Alaska Tour

Dates of trip: July 30 – August 8, 2021

On this Threshold Tour, you fly one way into the bush and you float back to town. We start at the wheel aircraft strip at Bell Creek on the Salmon River. Once we hit the confluence of the Aniak, we will go with the flow of specific channels and navigate our way through logjams and debris until we reach the outskirts of Aniak. Typical of lower Kuskokwim streams, the upper section flows through moderate sized Kilbuck Mountains (2,000 to 3,000-foot elevation) and gradually transition into Kuskokwim lowlands and tundra. The river changes from swift water in the mountains to gradual slow meandering course in the lowlands. Taiga forest vegetation, including black spruce, birch, aspen, balsam poplar and alders, lines the banks of Kuskokwim lowland streams. Expect to see bear, moose, and mosquitoes.

This trip is designed for father and sons and families/groups with some/moderate wilderness camping experience. Since Alaska represents the best freshwater fishing within the United States, we focus on making sure that everyone has a chance to catch all the available species and get great photos and memories. The physical difficulty level is low; however, it requires a tolerance of all-weather types and a willingness to be prepared.

We meet in Anchorage and spend the night. We take a flight to the Native American village of Aniak. We spend time in Aniak and fly out on small wheel planes that only seats 4 people each. We leave Aniak as soon as weather allows, sometimes within hours of reaching Aniak. We shuttle people and gear in waves, and we carry our gear to the edge of the Salmon, where we assemble the rafts, load them and begin our float. We take 5 to 7 days to float back to Aniak, using the river system as our propulsion mechanism for all but the last day. We camp anywhere we want at night, rafting at our leisure down the river system. Typically, the first three days are on the Salmon River, and the last 3 are on the Aniak. We fish for most of the Pacific Salmon Species (not coho, though), as well as rainbow trout, dolly varden, Arctic Char, Grayling and Pike. We catch and release all our catch, except for the ones we eat that day.