Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska overnight river rafting or lake canoe trip - based in Haines

My family will be travelling up this summer with truck and camper via ferry, getting off in Haines.

Once we arrive in Haines, I'd like to take a couple canoes/rubber boats on a ~2 night excursion/camping trip.

I'm presently considering either:

Chilkoot Lake,
or Chilkat River

any wisdom on the decision would be much appreciated. Drop off/pick up recommendations appreciated even more.

thanks all,

shane

FWIW, I expect to land on July 1, if that has any impact in your recommendations.

and again, thanks in advance.

Not sure about the options there, but there are many rivers FAR better suited than the average coastal rivers, to novice rafters.

Weather and river conditions are far more important than exact location IMO&E.

Look at the Gulkana, once you get into the mainland part... and aside from a little mild whitewater and a portage. A little longer, but safe with good to great fishing.

any recommendation along the Gulkana River, then?

I'd look at Mosquito Lake. Mile 27 of the Haines Hwy. A short drive on Mosquito Lake Rd. puts you at a State Recreation Site. Bring a headnet.

Chilkoot Lake could be a zoo as that's early sockeye season. You DO NOT want to mess with the Chilkat River.

If you don't have relatively current copy of the Milepost, you should get one post haste. It'll have all the stuff to do along the Alaska Hwy and should cover the Haines Hwy too.

Put in at Paxson Lake Campground at the south end of Paxson Lake. You have a seven mile paddle to get to the beginning of the river, but it's worth every minute of it.

There is some Class II whitewater, mostly rock gardens, and a couple short sections of Class III.

As Art mentioned, there is one portage and its clearly marked. Most folks take a couple of days to do the trip. Once past the portage, the river is pretty much Class I & II all the way to the Richardson Highway bridge at Gakona.

This is a 5-7 day trip for most folks. Some of crazy folks have done it over a long weekend, but it's a LOT of paddling.

For a long(?) day trip, you could put in at Sourdough Campground and take out at the Bridge. That's ~13 river mile trip that's all Class I water.
Here's a link that gives a pretty good description; LINK

That site also gives descriptions of most of the other rivers to float in Alaska.

Ed

Headnets, full body cover, and deet.

I'd also toss in minimal supplies for about another 1 1/2 days. It's only happened once, but I could not row my boat downriver in a horrid head wind. We were well supplied, quit, and spent another night out. Died down about 2:00 AM in the morning.

Also, if one is pushing it distance wise, I'd opt for an additional day. Does not seem like a vacation when one is making, breaking, rowing/paddling, cooking for every waking minute. A little time to smell the roses is good.

When I worked for the hatchery we used to tow rafts down to the outlet of Paxson all the time. If the wind is out of the wrong direction you could be paddling for a while to get to the river. IF you do decide to float the Gulkana, make sure you manage to get out at the Richardson highway bridge in Glenallen, I don't know of any other place to hit shore from there on down. Let me know if you end up doing the Gulkana, I still know people at the hatchery and I bet they would gladly give you a tow down if I set it up.

The float from Tangle Lakes to Black Rapids is one I always wanted to do, just want to get the raft out before you hit the angry water. Friends of mine have done that float in a canoe.

Black rapids always looks way beyond dangerous when we drive by in the fall for sure. I"d not even want to consider that if experienced IMHO. And since I"ve never rafted.... well you get the idea. but before that, it looks nice.

Black Rapids is for serious rafters & kayakers. I looked at doing it once in my cataraft, but I didn't have that kind of river experience in my 18' Leopard.

Doing part of the Tangle Lakes trail is cool. Some great fly fishing there.

Ed

Like I suggested, you gotta get pulled out before that I have been rafting before and you couldn't pay me enough to go through that water.

If you decide to rent a raft I would recommend a cataraft like this one. Very easy to control and you can straddle rocks. This picture is of my assistant manager's that I got to operate from a secret spot down to the bridge in Glenallen. I was super easy to do and pulling it across the rocks due to low water wasn't bad. Putting it together before the trip was a workout until we figured out to use the air pump from an inflatable mattress. He upgraded it with etrex decking instead of mesh and it helped to keep stuff out of the water. It made the raft heavier but it wasn't too bad really. He and a buddy used this raft on the copper to haul out a brown bear and a moose, so they will float some weight.

I too am a fan of catarafts

They're slower than a double ender when loaded light

But haul the mail better and faster with a load on ime

Plus being able to hop off the seat and lift up on the frame when you start dragging beats the heck outa jumping out of a double ender, running to the front and dragging then climbing back in


Hope you have a great time up here

thanks for all the insight, fellows. Much appreciated.

Randy,
One of a cataraft's greatest features is the ability to "slip water", meaning the boat sits high in the water and you can more easily go slower than the current, giving you more control, in order to avoid obstacles.

The trick to going faster in a cataraft that's lightly loaded is to cock the raft ~45 degrees to the current and stick your oars into the water so the main part of the blades are under water, perpendicular to the surface. You'll catch the most force that way and will travel the same speed as the current. It take just a flick of the oars to turn the raft parallel with the current and back stroke to slip water and go much slower than the current.

I miss my cataraft...

Ed

Good tip Ed

Thanks

Just makes sense to get more surface purchase thataway


My pard couldn't keep up with me as he was in the cat and I was rowing the double ender on the sheenjek

But Lordy son, after we killed two moose and a griz, well that's when the cat began to shine