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.

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