North Slope while it's still there.

[Paddlinhal]

Somewhere on this board I posted about doing the Idaa Trail from Yellowknife up to Great Bear Lake and on down to the Mackenzie. We had our group planning meeting over the weekend. Logistics, vacation time, and travel expenses all conspired to nudge us into a different trip altogether. So instead, we're doing a 6 week trip, flying to Kotzebue, Alaska, then hiring a plane with tundra tires to take us to the confluence of Thunder Creek and Storm Creek. Already my kind of trip. It's north of the Brooks Range, and the Colville River flows about 350 miles east before dumping into the Beaufort Sea, north of 70 degrees. Then we'll hire a van to take us down the Dalton Highway, maybe stopping at Denali on our way to Fairbanks, Anchorage and on home. Put in: 68.8209, -160.3436.

So now that the North Slope is open to the petroleum industry, this may be the last chance to see it.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I think you know that Denali is between Fairbanks and Anchorage. I have seen it once out of three tries so good luck!

 

[yknpdlr]

I think you know that Denali is between Fairbanks and Anchorage. I have seen it once out of three tries so good luck!

I was going to say the same thing. I and my race team took the bus tour through the park after the Y1K. Cloudy day, lots of animals posing for tourists near the road. We were told that maybe only 10% of the time the mountain is visible to visitors.

 

[lowangle al]

That sounds like a great trip What kind of boat are you using? A friend did it in a raft, lots of fossils.

 

[VernAK]

You've got a few things to sort out yet. You might want to pull out at Umiat and hire a flight out. I know of no bus or van service
on the Haul Road so you may want to research that one further. If you float on to Nuiqsut Village or Alpine Oilfield, you are then
dependent on using oil company roads with frequent security check points so you may want to check with Conoco Phillips and BP.

The North Slope opened to oil companies 50 years ago and prior to that that the US Navy did a lot of exploration on the Slope and
left some messes.

Larry Bartlett of Pristine Ventures outfits float trips in that area and is highly respected by his clients.

Golden Eagle Outfitters out of Kotzebue does a good job of flying folks into remote areas.

You will see grizzly bears....plan ahead.

Enjoy yourself and bring your bug nets.

 

[Paddlinhal]

I'm sure the details will change but right now it's 4 of us in two 17' pakboats. Not sure whether we're ending at Umiat or Nuiqsut but we expect to fly to Deadhorse and hope to hire a van to Fairbanks. I'm not the lead planner, so I don't know all the details but we have been in touch with Golden Eagle Outfitters for the flight in. Good to hear some positive feedback about them. And yeah, I meant we might stop off and see Denali on the train trip from Fairbanks to Anchorage. It's all new to mee! Never been to Alaska.

 

[VernAK]

There's usually some good char fishing in the Colville also.