Tuesday, August 18, 2015

We woke to the same thick, damp fog but it wasn’t actually raining so we packed up and started walking. We followed the North Fork Koyukuk along a flat tundra/marshy valley, spotting the occasional adorable Lemming, their burrows, or their “haystacks” of tundra grasses. Eventually, we reached the large descent to Alinement Creek, about 800 ft elevation drop in a third of a mile. The view was spectacular, Mt. Doonerak and surrounding peaks were out below the high overcast. Luckily there was a grassy ramp available for descent and luckily there was no grizzly bear patrolling said grassy ramp. The lovely caribou left some trails as well so we were able to pick our way down without issue. That being said, I would hate to have to climb it but definitely feasible. On the valley floor, we crossed Alinement creek and followed the North Fork until a point where we had to cross it. We decided we weren’t quite ready to put in as the river was still quite a bit turbulent at this point, so we forded. The current was strong and up to my upper thigh. That’s going to be the last ford on this river! 

Alinement Creek

Excited there is a route down!

We hiked further downstream until the river looked a little more mellow with a nice rocky bar to put in. The sun was out in full force now so we stopped to eat and dry out our gear. Eventually, we were ready to put in and start our float. The river was quick and not difficult as long as we portaged around some boulders. We found a nice, open gravel bar after Amawk creek beneath the slopes of Mt. Doonerak and set up camp. We even had ourselves a little fire in the sand!

Getting some floating in

Camp beneath Mt. Doonerak

<< Previous                     Main                     Next >>