Kongakut 2025 Video

In June 2025 three friends and I, all from Alaska, did a 23-day packraft trip down the Kongakut River in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I had guided here for decades, but wanted to paddle the very upper Kongakut and a section of the Arctic coast that I had never paddles before. The trip started with a flight from Fairbanks into the headwater of the Sheenjek River. From there we spent two day carrying our pack rafts, and eight days of supplies, ten miles across the Continental Divide into the very headwaters of the Kongakut. Then we paddled four days, with some layover days for hiking, to our resupply at Drain Creek, where we picked up our remaining two weeks of supplies.

For the next ten days we paddled 100 miles through the mountains and foothills, across the coastal plain, to the yet frozen Arctic Ocean. The last week we paddled 25 miles through the lagoons along the coast to our pullout at Beaufort Lagoon. Along the way we ran rapids, saw wolves, grizzly bears and muskoxen, and even caught the Porcupine Caribou Herd on their return migration back to Canada. Come with us to enjoy my ideal trip down the Kongakut River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,

I want to thank Susan Grace for permission to use her wonderful Alaska music. Susan joined one of my trips down the Kongakut in the 1990's and brought along her guitar. She wrote a number of the pieces you hear in the video, on that trip, including a song about the Arctic, the Kongakut River and a paddling song! For purchase of her music contact Susan Grace at [email protected]

Thanks for watching