Pack rafting - my tour from Hell

Once our travel companions told me they wanted to stay an extra day in the remote area of McCarthy and Kennicott, I questioned what we would do to fill it.  It was very expensive to stay here, and we would have to eat all our meals in restaurants, which we rarely do.  Not to mention that we have RV’s rented, loaded with food, sitting back at the airport parking lot. But we didn’t want to disappoint them, so we went ahead and agreed to the plan.

So, going to the internet, I started exploring possibilities many months ago.  What I discovered was that most of the activities included hard-core hiking, most often involving ice picks!  Well, that’s out, I can't be trusted with an ice pick.  Or there were multiple day, over-night hikes out into the wilds of Alaska. Hmmmm…. No.  Flight-seeing trips… too expensive and we had a short one coming in already…. That’s a no.  Glacier Hikes, definitely, but we have one booked already. So that brought me to the water.  We wouldn't have been on, or in water for the past few weeks, I started researching. I wanted something fairly exciting, and unique.  I found a company that offers something called “Pack-rafting”!

Kennicott Wilderness Guides, the only outfitter that offers this outing, described its half-day adventure  to me at great length over the phone; we would carry our 20 lb rafts in a pack to the edge of a glacial lake where we would then inflate them, paddle in the lake to get accustomed to them to hone our new skills.  We would then have the option ( if we were adventurous enough ) to paddle the class II plus rapids, or merely walk around them if we weren’t feeling too daring in these freezing, unforgiving waters.  I intended (and knew without a doubt that Norm would want to as well) to paddle the rapids! Sounded pretty intimidating, but this was our last “hurrah” on this trip, and I wanted a really memorable experience.

We stayed here at Kennicott Lodge for two nights. It was a beautiful lodge with Root Glacier as a backdrop.  I still can not believe just how beautiful Alaska is!

Immediately after arriving in McCarthy and then the Kennicott Lodge, Norm and I headed across the street to the Kennicott Wilderness Guides’ office. I very specifically asked if the very warm weather would possibly affect our trip, and if so, could we do something else.  They assured us that although the glaciers had been melting a lot in the last couple of days and the rivers and lakes rising, that we would still have “so much fun” out there.  Ok. Norm and I ate our lunches that we had packed back in the RV, got out stuff from our stowed luggage in the hotel and went back at the appointed time to start our private adventure, ( No one else signed up ) for my personal “Day from Hell”

The first order of business was to get fitted for dry suits.  These are especially important not only because of the obvious danger of hypothermia due to melted glaciers ( think of swimming in a glass of melted ice water ) but also the danger we were unaware of - glacial silt permeates these waters; it sticks to regular clothing and the weight will quickly pull you under the near freezing waters.  Yikes!

I thought we were lucky that our suits were brand new, thinking not too many sweaty people had worn them before us, and we would have the comfort in knowing that water most likely will not creep in the openings.  But what came with that “privilege” were the INCREDIBLY tight bands around all the openings.  Yup, ladies- that means wearing a heavy rubberized garment to exercise in that is so tight around your throat you can barely fit a finger down there! I know many women as we have aged, cannot tolerate tight clothing around our neck.  I am one of them.

After dancing and stomping around the porch like a couple of Sumo Wrestlers, ( attracting a few on-lookers ) we finally donned our suits. Half exhausted already,we then went about the arduous task of finding sneakers ( I think they found them in dumpsters ) that would fit over our neoprene socks we wore over our own thick socks.  After many attempts we found ones that would work, grabbed our gear and hobbled over to the van.

Note the Sumo pose? Norm was "burping" the air out of the dry suit 

Our young, female guide told us about herself during our scenic, bone-jarring ride ( which, of course, is half the charm of the place ). We stopped and parked at the footbridge that leads into Kennicott. I was quite surprised when we were instructed to take our rafts, which were not in packs at all, out of the van and start inflating them right there! We would be carrying them, inflated, through the narrow paths to the lake.  What? Seriously? I wanted to see how heavy these were in the pack to hike with because Norm and I are interested in purchasing some type of inflatable/foldable kayaks in the near future.

Kennecott River pedestrian bridge crosses the river providing access to the road into the town of McCarthy and the old mining town of Kennecott. 

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperatures rose to a warm 78-80 degrees.  The sun, here in Alaska, is surprisingly strong, not unlike Florida, due to both the altitude and cleanliness of the air.

Putting air in these rafts was pretty labor intensive.  The "bag" Norm has is made of parachute material. You open the bag to grab some air, then squeeze the air into the raft. After about 15 minutes it was pretty firm

After you got the raft pretty full with the bag method, you fill it the rest of the way with the hand pump, that also took a bit of coordination.  

We got quite hot as we pumped these rafts up using both a nylon bag (see photo) then topping it off with a hand-pump. It took perhaps a half hour before we were ready to walk down the rocky path in shoes that offered no support. ( I have bad ankles and offered to wear my hiking boots for this portion, then put them in a dry bag when needed, but was assured it wasn’t far and I would have no problem ).  Well, it wasn’t too far, but these 20 lb bulging rafts and paddle got hung up on branches and dug into my shoulder as we made our way through a narrow path,

 Scambling up dirt piles ( pardon me, glacial rubble ) and struggling over and down large boulders, we finally reached the lake. At this point I was really hot and uncomfortable not to mention semi exhausted from the wrestling match I lost to these awkward rafts.

Heading off down the trail carrying the rafts.  The brochure said we were to carry them uninflated in a back pack then inflate them at the glacier lake.  These rafts were pretty hard to carry through brush and trees. I think we did it the hard way.

Because the air is hot and the water cold, we were instructed to splash the cold water onto the rafts so the air inside would adjust. Just like car tires, the rafts deflated enough that we had to get the hand pumps out and “top them off” making sure they were really hard.

 We got our life jackets, helmets and gloves on and climbed into our rafts and after a few tips, we paddled around trying to get the hang of maneuvering these inflated beasts.

Norm and our guide as we are about to enter the water.  Norm, who was taking pictures with his phone lost all his photos when his phone crashed!  This is really disappointing, because he is the better photographer. Thankfully I was taking pictures as well. 

There was one thing we learned within a couple of strokes of the paddle.  These were not made for lakes!  When you put the paddle in on the right, the raft would veer sharply to the left.  Paddle on the left, it would shoot to the right!  Now, Norm and I kayak quite a bit, so this is not a new skill to us.  We adjusted our strokes as much as we could, but they truly were invented as a means to cross raging rivers before it became Alaska’s newest action-sport ( death defying, raging river- running) and not a means to cross a large lake.

As I paddled away, the sun was blazing down while I was strangled by the dry suit. We would go a foot to the left, a foot to the right, gaining perhaps a foot forward. After 45 minutes, we were finally nearing the shore.  Thank God, because this was really awful!

We landed on the shore then hiked up this very rocky hill to a spot where we could look down onto the “rapids” which to both our disappointment, was far tamer than we imagined.  My ankles twisted many times as we walked on the round-rock trail, slipping in the silt trying not to fall over the ledge merely inches away.  As we had our lunches,( it was hard to swallow with the vise grip the dry suit had on my throat )  we learned that we would hike back down to where we had left the rafts, then carry them back up to where we sat, and then to the top of the lake further up the hill.  What???  Why the heck didn’t we bring them up here with our lunches?  Are you kidding me?

Carrying the rafts up and across the glacier moraines was not easy. The loose ground would give way as you walk while the wind would catch the raft and blow you over.  I was not going to hike this more than once!

We grabbed the rafts and headed up the hill.  The wind was picking up and it was catching the bulbous raft and nearly sending me over the edge as I struggled to both carry the damn raft while trying to avoid breaking my ankles on the terrain.

  I was huffing and puffing and suddenly I just could not breathe! The tight neck was seriously restricting my airflow! What made it more difficult was that I could not see the hazardous trail as tears streamed down my face.  God, I felt like such a wimp, but this trip was killing me, and I am pretty tough having put up with pretty challenging conditions without a whimper.  It was just the constant feeling of being choked to death, along with the heat, that was getting to me.

I quickly sucked it up, laughed a little with embarrassment, dried my tears and thanked the Lord we were finally at the water’s edge.  After setting the raft down, I stuck my fingers into the neck of the dry suit, pulled it away from my throat and took a few restoring gulps of air.

 Now we had to repeat the procedure; splash water on the rafts, and pump them up again.  I was so hot at this point it was fabulous to get in the boat and on the cold water.

 We paddled a short distance so we could get in position to do the “rapid” which was in reality perhaps a 50 yard run of Class I water, There was a couple of large boulders we had to make sure we didn’t hit, and the water was fast enough that it could take you sideways into the rocks.

A view of the "rapids" we were going to paddle which was not very impressive. What was impressive was this small piece of this rugged land.  You can see a glacier in the background, and flowers gone to seed in front.

These spent flowers are the first vegetation to take root as glaciers recede. They are appropriately nick named " Baby Einsteins ".  They are so cute as they gently sway in the wind!

  As we made our way into the faster water, our hearts did beat a tad faster for a minute or two.  Then we were done.  It was akin to sledding as a child.  You struggle up the hill, trudging through the snow, then the sled ride lasts for a couple of seconds! Somehow this didn't have the same thrill I remember more than 50 years ago.

Norm running the "rapids".  Go Norm!  I did it as well, but didn't want to hike up the hill to do it again. 

Our guide then instructed us to get out of the raft, and carry it back up the hill so we could do it a few more times.  No way, Jose, was I about to do that again!  I wasn’t about to go through that for a 3 second thrill ride!  Norm, who is infinitely tougher than I, did it two more times while I took pictures.

It was surprisingly difficult to fish these hunks of water out of the glacial lake. Norm proudly displays his "catch".

The time came when we had to paddle back across the lake, this time against the wind which had kicked up, making it just that much more difficult.  We played around a few minutes trying to capture floating glacier ice blocks, then finally got to shore where I could get out of that dry suit!  I carried the raft today for a total of 3.1 miles, Norm did probably a mile more.

Try as I might, I could NOT get out of this darn dry suit! It was so tight! But it felt soooo good when I finally got my head out!

I was glad my "Tour from Hell" was finally over.  We drove back to the Kennicott Lodge where Norm and I staggered back to our rooms for a nice long shower and nap before we met Dennis and Vickie for dinner.

About 5 o'clock, we all took the free shuttle for the 20 minute drive down to McCarthy, a small rustic town that’s half ghost-town, half best-kept secret that happens to have what is reported to be one of the finest restaurants in all of Alaska -  at the 100 year old McCarthy Lodge’s Bistro.  I managed to procure reservations there months in advance, which was fortunate

The couple I loaned my hiking boots to were staying across the street at Ma-Johnson’s Hotel- a small hotel with rooms filled with genuine artifacts of the mining era. In the lodging building next door, also a part of Ma-Johnson’s, was a once bustling bordello.

Ma Johnson's historic hotel in McCarthy is over 100 years old, and each of the 20 unique rooms have authentic artifacts from McCarthy and Kennicott

As we sat down for dinner, our Israeli friends came in with my shoes, all cleaned up and in a bag.  We hoped they would join us for dinner, but there really wasn’t room at the table, plus they had a nice, romantic table of their own.

The owner of the restaurant came over for a nice chat, as did the woman I had such long and friendly conversations with from Ma Johnson’s. We had a fabulous dinner, then caught the shuttle bus back to the Kennicott Lodge.