{"id":19836,"date":"2019-05-10T13:00:25","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T20:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=19836"},"modified":"2022-01-06T08:47:31","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T16:47:31","slug":"expedition-planning-arctic-river-trips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2019\/05\/10\/expedition-planning-arctic-river-trips\/","title":{"rendered":"Expedition Planning: Arctic River Trips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching your floatplane take off and fly away leaving you in the silence and vast openness of the tundra is truly a unique experience. If you like wilderness and long river trips, the Arctic is an amazing place with beautiful lakes and waterfalls, wildlife, and 24-hour daylight in the summer. Northern Alaska and Arctic Canada are covered in rivers that flow for miles before they reach the Arctic Ocean, and the possibilities for exploring these waterways are endless.<\/p>\n

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The beginning of Erin’s three-week Hood River expedition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Planning an expedition can be a fun challenge, but only if you\u2019re successful. It\u2019s hard to know what to expect and what gear you will need when you explore new rivers in new environments. Suffering is part of the fun, sure, but you don\u2019t want to suffer because you simply forgot an item that you could have easily brought with you.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve paddled (and portaged) three different rivers in Arctic Canada that all finished on the Arctic Ocean\u2014the Back River for six weeks, the Horton River for four weeks, and the Hood River for three weeks. Each trip had a different set of challenges, and even on my third trip I still forgot essential pieces of gear\u2014(sh)it happens. Here are some tips from what I have learned along the way.<\/p>\n

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Back River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Picking your River, Watercraft and Transport
\n<\/strong>Picking a river will depend on your interests, timeframe, willingness to portage, and budget. The Barren Lands region of Arctic Canada is not for everyone. Some people may be more interested in doing a river that flows from the Brooks Range in Alaska or a river flowing from the Mackenzie Mountains in the Yukon. Some first-timer may prefer tackling a well-established route that has existing trip reports and obvious pick-up locations. Others might find connecting a series of lakes or portaging between drainages and establishing their own route more interesting.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the most part, the more established routes are going to have simpler logistics. Simpler logistics typically result in a more budget-friendly trip. In general, rivers in Alaska and the Yukon are going to have more gradient, making them more amenable to rafting, while rivers farther east into the Barren Lands tend to require a substantial amount of lake crossings and portaging and are better suited for a canoe or kayak.<\/p>\n