Whale Rock is Back!
by Dan Skinner and Bill Sedivy

Since the landslide of late September filled in Staircase Rapid on the South
Fork of the Payette, all of us have heard a ton of concern over what the
cleanup would leave.  Idaho Rivers United ‹ while recognizing the needs of
Boise County to protect the roadway and water quality downstream to
Horseshoe Bend ‹ has become engaged in the process.

The South Fork in the Staircase reach is a State Protected River, for
Recreation (in large part due to our efforts), and we were concerned that
the recreational value of this reach might not be receiving the concern due
it by state officials.

Our concern prompted multiple communications with the Idaho Transportation
Department (ITD), the Idaho Department of Water Resources, numerous boaters
in the Boise area, and outfitters that run the South Fork. On Oct. 9 Ann
Long of Cascade Raft & Kayak and Bill Sedivy of IRU met at the river with
representatives of the Highway Department, which is handling the cleanup
effort for Boise County, and the construction foreman at the job site.

Since then, we have toured the site two additional times and have a good
relationship with the folks running the project.

Here is what we learned:

    €The state¹s main concern centered on maintaining the roadway between Banks
and Garden Valley. If debris was not cleared, they said, the road could be
flooded, undermined and washed away. We think this is a legitimate concern.

    €The state was also concerned that the current river channel could undermine
the river left wall, cause collapse of the left wall, and create another dam
that could flood the roadŠ or perhaps cause serious flooding downstream when
that dam breaks. Again, we saw their point.

    € Finally, IDWR is concerned about water quality in the PayetteŠ including
increased sediment loads which could damage the drinking water system in
Horseshoe Bend (which draws its water from the river).

For those reasons, after consultation with state environmental officials,
wildlife officials, the Army Corps and local officials, the state highway
department was instructed to remove as much of the new debris as possible
from the old river channel.  They have pretty much completed this goal.
Though there may be some additional rock removed from the turnout by the
county, the state has pretty much wrapped up their work in the river.

So far, we and the outfitting community have been successful in convincing
ITD that the recreational impacts of this cleanup effort are important. We
have made it clear that removing all features from the river channel would
not be good for the river¹s health, for recreational or commercial boaters,
or for fish and wildlife.

With that said, the highway department agreed to leave the largest boulders
in the river Š in the river. They did not blast any of the large boulders in
the water to facilitate removal. In addition, the department agreed to keep
us posted on work at the site, and consult with local outfitters and boaters
if judgement calls need to be made about boulder removal or potential safety
hazards.

On our third visit to the site, this time with the owners of Idaho
Whitewater Unlimited, we asked that some effort be made to make the river
right channel more navigable.  There is a run down the middle that will
likely be extremely challenging at high water, and downright fun at mid and
low flows.  With just a touch of rock rearranging, there will also be a fun
class three shot down the right side.  This will allow safe passage at most
flows on river right and a challenging "sport run" in the middle and left
with many options.

As you will soon see, they have listened to our advice so far and left
several massive boulders in the river.  We are not sure about the river
right channel at this point, and things will surely change significantly
with spring runoff.  But, for now, we can be thankful that the folks moving
the rocks up there took our advice to heart.

With all that said, one only one thing is certain ‹ Staircase will never be
the same. In the meantime, we believe that ITD is sincere in its concern,
and we will do what we can to help protect the recreational value of this
State Protected River. If you want any further information, please call Dan
or Bill at 343-7481.
 

Wednesday, November 7th  2001  7 pm
American Whitewater Presentation
Hyde Park Mennonite Church
  1520 N. 12th  Boise
one block east of Idaho River Sports
Major Tim Kelley, Board Member of American Whitewater (AW) will  speak about
AW national accident database, the statistical analysis AW has done on the
reported accidents and discuss the accident investigations and the reports
themselves. Also, new safety initiatives AW is working on or considering
will be discussed.

Friday, November 30  2001  6-10 pm
7th Annual Auction for the Rivers
Esther Simplot Performing Arts Center,
Idaho Rivers United¹s biggest annual fundraiser, boats from AIRE,  kayaks,
tons of great gear, artwork, paintings, christmas shopping.  Finger food and
drinks served.
 

Monday, December 3rd  2001  7 pm
Annual IWA Christmas Party, Gift Exchange, and Tatshenshini slide show.
Idaho River Sports
Please bring a gift to put under the tree.

January 9th, 2002:  Vince Thompson presents the Idaho Whitewater Page on the
World Wide Web (Tentative).
February 6th, 2002 - Dutch Oven dinner  Location TBA.  Snow Pack?
March 6th, 2002 - Open
April 3rd, 2002 - Annual Meeting at AIRE,  board elections
May 4th, 2002 -  Annual Used equipment sale in Hyde Park

BY-LAWS Of
IDAHO WHITEWATER ASSOCIATION, INC.

ARTICLE I
Name and Purpose
   Section 1.  Name and Nature.  The name of the corporation is the Idaho
Whitewater Association, a non-profit corporation.
   Section 2.  Purpose.  The purpose of the Idaho Whitewater Association,
Inc. (hereinafter, IWA) shall be to promote the appreciation, understanding,
and safe recreational use of the whitewater river resources within the State
of Idaho among its members and the general public, and to inform the members
of issues affecting whitewater rivers and their use.

ARTICLE II
Membership
   Section 1.  Membership:  A member of IWA shall be any business,
organization, person or family that pays annual dues as set by the Board.
The directors may establish other classifications of membership.
   Section 2.  Membership Rights:  Each membership shall be entitled to one
vote on each matter submitted to a vote of the members.
   Section 3.  Membership Liabilities:  The members shall not be personally
liable for the debts, liabilities, or obligations of the corporation.
   Section 4.  Termination of Membership:  Any membership for which dues
have not been paid shall be subject to termination.

ARTICLE III
Meetings of Members
   Section 1.  Meetings:  A meeting of members shall be held at least
annually, at a time and place to be chosen by the directors.   No notice of
annual members¹ meetings shall be required.
   Section 2.  Quorum:  Members attending an annual meeting shall constitute
a quorum.  The vote of a majority of members shall be the act of the
members.
   Section 3.  Special Meetings: the President, upon written request of not
less than ten (10) members, may call special meetings of the members.

ARTICLE IV
Board of Directors
   Section 1.  Board of Directors:  A Board of Directors (hereafter Board)
shall be vested with the management of the affairs of the IWA.
   Section 2.  Number of Directors and Election:  The Board shall consist of
seven (7) members who shall be elected at the annual meeting of the members.
   Section 3.  Tenure, and Qualifications:  Each Director elected at the
annual membership meeting shall take office on May 1 of the same year, and
shall hold office through April 31 of the next year, or until the Director¹s
successor shall have been elected and qualified.  Any person nominated and
elected to the Board must be a member in good standing at the time of the
Director¹s election.  Directors need not be residents of the State of Idaho.
   Section 4.  Duties:  The activities, affairs, business, and property of
the corporation shall be controlled, governed, managed, and supervised by
the Board.  The Board shall determine the policies of the IWA and shall
actively pursue its corporate purposes and objectives.  The Board shall have
discretion in the disbursement of funds and the disposition of property for
the purposes as set out in its charter.
   Section 5.  Annual Meeting:  A regular annual meeting of the Board shall
be held without other notice than these By-Laws immediately after and at the
same place as the annual meeting of members.  The Board may provide, by
resolution, the time and place for the holding of additional regular
meetings of the Board, without other notice.
   Section 6.  Committees:  The Board may appoint committees as appropriate
to advise the Board.

ARTICLE V
Officers
   Section 1.  Officers and Duties:  The officers of the IWA and their
duties shall be as follows:
       a.  The President shall preside at all directors¹ meetings, chair
meetings of the members, and call directors¹ and membership meetings.
       b.  The Vice-President may exercise all duties and powers of the
President in the President¹s absence.
       c.  Either the President or Treasurer may sign checks for the IWA.
Any officer may transact business for the IWA in accord with resolutions
passed by the directors.
       d.  The Secretary shall keep minutes of the proceedings of the Board
and where appropriate, the meetings of members, including the annual
membership meeting.
       e. The Treasurer shall ensure that accurate books and records of
account of the IWA are maintained.
   Section 2.  Appointment of Officers and Term:  the Board, at the Board¹s
annual meeting following the annual membership meeting, shall appoint
Officers.  Only members of the IWA may be officers. The term of each officer
shall be from each annual meeting until the next annual meeting.

ARTICLE VI
Amendment of By-Laws
   The power to alter, amend, or repeal the By-Laws of the IWA shall be
vested in the members, but such powers may be delegated by the members to
the Board of Directors.  Such delegation is valid for only a period of one
(1) year.  In the event the power to amend the By-Laws is delegated to the
Board and it adopts amendments, such amendments shall be presented to the
members at the next annual meeting of the membership for the members¹
ratification.

The Tatshenshini – An Alaskan Adventure             June 28 – July 20, 2001
By Mike Cooper

The Tat runs out of the CanadianYukon (Kluane National Park), British Columbia (Tatshenshini-Alsek Wilderness Provincial Park), and into the Gulf of Alaska at Dry Bay in Southeast Alaska (Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve). This is a 140 mile ten day big class three trip. The water is glacial runoff and extremely cold. Even though it is class three and there is a lot of flat water, any mistake that puts you or a passenger in the water is very serious as hypothermia is only minutes away. This is a permitted trip, which is gained through a waiting list administered by the National Park Service out of Yakutat, AK. Jim Camp of Nampa had the permit and could have gone in 2000, but was allowed by the Park Service to put it off a year. I got a call from Jim in December of 2001 saying he had been notified that he would have to put in to go the summer of 2001 or forfeit the permit. So, I said I would split the $100 permit fee with him and if we couldn’t pull it off we would only be out $50.00 each. Within about a month we had rounded up ten hardy souls up for the challenge. They included Jim and Evelyn Camp, Dave Lindsey, Chuck and Paula Gossett, John Strange, Ed Ford (a long time paddling buddy of mine from Kentucky), and Pat Leaner (Paula’s stepfather who lived in Juneau), my wife Shelley and me.

Logistics is the name of the game when doing the Tat. You have to get all your gear to Alaska through Canadian Customs and to the put-in by truck and then at the take out in Dry Bay everything has to be flown out. The U.S. jumping off point is Haines, AK, or you can go from Whitehorse in the Canadian Yukon. Both places have outfitters and Air Service to and from Dry Bay. You can hire an outfitter to supply you with everything from rafts and food to the toilet system and, of course, you will have to pay a lot for it. You can do it all yourself, as, after putting the calculator to it we decided to do. Especially, since Shelley, Dave, Ed and I wanted to take a little more time off from work and take an Alaskan ferry all the way from Bellingham, WA through the inland passage to Haines, AK and back. Taking the ferry adds a week or more to the overall trip. Everyone else would fly to Juneau after work on July 3rd and take a ferry up to Haines on the 4th.

Evelyn Camp, professional chef and caterer was able to put together a scrumptious menu all while dealing with everyone’s dietary eccentricities. The non-perishable food items were bought in Boise and the remainder in the IGA in Haines and Costco in Juneau. Both the Haines IGA and A&P (Alaskan & Proud) are used to working with rafters and will package and freeze meat orders ahead of time--you just have to fax them an order and credit card number.  We were lucky enough to have Pat in Juneau take care of the meat procurement.

Well, we were about ready to head out, and on June 23rd everyone met at my house to load my full size Ford van (complete with added leaf spring (determined necessary from a earlier test load) and new tires) with over a ton of gear.  Days 1-5 travel to Bellingham, WA. and take the Alaskan Ferry Malaspina to Haines, AK - We actually left after work on Thursday June 28th,.  To lessen the strain on the van, Dave would load his truck full of gear as well, and once in Bellingham everything thing would be loaded into the van and Dave’s truck would be put into long term parking at the ferry port. We spent the night in Ellensburg, WA and early Friday morning picked up Ed at a motel near Sea-Tac airport in Seattle. I think he was glad to see us, his only contact with us about the trip being on the phone and via e-mail. After a quick trip to REI we rolled into the Bellingham ferry terminal around noon, transferred everything from the truck to the van, then got everyone and the van checked in and lined up at the loading dock. We had plenty of time to walk into Bellingham for a late lunch at a great little Mexican place where there are some funny concrete markers on the side depicting outrageous things that happened on that spot at a certain time in history. Dave and Ed got in line to get us a spot on the solarium deck while we waited to drive the van on board, which, since we were going all the way to Haines, would get on last. A couple of things to bear in mind when taking the ferry: reservations for cabins (which are nearly impossible to get on a northbound ferry) must be made early and vehicle reservations are mandatory. We made our reservations in January and the cabins were already gone (if you want a cabin, as soon as you board the ship go to the pursers office and get on the waiting list.  You might get lucky). Passenger tickets are easy. You can sleep almost any where on the ship open to passengers. There are several inside and outside areas.  The favorite outside area is the solarium deck, which is half covered and half uncovered. Many folks pitched their tents in the open half, duct taping them down and guying them to the side rails, this is mandatory, winds do come and you can imagine the rest. Under the covered solarium, along the wall is the best place to be, out in the center you risk getting stepped on at night, what little there is off it, night that is. The ferry crew informs you that once on board you are on Alaska time and our ferry, the Malaspina, pulled out at 5:20 p.m. Alaska time.  The ocean air out on the ferry was great. I couldn’t seem to get enough of it. The food service was good and not too expensive. There was a microwave available if you brought your own food, which many people did. We brought a lot of items to snack on. The ferry stopped at several Alaskan cities such as Ketchikan, Wrangle (if you are there during the daytime be sure and check out the garnets in schist sold by the local kids), Petersburg, and Juneau, although there is not a lot of time to get off and look around. In Juneau we dropped off an ice chest for Pat to fill with the meat and other frozen items. The scenery from the ferry was spectacular the entire way, with picturesque island snow capped peaks and 1000-foot water falls from hanging glaciers. There were many humpback whale and Orca sightings, so binoculars are mandatory. The ferry would be in open water exposed to ocean at time and in narrow channels between the islands. We arrived in Haines on July 2nd.

Days 5,6 & 7 Haines, AK - The folks at the Fort Seward lodge came out to pick us up at the ferry dock, as there was only room in the van for the driver. The lodge would be our home in Haines while we were there. It has a spectacular view of the Lynn fiord, which ends in Skagway 40 miles further north. The all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab at the Fort Seward Lodge restaurant or the Halibut at the Bamboo room are not to be missed. The lodge was a little on the rustic side for the price, but clean and comfortable. Our river shuttle driver said he would drop his truck by the Lodge the next evening for us to load and the IGA said they would be open on the 4th, so we could wait until then to buy our food and keep it over night in their cooler. This left us some free time on Tuesday for some sight seeing. So, we hopped a fast ferry to Skagway very early on the 3rd to do the tourist bit. It was a good thing we did, as there were six full size cruise ships moored in Skagway when we got there. By 10 a.m. the crowds were so unbearable we got the first fast ferry back to Haines that we could. We spent that evening packing the shuttle truck and getting lessons on the rocket box crapper and how it had to be returned clean. On the 4th we had all of our food bought, organized, repacked in ice chests, and in the IGA cooler by early afternoon. These little Alaskan towns take their 4th of July celebrations seriously. Haines had a parade and other activities all day long. The rest of the crew arrived on the 6 p.m. ferry from Juneau.  We had a group dinner at the Lodge and got to watch a brilliant fire works display, from the lodge terrace.
Up until now the weather had been great.

Day 8 July 5th river Day 1 and we are off to the put-in at Dalton Post, 2.5 hours north in the Yukon. It was raining on and off as it would for the rest of the trip. As we approached the Canadian border Jim mentioned that his track record at getting across the border unimpeded was not too good. As it turned out, Canadian customs was having a border blitz complete with Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers. They decided to have us unload the truck so they could inspect everything. The two shotguns we had (bear protection you know, this is grizzly country we are heading into) got permitted to enter Canada faster than did our dry bags.  Jim’s record remains intact. The head shuttle driver mentioned this was the first time in recent memory one of his fares had to be searched. Another hour up the road and just before the turn off to the put-in we got to watch a mother grizzly and a yearling grazing in a meadow along side the road.

We arrived at the Dalton Post put-in around noon, and the rain was coming down a little harder than when we started out and the mosquitoes had decide to make an appearance (mosquito netting and repellant is a necessity). Three hours of hard work later and our three rafts and one cataraft are on the river. This stretch of the Tat is reminiscent of the Middle Fork of the Salmon. We hit the canyon section 30 minutes later. This is the only section of continuous whitewater. The canyon drops 50 feet per mile over its 5 miles. The rapids are large fast wave trains bouncing from canyon wall to canyon wall, with various boulders and hydraulics thrown in. You won’t stay dry on this stretch, so everyone needs to be protected, wet suits, dry suits, splash gear etc. Stay alert and the worse places are easily avoided. We arrived at our first camp, Silver Creek, two hours later and 12 miles from the put-in. We were greeted by a large bald eagle feeding on a salmon. It was still raining. We had to push the salmon off into the river; bears work the river corridor pretty heavily. Every camp we stayed at on the trip had bear tracks and scat.

Day 9 Silver Creek to Sediments Creek, 22 miles - the weather was better today some sunshine. Lots of flat water on this stretch swampy areas all around; great moose habitat but we did not see any. Passed a bootleg cabin, built illegally in the Park. It had a large moose rack over the door. We had to stop and pick up wood for the Sediments Creek camp, it is scarce there. There are three camps at Sediments Creek. The two best were taken and we had to pull upstream into a slough to land the rafts at the third. The camp turned out to be ok. We laid over a day here.

Day 10 Sediments Creek - Everyone slept in a bit. Jim, Evelyn, and Dave hiked a trail up to the ridge behind camp, a 3,000 foot climb, we could watch them most of the way from camp. John and I hiked up the creek to the narrow gorge where it came out of the mountains, it was too brushy to continue and we forgot the bear spray. There were lots of neat flowers to look at. Jim and company got back to camp around 5 p.m. Pat treated us to various poems of the Yukon, by Robert Service.
 Day 11--Sediments Creek to a camp just below Towagh Creek--33 miles in 5 hours -  the river took on a different character today, best described as a very wide lake filled with rock outflow.  The lake is filled up with gravel and the river was channeled into a maze of routes. It was at times several miles wide, at times 40-50 yards wide to 20 yards wide, and very fast.  Small ripples turned out to be the mark for very shallow water. We rubbed maybe once or twice at the most and only slightly. Paula, Chuck and Pat got stuck in one chute and had to get out and pull their raft through.
The water was the color of cement slurry.  Big waves at times, perhaps the biggest rolling wave train was 50 yards long and are the biggest we have encountered.
Lots of eagles and artic terns on this stretch. We saw our first bear on the river near Tats Creek.  It had ignored us or didn’t see us until the last raft was close.  Pat whistled at the bear to get its attention, hoping it would stand up and look at us.  Instead it was frightened and ran sort of uncontrollably to the waters edge.  It fell into the water on another braid, swam across and got out, then shook itself off and continued running. It was gangly like a teenager. Don’t whistle at the bears.

  Big is the way to describe this country. The rivers coming in are coming down very wide canyons, almost as wide as the Tat itself, from very large snow capped mountain ranges. One feels very insignificant in the face of the terrain.

  We stopped at O’Connor River area and decided to go on without lunch to get to camp while it was calm and before the wind picked up. The guidebook says this section can be windy, the windiest of the trip.  We got through without the wind.

We camped on river right around a slight bend below Towagh Creek camp, which was taken. The landing was very fast. It turned out to be a tolerable campsite but no clear water to filter. Jim found half of a moose antler rack. I was surprised at how heavy it was. The mosquitoes were bad here, a trip to the crapper had to be quick to avoid getting eaten alive. Some sort of mosquito net tenting for the crapper would be good idea.

Day 12 Towagh Creek to just below Melt Creek, 15 miles - It rained all morning. Lots of river braids to contend with and this was a fast landing at a good beach. A lot of fresh bear sign here, big tracks, little tracks and fresh scat. The area was open with lots of clumps of tree around and spectacular views of snow capped mountains and hanging glaciers in all directions.  We got here in the early afternoon and after setting up camp several of the group went for a hike up Melt Creek. Shelley and I decided to try washing off with a bucket bath from the river. The water was so cold we felt like our skin was on fire after being dowsed, but luckily the sun was out.

 After dinner Dave noticed a grizzly bear on the other side of the river, about ¾ mile away pacing up and down the shoreline. Shelley and I didn’t get to watch him too much, since it was our turn to cook and clean up. He kept the others entertained for over an hour before going back up into the trees. For a trip like this a good pair of binocular are a must, don’t waste your money on a cheap pair, get good ones ($300-400). At this camp apprehension about the bears was at its peak, the shotguns were brought out and loaded up. Fortunately, our stay here was uneventful bearwise. If they came by during the night we never knew it.

Day 13 Melt Creek to the Tatshenshini/Alsek confluence and Walker Glacier 17-18 miles - We hit the river early today to get a good camp at Walker Glacier. There was a group behind us from Colorado that was a little testy about what campsites were taken. The morning was clear and the view spectacular, of course. The confluence with the Alsek was a trip highlight. The river gets really big here, probably better than a mile across, and one feels real insignificant here. The river has many different fast currents working here and it was easy for the group to get split up. Chuck and John’s handy-talkies proved quite useful keeping everyone in touch with each other when we did get split up.

Drainer, Feeders and Domers are names for the different types of braids encountered on the river. Recognizing these features can save you from an unwanted portage. The guide book “The Complete Guide to the Tatshenshini River” by Lyman, Ordonez and Speaks (Cloudburst Productions, P.O. Box 71, Haines AK 99827, e-mail (cloudburst@wytbear.com) devotes a page or two to domers, feeders, and drainers. The domers were the most frustrating, we would be floating along together, and then depending upon where everyone was in relation to the domer everyone would be sucked down different braids. We would get separated by as much as a half miles for 20 or 30 minutes or so only to come back together at a common point further down stream and within a few seconds of each other.

The U.S. / Canadian border is marked by a narrow clear cut in the forest on either side of the river. Then around the next bend in the river, called “The Nose,” we can see Walker Glacier. A commercial trip run by Chilkat guides out of Haines, AK has the best camp. So, we pull up river from them to check out the other camps, but their head guide, BJ, comes over to tell us they are pulling out shortly and we can have their camp, so we eat lunch and wait for them to leave. No sign of the group behind us. BJ also gives us some tips about negotiating Alsek Lake. This has the best kitchen area on the trip, it is protected and out of the wind. No mosquitoes here, we left them all in Canada. BOOOOM! like not-so-distant thunder we hear our first calving from a glacier and rush out from behind the sand dune protecting the kitchen area to have a look. It is too late by the time you hear one, to see it calve unless you are right there to watch it happen. Little did we know this was just a warm-up for Alsek Lake. What a place to camp. We decide to use a layover day here. Ed and I take a picture of a grizzly print here that is bigger than a ball cap. After dinner Dave, John, Ed and I walk the ¼ mile over to the lake at the base of the glacier to have a look and just as we top a small rise overlooking the lake, BOOM, a house sized piece of ice calves off. I think my heart skipped a beat at the sight of it. Then the resulting wave comes washing across spit of land and into a small land locked pond and splashes up on the shores below where we are standing. Luckily we are standing on a small sandy ridge about 20 feet above. We heard BOOMs from the calving every hour or two the whole time we stayed here; some are loud enough to wake me up at night.

Day 14 Walker Glacier – We hike up onto the glacier itself today everyone is excited, but apprehensive. Glaciers can be a dangerous to hike. I took 200 feet of rope and wish I had brought crampons.  Going up the glacier is much easier than coming down. This part of the glacier has moss growing in places and lots of mud here and there. As the glacier melts all the rock, dirt and other debris close to the surface is left behind. John looks for ice worm in the puddles but there are none to be found.  There are several crevasses and streams running down and across the surface to negotiate. Some of the crevasses are shallow, but some are very deep and farther than we care to see down into blue ice. The streams disappear in the crevasses with a roar. They are scary places to stand next too, one slip and you are the iceman of the next century.  We head back down the glacier to camp and lunch. After lunch a group of us head up to the base of the glacier with our chairs to sit awhile and hope to see another calving, but no luck, and after a couple hours we head back to camp. Chuck sets up a shower and we heat up water. Several are able to get cleaned up before dinner.

 Day 15 Alsek Lake 22 miles – This will be a long day and we don’t know what to expect when we hit Alsek Lake. The day is filled with braids to negotiate and the continually awesome views of the mountains and glaciers no matter which direction you look. We finally spot Gateway Knob, entrance to Alsek Lake, off in the distance. There are three channels (Door 1, 2, 3) one can take to get past Alsek Lake. Gateway Knob separates channels 2 and 3, it is a small island whose summit is several hundred feet above the lake.  Door 3 is usually the preferred choice, but is also usually the first to dry up. We work or way down river left stopping occasionally to hike up on the spit separating the Alsek from Alsek Lake to check out progress as we approach the doors.  We find door 3 very shallow, too shallow to risk going down only to find it dried up. We opt for door 2, as door 1 pushes you way out into the lake. Door 2 takes us very close to a lot of icebergs, one in particular that looks likes a very large medieval castle. We pause here long enough to take pictures. We row on through the northern edge of the lake along the shore of Gateway Knob surrounded by icebergs. We approach Gateway Knob camp and find it to be taken by a group; we find out later that they had come down the Alsek. We can see the Alsek again as we negotiate our way through one last line of icebergs and back into the open river and on to camp a short ways down stream. This is an exposed camp that turns out to be rather windy, but a good place to hike and explore, even though there are a lot of mud flats to deal with, as the river is very low. The thunder of icebergs calving three miles across the lake is almost constant.  Everybody is tired and turns in early. It starts to rain, but not the horizontal rain the guidebook mentions.
Day 16 Alsek Lake to Dry Bay 17.5 miles - It is still raining and we get to experience some horizontal rain. Ed is happy since he had read about it in the guidebook and wanted to experience it. The river is big and wide here probably running 100,000 cfs which is low. We move down the river along with icebergs here and there. We are looking for the channel to the airport take out, we miss it, we later determine it was dry. We end up going down into the bay towards the ocean and decide to pull over and scout from shore. Jim and I hike across what turns to be an island to an inlet across which we can see buildings. We return to the group and hug the shore line to the inlet and start rowing up it, towards a boat launch. There is no sign of the airport; there are cars and boats around but no people; buildings and cabins, but no people. Turns out they fish only one day a week, so on off days everybody goes to town. Dave decides to hike up stream and I go down stream to look for the airport.  After two or three miles I give up and head back to the group. An ATV comes down the road. The driver is named Paul, a local fisherman.  He tells me he ran into Dave and showed him the airport, he then gave me a lift back to the group and we make the long strenuous row up the inlet to the take out. It is 4 pm and still raining. We set up camp in the rain and Jim and Evelyn start dinner. The rest of us start breaking everything down for the flight out. Paul comes by to see how we are doing and visit. The local park service intern comes by to show us how to use the dump station to clean out the crappers. We have a wet but comfortable evening.

Day 17 Dry Bay – It is still raining, but Paul tells us that the weather is not too bad for a plane to land. Eight o’clock comes and goes with no planes from Haines.  About 10:30 am two planes from Yakutat arrive to take Jim, Evelyn, John, Paula, Chuck and Pat to Yakutat where they will catch a commercial flight back to Juneau and home. The pilots tell us that Haines is fogged in and that the rest of the aircraft may be in later in the day or the next day.  This was Saturday and our only deadline was to catch the ferry in Haines on Monday evening. Paul comes by to take Ed and Dave sight seeing on his ATV, they get to see a bear and the Ocean. We leave all of our left over food with Paul when we leave. The rains quit around noon. Two of the planes show up around 2 pm and take Ed, Shelley and gear to Haines the long way (1.5 hours) around the coast to Haines. They tell Dave and me they may or may not be back today.  Shelley hears one of the pilots radio his home base that they will pick Dave and me up the next day, Sunday. But when they arrive in Haines the weather over the mountains has cleared making a round trip only 1.5 hours. We are all back in Haines by 6 pm. The flight back over the mountains was the most spectacular I have ever taken. We fly up the Alsek to the Tat then up the O’Conner over the mountains to Haines.  I realize that from the river we really had no idea of how immense this county really is. The rivers had dozens of braids not just the two or three we could see while floating through. We load the van and head to the Lodge for showers and dinner. Ed calls Pat’s home in Juneau to leave the message that we were all off the river.

Days 18 & 19--Haines – We unloaded the van and spread everything out to dry. Several people stopped by to see if we are having a yard sale. We do some shopping and sight seeing, put Ed on the day ferry to Juneau, so he can catch a midnight flight to Seattle. We load onto the ferry the evening of the 19th and return to Bellingham via Sitka. Shelley and I were able to get a cabin and Dave stayed up in the Solarium.

Days 19 – 23 Haines to Bellingham – The ferry Malaspina is less crowded than on the way up. We saw more wildlife on the way back, Orca pods, humpback whales feeding, a grizzly and Sitka deer along the shoreline.  We had a six hour layover in Ketchikan, so we got to do some sight seeing there. We were back in Bellingham very early on Friday the 20th and in Boise that evening.
To float the Tatshenshini or Alsek you have to get on a waiting list run by the National Park Service out of Yakutat, AK. No matter which river you run there is only one take out per day allowed at Dry Bay.  The wait can be three to four years. It cost us about $800 each, plus travel expenses, to do the trip. We could have commercially outfitted the trip for another $400-$500 per person, which would be necessary if no one has the time to take the ferry up and back. It took six planes to ferry everyone out of Dry Bay and that cost is in the figures mentioned above.  Logistics and outfitting are the keys to this trip; anyone who can comfortably row the Middle Fork of the Salmon can row the Tatshenshini.

Photos By Jim Camp and Mike Cooper
 
 
 
 

Editors
Bill Latta 208-344-9443
Dan Skinner- 208-343-7481

Board of Directors:

Mike Cooper, President          362-5344
Mel Johnson, Treasurer          343-0970
Susan Wildwood, Secretary          383-0390
Ed Crampton                  939-4440
Jeri Rose                  342-2305
Dan Skinner                 343-7481
John Strange                  342-2305
mailto:idahowhitewater@hotmail.com or
lattaslaw@home.com
 
 

Vince's Idaho Whitewater Page

You are visitor since 5-24-01