by Terry Daniel

Dates: 6/28 - 7/4 (5 river days)
Craft: 16' NRS Cataraft laden

Water levels:

Summary: Mosquitoes, Evening Thunder showers into downright rainstorm, Mosquitoes, Dragging Raft, Mosquitoes, Pushing Raft, Mosquitoes, Portaging Most of the Gear, Mosquitoes, Hooked into 6 Kings, Mosquitoes, Landed 4 Kings, Mosquitoes, Kept 2 Kings, and you guessed it more Mosquitoes.

I let my wife talk me into running the Upper stretch rather than the Lower. I was concerned about the low water level as we left Fairbanks, but decided since I had never done the river before, being fairly new to Alaskan rivers, and wanting to be a knowledgeable river user and be involved in the discussions with BLM over river use and campsite impact that we would go ahead and run it to see what it was like.

Day 1 (Friday 6/28)
After a leisurely morning of sleeping in a bit and breaking camp at the put-in at Paxson Lake we got the raft all rigged with gear by noon. A friend had loaned me a little 4 horsepower Evinrude motor which made the 3 mile journey across Paxson Lake relaxing. That afternoon bubbled up the first of almost every evening thundershowers. Because it was raining and I figured we could easily make the canyon the next day we only traveled a few miles. With the low water level we had to drag the raft in many spots to get over the rocks. Hang ups were frequent but most inconsequential. It was just frustrating for me not being used to having to drag my raft on other rivers I've done in the Pacific Northwest.

Day 2 (Saturday 6/29)
Planned on running the canyon today but the low water level and the quiet water in this upper stretch where I had to row to make any progress kept that from happening. Encountered one place today where the river split into 3 channels. I was on the far left to miss an exposed rock and by the time I realized that the left and center channels were too small for the 16-footer, we almost missed the right channel. With some strong strokes and then having to back the raft out of the current wanting to take us down the center we managed to get into the right-hand channel where most of what little water there was flowed. We finally made the canyon by around 5. At this point I was pretty whipped. After scouting and talking with some folks there who told us that a number of rafters were camped just below the canyon and the fact that most of the campsites at the canyon were taken we decided to portage most gear, with the exception of the 128 qt. Igloo and the Kitchen Box, up to the top of the canyon to lighten the load and increase maneuverability. We found a nice camp spot up top and set up for the night, planning to run the canyon the next morning. Evening thundershowers again.

Day 3 (Sunday 6/30)
Today dawned nice and sunny and while things were drying we had a nice breakfast. Packed up camp and readied ourselves to run the canyon. After a second scout we tackled the run. Enter on the Right, ferry Left to pass around Seagull Rock on the right, then ferry back Right. We ended up taking the Right channel at 3 Rock which has a rock you need to miss after coming through the shoot. That's what most people were doing anyway. Made the run fine until then and got the right-side tube of the cataraft hung against this rock. With a little shoving and rowing we managing the get the raft spun off this rock and completed the run without further incident. Having now done it for the first time and being able to judge the current, I think I would take the center slot next time, at least at this low water level. We then portaged the gear from up top down the the raft, at least it was downhill this time, and were off on the technical class II - III rock-dodging section below the canyon just ahead of building thunderboomers.

This section to me was not very dangerous but required heavy water-reading skills and technical maneuvering to dodge the rock gardens. We only got hung up a 3 or 4 times today....Yeah!!! Rain started shortly after we left the canyon and didn't look like it would let up. Tired of the rain and now on a leisurely schedule for the rest of the trip, about 6 miles down from the canyon we found a nice bar to pitch camp for the night and decided this would be one of our layover camps. It rained all night!

Day 4 (Monday 7/1)
Ground around the campsite is becoming very muddy due to the previous afternoon rain showers and last nights downpour, but we did have sun today and things dried out. My wife, trout-fisher extraordinaire, had fun while I rigged up the salmon rods and we spent the day just relaxing.

Day 5 (Tuesday 7/2)
The river has risen since we've been here about 4-5 inches from all the rain we've had. Too bad it wasn't this high for the upper section. Broke camp and set off downriver again on a nice leisurely pace. Found some nice trout spots where Jeanne again did her magic and I even caught a couple. Planned to stop somewhere above the West Fork Confluence today. As we got closer, there were signs of more use, but not what I would consider over-use of the river from my experience in the Pacific Northwest. At least from the river the campsites were clean, no litter. We did stop at one place looking for a spot to camp that night and this spot did have obvious signs of human waste including visible feces and toilet paper all around. It was localized in an area somewhat away from the campsite but still way too close for us, so we passed that one by and kept going. Found another nice camp place in some nice fishy looking water. Here way back from the campspot there was also signs for human waste and toilet paper. (Why don't people burn the stuff instead of leaving it like that? Yuck!) But in this spot it was tens of yards away from the campspot and isolated so it wasn't bad, relatively speaking. Decided to try my luck with the salmon and took my lightweight steelhead rod from Oregon, put on a pretty fluorescent Hot Shot. 3rd cast...Fish On!!! Oh, baby!!! Landed that puppy but since we were going to spend another layover day here and running low on ice, decided not to keep him and let him go back to his buddies. A little rain tonight but not bad.

Day 6 (Wednesday 7/3)
Layover day. Nice morning today. Spent a very pleasant day. Today took Jeanne's salmon rod and after a few casts hooked into something that broke 30 lb test leader like nothing. Dang!!! Then a little later hooked another big guy and managed to get him to shore. Beautiful fish, but again due to ice situation he had to go back. Uh oh!! Rain has started again. This evening it rained again, but we had camp nicely set up with a tarp over the kitchen area and fire pit so managed to stay nice and dry except for the time I went out to fish. Okay, so we decide that we've had enough of the rain on this trip and we will float out tomorrow. That means that the next two fish are destined for the cooler. Managed to get a nice one tonight.

Power boat pulls into this hole that I found and within about 2 hours, catch a bunch of fish. Just save me one more guys.

Day 7 (Thursday 7/4)
Up this morning and within a few casts had the second fish on and after a great struggle he joined his buddy in the cooler. Broke camp to sunshine and loaded up the raft for the trip out. Reattached the little motor from my friend and we started downriver again. River is running muddy and high having come up even more during our second layover. Even so I didn't feel comfortable cranking up the motor until we floated the 3 miles or so to the confluence of the West Fork. From then on the little motor pushed us downriver to the take out at Sourdough by noon. Following a stop in Delta for pizza at Pizza Bella we rolled back into Fairbanks tired, sore, mosquito bitten but hey, I got two nice fish in the freezer!!

In summary I wouldn't recommend doing this trip at a river level below 6.5 at Sourdough and certainly nothing below 6.0. A lightly loaded smaller rafter would have an easier time, but I prefer my Grilled Chicken Teriyaki, New York steak, Pork Chops, baked potatoes, homemade spaghetti sauce to Mountain House fare anyday. We have a 128 qt. Igloo that I divided up on one side as a freezer and the other side as a refer, got 20 lbs of dry ice (no other ice) that took the freezer down to 100 below and after 8 days of getting in/out of the cooler only twice a day, we still had partially frozen food and cold beer. I like it!! In short, lots of dragging, lots of bugs, lots of rain, but two nice fish. I will go again!

Terry Daniel