Rising from the south flank of Alaska's Brooks Range, in Gates of the Arctic National Park, the Kobuk ('Big River' in Inupiaq) is an unusually transparent and placid river with deep oxbow bends and excellent fishing. The Kobuk River is one northwestern AlaskaÕs major rivers. At nearly 350 miles long, it drains an area of 11,980 square miles. Cradled within the Baird and Waring Mountains, the river flows through an unglaciated Pleistocene landscape. The ambience of this gentle valley with its open lichen woodland, broad stretches of steppe-like tundra and jade green waters, blends intimately with a long and rich human history.
For over 12,000 years, the valley has pulsed with successive waves of hunter-gathers migrating between Asia and America. The bison and mammoth of old are gone, replaced by caribou, moose, grizzly and black bear, wolf, fox, and an abundance of birdlife. The Kobuk River supports migratory runs of salmon, sheefish, and char, as well as northern pike and grayling. The Kuuvangmiit, 'People of the Kobuk,' continue to glean traditional subsistence needs from the valley.
The Kobuk River supports world-class runs of sheefish, largest freshwater fish in the Alaska's arctic by far. The "tarpon of the North" is legendary for its fighting ability. Surely it is one of the most unique fish in North America, reaching lengths of up to 34 inches. The river also supports arctic grayling and northern pike, as well as a run of Chum salmon.
Our combination packrafting and backpacking trip takes us first to the upper Kobuk River in Gates of the Arctic National Park. We have timed our trip for autumn, when bright colors have turned the landscape on fire, the insects are long past, and wildlife is on the move. We'll paddle the river's fast-moving sections through a landscape of glacial moraines, bare bedrock and open, lichen-covered boreal forest, stopping to fish along the way. The upper river offers good hiking, with broad, wind-scoured ridges above the tree line. After several days of paddling, fishing, and hiking, we arrive in the village of Kobuk, and hop on a small plane bound for the village of Ambler. Once again, we take to the river by packraft, and paddle through Kobuk Valley National Park.
We've timed our trip to take advantage of the migration of the Western Arctic caribou herd. Up to 400,000 caribou head south from summer feeding grounds, gathering in small herds as they swim across the Kobuk. We may stop at Onion Portage, an ancient bend in the river that has been used for thousands of years, by both humans and caribou. More than 70 distinct stratified cultural layers document 12,500 years of human encampments, making it one of the most important archaeological sites in North America.
From Kobuk, we paddle the river's mid-section through the Kobuk Valley. Here, the river is wide, slow-moving and clear, and its banks and bottom are sandy. As the valley widens and the mountains move away from the river, we break from the river with hikes on open gravel bars and old high water channels winding through the forest.
As we paddle downriver, we can observe river bluffs, composed of sand and standing as high as 150 feet, that hold permafrost ice wedges and the fossils of Ice Age mammals. WeÕll pass the Hunt River Dunes. Autumn is an amazing time in the arctic. Darkness returns for a brief time, so it's possible to observe the Aurora Borealis on clear nights. The blueberries are ripe and we love to pick berries for nightly desserts and morning pancakes!
Reaching Kavet Creek in our packrafts, we pack our rafts into our backpacks and head through the willows and spruce-birch forest to
explore the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, 25-square-mile sand dunes created by the grinding action of ancient glaciers (mostly during the Pleistocene) and transported into the Kobuk Valley by wind and water. Dunes now cover much of the southern portion of the Kobuk Valley, where they are naturally stabilized by vegetation.
This is a multi-sport trip designed for adventurous people who have had at least a taste of paddling and backpacking experience. We designed the trip for people who have expressed a desire to visit all the national parks in the U.S, but this is a great adventure for anyone who wants to see some beautiful wild country, visit a couple of Alaska's small Inupiat villages and the regional city of Kotzebue, while crossing a huge swath of northern Alaska. It's not particularly easy nor inexpensive to reach both parks within a short period of time. But, for those who long to explore the two parks, we think this adventure is appealing, and we've worked out some complicated logistics. As long as you have used a paddle on flatwater or moving water, we can teach you all the basics of packrafting. The river sections that we paddle offer few obstacles so the Kobuk is a perfect river to learn how to paddle your own packraft. The backpack portion of the trip is quite short--really just a day of trekking to reach the dunes, where we'll set up camp and take time to explore without our backpacks.
For additional information about this little-known park and its natural features, check out these sites.
We paddle lightweight, portable packrafts through the Kobuk River Valley. With all the northern daylight, we paddle when we feel like it, fish when we find good spots, hike as often as we can, and eat and sleep when we're tired. The Kobuk is a perfect introductory river to the Brooks Range and Alaska's subarctic boreal forest.
