Many of you haven't heard about my trip to the Magic Bus in 2010. I took a completely alternative course. Instead of starting at Eightmile lake, I started in Denali National Park where the Teklanika River crosses the Park Road. From there I packrafted and hiked north along the 'Tek' until I found where the Stampede Trail crossed the Tek, then I just followed the trail from there. So I actually NEVER crossed the Teklanika River until I decided to hike back to Eightmile lake to end my trip. So for those of you not wanting to cross the Tek at all it's possible to just come from Denali National Park hike along the Teklanika River and then return the same way.
Now for the true Alternative method to crossing the Teklanika River. As many of you have read Jon Krakauer's book 'Into the Wild', you will remember that in Chapter 17: The Stampede Trail an unknown character appears, Roman Dial. Roman is an Alaskan that stopped in the Bus in August of 1989 enroute to crossing the entire 800 mile Alaska Range. The reason Roman could do this was with the help of something called a packraft. Roman Dial is also the author of a book called Packrafting! -An Introduction and How-To Guide. And guess what? Jon Krakauer wrote the Foreword to this book! The two have become very good friends in the past 2 decades.
A packraft can be an essential part of your gear in Alaska once you learn how to use it. Basically packrafts are miniature rafts that have enough room for 1 person and your pack is secured horizontally on the stern of the raft. This method is used when actually floating down rivers. The method I devised on my 2010 trip was to actually put my pack inside raft then wrap up the raft with a medium sized tarp, like a gunny sack. I then tied the tarp using some 550 paracord. I would then cross the river that was too dangerous to cross with a pack on and hold a strand of paracord that was connected to my packraft on the bank behind me. Once I crossed the river, I would just pull my raft across. Some attention needs to be make to river’s current conditions because remember the raft will be floating downstream while it also crosses. A picture below shows the setup before the raft is wrapped in the tarp.
Now a little about packrafting. There are two main boats that I have come to love. I started out with the cheaper Sevylor Trail boat (~$60 on amazon). The trail boat is great for crossing rivers like the Teklanika but if you plan on actually floating long distances I would suggest the more expensive (starting $790) Alpacka packraft. Some great websites to check out are below
http://www.aktrekking.com/Packrafts/
http://www.alpackaraft.com
An -Alternative- method to crossing the Teklanika River
An -Alternative- method to crossing the Teklanika River
Last edited by Jedidiah on Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: An -Alternative- method to crossing the Teklanika River
for $60 i have no reason not to have that along with me when i go. thanks for showing a way on how to cross a the river more safely!
Re: An -Alternative- method to crossing the Teklanika River
ellisd wrote:for $60 i have no reason not to have that along with me when i go. thanks for showing a way on how to cross a the river more safely!
Exactly!!
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Re: An -Alternative- method to crossing the Teklanika River
I have talked to a guy in Fairbanks that saw my site once. He rents these things out. 30-45 dollars a day depending on how long you rent for. He's renting the Alpaca rafts.
You can find him at http://www.alaskapackrafts.com/
email: info@alaskapackrafts.com
or call: 907 687-5544
Pack rafts are awesome, and Roman Dial's a pretty cool guy too.
You can find him at http://www.alaskapackrafts.com/
email: info@alaskapackrafts.com
or call: 907 687-5544
Pack rafts are awesome, and Roman Dial's a pretty cool guy too.
Erik Halfacre - Moderator
info@pathfinderalaska.com
http://www.stampedetrail.info
info@pathfinderalaska.com
http://www.stampedetrail.info
Re: An -Alternative- method to crossing the Teklanika River
Thanks for the information! I actually am friends w/ Roman Dial on facebook. I've been into packrafting for awhile now
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Re: An -Alternative- method to crossing the Teklanika River
Every article I read talks about moving the bus. I bet it would cost less to build a bridge than to move the thing... Just a thought. Won't somebody bring that up at the next Healy city council meeting?
Re: An -Alternative- method to crossing the Teklanika River
Anyone thinking of trying Jedediah's option of floating/walking down the Teklanika might want to read more about his trip on that other website about Hiking the stampede trail. http://pathfinderalaska.com/stampedetrail/
Jed apparently wrecked his packraft right away and then just walked in over the mountains. Someone posted that the Tek is a class 5 run suitable only for kayaks.... Jedediah made good use of his second raft coming back along the Stampede... couldn't you paddle yourself across the Tek right above where the road hits it?
http://hikingthestampedetrail.freeforums.org/teklanika-by-pack-raft-t18.html
Same person posted this link to a DOT study with aerial photos of the whole Stampede out to Kantishna. The pic of the Tek crossing is pretty good. Can you guys who have done the trip in summer tell where you crossed in that picture? http://www.dot.state.ak.us/stwdplng/projectinfo/project_pages/denali_access/photos/default.htm
Jed apparently wrecked his packraft right away and then just walked in over the mountains. Someone posted that the Tek is a class 5 run suitable only for kayaks.... Jedediah made good use of his second raft coming back along the Stampede... couldn't you paddle yourself across the Tek right above where the road hits it?
http://hikingthestampedetrail.freeforums.org/teklanika-by-pack-raft-t18.html
Same person posted this link to a DOT study with aerial photos of the whole Stampede out to Kantishna. The pic of the Tek crossing is pretty good. Can you guys who have done the trip in summer tell where you crossed in that picture? http://www.dot.state.ak.us/stwdplng/projectinfo/project_pages/denali_access/photos/default.htm
Here we are in the years
Where the showman shifts the gears
Lives become careers
Children cry in fear
Let us out of here! Neal Young
Don't let fear stand in the way.
There's nothing to it
but to do it! Husky
Where the showman shifts the gears
Lives become careers
Children cry in fear
Let us out of here! Neal Young
Don't let fear stand in the way.
There's nothing to it
but to do it! Husky
Re: An -Alternative- method to crossing the Teklanika River
I did not intend on floating the Tek all the way from the Park Road to the Stampede Trail. I planned on floating until getting to the base of the unnamed mountain just to the west of Mount Wright, climb that mountain (which I did) missing the massive class V rapids between the mountains then floating to the Stampede Trail Tek crossing. I didn't know about the pre-mountain gorge river conditions at the time and relied only on my previous knowledge of whitewater kayaking water reading and topos from the USGS along with various pictures I've seen online. Based on my experiance I figured the rapids would start about a half mile further than expected. I also didn't have tons of experiance in a packraft. They float and run a bit differently than river runners or playboats. It is very possible to run the entire length of the Tek if you have significant experiance in a packraft, which I plan to do one day in the future as I gain more experiance in my Yukon yak packraft from Alpacka.
Re: An -Alternative- method to crossing the Teklanika River
Has anyone tried this method and/or route? I'd love to hear about your experiance
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