Noatak River Guided Trip

All participants in our challenging wilderness tours must be physically and psychologically resilient. Particularly when the weather is bad, these tours can be rather demanding of all of the participants. Everyone in the group will be expected to work as a team. Canoe or camping experience are not necessary, but good health, general fitness and a willingness to learn quickly are. Participants must be willing to spend an extended period of time without any modern conveniences, and without any contact with the outside world.

Noatak River

This is the longest, most remote, and possibly the most challenging of our backcountry programs. Again, we begin in Fairbanks, taking plenty of time for proper orientation and preparation before departing on this expedition-class trip. We fly to Bettles on Bettles Air then take a float plane onward to a lake in the west-central Brooks Range. From here, the Noatak flows westward towards Siberia, into the most sparsely populated region of Alaska. Once our float plane drops us off, we will travel for 16 days without any connection to civilization whatsoever. We will cover between 30 and 35 miles each day in our canoes. The landscape changes gradually from mountainous tundra to a large, windy basin; from broad canyons to mixed boreal forests. This river system is so undisturbed by human activity, that it is one of the few biosphere reserves used as a benchmark for measuring global ecological change. For all true wilderness fans or canoe adventurers, this is truly the ultimate tour.

Date:
July 19-August 8

Time: 21 days
Number of participants: min. 6, max. 9 persons

River stats: 375 miles, class 1 to 3 (easy to difficult)
National Parks: Gates of the Arctic, Noatak National Preserve.

Includes:
> Overnight in tent, dinner and breakfast in Fairbanks
> transportation before trip
> flight from Fairbanks to Bettles
> floatplane from Bettles to Noatak River
> meals in the wilderness
> canoe rental
> flight or boat ride from Noatak (pull-out point) to Kotzebue
> Flight from Noatak village via Kotzebue to Fairbanks
> guide
*Flight from Noatak via Kotzebue to Anchorage is an additional $156.00

2007 Price: $ 3,945.00/person