Upper Nenana Packraft - July 2022

Just like so many times in the past, last Friday night found us driving north on the Parks Highway for a weekend smash-and-grab in the land of Southcentral AK packrafting Shangri-La around Broad Pass. We planned to park at the confluence of Wells Creek and the Nenana where the aquamarine waters of Wells swirl into a muddy mix with the glacial Nenana. From there we'd use the primo Argo trail up Wells Creek to avoid as much brush as possible, then climb to the head of the watershed where we'd drop to the upper Nenana to float back to the car.

By 10:30 on Friday night we were parked at the picturesque little campsite at the confluence. We drank a beer, set up the tent, and took in the soft pink sunset over the river as campfire smoke clung to the edges of the valley.


Saturday morning started with inflating our boats for the quick ford of the Nenana. With our packs sitting in our laps we tried not to dump into the chocolate soup as we splashed across.


The trail usually has a bit of wolf and bear sign, but this time it was covered in the evidence of heavy wolf traffic. There was furry scat everywhere.

Japanuary 2015

Skiers have a dream of floating through empty trees while huge snowflakes fall around us. It’s seemingly silent as the new snow drowns all sounds. Stopping to look up, individual flakes materialize and drift down from an infinite mass above.

The beginning.

That dream was my image of Japan. With the sun barely 7 degrees above the horizon at noon, I wasn’t going to spend all of January in Alaska.

The first lift ride.

The planning began back in July with an email to Miles Clark. The response: I’m in Indo surfing, getting over dengue fever, call me.

Free refills on day one.