Savage River to Sanctuary River in Denali National Park was the first packraft trip Denise or I had done. We found the beta from other blogs to plan our trip and decided to sleep in the Subaru outside the park to get an early start. We were unable to find good pull-offs near the park that allowed over night parking. We managed to find a spot. Being close to the Highway and Midnight sun lead to poor sleep. Quite happy to start out around 5:00 am on our trip. We arrived at the Mountain Vista Trailhead at around 5:30 am. Time for the real adventure to begin.
Denise crosses the Savage river to gain the excellent trail on the other side.
Stoked about beaver dams!
Moose and Caribou sheds littered the river bed. Very cool but suprised we did not run into a moose on the river.
We lost the great trail around the beaver dam lakes but found the river bed to be great for travel.
Here we are headed up to the pass. Conditions were perfect for off trial travel.
Coming of the pass there are still a few miles of travel. It is best to stay left. Dropping down into the ravine to the right leads to more bushwhacking than anyone deserves. Turns out you can stay way left and avoid all the brush. We dropped into the riverbed a bit early and got really friendly with the local willows.
Exited for a short rest. Finally got to inflate the rafts. It took about 9 hours to get to this point.
Finally in the water!
Denise having a good time. Two and a half hours of wonderful floating was worth battling all the willows.
View of the river about halfway out.
Wade it to the bridge just before Sanctuary Campground at about 5:00 PM. We hopped out, changed into dry clothing. and waited for the next bus. This time of year buses were running until about 9 PM about 30 minutes apart. After a short wait we caught a bus back to the car. Ready for burger time we tried for 49th State in Healy but with a 45 minute wait we head back to Fairbanks to have food at Ivory Jacks.
Thanks to Northern Alaska Packrafts for the rental Alpacka Yak. Perfect boat for this trip!
https://www.facebook.com/Northern-Alaska-Packrafts-121867047845024/