ULTIMATE KENAI ADVENTURE

**There is a mandatory pre-trip meeting the afternoon prior to departure in Kenai, AK. You will be given the meeting location info upon booking your reservation. The pre-trip meeting is a meet-and-greet, orientation, safety-brief, and Q&A session all rolled into one. Following this we’ll have a group dinner featuring local craft brews, wine, and local fare! Dinner and beverages included.

DAY 1

This morning we depart Kenai, AK at 9:00am. We’ll begin with an orientation and overview of our adventure that’s about to unfold. Then we’ll load into our only mechanical transportation for the day; a beautiful Alaskan float plane! We’ll then take off into the skies for a spectacular to a large glacial lake. Once on the beach with all of our gear, we’ll have a safety orientation and snack. We’ll then set off on our first leg hiking up a trail through boreal forest, until we reach the magnificent alpine tundra that awaits us above. We’ll take plenty of time to snap photos on the way up and in the alpine. We’ll hike over beautiful alpine tundra until reaching our first camp of the trip. We’ll spend about an hour setting up camp and take in the magical wilderness that surrounds us. A gourmet backcountry dinner will be served, and we’ll spend the evening relaxing, or hiking around, or for the real adventurous we can ascend a peak or two that tower above our camp. Lunch & dinner included.

DAY 2-3

Lace up your boots! We’ll travel from the alpine country to another massive glacial lake. This will be “one” of our most physically challenging sections of the adventure. We’ll bushwhack through dense brush and forest while ascending and descending uneven, slippery, and rocky terrain. We’ll cross rivers and streams, and skip rocks in alpine lakes. This section leads us to one of the most spectacular alpine benches on the entire Kenai Peninsula. On a clear day the views are absolutely stunning! We’ll make camp in locations perfect for superb photography, berry picking, or serene tundra napping. Although it will be strenuous at times, there will be ample time to relax and explore while we make our traverse to the lake. All meals included.

DAY 4

This will be our first day of paddling on the trip (weather permitting), and we’ll cover a lot of distance. After donning the necessary paddling gear, you will be instructed on the packrafting skills needed to paddle on the lake. After practicing in a safe area, we’ll begin our paddle along the shoreline of the lake. The lake conditions are very unpredictable. We may beach the packrafts and hike at times, or if the weather conditions are unfavorable, we may hike the entire route. This can be a strenuous section of paddling, so you must be physically capable of paddling for 5+ hours. At the end of the paddle, we’ll ascend into alpine country to our next camp. Distance: 12 miles. All meals included.

DAY 5-6

All parts of this adventure are amazing, but this section is definitely at the top of the list. We’ll explore the high country at close to 4,000 feet above sea level in an alpine area that presents breathtaking scenery. We’ll camp in the alpine country for a night and eventually make our way to the river we’ll be packrafting on. While we’re in the alpine area you will have a 360 degree panoramic view of the Kenai Peninsula. On clear days the views go on forever and we may see mountains that are hundreds of miles away. Day 6 we’ll bag a few peaks and descend to the river we’ll be packrafting. All meals included.

DAY 7-8

This will be our main packrafting section of the adventure. The float begins in a section of glacial river braids flowing with water supplied by a glacier a few miles upstream, all the way through the vast forested land that separates the mountains from Kachemak Bay. We will packraft about 30 miles on winding glacial rivers amongst towering spruce and cottonwood trees until reaching the head of Kachemak Bay. All meals included.

DAY 9

Today we’ll hike up a mountain track to a secluded alpine lake. The hike is virtually all uphill, but not steep, and the hiking surface is flat and smooth. Once we arrive at the alpine lake we’ll make camp and explore the area. All meals included.

DAY 10

Today we’ll break camp for the last time on the trip. We’ll have a nice breakfast and spend the morning and early afternoon exploring the area bit more. Our bush plane will soon land on the lake and fly us back to Kenai. The flight is a beautiful 25 minute flight with magnificent views. We plan to arrive back in Kenai around 4pm. Weather plays a major factor on this trip as well, and for this reason we do not recommend making travel arrangements following this trip for at least 1 full day after the scheduled trip end date. Breakfast & lunch included.

DAY 11-12 

We extend our trip an additional 2 days and cover approximately 30-35 additional miles, about a third of which can be floated. This route extension takes us into the Kenai Fjords on the Gulf of Alaska side of the Kenai Peninsula. This extension makes this already hardcore trip a complete mega-hardcore traverse! Bragging rights are a given. The itinerary ends as it does on Day 10 with a floatplane pickup back to Kenai. All meals included.

*The accompanying itinerary is the schedule we intend to follow. However, this is Alaska, and our trips may deviate as written on this page or in any documentation we publish. This can be as a result of weather conditions, group preference, safety considerations, or unforeseeable circumstances. Therefore expect the unexpected, and prepare to be flexible.