From our wharehouse/shed/den in Valdez, we set off in our friend Jeff's truck enroute to McCarthy, AK. About 2/3 of the way through the trip we pass over the Kuskalana River which we would eventually see again as it emptied into the Chitna River just downstream of our last night's camp.
Just outside of town we backed the truck up to the footbridge for our first major gear portage into the town of McCarthy. As we loaded gear onto a hand truck we ran into a friendly and hairy Alaskan who oriented us to the happenings, weather, and nature of the place. He seemed a great guy and little did we know that we would run into him again at the perfect time. We waved him goodbye and good luck on his fishing excursion to Chitina.
It took quite a few trips back and forth across the footbridge and Lonnie gave us a ride our first time back to the gear pile, certain he'd convince us that "portaging is fun!"
The foot bridge ran over the fast moving current of the Kennicott river. Elena and I noted how scary it looked and were glad not to be running it.... Or so we thought.
Pilot Gary loaned us his truck for our gear portage to the airport. The truck's doors were dukes of hazards style... you could either go in through the windows or have someone really burly lift the door open for you.
By the time Gail and the clients arrived we were close to being done with the gear transfer and rode back to the airport to set up camp.
Just off the runway and within a too close for comfort distance from the jet fuel tanks we set up camp and sorted gear for the trip. Lonnie hits the sky with Gary to scout the river and when he came back about an hour early from his flight we knew something was up.
Turns out the river is extremely low.
Meanwhile the crew scours town for supplies. We score a shovel in the general store that has everything from dip-nets to gluten-free pancake mix.
We all meet up for dinner with the clients. It seems we are the first big tour group to come through town as the servers have a look of fear in their eye as we walk through the doors. They inform us they have very little of what is on the menu and so we are served burgers and fish. The food is decent and they have beer on tap so almost everybody is happy.
So, on the scout mission, Lonnie counted a minimum of 20 potential portages. So after dinner he decides we need to do a little recon... We head to the local guide shack for some answers.
We run into Gaia, owner of Copper Oar. We have a great time talking to her and get a glimpse of all the fun stuff they're running out of there. The only info that we get is that the
Jökulhlaup is unlikely to happen while we are on the river. ...but you never know.
So we wander town a bit in the never setting sun and eventually make it back to the airstrip where we rest our heads for the night. Wondering if we'll ever get to run the Nizina or if the
Jökulhlaup will sweep us away if we do...
Next morning, the crew drinks cup after cup of coffee as we discuss what to do about the low water. Lonnie decides to fly into the Nizina glacier as planned but just camp for 3 nights and fly back to run the lower stretch of the Nizina in hopes of avoiding the 20 portage scenario. The crew gives him the thumbs up.
Then we head up the hillside to check out the Kennicott copper mine before we raceback to catch a ride on the Pilatus Porter to the Glacier.
We do a last minute sorting of the gear and try to extract the river gear and food that we will not need for the Glacier. Gary is fast and he has the plane packed and ready to fly in no time.
We fly the Nizina river corridor and the water sure does look low. We fly over Dan creek and the Nizina doesn't come anywhere near its outflow. The Valdez newspaper is reporting 70 year record lows for many river systems. Spring is late 'round here.
We have a smooth landing on an old glacial eskar and as soon as we dump the gear, Gary is off to pick up Elena and Kevin.
We check out our camp site and get psyched on the glacier views. We bust out a few portages while we wait for Elena and Kevin to arrive.
With 5 crew the full portage is complete and we celebrate with a beer. It feels good to finally be here!
As the sun sets on the glacier we head to bed.
Next morning the clients begin arriving and we begin portaging their gear and getting them oriented to camp. They arrive in a light rain and we hustle to get a big fire going to welcome them to their new home by glacial lake Nizina.
After everyone got their tents set up the clouds began to lift. Most of the "talks" were completed and we gathered our group for the most important talk of all... the "this is Alaska and we never really know whats gonna happen next" talk.
Later on, we headed down stream to meander the flood plains of the Nizina river.
Walked along old moraines for iceberg viewing.
Scouted the boundary between the lake and the flow of river.
We then headed back to camp. The crew ladies and I cooked up a salmon dinner and gazed on the spectacular views until it was time to turn in.
Next morning we woke to a breeze coming off the glacier. It was a bit chilly but it was pushing the icebergs across the lake and towards our camp for some nice views.
Kevin took advantage of the event to hitch a ride on a particularly close berg. ...Brave soul.
After Kevin was safe back on land, Lonnie gave a "glacier talk" to the clients before our trek out to view the Nizina Glacier. It appeared that it was going to be the long version so decided I'd have some time to fix my hiking boots before we left. Well, about 2 minutes into my project...
It was my hand that needed fixing.
Luckily Elena knew just what to do and had me prepped and numbed up for our client and expedition Doc Julie to stitch me up.
The clients fed me some whisky to make me feel better and we all trotted off to the glacier and had a fun hike.
We saw lots of tracks and gathered way too many rocks.
While Kevin contemplated other iceberg surfing adventures, Lonnie had everyone gathering cotton for his artwork back home in Idaho.
We headed back to camp for dinner and all went to bed early for the coming early morning portage and fly out back to McCarthy.
Back in McCarthy we began the next portage of gear from the airstrip to the Kennicott river. While Lonnie and Kevin looked for a put-in site I wandered the street of McCarthy looking for a trustworthy soul to take my raft back to Chitina as my shoe repair gone awry had left me unable to row.
I had lined up some ladies to drive the gear to Chitina when I ran into hairy Alaska man from the footbridge, he was pulling the stitches out of his hand which had just healed from a mountaineering accident. And as fate would have it he wanted to row my boat down river with us to Chitina. Fantastic!
So off we go to the Kennicott river that no one been down, that looks terrifying, in the rain, and is ripping along at mach speed with our new friend Tyler who we hope knows how to row.
We are psyched to finally be on the river but this water is a little intimidating. Somehow Lonnie reads the braids and gets us to a camp without incident. We set up in the rain and just kinda make it through the night. Elena and I share a tent perched right on the river bank and have our nerves rattled by the proximity of the rising current. We are all tired from the portages and the thought of running the Nizina Gorge tomorrow where the previous week someone died is pressing on the mind.
The next morning we head out on the Kennicott river and onto the confluence with the Nizina. Its mixed clouds and rain but as we approach the gorge the scenery is getting really cool. We stop on a gravel bar to change into wetsuits for the gorge and play a game of rock paper scissors tag to warm up. Only about half of us figure out how the game works so there is a lot of people running into eachother which is pretty funny.
We run the gorge without incident. The low water has turned the famed hydrolics into runnable joyrides. We get to the confluence of the Chitina and decide to lunch over there. We go on a walk and gather rocks, view tracks, and discover wildflowers. Back in camp the clients build a solstice rock cairn while we set up hot showers.
Kevin and Tyler opt for the Alaskan shower. That is some cold water!!
With everybody clean and happy we gather for some solstice songs.
With a bucket drum and a hair comb kazoo we have a trio.
Next day we set out on the Chitina river. The sun pops out every now and then and the cameras come out again.
Tyler is super stoked to be on the river. Turns out he knows what he's doing out here and has run many of the rivers our crew has. Maybe we can coax him down to run the Salmon with us.
Lonnie finds camp on river left amidst huge driftwood piles. The sun comes out in earnest and its gorgeous.
Elena and I take a quick hike up to a lateral moraine before we race down to cook dinner. Nice views and we manage to avoid the bears.
We throw together dinner in the sun and cook up a beautiful piece of king salmon that Tyler brought with him.
After dinner, people head off to bed and I take advantage of the hours of daylight and zero bugs to enjoy the evening and get in a good read before heading off to bed myself.
The next morning we wake to rain and its really coming down. We end up not getting out of camp until 10:30.
We get to our last camp above the Kuskalana delta in the clouds but by the time dinner arrives the sun is shinning once again.
After dinner, Kevin and I write a song for our trip.
We are treated to an eternal Alaskan sunset.
Great last night.
On our last day we join up with the Copper river and just barely make our take-out at Obrien Creek. Tyler and I almost flip in a tube sucking hydrolic then the same feature sends Kevin across the river to a different braid. Then a huge boil sends Elena's boat rocketing to the other side of the river just as we are trying to pull in to Obrien Creek.
We all make it and then portage the gear along the creek bed to the trucks. Somehow lunch gets made. We pile into the vehicles and head toward Chitina. We run into Liz along the way and say goodbye and thank you to our new friend Tyler. We arrive in Chintina which has been transformed into a tourist town, though I must say a definite improvement over the shady place it once was. We get to pet puppies and drink esspresso and chat with hippie architects. Then back to the truck for a final drive through the rain to Valdez for the de-rigg.
The trip had a bit of that epic feel. Like a month went by in the course of a week. A classic Alaskan river trip.
