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Alaska
Rafting
Trips |
We offer Alaska raft trips that offer scenic views, wildlife viewing, fishing, and whitewater.
Custom group Alaska rafting adventures are available on request. If have interested in something special or participating in an exploratory expedition, please contact us with your ideals or to see what plans are being made.
Kongakut River - 10 day Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Rafting Safari. Explore Alaska's remote Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) by raft on the "river of caribou". Our trip coincides with the annual migration of the 130,000-strong Porcupine caribou herd and passes through some of the world's most pristine wilderness.
Lake Creek - 7 day Whitewater Rafting and Fishing Adventure. Our favorite fly-in wilderness adventure river, great combination exciting whitewater and great Alaska fishing. Lake Creek offers almost continuous Class II/III whitewater with a few Class IV rapids, five species of salmon, rainbow trout and arctic grayling.
Chulitna River - 4 day Denali Raft Adventure. An excellent family adventure and sampling of Alaska's best wilderness and geography at a casual pace. We travel through Denali State Park, upper Susitna Valley and take out near Trapper Creek, a historic gold mining town. |
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Three Caribou Herds
If you would like to see the caribou in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Backcountry Safaris offers guided trips to the refuge.
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| During the winter of 2003-2004, three caribou herds were found on the Arctic Refuge. |
Several hundred caribou of the Porcupine and Central Arctic caribou herds frequently winter on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge but are rarely seen near communities. In October, 2003, however, caribou began showing up on Barter Island and within the village of Kaktovik. Elders living in Kaktovik say it has been many years since they have seen wintering caribou near their village.
Satellite radio collars worn by some of these animals identified them as part of the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd, which has an estimated total of 29,000 animals. Teshekpuk Lake is more than 240 miles west of Barter Island. This is the first time Teshekpuk caribou have been documented on the Arctic Refuge. Biologists speculate that a severe ice storm may have forced part of the herd to move east from their traditional range to find forage
These animals stayed on the Refuge coastal plain and on Barter Island through the 2003-2004 winter, scattered from the edge of the Sadlerochit Mountains to the Jago River. By late spring 2004, all wayward Teshekpuk caribou were on the move westward. They returned to their traditional calving areas by summer.
Additional caribou south of the Brooks Range
In the fall of 2003, biologists estimated that a portion of the Porcupine Caribou herd (approximately 50,000 animals out of an estimated total of 123,000) settled into their wintering area around Arctic Village. As the winter progressed, these caribou were most often seen east of the village, but animals also wandered both north and south of the main group.
The Porcupine caribou had neighbors for the winter months, when most of the Central Arctic herd (approximately 25,000 animals out of an estimated total of 32,000) took up residence just to the west of Arctic Village. With so many animals from both herds wintering in this region, the Arctic Refuge supported one of the largest winter concentrations of caribou in several years.
More general information on ANWR is available at: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
We would like to thank the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the above information.
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Backcountry Safaris
P.O. Box 1397 Seward, Alaska USA 99664
1-907-205-5900 • Fax 1-907-205-5902
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Backcountry Safaris is a member of the following trade and travel organizations:
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Rafting Related Links |
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Related Links |
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Alaska Wildlife |
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Alaska Birds |
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Suggested Alaska Reading |
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Weather And Forecast |
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Current Seward, AK Weather |
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by Hank Lentfer and Carolyn Servid
by James A. Michener
by Claus-M Naske and Herman E. Slotnick
by Robert H. Armstrong
by John G. S. Trelawny