Hi everyone - For various reasons, I am planning on taking some time off next summer and am wanting to do a pretty major adventure / quasi-expedition style trip. It could involve flying, it might not, but I can't think of a better place to post this question so here goes:

Do you have any ideas for a crazy wilderness adventure that I should consider for next summer?

I'm envisioning a significant wilderness trip, and do have a lot of wilderness experience. I've DIY'ed float trips in the Wrangell St. Elias, Brooks Range, and various lower-48 rivers, done unguided backpack goat hunts, unguided elk hunts (for years... I'm sick of elk hunting), backpacked (legitimately) thousands of miles through desert, slot canyons, mountains, high alpine, tundra, etc. So I'm looking for something kind of out there.

Right now I'm leaning towards doing a float trip in ANWR (Marsh Fork). Have also considered some of the rivers in the Mackenzie mountains.

Recently, however, I was talking to a charter pilot who could run boats in for us and thinking to myself... man, I should just fly up there myself and explore the Brooks/ANWR in my own plane, gravel bar to gravel bar. And that lead me to this post. I do own a 205 and now have a lot of backcountry experience (live in Idaho). Some off-airstrip stuff - I take it farther than most would in a tricycle gear plane, but just can't do what a taildragger on giant ABWs can pull off. So, I don't think this idea is realistic in my current plane, but I also don't feel like I am grasping the Alaska backcountry flying opportunity - the real opportunity seems to be off-airport, which is going to be beyond the limits of what my plane can handle (I assume, but don't really know!).

Would love to get your thoughts. Here are some criteria:
- Could involve backpacking, river floating, flying, fly-fishing, or any combination thereof.
- 2 weeks is ideal, 3 weeks max.
- Probably limited to US and Canada.
- If it involves rivers, probably limited to Class II or max III. Not really a whitewater guy. I know that unfortunately this rules out a bunch of otherwise great options.
- Always open to buying new gear if necessary! (I'm thinking I may need a packraft).
- If its flying, it has to account for a 205, not a taildragger.
- I'm going to have to transition to BasicMed in August next summer, which might really screw up flying to/from Alaska / doing something with the plane in Canada.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to any input you have

The Marsh Fork could be doable. Lots of other potential trips on both sides of the Brooks Range. But, for a float trip, you'd have to park the plane, then figure out how to get back to it.....

So, I'd consider flying to Fort Yukon, park your plane there, then have an air taxi (I would HIGHLY recommend Kirk Sweetsir of Yukon Air: http://www.yukonair.com/) fly you up to headwaters of one of the streams on the SOUTH side of the Eastern Brooks Range. Pick a stream that flows into the Porcupine River, and you can then float back to Fort Yukon, pick up your plane, and move onward. Sheenjek, or???

For a boat, I'd purchase a folding boat, either open canoe or Kayak from these guys: https://www.pakboats.com/. A friend of mine who used to live in Fairbanks floated just about every stream on the south side of the Brooks in a 14 foot folding canoe by this outfit. Those things fold up in a tidy bundle, and don't weigh much either. They perform surprisingly well, even in big water.

And, that plane (205) will do a LOT in that country, believe me. You can base out of Fairbanks, where there's a FANTASTIC airport campground, complete with showers, shelters, etc.

I'd get in touch with Kirk Sweetsir at Yukon Air and discuss options. Kirk has been ALL over the Eastern Brooks Range, and knows those rivers well. Kirk is also a great and highly experienced pilot, and can advise you well on where you might land your plane. He may suggest landing your plane at the headwaters of a stream on the north side, floating a stream, then he can pick you up and move you back to your plane. He's very knowledgeable about all those streams.

And, as I noted, before or after, land in FAI, spend a night or two, explore Denali to the south, or the eastern Alaska Range, which also has some nice strips, from there.

MTV

A float on the upper stretches of Nushagak/King Salmon or Kanektok could be fun. This could involve flying to somewhere like Dillingham in your own plane and then using a 135 outfit to get you to and from your put-in - pickup locations with days on either side to explore on your own. Rick Grant - Tikchik AirVentures - was the guy in Dillingham that flew most of those trips back when I played in that sandbox. Tikchik Narrows Lodge (where I worked) also flew floaters on occasion. Not sure what the gear situation is but I'm sure there are rental options out there if you don't have a raft. The rivers are easy paddling....

TVANTIVAK71 on here might be able to give you some insight. He was (and might still be) based in Dillingham. Not sure....

Jealous. This sounds like a ton of fun.

Do a canoe trip on the Yukon from Whitehorse (or Dawson City) to the ocean. I intend to do one although I will probably start in Alaska so as not to have to deal with Customs on either side. I'll be doing mine Mountain Man style.

Barnstormer wrote:Do a canoe trip on the Yukon from Whitehorse (or Dawson City) to the ocean. I intend to do one although I will probably start in Alaska so as not to have to deal with Customs on either side. I'll be doing mine Mountain Man style.

So, Phil, does that imply no TP, or what?

I take it you survived the rest of the trip north?

MTV

mtv wrote:

Barnstormer wrote:Do a canoe trip on the Yukon from Whitehorse (or Dawson City) to the ocean. I intend to do one although I will probably start in Alaska so as not to have to deal with Customs on either side. I'll be doing mine Mountain Man style.

So, Phil, does that imply no TP, or what?

I take it you survived the rest of the trip north?

MTV

Yea, no TP.

We had a great time together at dinner. We did survive the rest of the trip. Once we cleared immigration (a two hour event- I know they were intentionally hassling us but they were so nice and polite and happy it was impossible to get made at them) the rest of the trip was uneventful. Saw tons of critters in BC and The Yukon, not as many bison as in years past though.

Corvus Migrans posted some epic travelogues on SuperCub.org. They might give you some food for thought.

You have to know these things to prepare for a big adventure. If you want to do high-altitude hiking, it is essential to prepare yourself physically and mentally to be successful. There is no other way to compare a high-altitude environment to one at sea level. So, the initial step that you can do to prepare your body for altitude hiking is to recreate the feeling of exhaustion at a high heart rate when you are thousands of feet above sea level.

Clarkk wrote:You have to know these things to prepare for a big adventure. If you want to do high-altitude hiking, it is essential to prepare yourself physically and mentally to be successful. There is no other way to compare a high-altitude environment to one at sea level. So, the initial step that you can do to prepare your body for altitude hiking is to recreate the feeling of exhaustion at a high heart rate when you are thousands of feet above sea level.

You do not seem to be retired, despite your handle.

Squash wrote:

Clarkk wrote:You have to know these things to prepare for a big adventure. If you want to do high-altitude hiking, it is essential to prepare yourself physically and mentally to be successful. There is no other way to compare a high-altitude environment to one at sea level. So, the initial step that you can do to prepare your body for altitude hiking is to recreate the feeling of exhaustion at a high heart rate when you are thousands of feet above sea level.

You do not seem to be retired, despite your handle.

Before you assault Clarkk's authenticity in big adventures, you should know he was posting from Vietnam. Clearly he's out there exploring the big world of high-altitude hiking in southeast Asia. Who are you to question his retirement?

Squash wrote:

Clarkk wrote:You have to know these things to prepare for a big adventure. If you want to do high-altitude hiking, it is essential to prepare yourself physically and mentally to be successful. There is no other way to compare a high-altitude environment to one at sea level. So, the initial step that you can do to prepare your body for altitude hiking is to recreate the feeling of exhaustion at a high heart rate when you are thousands of feet above sea level.

You do not seem to be retired, despite your handle.

No doubt. Thread's a year old, hope the OP has had his adventure.

Zzz wrote:

Squash wrote:

Clarkk wrote:You have to know these things to prepare for a big adventure. If you want to do high-altitude hiking, it is essential to prepare yourself physically and mentally to be successful. There is no other way to compare a high-altitude environment to one at sea level. So, the initial step that you can do to prepare your body for altitude hiking is to recreate the feeling of exhaustion at a high heart rate when you are thousands of feet above sea level.

You do not seem to be retired, despite your handle.

Before you assault Clarkk's authenticity in big adventures, you should know he was posting from Vietnam. Clearly he's out there exploring the big world of high-altitude hiking in southeast Asia. Who are you to question his retirement?

Dang, the powers of the clairvoyant webmaster. Love it. That’s worth the price of admission.

The possibilities in AK are endless, it’d hard to choose because there are so many opportunities. Personally I think the Lake Clark area is one of the most beautiful in the state. I’d love to explore the peninsula more. The beaches there have some pretty good spots for landing tricycle planes up and down and the coast too. It’s also a dream of mine to do a Brooks Range sheep hunt some day, but if you have to hire a guide that gets real spendy.

I took my 180 up to Dawson City with a friend of mine, 11 day trip from Seattle.

The route was:
Renton --> Ketchikan --> Juneau --> Haines --> Whitehorse --> Dawson --> Anchorage --> Admiralty --> Ketchikan --> Home

[With lots of other stops along the way]

I suggest using the public cabins from Alaska while we still have them. Most of my trip planning was informed by Tom Bass's website.