Packrafting the Jarvis, Kaskawulsh, Alsek

Packrafting teh Jarvis, Kaskawulsh, Alsek Rivers

Paddling in Lowell Lake

Eric and Matthew, May 18-26

May 18 – Flight from Mt Logan base camp to Silver City, put in packrafts at Jarvis River
May 19 – Paddle to Kaskawulch river
May 20 – Paddle out, hike/hitch to Haines Junction
May 21 – Paddle Dezadeash
May 22 – Paddle Dezadeash
May 23 – Paddle Alsek
May 24 – Paddle Alsek to Lowell Lake
May 25 – Paddle around Lowell Lake
May 26 – Helicopter back to Haines Junction

The route

We’d just finished climbing Mt Logan, the highest point in Canada, and found ourselves with an extra two weeks in the Yukon. We’d come prepared, though, with packrafts. The ski plane picked us up at Logan base camp on the morning of May 18 and dropped us off at Kluane Lake/Silver City. We dried out all our gear for a few hours, then repacked everything we’d need for a paddling trip and stashed the extra gear in the hangar.

Sian was nice enough to drive us over to the park visitor center to pick up permits. We wanted to paddle the Alsek River to Lowell Lake, but the ranger said all the permits were already booked through August. But then she realized the permit season started June 1, and it was still May. So we could get a permit.

Paddling the Jarvis

We decided to first paddle the Jarvis and Kaskawulsh rivers, then do the Alsek afterwards. Sian drove us down the road from the hangar to a bridge over the Jarvis and we put in there. We paddled down for a few hours, then picked a good campsite. Matthew caught a few fish for dinner.

The next day involved a lot of paddling and some portaging around a huge beaver dam complex. We then met up

Floating down the Alsek

with the Kaskawulsh River and paddled down to a good campsite. We found wolf and grizzly tracks near camp, but never saw any animals. The next day we paddled to the confluence with the Dezadeash River. We saw playful river otters, and even a grizzly bear eating fish with a bald eagle trying to steal the food.

At the confluence we packed up the gear then hiked back to the highway up the river and hitched back to Haines Junction.

We took a rest night in town, then arranged permits for the Alsek and a helicopter flight out. We put in at the Dezadeash River in town and paddled down for a few hours to camp. Over the next few days we paddled down the beautiful Alsek River to Lowell Lake. Lowell Lake is amazing because the Lowell Glacier ends at the lake with a huge ice cliff on the lake’s edge.

A viewpoint above Lowell Lake

We spent a few days at the lake paddling up to the ice cliff and paddling around the ice bergs in the lake. On the last day a helicopter came and picked us up for a ride back to Haines Junction.

We still had a few more days in the Yukon, so we rented a car and drove up the Dempster Highway as far as possible. We got north of the arctic circle and saw the midnight sun. Unfortunately we could only get as far as the Peel River. The ice had melted out so we couldn’t drive across the river, and the ferry was broken, so no cars were able to pass.

We got a flat tire on the drive back but luckily the mechanics at Eagle Plains were experts at patching tires with the rough road and got it fixed in 30 minutes. We spent a day looking around Dawson City, then made it back to Whitehorse for our flights out.