Chulitna Float Trip

A perfect view of Denail from the river. The Moose's Tooth and Bear's Tooth are the gray cliffs on the right of the photo.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Lauren and I, along with three good friends took a three day float down the Chulitna river. The float we did put us in just below timberline about 180 miles north of Anchorage. The river was barely 40 feet across at the put in. Over the next 60 miles, the river became larger and larger with numerous side streams and rivers joining in. At one point in the braided section, the river delta was over a mile wide.

The weather and river were fantastic. Both were better than expected. We had three days of sunshine and 65-70 degrees, unheard of in May in Alaska! The river, due to the lower water levels had some fantastic wave sections that were splsihy splashy fun, without large consequences.

We brought two boats along, our 14 foot round raft and Paul's one man packraft.

Paul, getting ready to enter the first canyon in his packraft.

Approaching Hurricane Gulch near end of first canyon.

Our second nights camping spot. Although there were bear tracks around, we slept soundly and the sun kept the sand nice and warm.

Mid float down the Chulitna, with Denali and the Alaska Range in the background. Caleb and Chelsea, Mark and Lauren.

Our lunch spot after leaving the second canyon and entering the braids section.


The amazing view from our third camping spot.

Enjoying the sunset on our last evening, enjoying a wonderful view of Denali. The mountain is hard to see in this picture due to the lighting.