Rafting-Tatshenshini, Alaska-June 2011

Tatshenshini, 2011

We were totally blessed to get a permit on this river that we had been wanting to get since before we were married.  We decided to do this trip on our own, just the two of us, and are so happy we got to have the experience!

We decided to take our boat and gear up on a boat trailer that we had just gotten and was one of Dave's longtime dream purchases.  We loaded up the boat and hit the road the second week in June.  During our 50 hour drive we traveled through some amazing country; Idaho, Montana, Alberta, British Columbia the Yukon and then into Alaska. 

The drive on the Alcan highway was incredible.  We saw beautiful wildflowers, lots of wildlife, amazing vistas and met interesting people the entire way.  After turning onto the Alcan within the first ten miles we saw half a dozen black bears.  As we were nearing a mountain pass a day later we were driving by caribou and sheep.  It was pretty incredible to drive by so many lakes and see moose along the shores.  We stayed in campgrounds all along the way and ate out of our cooler.  I was surprised how camper friendly Canada was.  There were plenty of camp sites along the main road with showers and laundry facilities.  

I love road trips with Dave it seems that we are both able to chill out and relax shortly into the drive and from then on it is fun conversation and laughs the whole way with a lot of FOX news radio in between and alt nation on sirius.

This is the view we had before we turned off to the takeout. You can see the canyon the river cuts through in the distance.  Here we also met a group of boaters returning from a commercial trip. It was exciting to hear from them all about the great trip they had just finished and then look forward to our own trip.

Just a little tear in the boat floor.  This one was actually a little bit of a surprise we were floating along through a little ripple when there was a loud bang on the bottom of one of the T-boxes.  The next thing we knew the floor was deflated.  We both thought it was fortunate that it was a nice sunny day.  Lots of fun to unload the fully loaded boxes. Good thing Dave is a master boat repairman!

This was the first camp of the trip.  This is where I realized I was very happy that we had bear spray.  We were not allowed to bring any guns into the park.

These mountains were all enshrouded with clouds the morning we woke up and getting to this camp was like we were floating in an ocean the river was so wide.  As we went along in the trip all the tributaries really started adding up and the amount of water was incredible.                                

One morning we were floating and there were huge rolling waves with fog so thick that we couldn't see more than a hundred feet in front of us, we just kept hoping we were heading in the right direction.  We had read a horror story in the guidebook about a boat had taken the wrong route and ended up having to call in a helicopter to pluck them off the spot where the river had dried up.

This is an outfitters cabin that had a lot of bear scat around it, we were hiking through the thick brush very carefully making lots of noise.

This was by far the hardest hike I have ever done on a river trip, straight uphill and bush wacking for the most of the way, at least until we were up on top.  Going through thick brush in bear country is a different experience, we were pretty eager to get up on top where there weren't any trees.  On top we were able to eat some snow and enjoy the views and sights of the braided river we were traveling down.

Views at the top of the hike, always nice to see where you've come from and see where you are going

Gotta love the double wing shelter, not too hard to put up with two people either.  At this camp was a large glacier we were able to see from our camp.  A little ways away was a group from Idaho.  They were the only other group on the river we saw the entire time and passed them a couple times hanging out with them in camp for a couple nights.  They were all big travelers and had done a lot of the same trips we had.  Dave also had a lot in common with one that was a smoke jumper from McCall.  We were inspired by their adventures and cool pack raft trips they had been on.  One of the women had also hiked the Annapurna circuit the year before like we had.

A fresh water stream flowing by our camp, a few bear tracks nearby.

Glacier hiking.  I fell in love with how cool it is to hike on them and see all the little streams and rocks.  these were some crazy looking ant hills.  There were also glacier worms.

We totally lucked out on the weather for the whole trip.  We had come prepared for the worse and ended up wearing sunscreen almost everyday instead.  We had a couple cooler days but were never cold or too wet.  One funny thing we did was bring out lantern tree.  We didn't even think about it being light until midnight.  We wouldn't be as tired so we would go to bed late and wake up early each day.  One morning I caught Dave still in bed at noon just hanging out in his sleeping bag reading and relaxing.  The joys of it being just the two of us and having whatever schedule we felt like for the day.

This is the look of relief being on Alsek lake. There is some anxiety about being able to make it onto the lake. We made sure that we didn't get too close to the icebergs. If they roll, which is common you can end up getting smashed, yes another story in the guide book. The ice bergs were huge and fun to watch as they floated along.  During camp time we would just watch them float along and roll every so often.  We even were able to hear the glacier far off breaking apart and seeing waves roll into camp.  During the night this was a little more unnerving to hear the creaking and crashing.  Another story in the guidebook was about a group of rafters that had 6 foot swells come into camp and flip their boats after the glacier calved, dropped into the water and sent waves across the lake. These stories definitely made the trip more fun and exciting though.  We didn't see anything too crazy while here but it was fun to go to bed and wake up and get a completely different view because the icebergs had moved so much during the night and you had a new set to admire from the beach.

We thought it was so pretty here we decided to have a layover day which was rewarded with views of Mt. Fairweather.  We picked up some ice floating in the water and put in our cooler on the way out of the lake after our layover day.  We had read sea lions sometimes make it up this far to the lake, but we didn't see any.

Alsek Lake

We made it without a hitch, always a relief

Haines

We saw this guy in the middle of nowhere, looking like he was heading nowhere about a mile before we saw the brown ear. 

Just outside of Haines, we were picking out a lot of ski lines along the way.  This is a popular place to ski tour in the winter, I hope the people who live up here realize how lucky they are.

Haines Junction

Hot Springs in Canada

Boardwalk to hot springs

Banff National Park = love!

Lake Louise

3 1/2 weeks later and we still don't want to go home.  We wish we could have spent a couple more weeks in Alaska and Canada.  We will be back soon though.  This was a more expensive trip but we would do it over again tomorrow if we could, no regrets.