Last updated: August 29, 2024
Itinerary
What follows is a general flow of events. Expect the unexpected and prepare to be flexible.
June 11
Pre-trip meeting with your guides in Fairbanks at 4 pm at Arctic Wild headquarters. Once questions are answered, gear checked, briefings given and everyone feels ready to cut the tether, you’ll head back to your hotel for the night.
June 12
Morning departure from Fairbanks in a variety of airplanes heading for the Arctic. Once everyone and everything is on the ground, we’ll make a comfortable camp, have a good dinner, and watch the sun refuse to set! Welcome to the arctic! We can climb a small hill for a lovely view of the valley ahead or take a longer hike up a side stream. There are few places in the Arctic Refuge as beautiful as our camp this first night.
June 13 - 22
We’ll paddle and hike our way down the Jago River, allowing for several layover days. We’ll take a couple layovers in the mountains, another one or two the Coastal Plain, and once we make it through the canyon smoothly (fingers crossed) we can take another layover nearer the coast. On days when we paddle we encounter a wide variety of conditions from steep canyons to expansive plains. There is significant whitewater north of the mountain-front at the edge of the coastal plain. It will present a challenge and a thrill. Each day is an adventure as we travel north across the refuge along its most rugged watershed.
June 23
Awake this morning on the vast coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. Weather permitting, we get a quick flight to the Inupiat village of Kaktovik and then a longer flight back south across the Brooks Range, the Arctic Circle, and the Yukon River to Fairbanks arriving late in the day. Time to change your socks!
