service recreation maps.  You'll want to get those so you know where camps can be found at high water.
* Cabins can be reserved and paid for online.  Google the name of the cabin and you'll find the link.  We had a sat phone and called a friend to make us reservations at Shakes Slough cabin when the weather turned bad.  That was good since the cabin filled up with others escaping the rain and rising river.

Crossing to Wrangell from Garnet Ledge cabin:
The boat operator said there was no problem for the boat to get in and out of Garnet Ledge at all but the lowest tide (contrary to what the guidebook said).  There was plenty of water near the shore for canoes at all tides.  The conditions on the crossing change dramatically in hours so you might have to wait.  You can get weather for Fredrick's Sound just north of Wrangell but the weather there is worse than to the south/inland of Wrangell where you will cross.  You'll need quite calm and probably slack tide if you have open canoes. Write down all the names of the boat operators in Wrangell before you go and have a working cell phone so you can arrange a pick-up if needed.  A party we were with had kayaks and were getting waves over their bows on the final bit of the crossing.  You'll end the crossing near the airport and then need to paddle around to the harbor.  That can be tough and wavy.  You can get out early at the Petroglyphs park just past the airport.  It looks like you could also get out south of the airport as a road goes near shore.  You'd then need to call a taxi or walk a couple miles on a road.

However getting a ride on a boat is easy.  A party at the cabin with us set one up by cell phone by calling all the operators and leaving messages.  They got a ride in 2 hours.  $50 a head but they had to come back the next day with a different boat for their canoes.  We had set up a ride beforehand and packed up our boats the night before.

Skill level needed on the Lower Stikine River:
* Strong moving water skills.  The current is stronger than you are.  You must be able to spin your boat 180 degrees and do a front ferry on both sides.  You need to know how to cross eddy lines, though if you stay alert and can avoid the eddies and eddy lines.  You need to know how boats behave in strong current.  If your boat is at an angle to the current, the current will push it across the river---faster than you can paddle in the opposite direction.  If you are trying to avoid getting drawn into something on the right, turning to the left and paddling does not work in strong current; that would just push you more to the right.  You'll either have to spin and front ferry (or back ferry) or try to slip/hop past the danger without putting your boat at an angle to the current. Better yet be aware what the current lines are doing ahead and get on your line early (and don't make the mistake of letting your boat get at an angle to the current which will take you off that line).  If the current lines look too unpredictable because of channels coming together and reflecting off rock walls or eddy lines, get out of the fast current (on inside of turn) and work your way down in the slow water.

* Wilderness wet weather camping skills.  It's probably going to rain a bit and be cold.  Advanced wet weather camping and tarp skills are needed.  We were in dry suits and had rain coats on top and still were wet. The rain was so relentless that it was like swimming for 10 hrs.

* Map reading on the river.  You need to know where you are at all times to find the camps and know the hazards coming up.

Misc:
Finding the (incredible) hot springs:  There are no signs anywhere marking how to get there or any of the turns.  Watch on the map for the Ketli River/slough on RR.  If you have a topo, it's pretty easy to find if you are hugging RR in that section.  Make sure to stay RR in the slough as motor boats use it a lot.  The slough water is brown/mud colored.  You'll turn right into another slough that is clear/brackish colored.  Nothing else like it coming in.  There is an island just downstream of it.  If you are following where you are with your topo, you'll find it the brackish slough coming in.  Follow that slough to the end.  You stay in the main channel; not detouring into any sides.  At the end of the slough (in about 800m), there is a wooden dock.  Tie to it and walk the wooden path to the bathhouses.  Enjoy nirvana.  Note, it's a popular place with tourists from Wrangel so don't expect to go in naked.

Getting to Garnet Ledge cabin:  Consider taking Cottonwood Slough.  When we were there, it looked to have more water and would have been easier than dealing with the tide, mud flats and wind coming from the outside of the Cottonwood Islands.

Getting to Glacier Lake camp: The guidebook describes a high water situation.  At 100K cfm in the Stikine and the river from the lake fairly low, it was an easy ferry and landing.  Obviously in high water it is harder.

Getting to Whitesands camp: The camp is above the river coming in from RR.  We passed it and almost couldn't make it back up river.  At higher water, you definitely could not make it back up river if you missed the camp.  So eddy out before the river coming in from RR.  Note, we tried to wade across the river but it was 'quicksand' and one of us almost got stuck and sucked down---that was kind of scary.

The forest service cabins: We made reservations at Shake's Slough cabin by calling a friend back home with a sat phone.  However, clearly people use them without reservations.  I guess there is a fine but if it is raining, it's hard to imagine a ranger fining you.  However, expect company in bad weather.  There are not many tent spots in this heavily wooded area, so if the weather turns bad, people will show up at the cabins.  The Shake's Slough cabins use heating oil in the stove.  You'll need to bring some to have heat.  Garnet Ledge cabin uses wood.

Our river notes are on the map in the files section on the full blog.

Yukon River Whitehouse to Dawson. 10-14 days. Class I-II. Yukon Territory.

Yukon River, Whitehorse to Dawson City, 470 miles. August 14-27, 2011

Full blog with pictures: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/yukonriver

 

Logistics: Scroll down to the bottom of this report.

Water level during our trip: 2300 m3/s at station above White River. That is high for August, but average for June/July.
Weather: mid-50s and raining the first 7 days, then 60s and clear. We wore drysuits and weren't bothered much by the rain.
Party: 2 adults, 13-yr old, 10-yr old.
Boats: 2 Clipper Yukon canoes from Kanoe People

Overall: A fantastic river trip with lots of history to explore! The river changes every day, and so does the scenery on this 470 mile journey.

Day 1. We left Seattle at 6am, caught a 11am flight from Vancouver to Whitehorse, YT, arrived at 3pm, and were on the water at 6pm. 12 hours after leaving our house in Seattle, we were paddling down the Yukon. It was definitely surreal. We paddled about 5 miles and made camp. The river here is not particularly wide nor strong. The river was going about 4 mph.

Day 2. We paddled some 20+ miles easily to Lake Laberge. Lake Laberge is very big (34 miles long) and famous for wind and waves. We had a head wind as we entered the lake, and paddled to an abandoned First Nations village on the eastern (paddler's right) shore to look around and rest. There we met Ben, an entertaining 76-yr old fellow who has been spending summers on the river for 30+ years. He took us on a tour of the village and the Great Rivers cabins, a company that had a scheme to have 4-star cabins and clients but ended up 10 million in debt. After a couple hours, the wind turned and we paddled onward to take advantage of the tailwind. Camp 2 was on the eastern shore of the lake.

Day 3. The next day, the rain continued off and on, but the scenery was spectacular. Huge rock cliffs rise out of the lake. It was 25 miles or so to the end of the lake, and we poked forward at 3.5 miles an hour against a headwind. Getting to the end of the lake did not seem like it would happen. The lake felt endless. Then we began to get a tail wind. It picked up and the waves began to grow. We stuck close to shore and just rode the wind and waves. The waves were big (2-3 foot?) but manageable. The big ones had to be ridden down at an angle and I kept an eye over my shoulder to watch the waves coming in. The kids held up their paddles and the spare to catch the wind. We went 7 mph with just steering. It was raining and cold, but we pressed on to reach the end of the lake. We were very happy to see the 30-mile camp and the shelter there!

Day 4. We paddled the 30-mile section from Lake Laberge to the confluence of the Teslin River. The river was high and the hydraulics were quite strong. There were lots of riffles, but nothing hard (I+). The eddy lines were boiling and getting caught in there was disconcerting. I had the bow too heavy at first and the boat was spinning on its nose. I landed and moved weight back and center. Whew, that made this section much more fun. We easily made the 30 miles to the old Hootalinqua village. There are some old buildings there, interpretive signs, an outhouse, and a shelter. It was raining steadily, and we made good use of the shelter again. Though it was raining, we had drysuits, so it didn't matter. We were dry and comfortable.

Day 5. The river doubles in size with the addition of the Teslin water. Shipwreck Island is just downstream of Hootalinqua, and there is a cool old steamer to visit (and a good camp). On this section, we were drifting at about 5 mph and with 1 adult paddling, 7mph was easy. We wanted to average 35 miles per day, and that was easy even with a late 10:30am start each day. We camped around 5-6pm most days. There were many big cut banks in this section, and the scenery is striking. We made a short day and camped above the Big Salmon river at a nice trapper cabin. We stayed in the cabin to avoid putting up the tent for a night. We lazed around a read, ate and made bread. K began reading us 'Cold Comfort Farm' and this was a nightly activity to the end of the trip.

Day 6. We decided to skip the Big Salmon village and make some mileage today. We had seen a lot of old cabins lately and were a bit maxed out on that. We paddled about 40 miles. It felt long (note we had just 1 adult in each boat), and the weather was dark, cold and rainy. We passed Yukon Crossing and poked around the old roadhouse there. We camped past Little Salmon River at a fisherman's camp. The camp was a bit junky, but it was raining and blowing hard. We made a nice camp with our 2 tarps, a table we found, some chairs we found, and some plywood. On day 6, K unexpectedly snapped his paddle in half while ferrying to camp. Thankfully it did not snap while while K was frantically trying to pull away from a sweeper! It was like this Snap! "Sh*t! Jake, PADDLE!" Jake paddles hard and begins spinning the boat around. Jake happened to be using the spare and so K couldn't reach it. "No, PADDLE!" "I AM paddling!!" "No, give me the paddle!" "What?" "Give me the paddle!!!" "What?" "F***!" Eliz. and Karina on the shore: "What on earth are they doing out there?"

Day 7. We paddled to Carmacks. We had been dreaming of the 'well stocked grocery store' for days. The river was now quite a bit wider, and there were not so many cliffs. We paddled through large old burn areas. We saw a couple moose. We arrived fairly early into camp and settled in for a rest. The campground is outside of town, but they have bikes we could borrow to bike into town for dinner. We hit the 'well-stocked store', but in the end, we couldn't decide what to buy so just got some more butter. Dinner was good, but our thoughts were on the river and what we'd face the next day.

Day 8. The dreaded Five Finger Rapids. I'd been worrying about this the whole trip, but I tried to console myself with knowing that few people dump in them. The books all said that if you hug the river-right bank and take the right channel through the center, the rapids are easy and you don't need to scout. There is a big (easy) eddy at the top if you did want to scout. In retrospect, I would have stopped and gotten out to take pictures. But when I got there, I saw that the run was easy and straight-forward and I just wanted to get it over with. At the water level, we did it at (2300 m3/s above White River, which is high for August but average for July), it was easy class II. My daughter and I were so happy when we came through, and we laughed at how much we had worried about it. Rink Rapids are a couple miles below. They are supposedly easier, and we were keen to run them after our success through Five Finger Rapids. However, as I got close, it looked to me that there were huge standing waves all the way across the rapids. The books said you could avoid the rapid by taking the right shore, so I headed that way and looked for an easier way through. K and Jake, in contrast, thought the waves looked fun and headed straight in. We watched as they entered...and then disappeared in the trough. Hmm, maybe we were going to need to fish the boys out! But they appeared back on the crest of the next wave, and K navigated the canoe down at an angle into the next trough, where they disappeared again. He had to navigate a few of these standing waves; they were certainly big enough to swamp the canoe if taken head on. Even taken at an angle, K took on a bit of water. Anyhow, the boys came out unscathed. We skirted to the right, avoiding the rapids altogether, and joined them at the bottom. That evening we had a lovely camp above the river at Merrice Creek.

Day 9. The river was now really wide and full of islands and braiding. The map is quite good and guided us most of the time. The current was about 4.5 mph. We headed down below Minto without stopping and had lunch at a lovely spot called Thom's place. The weather cleared and it was even hot sometimes. We decided to make a long day and push onto Fort Selkirk where we would spend the night and explore. This section is full of braiding and islands. It was a long day and the river was pokey here, but we were rewarded by the fort which is on a bluff overlooking the river and has much to explore. There is also a building for cooking with a wood stove. We cranked up the heat and stayed up late reading and playing cards.

Day 10. We lounged around in the morning and spent a few more hours checking out the fort. It is maintained and restored by the First Nations and Canadian government. It is very well done with lots to see. The fog burned off mid-day and the weather was beautiful. After lunch, we paddled to Selwyn Creek, a short 30 miles away. We saw many bear and moose this day. The river was wide and barges came by a couple times a day. Selwyn camp is a bit small and darkish, but the next camp was a bit too far to go.

Day 11. We paddled another 35 miles along the river. Big river, moose, and bear. Hot weather. We ended at a lovely camp high above the river on RR. We were treated to a beautiful red sunset.

Day 12. We paddled about 5 miles downstream to Kirkman Creek where a family has a bakery. We bought some fresh bread and everyone was excited about french toast for the next morning, as we have had oatmeal for 3 days straight now after the other options ran out. We continued on to the confluence with the White River. We saw bears on and off. The White River comes in from the left. It is huge, really huge. We stopped near the confluence and hiked up to look around. The views are incredible. As we headed down river, the current really picked up. It was about 7 mph and the hydraulics were attention-getting. The river is 3 times wider and it made me a little nervous; not because it was hard, but the river was so big and kind of brooding. The banks are cut and marked with many sweepers, so you cannot land just anywhere. Also the current is ripping along, so landing is harder for that reason too. The forest is dense with trees in this section and there were no marked camps. It took us about an hour of searching to find a so-so camp. We have mosquitoes for the first time. The muddy river was racing just below our little camp.

Day 13. The current slackened a bit and the trees opened up. This section was not so brooding as the White River to Stewart River section. In fact, it was downright pleasant. The river felt calm but it was going at a good clip of about 7 mph. It was still wide, but it was not as spread out as before. At 2:30pm, we found a really lovely camp in a bit of dry woods. We decided to call it a day and enjoy a long last camp on the river. We read, played cards, and I baked some more.

Day 14. Our last day on the river. We had 37 miles to Dawson City, but the river was going fast and it didn't take long. The river is straighter now with rock cliffs. At 5pm, we rolled into Dawson City!

Day 15-16. We spent a day and a half exploring Dawson City. There is much to see and we only saw a small bit. The weather was nice and we had a great time. Too soon, we were at the Dawson airport for the flight to Whitehorse and then onto Vancouver. It was hard to leave, and K and I would rather be back in the canoes heading downstream for Circle.... another summer.

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Logistics.

Getting there and back: You can drive 3 days Seattle to Whitehorse or take a 2 hr flight from Vancouver to Whitehorse.... We downloaded a coupon for long-term parking at the Vancouver airport and it was only $130 for 16 days of parking. Flights were about $600 each on Air North for Vancouver-Whitehorse + Dawson-Vancouver. You can get a shuttle by car (12 hrs or so) from Dawson City to Whitehorse, but it wasn't going to be much cheaper than flying. Kanoe People picked us up for free from the Whitehorse airport on our arrival and took us to Canadian Tire to buy white gas.  Note: when ordering online on Air North, try ordering 1 person at a time.  The price goes up with each person (as the plane fills), and if you pay the price of the x-th person, so you can save $$$ by getting 1 ticket at a time if you have a bigger party.  Watch your weight.  Vancouver to Whitehorse leg weight limit 100lb/person; Dawson to Whitehorse is 44lb/person.  After that you pay overweight charges.

Canoe rental: We rented a couple Clipper Yukon canoes from Kanoe People. All their info is on the web. It was $395(+tax) for 2 weeks plus $75 per canoe to leave them in Dawson City. They rent other equipment too. We rented a food barrel from them, but brought our own pfd's and paddles. Look over your gear carefully. Our food barrel had a big crack that we didn't notice until later. Our canoe was missing some clips and bow and stern lines. We had our own, but if you don't, check your canoe carefully and pick up what you need before you leave.

Map: The book/map 'Marsh Lake to Dawson City' by Michael Rourke is all you need. Kanoe People sells it or you can buy it online. The book is paper, so you will need a good (and big, like 8.5 x 11) map case for it. I printed off instructions from the Yukon Quest website about running the Five Finger Rapids. It has lots of pictures, and I liked having the extra info (though it wasn't really necessary I did read it about 20x before the rapids ;). We also took 'Paddling the Yukon River and it's Tributaries' by Dan Maclean, but that wasn't useful; that's better deciding on a river to take but not so useful on the river. It would have been better to take a book just on the Yukon River history, or say Jack London's books to read in the evening, or some story about the stampeders.

Water level info: Yukon above White River: http://www.wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/graph/graph_e.html?stn=09CD001

Food/Fuel: We brought all our food from Seattle since we didn't want to pay Whitehorse prices and we dehydrated lots of food. We brought our whisperlite stove and bought a gallon of white gas at the Canadian Tire store on the way from the airport to Kanoe People. The Air North people whined about our fuel bottles, but I said they were empty and cleaned out and they relented. Next time, I'll pack my stove and empty bottles in a airproof bag and not mention them. We tend to pack very light, so we didn't have to pay over-charges for our luggage.  The Vancouver-Whitehorse leg had a limit of 100lb each, and the Dawson-Whitehorse leg was 44lb each.  You pay extra if you have more than 2 checked bags per person.

Camping: On the Whitehorse to Carmacks sections, there are many camps marked on the map. On the Carmacks to Dawson City section, there are few. And from the White River to Dawson City, there are almost none marked. Many people camp on the sand bars, but they were mud bars for us and the water level went up 6 inches overnight once, so we were not inclined to camp near the water line. Where camps are not marked, you need to look for clearings and old wood camps marked on the map or paddle near shore and look for camps. We did not have to compete with other paddlers for camps, but I think in June/July there are many more paddlers and guided groups, so finding open camps might be harder.

Water: We drank from the river. After White River, the water is really muddy so we let it sit out to settle.

Mosquitoes: We didn't have many at all in mid- to late-August. We used bug spray one night otherwise they just weren't there. I assume they are bad in June/July.

Animals: We had no problem and have not read of paddlers having problems with bears. We did see lots of black bears and maybe one grizzly. Keep a clean camp and do not camp where bears like to feed (next to creeks and in the deltas at confluences). It is also wise to avoid areas heavily used by fishermen due to more fish smells. Do not dump food stuff in the woods near camp; burn it or toss it well out into the river to be carried away (no soap). Do not leave dirty dishes out overnight to attract bears (or other critters). Re sleeping on islands to avoid bears, they are great swimmers; we saw one out-swimming a 7mph current! There are also many moose, and it's wise to avoid areas frequented by them too. You can tell where they hang out from their prints. What you really need to watch out for are the brazen mice. Yes, mice. They will chew up stuff left out (yum, dirty socks) and chew into your dry bags. So don't leave dry bags on the ground and keep food in something mice cannot get into. A food barrel works well. We also have a ActionPaker box that we keep stuff in. Every night, we cleaned our camp and hung everything or otherwise secured it in the ActionPaker box. We did rent bear spray from Kanoe People.

Difficulty: The trip is mostly class I/I+. I have read in books that this suitable for those with little paddling experience, but that seems foolhardy to me. The current is strong and the hydraulics are strong. You'll want a good ferry to get from bank to bank, and know how to spin the boat around to land in a strong current. You'll also want to know how current pushes a boat around, otherwise you'll try to paddle away from something (like a sweeper) at a 45 degree angle and the current will push you right into what you are trying to avoid. Take some moving water classes beforehand to learn to read the river and deal with current. Whitewater skills are not needed; you need basic skills for paddling in a current. Also you'll need to know how to load a boat so that it is stable and is properly trimmed so it maneuvers properly and doesn't spin on its nose. This is fast cold water and no place for a top-heavy or poorly loaded boat.

Lake Laberge is big and prone to winds. Big lakes need to be paddled close to shore. It is very hard to get back into a boat if you flip and you won't be able to swim long in cold water. The lake is prone to tail winds (thankfully) but that also means running waves. You should practice paddling in running waves before trying to paddling them on a trip. They can be tricky and if you mess up, you'll be in trouble. Head to land long before you are in waves you can't handle.

There are two sets of rapids you'll face 25 miles downstream from Carmacks. The Five Finger Rapids is usually class I to II, but can be III in high water. The water was 2300 m3/s (above White River) when we did it, and that is high for August, but typical for June/July. It was easy class II-  (1-2 foot waves) we did it. We talked to a couple who did it in 2010 when water was below 2000 m3/s (abv White River) and they said there where hardly riffles.  In 2012, they did it again at 3000 (abv White River) and had 2-3 foot waves.  Hug the right shore as you come around the bend before the rapids. Then you'll easily be able to line up with the center of the right channel. Don't psyche yourself out for it. Pack the weight low, get on your knees, and keep the boat straight. You'll be through in a couple minutes. Best info I found on Five Finger rapids was on the YukonQuest website: http://www.yukonriverquest.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/fivefinger.pdf
Rink Rapids are a couple miles downstream. They can be completely avoided by hugging the right shore. It doesn't look like you can avoid them, but you'll see it's clear when you get all the way right just above them.

We wore drysuits for the whole trip. It was rainy and cold, so we didn't get hot. Especially with the kids, we didn't like the thought of a capsize being a life-threatening event. Fortunately, flipping is unlikely on this river and many neophytes do this trip with no problems. But it is going to be a long hard swim in cold fast water if you do flip. Eddies are few and the current is often ripping along right up to shore.

Sweepers: There were no particular problems with sweepers at the average June/July water levels we did it at. There were sweepers along the banks after the White River, but the river is so huge, they felt far away. You do need to be careful choosing landing spots in this sections. There are logs to be avoided on the shoals in the lower sections. Give them a wide berth and remember that the current is going faster than you can paddle---either use the current to help you move left to right (by ferrying) or plan channels to take very early so you have lots of time to move slowly across. Remember if you are trying to move rightward downstream at an angle to the current, the current is pushing against your boat at an angle and moving you leftward.

Safety stuff: We took a Spot Beacon and sent in locations twice a day to friends. We also had a satellite phone for emergency (rented from BlueCosmo in Seattle). We also carried a GPS to know our location, though we used it mainly to know how fast the current was going. There is no cell coverage whatsoever. In some sections, you could hike to the Alaska highway if needed. Below Minto, we saw a barge twice daily. This trip is frequented by canoeists and you are likely to see parties daily.

Dawson City: There are 2 campgrounds across the river from town. There is a free ferry. The government campground doesn't have showers or laundry. The hostel campground has a wood-fired bathhouse (it's nice). Both have pit toilets.  You can get showers, flush toilets and laundry at the RV campground in town. In late-August, the RV campground had drop-in space but it won't in high season. We tucked in next to the RVs at the RV campground. Not scenic, but we wanted to be in town and were too cheap for a hotel. Getting to the airport was $15 per person and had to be arranged at the visitor center. If I had known how expensive that would be, I'd have researched hotel/motels with free shuttle service. Dawson City has loads to see. There are great museums, guided tours of town, fun bars and restaurants, and nice hikes. We had a day and a half and didn't have time to see it all. ATM and 2 full groceries in town.  The Trading Post (on Front Str) has camping gear; pretty much everything.  The Trading Post has white gas (not sure sure about propane).  The hostel also has propane and you can ask the owner about white gas.  Loads of hotels; most have internet.  I wasn't able to get my US cell phone to work, which was odd since it normally does in Canada.

Carmacks: We stayed at Coal Mine Campground which is river-right above the town. The owners were super friendly and helpful in getting us a spare paddle (after K broke his). Security was good (according to the owners). They had bikes to borrow (for free) for the 15 min bike into town. The grocery store in town has everything; it is not a dinky gas-station store but a regular grocery store. You could definitely restock here if you wanted. The Coal Mine campground has a good burger stand or there is a restaurant in town. I don't recall seeing an ATM.  There is a hotel in town with internet.

Whitehorse: Big town/city of 25,000+. Has everything you need: groceries, banks, Canadian Tire (for things like white gas, hardware, tarps, etc), canoeing and outdoor stores. Hotels, rental cars, etc. etc. There are a few places that rent canoes for long and short river trips. These companies will shuttle you wherever. We used Kanoe People, and half the parties we saw came from the them and the other half came from Up North. But search online and compare rates. Get Canadian dollars before you head out on the water. We had to use some US dollars at one point and paid 75c to the $ (vs 90c to the $).

Mileage per day: It seems like most non-racers do this in 10-16 days. YRQ racers take 2 days, hmm. On the river, we did 30-35 miles per day easy with with 1 adult paddling at an easy pace. Sometimes we stopped for lunch for an hour or two and other days we rafted and ate on the water. We stopped a lot to check things out. We pack light though, and we seemed to be going as fast as other parties with 2 adults per canoe.

Packing List:  Look on the right nav bar on the home page to see our Yukon River packing list.

Vltava River. 1-3 days. Class II. Czech Republic.

Vltava River, Czech Republic

This is above the 50th parallel but not our usual wilderness trip.  This was a 4-day trip in the Czech Republic along the Vltava River from Vyssi Brod to Borsov nad Vltavou.  This is a very popular pilgrimage for Czechs and it was a carnival atmosphere for the first half of the trip.  The second half was in a natural area and we left the hordes behind.


Full blog here with pictures: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/vltava

Logistics

Getting there  We drove to Vyssi Brod, but you can get a train there too.  Go here: http://www.cd.cz, click for English in the top right, and then do a search.

Camping  There are many boater campgrounds along this section of river.  When you rent your boats, you'll get a map that will show them.

Dogs Allowed.

Canoes and gear There are lots of companies.  Just do an internet search.  We used www.ingetour.cz .  They provided all our gear: boats, dry barrels, life jackets, and paddles.  I bet some of them rent camping gear too, but we brought our own.  Also some camps rents cabins or teepees, so if you plan ahead you won't need a tent.  Also there are towns along the way where you could arrange to stay in a pension.

Language This is a touristy area and nowadays all young Czechs will speak at least basic English.  Definitely those in the tourist industry will.

Difficulty If you portage all the weirs, it's class I.  If you paddle the weirs, it's class II.  Check out the pictures.

Sazava River. 1-7 days. Class I+ to II. Czech Republic.

Sazava River, Czech Republic

This was a 3-day trip in the Czech Republic just south of Prague along the Sazava River from Ledecko to Pikovice.  64km.  This is a popular river but does not have the carnival atmosphere of the Vltava River.

Full blog with pictures:  https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/sazava

Logistics

Getting there  We drove to Ledecko, but you can get a train there easily from Prague.  Go here: http://www.cd.cz, click for English in the top right, and then do a search.  The 'c' in Ledecko has a hook over it.

Camping  There are many boater campgrounds along this section of river.  When you rent your boats, you'll get a map that will show them.  All the signs on the water are in Czech.  The word for canoe camp is 'vodace taboriste' but usually the sign has a little tepi symbol.

Length and route We took 3 days to do the 63km lower section.  The full length is 128km and you could easily spend a week if you started at the top and did some sightseeing along the way.  Map

Food There are continual signs for beer (pivo!) and food along the route.  They are all in Czech but are unmistakable.  There are towns where you can get food at restaurants or markets.  The towns are small so the stores won't be open late or on Sunday.

Dogs Allowed.

Canoes and gear This company rents canoes and waterproof barrels: http://www.pujcovna-lodi.cz/  The website is only in Czech alas.  But with Google Translate you should be able to figure out what you need.   No doubt they can answer emails in English.  They will meet you at the take out and pick up the canoes for you.  I did not see any place to store stuff at the put-in, at least at our put-in which was a tiny village.  So, you'll have to inquiry with the company if you need to leave backpacks or something.  Might be best to plan to take all your stuff with you or store it in Prague (or whereever) during your trip.

Difficulty It wasn't harder than class II- when we did it.  The water was shallow and we mostly scraped our way down stuff.  However the river from Tynec to Pikovice (our day 3) is a white water destination and would be solid class II at higher water.   The Ledecko to Tynec section though is flatwater interspersed with weirs that can be portaged.  If you need to portage add time to your trip as there are 6-10 weirs a day.  The rapids below Tynec are continuous and cannot be portaged.  However at the water level we did it (low), it wasn't hard and the boats were rented were very stable.

Getting back  It's less than an hour by train from Pikovice back to Prague and about $5 a person (in 2013).

Noatak River. 10-21 days. Class I-II. Alaska.

Noatak River, Alaska

10 days above the Arctic Circle on the Noatak River in Alaska.

August 6-15, 2014.  4 people (my husband and I and our 13 and 16 year olds) in Ally canoes (skin on frame foldable canoes). A summary of logistics for this trip are given after the trip report.

Full blog with maps, pictures and packing lists: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/noatakriver

A beautiful trip on a beautiful river above the Arctic Circle.  About half the trip is in the Gates of the Arctic National Park and the other half in the Noatak National Wildlife Refuge.  We had hoped to see the caribou migration as parties normally see them this time of year, but the migration was late this year perhaps due to the unusually rainy cold weather in June and July.  Parties on the Nigu River (to the north) saw them.  But we saw lots of grizzly, muskox, Dall sheep, salmon, Arctic ground squirrels, Arctic terns, Bald Eagles, and many other birds.

Day 1. Dropped off at Walker Lake at about 11am. Beautiful warm sunny day.  River is small, shallow and slow here, maybe 2mph drift. I could toss a rock from one side to the other. We paddle til 7pm and see no wildlife.  It starts to rain and the river rises 2 inches overnight.  Big mountains rise all around us. We camp across from Lake Omelaktauk. Light head wind.

Day 2. It is still raining.  Our plan is to go for a hike up Kugrak River basin, but as we come in, we see a grizzly in the distance and then a mother and 3 cubs comes onto our beach.  She mostly ignores us.  We drift on and get some great pictures.  Around the corner we see another grizzly.  We paddle on through off and on rain to just above Igning River. River comes up 5 inches overnight. No wind.

Day 3. Day dawns cloudy but no rain and patches of blue sky.  We paddle 20+ miles with the river running 3-4mph.  On the mountain north and downstream of Igning River, we see a large flock of Dall sheep high on the mountain.  Later we spot a grizzly foragin in the brush, far off.  We pass the bend a ove Ipnetivik River where there is sometimes a rapid but find nothing, only rocks.  Downstream of Ipnetivik River, we go through an area of I-I+ rapids.  Easy to skirt if you desire.  We hike up the tundra benches a couple times to look around and get views.  Tundra is lumpy, wet and mosquito ridden but views are great.  Arctic terns dive bomb us at one confluence and try to nail us with bird poop bombs.  We continue past Lake Matcharak and camp.  It rains at about 10pm. Tail wind all day.

Day 4. Day dawns beautiful and clear.  The river dropped 5 inches overnight.  Just before lunch, we are charged by a grizzly on the bluff above us.  We were paddling next to the bluff on the outside of a curve and chatting and generally making a bit of noise, but we must have surprised the bear.  I hear a 'huff, huff', look us and see a big bear charging at me just above my head (I'm in the canoe, bear is on bluff above me).  It stops 20 feet or so from me and we star at each other for a moment before it turns tail and runs.  That was the only wildlife for the day.  We paddle from 11:30 to 6pm and camp just before the canyon and start of the second section of rapids.  Hot day with little wind.  Too hot to camp at 7pm.  We hide in the shade and wait for it to cool off.  River keeps dropping.

Day 5. Another beautiful day! It seems to suit the mosquitoes however. The swarm us except on the river.  We paddle the canyon today which includes a series of rapids.  At our water levels, they involve rock-dodging and wave trains (up to 3 feet).  Nothing over class II.  The cave ledge rapid is easy with a straight chute through. "Jaws" is also easy but involves a big "S".  The river makes a hard left with a rock outcrop on the outside of the turn.  Come in to the turn on the right following the obvious wave-train/main current.  There is a big eddy before the rock outcrop on the outside of the turn.  As the river turns and above the outcrop, the wave-train/main current makes a left and head diagonally across the river.  Follow the wave-train and your through.  There is a big eddy below the outcrop but the main current was clean with no cross-current trying to push you into the eddy.  At higher water levels, it will be different but easy to avoid on the left if desired.  We did not scout Jaws or any other rapids as they were all easy and we had studied "Jaws" from photos (of others) and knew what to expect.  After Jaws, the river settles down but there are a few big wave trains.  None big enough to get in our canoes.  Camps are harder to find here.  River drops all day at a steay pace and we have to do a lot of rock-dodging.  Wildlife today was red Chinook salmon.  We see them in the river all over.

Day 6. The river dropped another 8 inches overnight.  It rained lightly at night but the day dawned clear and warm.  We have left the mountains and are in the flats.  The river is slow and braided.  We zig-zag and stand up to find deep enough water.  We are lazy and drift a lot.  At 4pm, head winds start and slow us down considerably.  We make an early camp.  5 hours of paddling today and only 12-13 miles.  No wildlife and few tracks except wolf.  Until the wind started, the river was pure silence.  We can see forever out here in 360 degrees.  We hope the wind will die down in the morning but worry about the mosquitoes when it does.

Day 7.  Morning is still and skies are clear.  Too cold for mosquitoes in the early morning.  River has dropped another 5-8 inches overnight.  It will mean much rock dodging today.  We really don't want to hit rocks in our Ally (skin on frame) canoes.  We get on the water at 9:30 am and paddle until 1pm when the winds start and stop us in our tracks.  We can't make any headway after 2pm and the wind kicks up 3 foot waves in some places.  It pushes us into rocks.  We camp at 2pm and will get an early start tomorrow.  No wildlife today except salmon and hawks.  We see fresh bear tracks again after 2 days of not seeing any.  Black clouds fill the mountains in the distance.  Maybe the good weather is ending.

Day 8. It rains lightly overnight but the day dawns parly cloudy and a bit could.  We get on the water at 8:30am with the plan to paddly until the wind starts at 1pm.  The weather clears during the day and turns hot.  The wind never comes and we paddle until 5:30pm past Aniuk River.  Long day!  We camp and swim in the river since it is so hot.  The 20 miles above Aniuk River are pool and drop.  The drops involves lots of rock-dodging and due to the low water, are more technical than the earlier rapids in the canyon.  After Aniuk River, the drops are less rocky.  We see 6 musk oxen above Aniuk River and a grizzly below.  We see a ground squirrel the size of a large house cat.

Day 9. It sprinkles overnight but dawns clear.  Today we will paddle past Cutler River to our take-out just past the confluence.  The morning begins in an exciting fashion as a very large grizzly comes into our camp.  It is walking down the beach and we are in the way (well technically there is room to pass between us and the river...). It is not afraid of us at all nor particularly interested in us.  At first it looks like it will walk right through camp, but we stand side by side with our paddles raised (and bear spray ready) and yell 'Hey bear, go away!'.  The bear gets close, then seems to shrug and think 'ok fine, I'll go around.'  It saunters into the bush and continues on the beach below us.  We finish packing and head off.  Below Cutler River, we see another grizzly walking the beach.  There are much salmon in the river and I suppose they are looking for them.  We get to the portage trail to our pick-up lake at 2pm.  Then begins 6 hours of mosquito/tussock/swamp hell to get our stuff and boats to the lake.  We pack up all our gear and disassemble the boats.  We work until midnight (still bright light).  No dinner tonight.  Exhausted sleep.  The camp is good on the north side of the lake but the mosquitoes are awful.  Thank god for head nets.

Day 10.  The day dawns partly cloudy and turns into full sun by noon.  A slight breeze keeps the mosquitoes at bay.  We call the bush pilot and pick-up will be about 2pm.  It is raining in Bettles but warm and sunny here.  We hike up a small hill near the lake for some views.  The pilot arrives and we fly out.  As we fly past the Brooks Range, the weather changes to rain.  It is raining in Bettles when we arrive and rains the next day too.  We stay in the Brooks Range Aviation's bunk house for the night and enjoy our hot showers.  Tomorrow we will catch a flight to Fairbanks and home to Seattle.

A fantastic trip and I wish we had had the time to continue on to Noatak village, but the 10 day section we did was really spectacular and the rapids were lots of fun (and not hard).  If I went again, I'd spend a couple days hiking near the put in.  We were eager to be on the river paddling so didn't hike there.  We hiked lower down only.

Logistics:
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Getting to the headwaters.  We flew to Fairbanks and then took Wright Air from Fairbanks to Bettles.  From Bettles, we flew with Brooks Range Aviation in a Beaver to the Nelson-Walker Lake put-in.  The 12-mile slough is another common put-in but was too shallow. After coming in from Fairbanks, we stayed the night and flew to the river in the morning, however you can usually fly out the same day.  Just arrange that with the bush plane company.  Brooks Range Aviation has a bunk house where their customers can stay for free.  The flight to the river is really spectacular since you fly through the Brooks Range. Cost $2000 for 4 people plus gear.  Total allowed weight (people plus gear): 1100 pounds.  Note, on the Fairbanks to Bettles flight, you pay for excess baggage.  For us was $0.80 per pound above 40 pounds per person.  We had 360 pounds of gear so paid excess for 200 pounds.

Getting off the river. If you float to Noatak village, you can catch a Wright Air flight back to Fairbanks. Easy to go stand-by.  Just talk with the pilot.  Also they'll run extra flights if they have people, so ask in the village or call Wright Air when you get to the village.  If you want to do a shorther trip, there are a number of take outs between the headwaters down to Cutler River.  Cutler River (10-14 days) and there are take-outs for 5, 7 and 9 day trips.  Cost out of Cutler River was $3000 for a Beaver (4 people + gear).

Maps and Navigation.  I downloaded the topo maps (free) from Alaska USGS and printed out on 8x11 sheets.  That was fine.  You read the flow on the river and don't need lots of detail for that on the topo--unlike say on the Yukon River where the topo helps you find channels. Noatak River is very small and you just read the river as you go.  Howevder, a GPS was essential to tell where you were on the river. The flats have few landmarks and even the obvious ones are hard to spot. I had a Garmin GPS with the extended Alaska topo maps.  I'd marked a few important waypoints (rapids, confluences) and then turned the GPS on every few hours to check where we were on the maps. The confluences are very easy to miss, and I would have missed the biggest (Cutler) if I hadn't had it marked on the GPS.  The side rivers were small and non-descript.  I didn't leave the GPS on as it ripped through batteries.  I wish I'd taken the National Geographic map for Gates of the Arctic, not for navigation but to know what all the peaks around us were.  I'd planned to get that in Bettles, but everyone was out of it.  Make sure to mark on your map where the other possible take-out are; talk to the bush plane pilot.  That way if you need to get picked up early you know where to go.

Guidebook. Alaska River Guide by Karen Jetmar.  But I also printed off a number of other trip reports and pictures of the main rapids that I found online.  The trip reports and pictures of the rapids (esp. Jaws) was helpful and we didn't need to stop and scout anything.

Boats. We have Ally canoes.  You can rent Soar inflatable canoes from Brooks Range Aviation.  Soars are slower than skin-on-frame boats (Allys, Kleppers, etc) so factor that into your plan.  You can rent Ally's from Alaska Outdoor Rentals in Fairbanks.

Weather.  The Noatak River is famous for bad weather. Many parties have gotten 7-9 days of straight rain, we lucked out and only had 2 days of rain in 10 days.  You must be prepared for camping in the rain and paddling in the rain.  We set-up tarps to have a dry camp and paddled in our dry-suits on wet or cold days.  The Noatak River is also known for up-river winds that are too strong to paddle against.  These typically are in the afternoon, so an early start will often be necessary.  The river level is strongly affected by rain---rising quickly during rain and dropping quickly in warm, dry weather.  We camped on the gravel bars but as high as possible.  You can find lumping camping on the banks above the river if the gravel bars get covered.  We secured our boats well every night, since the wind would kick up at night sometimes.

River difficulty. Under normal water levels, you will find rapids class I-II.  Everything we saw was easy for paddlers experienced with moving water and up to class II rapids.  In higher water the rapids will be bigger, but sneak routes could be found and the rocks will be more covered.  "Jaws" was one of the easier rapids.  At higher water it would have been harder, but you can skirt on the left.  The photo album has a diagram of Jaws.  At the water level we paddled at, fairly typical, there were not particular hydrolics in the river as the currents was fairly slow (2-4 mph).  The river makes many bends, but these were easy.  Note, my husband or I paddled stern almost all the time.  My son (13) paddled a couple afternoons and found the rock-dodging and getting in the chutes for the drops to be difficult in the wind.  I didn't find it difficult at all, but clearly someone with less river experience would have a harder time.  'Hey you're going to hit that rock down there! Get over to the left.'  'But I'm in the channel I want.' 'But you won't stay here. You have to plan for the wind and the current moving you off course.' 'No, don't let the boat be angled to the current! It'll push you into that rock!' 'I'm not angled.  I'm pointed downstream.' 'But the current is not going downstream. Do you see how it's a cross-current here?'

Communication: We carry a Spot beacon and 'checked' in daily with friends.  We also carried a satellite phone which I rented from Blue Cosmo in Seattle.  We used the phone to call Brooks Range Aviation and schedule our pick-up.

Bush pilot: We used Brooks Range Aviation in Bettles.  They have lots of planes and fly multiple flights a day.  So if you need to get out early, they can likely get you.  They had a bunk house where we could stay for free while waiting for our flight out.  I didn't know this, but they can usually get you out the same day that you fly into Bettles.  I thought it'd be too late, but they fly til 10pm so it would have been no problem to get out the same day even coming in on the afternoon flight.  Brooks Range will send you helpful information about the river, put-ins, take-outs, maps, when you inquire.

Checking in with the ranger station: They are open every day til 5pm and you need to check in a get bear barrels (free).  Make sure the bear barrels top secures properly.  One of ours didn't and bear could have opened it.  The barrels are metal and heavy, but it's likely you'll have a bear walk through your camp and it's comforting to know that they won't have reason to prolong their visit (chowing on your food).

Bears: About half the parties seem to see 7+ grizzly bears with a 1/4 or so having one come into camp.  You camp on the gravel bars and that's where the bears are walking around.  If the salmon are running, you'll likely to see bears.  We saw 12 and most had no fear of us and none was interested in us.  One charged us when surprised but then ran off.  We gave them their space, floated by and didn't land to take pictures.  Only one came into camp, and we convinced it to leave/go around by being loud and standing together with our paddles.

Other wildlife: Besides the 12 grizzlies, we saw 6 muskox and a herd of Dall sheep but no caribou.  Most parties see caribou in August.  We saw lots of birds and salmon.  We saw wolf and moose prints but didn't see them.  We saw lots of salmon in the river.  And mosquitoes.  Bring head nets, bug spray and gloves.  You'll want some kind of shelter from the mosquitoes for cooking if you come in July.  We didn't have a shelter, but next time I'll take something light.  If nothing else, I'd take a bed net that I could rig up into a bug-shelter.

Fires: There are no trees but there are lots of shrubs.  The gravel bars were covered with dead drift wood.  So making a fire is easy if you are so inclined (and the wood is dry).  We mainly used our stove.

Hiking: You can hike but it's slow on the tundra and tussocks.  It's better in the headwaters since you can get up high fast.  We avoided hiking near the streams coming into the Noatak because that's where the salmon and bears seemed to congregate.

Nation Lakes Canoe Route. 5-8 days. FW+easy river. Upper BC.

Nation Lakes Canoe Route

Full blog with pictures and video: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/nationlakes
 

The Nation Lakes Canoe Route (110km) is a one-way canoe route through four large lakes and three short rivers north of Prince George, B.C. (some 1000km north of Vancouver). This is a beautiful route in an area that receives few visitors (about 20-30 parties in July/August). The solitude is incredible. We saw only one other party during our 7-day trip and we saw no people for a 3-day segment. The camps are lovely, the lakes substantial but not too big, and there is good scenery, too. The logistics are more expensive because there is a 4-5 hour shuttle that needs to be arranged, but that helps keep the traffic down.


Logistics:
We rented canoes at $140 per week from Doug and Dolores French who run Nation Lakes Canoeing Camp during the summer. They shuttled us in their truck ($500 for the shuttle). They will also shuttle you in your car for $175. Why the difference in price? Wait till you see what the roads are like! The roads are fine for 2-wheel drive, but expect your car to take a beating and make sure your spare and jack are in good order.

Maps:
You can download a basic map from www.nationlakes.com and Doug gave us a more detailed map. I also downloaded the detailed map on the BC Parks website: BC Parks Map

Rivers:
This trip involves three river sections. Note we did this in late August during low water.   BRING A HAND SAW!
Tsayta-Indata (6.5km): This section was very tedious. Water was low, there are snags everywhere and the river is very twisty. We had to use a lot of river-technique to paddle most of this. We had to teach the girls how to do a strong river draw to be able to paddle the twists and avoid the sweepers. We could have lined the boats. The water was shallow and the river narrow. But that seemed both slow and boring, so we paddled as much as we could. There were 3 big log jams that we had to portage around. The jams were a hindrance not a hazard as the current was a trickle (when we did it).  It took us 4 hours to do this 6.5km section. A hand saw would have been handy for the first section. Ug.
Indata-Tchentlo (4.8km): This section was fine. It was wider, there was more water, and it was straighter. There were just two or three parts where we needed to use river techniques. At the end, there was one log-jam, but we were able to slide the boats over the one log that blocked out way. We took this jam on the right. The current was slow so there was no danger of going under the jam.  This section took us two hours.
Tchentlo-Chuchi (5km): The section was easy. Wide and straight. We zipped right through this in 1 1/2 hours.

Camps:
We stayed at the recreation camps because it works better with kids to have a bigger area for them to explore and to have a privy. The recreation camps had tables, fire rings, privies, and sometimes "bear bars". The bear bars were logs put about 10 feet off the ground. I don't think they'd keep a bear away from your food, but they work for the smaller critters. All camps that we saw were placed where there was a nice sandy beach. The map on www.nationlakes.com shows the locations of these camps that have big sandy beaches. There are other places to land too, but these are the better/bigger sites.

Dogs:
Allowed.

Bears:
We saw signs of bears (tracks) only at one point (not a camp) near a big stream. Dolores said that people see black bears sometimes, but the bears are shy and there have never been problems.

My thoughts:
This was a really beautiful trip -- lovely large lakes, great views of the surrounding mountains, animals to see (from the boat), great camps with sandy beaches, and lots of solitude. I highly recommend the trip.

Bowron Lakes. 5-8 days. FW + Class I river. Portaging. Central BC.

Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit

We made this trip in late August, 23-30. It is a 116km circuit to the west of Jasper National Park in British Columbia. The circuit is world-famous among canoers. The circuit is generally done in 5-8 days, and we took 8. It features mostly lake paddling with a few easy portages between lakes; however, it does have one river section on the Cariboo River. It has one class II rapid, but that can be portaged around (in fact you have to go out of your way to run the rapid). This is classified as a wilderness route, but I would put wilderness in quotes. Unless you go in late-fall or early-spring, you will see people every day. All the campsites are designated and are developed with fire rings, tent platforms and pit toilets. Some sites have cooking structures and on each big lake there is at least one public cabin for drying out and such.

In a nutshell: Very beautiful and classic canoe route. Don't expect solitude in high season (June-August).

Getting there:
It is a 10 hr drive from Seattle to Quesnel (south of Prince George). From Quesnel, it is another 2 hrs east to the Bowron Lakes Provencial Park.

Canoe rental:
There are a couple big lodges that do most of the rentals. They have good canoes and canoe carts (wheels). The two lodges are Becker Lodge and Bowron Lake Lodge. We rented with Bowron Lake Lodge. The canoes from this lodge were fine but their wheels were very heavy (like 25+ lbs) -- albeit indestructable. Next time, I'd try Becker Lodge which has lighter wheels and the same types of canoes. If you canoe much at all, I strongly suggest buying your own good paddle. Rental paddles are always heavy and not very nice. My light wooden bent-shaft paddle was highly coveted by all paddlers in my boat.

Reservations:
If your are a group of 6 or fewer, you can try the drop-in spots. Each day, there are 4 spots for drop-ins. These are lottery distributed, I think. Otherwise, you can get a reservation and if you are a group of 7+, you must have a reservation. Search for Bowron Lakes online and you'll quickly find the reservation info. It is very easy to do over the phone. You need to get reservations well in advance. I made reservations in March and there was only 1 group spot available in the 2-week window we had for doing the trip. Being a group had its pluses and minuses. The minus was that we were assigned a schedule (7 nights) and were required to stay at our designated group site each night. The pluses were that a) we had a big reserved site all to ourselves and didn't have to compete for sites, b) we were forced to slow down a bit and take 8 days instead of 6 that we might have otherwise, c) the groups sites were generally away from others and quite nicely situated.

Maps and books:
No need for detailed maps for this trip. You can use the one given to you when you make your reservations. There is a good guide book for the route: THE BOWRON LAKES A Guide to Paddling British Columbia's Wilderness Canoe Circuit  Link to website for guide book
Camps:
Get the guide book. It describes all the camps. Also in our photo album you'll see pictures of some of the camps.

What skill level is required:
Although most of the paddling is lakes, you need some decent paddling skills and a healthy dose of common sense. 1) Flipping in many of the lakes would be bad since they are cold (like the temp of the ocean here in WA). 2) You must paddle the Cariboo River. The river has a handful of class 1+ spots although it is mostly gentle. Although the river is not hard, it is wicked cold (MUCH colder than the ocean in WA) and there are snags all over and a few tight bends to negotiate. Flipping would be bad news -- however that said, the river is not wide and you would quickly make it to shore but sans gear and hypothermic. This route sees a lot of beginners and we saw 2 recent flips; 1 was from the night before and we helped collect their gear. There is a radio at the end of the river and a ranger boat that does rescues. We saw both boat and helicopter rescues during our week on the circuit.

Weather and bugs:
This route gets a lot of rain and wind. Every trip report I saw described paddling in the rain with wind. However, we really lucked out as we often had glassy water even in the afternoon. But normally the wind kicks up every day at around 2-3pm, so if you can manage to get an early start, you will avoid most of the choppy water. It rained about every day on our trip, but we rarely paddled in the rain and had plenty of blue sky. This area is known for bugs, but by late-August when we did the route, they were all gone and we rarely saw mosquitoes. If you come earlier in the summer, be prepared.

Portage:
There are lots of portages, but they are all maintained for canoe carts.

Bears:
BC Parks is rather paranoid about bears in this area, so I suspect that they do have some (black) bear problems. We saw no bears but other parties did see some. We saw tracks near one camp which was on a creek. All camps have bear bins.

Dogs:
Not allowed.

My thoughts:
Bowron Lakes is a "must-do" trip because of its stunning setting, variety, and circular loop.  However it is not a trip that I will repeat unless I'm taking friends from overseas (who I want to make sure have "wow" experience) or am going in the shoulder season (September).  For me, there were just too many people, too much regulation (needed due to too many people), and too many rangers.  Even when there was no one around, it was clear from the campsites that this area gets a lot of use.  The camps were in great shape, but just clearly lots of people go through them.  I prefer trips where we are more "out there", where the portages are rough, the camps rough, and no cabins or fire grates.  However, those precise features of the Bowron are what attract others and don't get me wrong, the trip is stunning, really stunning.

Athabasca River. 4 days. Class I+. Alberta

Athabasca River, Berland Bridge to Whitecourt (Class I+)

Go here to the main blog: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/athabascariver

In late August 2010, we did the 100km Berland Bridge to Whitecourt section of the Athabasca River.  This section has one optional Class I+ rapid (you actually have to go out of your way to run it) and a number of riffles.  The current is quite strong, especially in the first 30km after that the current mellows out.  The river was still quite cold but not frigid like it was near Jasper.  We did it in three fairly leisurely days. 

During our trip, the river level was less than 300 m3/s (Windfall station) and all the log jams (piles of logs) were stranded up on land.  This was nice because there are log jams at the head of every island and there are about 2 islands per kilometer on this section.  So there are log jams everywhere.  There were some trees fallen by the side of the river, but at the water levels during our trip, you would have to be skilled to maneuver your canoe into them (like back ferry on purpose into them).

We did this section as a training run while working our way up river progression from easy moving water up to Novice moving water on stronger currents.  We wanted a section (and water level) where we could work on skills with current skills that help us improve but not challenge us too much.  Though we have a lot of flat water experience and my husband and I have whitewater experience, this was the first time my daughter (12) would be paddling in the bow on a river and the the first I would be paddling stern.   This section was perfect for our objectives.  We did a lot back ferrying, forward ferrying, turning the boats in the current, and some eddy turns (there weren't many opportunities for that).  We practiced our side-slipping in the riffles and then got a chance to practice that in the one Class I rapid, which was at such low water that all the boulders were exposed.  The water was cold enough that we didn't want to flip and never felt in danger of that.  Keep in mind that we have extensive flatwater and rough water experience though limited moving water experience with the paddling configuration used on this trip (my husband and I have WW up to IV experience but on this we had our kids paddling bow).

Overall comments.  Though we did not have the warmest weather, this was a great trip.  We just loved being on the river, the sound of it, the look, the bigness....  No views per se (unlike more upstream in Jasper), but the river itself was a great view.

Logistics
Canoe rental  We had our own canoes.  But if you need to rent, note that there is no place in Jasper and rental places in BC were not keen on us taking their canoes on a river.  Instead rent in Edmonton.  MEC and Totem Outfitters rent canoes for river trips.  Book well ahead as they do get full-up.  Edmonton Canoe (http://www.edmontoncanoe.com/) does canoe rental plus shuttling.

Shuttle We arranged for a car rental from National Car Rental in Whitecourt.  The rental office is just a 15 min walk from the take-out at Riverboat Park.  Cost was $100 (Aug 2010) + gas.  Round-trip was 3.5 hrs.

Put-in About 1.5 hrs from Whitecourt.  We put-in at the Berland bridge.  Drive 43 towards Fox Creek and take the 947 road (there's a sign and it's just past losegun Creek).  The 947 road takes you 27km to the power plant on pavement, after that it is 14km on dirt to the Y in the road.  Take the right at the Y, and it's 7km to the bridge.  There are no signs whatsoever, except an unhelpful one near the power plant that says "Edson".  After the power plant (which has a huge fire-spewing tower), you stay on the main road.  You'll just have to take your best guess on what's "main".  When you make the right at the Y in the road, you'll see signs warning that a weight-limited bridge is coming up.  When we did it, the road was bumpy but fine.  After a big rain, it could definitely be tough.  Also it is a working road and there's a lot of logging.  Stay alert and be ready to pull to the side.  I printed off the Canadian topo maps for the area and that was helpful, but we still flagged down a truck to make sure we were on the right track.  The roads shown on the Paddle Alberta map were not helpful---I was glad I had the topo map.  I wished I had printed off the satellite photos from Google maps.  That would have been the best.

Camping We camped the first night by our van at Berland bridge.  There is good camping there.  Our last night, we camped at the take-out at the Riverboat Assoc. Park.  There is a sign that says they lock it at 11pm, but locals told us that wasn't the case and that it was fine to stay.  There is an RV camp nearby (10min walk) but they don't allow tents.   On the river, we just camped on islands.  It was not easy to find suitable spots; we had to check out multiple islands.  There were bear prints everywhere but they seemed less on islands with fast currents on both sides.

Map The Paddle Alberta map is great and all you need.  Definitely get that.  You can order it online (http://www.paddlealberta.org/  search a bit on their site because the page to buy is a bit hard to find).  It takes a week or two to come by mail, so order early.  We picked up our copy from the Friends of Jasper store in the Visitor Center in Jasper.  The map shows log jams, but that info was not useful as there are 10x more jams than shown.  Just expect them at every island.  But at low water (<300 m3/s at Windfall), all jams were stranded during our trip.  Riffle and rapid (one) info was accurate as was the island info.

Bears We saw prints everywhere but had no encounters.  Our first camp we hung our food and the second camp was on a island without trees so we used our bear canister.

Water temperature  The water was cold, but not like near Jasper.  Near Jasper, the water is wicked cold (seriously).  On our section, it was cold but I felt manageable wearing 3mm wetsuits.  The kids and I wore shorty wetsuits.  My husband and our friend are less sensitive to cold water and did not.  We had no problem overheating wearing shorty wetsuits since the air temp was so cold during our trip. 

Difficulty These comment only apply to the 200-300 m3/s (Windfall) water level (low water) we experienced.  During our trip, Kuba and I could overpower the current in most places, though we avoided that since we were using this as a training run.  However, the river was definitely not a "moving lake".  The current moves at a good clip except after Windfall bridge where it really slows down.  We took all riffles where the waves were biggest (on purpose) and they were easy.  We were never faced with a curve where we need to back ferry into the inside of the curve (to avoid a sweeper), instead we tried to always head to the outside of the curve to find the section of faster and deepest water.  Landing in the current posed our biggest challenge (aka learning experience), except for the challenges we created for ourselves while practicing our ferries and turns in the current.