Copper River, Alaska
Travelled to Alaska for 23 days in August, 2018. Original plan was to backpack for 8 days and then canoe the Chitina and Copper Rivers for 11 days. Knee problems prevented me from doing the backpack, but not the canoe trip.
So while Rich, Brian, & Jeff were doing the hardest backpack of their lives in the rain, I rode in a luxury domed car on the train from Anchorage 233 miles north to Denali.
Stopped to see the classic old town of Talkeetna on the way up, and spent 2 full days in Denali Nat'l Park seeing elk, grizzlies, moose, Dall sheep, and a beautiful red fox. I'm so glad I booked 2 full days because Denali, the mountain, was not visible at all on the first day, and looked SPECTACULAR on the second one.
Back in Anchorage I meet Carl & Judi, our rafters, from Idaho. The 3 of us spent almost all day on Aug 13 being shuttled east some 300 miles to the very small town of McCarthy, stopping at Copper Center to pick up our rented raft.
Hikers flew out to McCarthy the next day and we toured the historic Kennecott Copper Mine company town, including the huge, decaying ore processing facility.
On Aug 15, 2 short hops that morning aboard a Beaver bush plane (built in 1948!) got us, our 3 boats, food, camping, & personal gear over to Jake's Bar (as in gravel, not drinking). But to help calibrate you to the type of trip this was, you should know that we did bring 15 liters of wine. And appointed a sommelier each evening to ration it with the official measuring cup.
Spent rest of Wed. unrolling, pumping up, and assembling our 2 inflatable canoes and the 16 ft raft. Also organized and packed our mountain of gear, so we were ready to launch the next morning.
Chitina is a nice river, seemed comparable in size to the Copper where they came together, but its flowrate is not measured. The water was 40 F and moving fast, so it's also a serious river. We had really good weather for our 3 1/2 days on it, found good camps, and enjoyed it very much.
Copper River country was even more beautiful, with much taller mountains, big waterfalls, high hanging glaciers, and extremely dense surrounding forest. Now that we were on the Copper, we could also see the destruction from the Aug 9 flood, such as at our first campsite.
River flow was very important to us, and it changed dramatically while we were in Alaska (see 2nd to last slide). Every day when we landed we put a pile of rocks at the waterline to check the change in the morning.
Before we flew in, we knew that on Aug 9 Copper River had been at it's 4th highest flow in recorded history, and we would not have run it at that level. But by Aug 16 when we launched we also knew it was only about 20% above normal. (We actually had intermittent cell service on the Chitina, since town is at the confluence with the Copper.) So we had an idea it was well below normal by Aug 20. But then it rained steadily for 24 hours, and we knew the river was rising. We had no way to know it got back up to 3/4 of its peak flood flowrate on Aug 23, though. Fortunately it started slowly falling again after that, though it remained well above normal through the end of our trip.
With the rain on Aug 21, we took it as a rest day, since the fast current had put us ahead of schedule. Resting on a rainy day was certainly welcome. Quote of the day on Aug 22, then, came from Brian who said "Today was a BEAUTIFUL day on the river. And yesterday would have been just ugly."
With river going back up now, faster current and gravel bars under water gave us more speed, but fewer places to take a break. Finally found a very nice camp, and spread our stuff out to dry in the sun. (Looked like a homeless camp.) When we tried to go for a hike, though, it was just impossibly thick with tangled brush. Not to mention the huge stinging nettles.
I'd planned to run Abercrombie Rapids in a canoe on the 23rd, but when I saw how high the water was, well up into the trees at lunch, I changed my mind and ran it in the raft. High water can make a rapid bigger, or can wash it out and make it easier, and I wasn't willing to gamble on which it would be. Turned out it was washed out, and Carl picked a perfect line in the raft. Rich and Brian in the canoe stayed farther left, worried about the hole on the right, and ended up in the wave train, but they paddled thru it successfully.
That night was the best camp of the trip, on a huge gravel bar island. Even better, next day was a rest day and we could explore it, since we were again well ahead of schedule. We circumnavigated it twice, first by land and then by sea. This took the whole day, though only the 2 canoes did the paddle after lunch.
This camp was 5 or 6 miles from Childs Glacier, and the opposite side of our island was near Miles Glacier. Both glaciers were calving the entire time we were there, and Childs was especially loud, despite the distance. It sounded like thunder, and not distant thunder. At first I actually thought we were in for a big storm.
We got a better look at Miles when we canoed over toward it, landed the canoes, and hiked a ways up the moraine. Miles Lake was completely choked with ice where it lead away from the face. So we paddled closer to our island, and had fun weaving among the floes as we headed back to camp.
On the 25th we paddled down to just upstream of Million Dollar Bridge. It's a remnant from the railroad to Kennecott Copper Mine, built in 1910. It's a road now, though one to nowhere because another bridge and some of the road to Cordova has been washed out.
In the afternoon we walked across the bridge and over to the viewing platforms to watch the frequent, dramatic calving of Childs Glacier, sometimes sending waves across the river that we were to run the next day!
And we met Luke, and his amazing "bear dog" Danu, who live there in a lodge with one of the best views in the world. He's been building it for probably the better part of 20 years, including making his own beautifully finished lumber from scratch.
He'd invited us over to see weather report about a storm coming in the morning. We'd decided canoes needed to launch from left side of the river, and our camp was on the right. Current under bridge and past the glacier was about 15 mph, so hard to cross quickly. He offered to transport us across bridge at 6:00 am to beat the storm.
So we got up at 5:00 am, packed very quickly, shuttled across, and were launched by 7:00 am! Fortunately no glacier calving, and no big rapids Luke told us about. But considerable icebergs from Miles Glacier floating by, and eventually grounded like rocks as the river widened. We made it to our takeout at right side of 36 Mile Bridge by 9:00 am, a very fast 14 miles. Also no big storm, just some drizzle, and not in our faces.
So it was a GRAND ADVENTURE in a beautiful place.
I'd like to go back to Alaska. Top of my list would be to tour around the Kenai Peninsula. Also see the aurora borealis. Maybe run another river, but not having to camp in such a rainy area. Rain did not actually cause us problems, but it certainly could have.
PS: Thanks to the others on our trip for some borrowed photos.
Read MoreSo while Rich, Brian, & Jeff were doing the hardest backpack of their lives in the rain, I rode in a luxury domed car on the train from Anchorage 233 miles north to Denali.
Stopped to see the classic old town of Talkeetna on the way up, and spent 2 full days in Denali Nat'l Park seeing elk, grizzlies, moose, Dall sheep, and a beautiful red fox. I'm so glad I booked 2 full days because Denali, the mountain, was not visible at all on the first day, and looked SPECTACULAR on the second one.
Back in Anchorage I meet Carl & Judi, our rafters, from Idaho. The 3 of us spent almost all day on Aug 13 being shuttled east some 300 miles to the very small town of McCarthy, stopping at Copper Center to pick up our rented raft.
Hikers flew out to McCarthy the next day and we toured the historic Kennecott Copper Mine company town, including the huge, decaying ore processing facility.
On Aug 15, 2 short hops that morning aboard a Beaver bush plane (built in 1948!) got us, our 3 boats, food, camping, & personal gear over to Jake's Bar (as in gravel, not drinking). But to help calibrate you to the type of trip this was, you should know that we did bring 15 liters of wine. And appointed a sommelier each evening to ration it with the official measuring cup.
Spent rest of Wed. unrolling, pumping up, and assembling our 2 inflatable canoes and the 16 ft raft. Also organized and packed our mountain of gear, so we were ready to launch the next morning.
Chitina is a nice river, seemed comparable in size to the Copper where they came together, but its flowrate is not measured. The water was 40 F and moving fast, so it's also a serious river. We had really good weather for our 3 1/2 days on it, found good camps, and enjoyed it very much.
Copper River country was even more beautiful, with much taller mountains, big waterfalls, high hanging glaciers, and extremely dense surrounding forest. Now that we were on the Copper, we could also see the destruction from the Aug 9 flood, such as at our first campsite.
River flow was very important to us, and it changed dramatically while we were in Alaska (see 2nd to last slide). Every day when we landed we put a pile of rocks at the waterline to check the change in the morning.
Before we flew in, we knew that on Aug 9 Copper River had been at it's 4th highest flow in recorded history, and we would not have run it at that level. But by Aug 16 when we launched we also knew it was only about 20% above normal. (We actually had intermittent cell service on the Chitina, since town is at the confluence with the Copper.) So we had an idea it was well below normal by Aug 20. But then it rained steadily for 24 hours, and we knew the river was rising. We had no way to know it got back up to 3/4 of its peak flood flowrate on Aug 23, though. Fortunately it started slowly falling again after that, though it remained well above normal through the end of our trip.
With the rain on Aug 21, we took it as a rest day, since the fast current had put us ahead of schedule. Resting on a rainy day was certainly welcome. Quote of the day on Aug 22, then, came from Brian who said "Today was a BEAUTIFUL day on the river. And yesterday would have been just ugly."
With river going back up now, faster current and gravel bars under water gave us more speed, but fewer places to take a break. Finally found a very nice camp, and spread our stuff out to dry in the sun. (Looked like a homeless camp.) When we tried to go for a hike, though, it was just impossibly thick with tangled brush. Not to mention the huge stinging nettles.
I'd planned to run Abercrombie Rapids in a canoe on the 23rd, but when I saw how high the water was, well up into the trees at lunch, I changed my mind and ran it in the raft. High water can make a rapid bigger, or can wash it out and make it easier, and I wasn't willing to gamble on which it would be. Turned out it was washed out, and Carl picked a perfect line in the raft. Rich and Brian in the canoe stayed farther left, worried about the hole on the right, and ended up in the wave train, but they paddled thru it successfully.
That night was the best camp of the trip, on a huge gravel bar island. Even better, next day was a rest day and we could explore it, since we were again well ahead of schedule. We circumnavigated it twice, first by land and then by sea. This took the whole day, though only the 2 canoes did the paddle after lunch.
This camp was 5 or 6 miles from Childs Glacier, and the opposite side of our island was near Miles Glacier. Both glaciers were calving the entire time we were there, and Childs was especially loud, despite the distance. It sounded like thunder, and not distant thunder. At first I actually thought we were in for a big storm.
We got a better look at Miles when we canoed over toward it, landed the canoes, and hiked a ways up the moraine. Miles Lake was completely choked with ice where it lead away from the face. So we paddled closer to our island, and had fun weaving among the floes as we headed back to camp.
On the 25th we paddled down to just upstream of Million Dollar Bridge. It's a remnant from the railroad to Kennecott Copper Mine, built in 1910. It's a road now, though one to nowhere because another bridge and some of the road to Cordova has been washed out.
In the afternoon we walked across the bridge and over to the viewing platforms to watch the frequent, dramatic calving of Childs Glacier, sometimes sending waves across the river that we were to run the next day!
And we met Luke, and his amazing "bear dog" Danu, who live there in a lodge with one of the best views in the world. He's been building it for probably the better part of 20 years, including making his own beautifully finished lumber from scratch.
He'd invited us over to see weather report about a storm coming in the morning. We'd decided canoes needed to launch from left side of the river, and our camp was on the right. Current under bridge and past the glacier was about 15 mph, so hard to cross quickly. He offered to transport us across bridge at 6:00 am to beat the storm.
So we got up at 5:00 am, packed very quickly, shuttled across, and were launched by 7:00 am! Fortunately no glacier calving, and no big rapids Luke told us about. But considerable icebergs from Miles Glacier floating by, and eventually grounded like rocks as the river widened. We made it to our takeout at right side of 36 Mile Bridge by 9:00 am, a very fast 14 miles. Also no big storm, just some drizzle, and not in our faces.
So it was a GRAND ADVENTURE in a beautiful place.
I'd like to go back to Alaska. Top of my list would be to tour around the Kenai Peninsula. Also see the aurora borealis. Maybe run another river, but not having to camp in such a rainy area. Rain did not actually cause us problems, but it certainly could have.
PS: Thanks to the others on our trip for some borrowed photos.
