Haines Junction, Yukon to Dry Bay, Alaska (Alsek); Dalton Post, Yukon to Dry Bay, Alaska (Tatshenshini-Alsek)

The Alsek and Tatshenshini rivers provide two of the most incredible outdoor adventures imaginable. For as many as nine to twelve days, it is possible to get away from virtually all traces of civilization and enjoy the remote northern wilderness environment of the Yukon, British Columbia, and Alaska. In 1993 British Columbia officials announced the creation of a Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park, twice the size of the Grand Canyon. The new international park links the new park with Alaska’s adjoining Glacier Bay and Wrangell-St. Elias national parks and the Yukon’s Kluane Park. The four parks have become the world's largest international wilderness reserve.
      Rafters may run the Alsek River from Haines Junction, Yukon, to Dry Bay, Alaska, or the Tatshenshini from Dalton Post, Yukon to its confluence with the Alsek in British Columbia and then down the Alsek to Dry Bay. Until recently most outfitters offered only the Tatshenshini-Alsek river trip. Outfitters now also run the entire Alsek, which has somewhat more challenging whitewater and more varied and grander scenery. One section of the Alsek, the 4‑mile (6.5-km) Class VI Turnback Canyon, must be portaged by helicopter. The lower Alsek travels between the towering glaciers and icebergs of Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park.
      Both river trips offer an unforgettable primitive wilderness experience. Rafters will long remember massive glaciers and large icebergs, pristine waterfalls, majestic mountains, grizzlies, moose, mountain goats, hawks, eagles, rare wildflowers, and whitewater.