Alaska & Yukon Tatshenshini River Rafting

Itinerary

• Day01

  Arrive in Haines, Alaska

  Arrive in Haines, Alaska by 3:30pm to have enough time to check in and be ready for the 5pm welcome meeting at the Halsingland Hotel. You'll meet your guides and fellow travelers, get oriented for the trip and walk to the warehouse nearby to pick up your gear and dry bags. Then, a celebratory dinner is shared prior to an early evening to get ready for the big adventure ahead!

  • Accommodation: Halsingland Hotel
  • Meals: Dinner
• Day02

  Travel to Dalton Post in Yukon Territory, Canada

  After breakfast, meet at the Halsingland Hotel lobby and board a van for a beautiful 3-hour drive up the Chilkat River Valley, across the border into British Columbia, and on to Dalton Post in Yukon Territory, Canada. After rigging bags into the rafts, we'll push off on the Tatshenshini River. Soon, plunge into the exhilarating Class III rapids of the Tatshenshini Gorge, the largest section of technical rapids on the trip. Upon emerging into calmer waters, make camp along the river.

  • Accommodation: MT Sobek Camp-Tatshenshini River
  • Activity: 4 hours/12 miles rafting Class II-III rapids
  • Transportation: 3-hour private van transfer
  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day03

  Raft Silver Creek to Sediment Creek

  The river slowly builds momentum over the next few days as we wind our way toward the beautiful Alsek and Noisy ranges. Stay observant in this meandering stretch of scenic forested river, where its prime country for moose, bear, and wolf; the beaches are often marked with the tracks of all three.

  • Accommodation: MT Sobek Camp-Tatshenshini River
  • Activity: 6 hours/22 miles rafting Class II-III rapids
  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day04

  Spot Wildlife on Hikes

  Enjoy a mellow morning at camp before your choice of a short or long hike to a spectacular overlook through old cottonwood trees and aspen forests. If you're lucky, catch views of the animals themselves, and making noise is encouraged in this wild environment. If the weather holds, the full day will be spent hiking in this spectacular area on this layover day.

  • Accommodation: MT Sobek Camp-Tatshenshini River
  • Activity: 2-6 hours/2-4 miles hiking 650'-2,600' elevation gain & loss
  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day05

  Continue Down the "Tat" to Towagh Creek

  Continue down the spectacular Tatshenshini River, winding deeper into the glaciers of the Alsek range. You'll feel the landscape change from densely-forested meandering river into steeper mountains with fast-moving braided river channels. You'll encounter Monkey Wrench Rapid, and many small creeks that contribute to tripling the water level of the river since you started this journey.

  • Accommodation: MT Sobek Camp-Tatshenshini River
  • Activity: 6 hours/29 miles rafting Class II-III rapids
  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day06

  Reach the Confluence with the Alsek River

  The mountains, river and wildlife become more spectacular as the swift flowing river brings us closer to the majestic confluence with the Alsek River, a place many call "the center of the universe." The campsite vista spans the broad expanse of both river valleys, flanked by more than 20 different glaciers.

  • Accommodation: MT Sobek Camp-Tatshenshini River
  • Activity: 4 hours/15 miles rafting Class II rapids
  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day07

  Experience the Dramatic Walker Glacier

  Below the confluence with the Alsek River, the scenery becomes even more dramatic and the river turns into a series of gravel braids in a 3-mile-wide valley. Rounding the corner at the end of a long straightaway, see the dramatic sight of the Walker Glacier. Its blue and white spires dominate the view for several hours. If conditions allow, take some time to watch the glacier, and maybe even float near its terminus.

  • Accommodation: MT Sobek Camp-Tatshenshini River
  • Activity: 5 hours/17 miles rafting Class II rapids
  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day08

  Float the Alsek River & Hike

  The surrounding high peaks rise steeply from the banks to their thickly glaciated summits. This is Ice Age country, as literally dozens of large and small glaciers fill every vista around the tiny rafts. Leave the immense Novatak Glacier and float toward Alsek Lake, dominated by looming 15,320-foot Mount Fairweather. Spot many species of birds, including bald eagles, semi-palmated plovers, spotted sandpipers, northern phalaropes, American pipits, and more.

  • Accommodation: MT Sobek Camp-Tatshenshini River
  • Activity: 5 hours/16 miles rafting
  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day09

  Reach Alsek Lake & The Knob

  Pass through several different mountain ranges and finally enter Alsek Lake. Watch and listen as giant chunks of ice calve into the water from the 7-mile face of the Alsek glacier. The icebergs here are larger than those in Glacier Bay - some icebergs are 75-feet high. The guides row among ice floes sculpted into bizarre, fluted, ever-changing phantasmagoric shapes - a veritable "iceberg garden." With a little luck catch a glimpse of impressive Mount Fairweather, the tallest peak in Glacier Bay National Park, looming in front of the camp.

  • Accommodation: MT Sobek Camp-Tatshenshini River
  • Activity: 3 hours/14 miles rafting
  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day10

  Depart from Dry Bay by Bush Plane

  After navigating through broken iceberg chunks, known as "bergy-bits" into the flat, forested plains beyond Alsek Lake, arrive at the Dry Bay outpost along the estuary of the Alsek River. Board a small aircraft for a spectacular charter flight to Yakutat.

  • Activity: 3 hours/14 miles rafting
  • Transportation: 1-hour charter flight
  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch