Floating Alaska, DIY (part 1 of 3)

Local chapter member Charlie Morris likes adventure, so much so that he floats the Last Frontier...DIY-style. Today we share the first in a 3-part installment of how Charlie prepares for a self-guided Alaskan wilderness float. This guide is provided in PDF so you can easily print it as a checklist should you want to follow in his wake…er… footsteps!

3. Resources

Before getting into the details of planning a backcountry float trip into the Alaskan Wilderness here are some resources to call or email:


(Note: HIGHLY recommended - Indicates I’ve used the company and was pleased with their level of service)

4. Planning your trip

4.1 Pick the species: Pick the river:  Pick the time of year

4.2 Map the river

4.3 Decide how many nights on the river and mark potential campsites

      4.3.1 A few notes about camping

4.4 How much gear and food to take?

4.5 Gear lists

      4.5.1 Camping list

      4.5.2 Fishing list

      4.5.3 Fly fishing list (targeting Silvers)

4.6 What about meals?

4.8 Plan the trip logistics

  4.6.1 Decide what to mail and what to carry on

  4.6.2 Fly to Anchorage (spend the night)

  4.6.3 Fly to Bethel or Dillingham (pack for the float plane)

  4.6.4 Fly to the river

  4.6.5 *** FISH *** THAT IS WHY YOU CAME!

  4.6.6 Pickup and fly to Bethel or Dillingham

  4.6.7 Fly to Anchorage

  4.6.8 Fly home

4.7 Equipment (Rental and your own)

4.8 Bear Safety

4.9 Cost Estimates


4.1 Pick the species: Pick the river: Pick the time of year: 

Deciding on the species of fish will help decide on the timing and narrow down the possibilities for rivers.  Below is a list of rivers in the Bristol Bay area:

  • Aniak River (Bethel) Arolik River (Bethel) 

  • Goodnews [North & mid-fork] (Bethel / Dillingham)

  • Holitna (Bethel)

  • Izavieknik (Bethel)

  • Kanektok (Bethel / Dillingham)

  • Togiak (Dillingham)

  • King Salmon River (Bethel / Dillingham)

  • Upper Nushagak River (Dillingham)

  • Little King Salmon River (Dillingham)

My first call is always to Alaska Fly Fishing Goods, Brad and Mike are fantastic resources and will share their knowledge on fishing the Alaskan Wilderness.  The air taxi services also have abundant knowledge; give them a call or send them a note. 
Now that you’ve picked the river and picked the fish, you will need to decide where you are going to fly out of and pick the air taxi service.  Bethel (pop:6270) is slightly larger than Dillingham (pop:2203), but proximity to your chosen river can be a driving factor in the decision-making process.  I was extremely pleased with Tikchick Airventures (Dillingham) and  Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures (Bethel)  and will continue to use them on future float trips. In this example, let’s target Silver Salmon on the Kanektok River.  The middle of August appears to be an excellent time for Coho and the upper Kanektok will contain Dolly Varden, Rainbow trout, and Arctic Grayling.  This late in the season, King salmon, Sockey and Chums will have spawned and be “red”.  During even years Pink salmon (aka: Humpy) will be prevalent in the river.

4.2 Map the river:

Knowing where you are on the river is critical for a successful trip. The online mapping software Caltopo @ www.caltopo.com is an excellent tool for mapping the river.  The basic subscription of $20.00 per year allows for access to the mapping website, printing maps, and creating waypoints routes and tracks.  The yearly subscription includes access to the mobile app which allows the user to download maps and waypoints to a mobile phone and use the phone as a GPS in the wilderness. Training videos for using Caltopo can be found on YouTube.   

When creating the river path, in Caltopo, first trace the river using the global imagery layer.    Note, rivers change, and using global imagery over the topo_layers is probably a little more current than the forest service topo maps. 

After having traced the river, waypoints are created every mile along the river path starting with 0.  This is an automatic function in Caltopo.  Having a waypoint every mile allows for the backcountry angler to see their current location, within a mile while on the river.  The waypoints can be downloaded to a .gpx file which in turn can be loaded into a  mobile app or GPS using the appropriate software.  When printing maps for a backcountry adventure make sure and purchase waterproof paper.  

After having traced the river the user can also create waypoints at significant points of interest, the “put in”, the “exit” and possible campsites along the way. 

4.3 Decide how many nights on the river and mark potential campsites

With the waypoints created you will be able to pace your trip.  Rowing aggressively downstream plan on about 3 mi/hr.  Rowing while fishing, plan between 1.0 mi/hr and 1.5 mi/hr.  The Kanektok is about 100 miles and we have decided to stay 10 nights on the river.  We would like to have two nights that we don’t have to break camp, so we are planning four 15-mile days, four 10-mile days, and two 0 miles days.  Zooming in you can see the confluence of Payun creek at mile 12 has the potential for good fishing, so we are planning to push our first day of floating for 12 miles.  At Payun creek we will evaluate the campsite potential and fishing prospects and decide either to make camp or move on.  Flexibility is key!  Be prepared to either push a few extra miles if required or cut a day short if a phenomenal campsite/fishing hole presents itself early.

4.3.1 A few notes about camping

There are a few things to discuss regarding campsites.
First and foremost you will be making camp on gravel bars.  The more open space the better.  Bears frequently walk along paths on the tundra and making camp along a bear's path is a bad idea.
Second, since you're sleeping on gravel and rocks, have a good therm-a-rest.  The new therm-a-rest pads are amazing and light.  The old self-inflating foam pads that I used to backpack with just don’t cut it for a night on an Alaskan gravel bar. 
Third, a gravity water filter is worth its weight in gold.  Setting up the oars in a triad (shown below) will make a solid stand for the gravity water filter.  The water filtration crew will thank you mightily for this little bit of luxury.


Setting the raft up as a wind break with a tarp serves as a shelter from the elements and creates as a solid base camp.  This space provides a dry area to assemble the tents when the rain is coming down and serves as the central camp area where you can congregate for meals and socialize. A hot cup of coffee under the tarp with friends warms the chilled bones.


4.4 How much gear and food to take?

The answer is how many flights you want to pay for.  Weight is king.  The Beaver floatplane: useful load is 1200 pounds (Your bodies & your gear- not the pilot). Three guys & gear with one raft is a normal load (Plan on limiting gear to 125 lb per person).

For planning, purposes figure the useful load of a Cessna 185 floatplane is 650 pounds (Your bodies & your gear). Perfect for 2 Guys traveling light who can go places those larger groups can’t get. You can expect to pay $600-650 / hour for the Cessna and $750 / hour for the beaver. (prices have gone up since the pandemic) So if it’ll take the Cessna 1 hour to get you out then you pay for 2 hours so the pilot can return home. An hour of flight time (at 100 knots) will get you to some damn fine rivers in Bristol Bay…Doing the math for 2 guys dropped off and picked up and it’ll average $1,500-3,000. for the round trip. This floatplane charter is where you want to allocate your precious $$.  Your pilot is going to put you into the river/fishing that is worth traveling all this way for.



To be continued….

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