Alaska Packrafting Trips

Packrafting combines backpacking and rafting, allowing you to traverse both land and water. As the name suggests, the lightweight and inflatable boats used in this sport are designed to be carried in your backpack. It’s a great choice for anyone seeking an immersive and thrilling outdoor experience. Also, you can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time!

Alaska offers a range of opportunities for packrafting—from a quick afternoon excursion or overnight trip to longer, more challenging expeditions for expert packrafters.

Not ready to go it alone? For guided packrafting adventures, connect with Traverse Alaska, based in the Denali area, or Moose Pass Adventures, in Moose Pass near Seward.

Packrafting Trips

Season: May - Sept $125+ 3.5 - 5.5 hrs

Feel the thrill of crush­ing through white­wa­ter on the Nenana Riv­er just out­side the icon­ic Denali Nation­al Park. Do it with New Wave Adven­tures and you’ll have your choice of raft­ing trips — you can even decide whether to pad­dle or just take in the beau­ti­ful scenery — as well as oth­er excit­ing options like hik­ing and pack­raft­ing, all great options for fam­i­ly fun.

Expe­ri­ence the back­coun­try of Denali Nation­al Park in a way few oth­ers do. You’ll board a bus from the Vis­i­tor Cen­ter and dis­em­bark just before Sable Pass and then immerse your­self in the wild Alas­ka land­scape. Rec­om­mend­ed for inter­me­di­ate back­pack­ers and begin­ner packrafters.

Class III Pack­raft­ing Riv­er. Remote and exot­ic land­scape. 30 miles hik­ing, 30 miles float­ing. Fly-in to Port Hei­den, fly-out from Ani­akchak Bay. 

The Win­ner Creek to 20 Mile Riv­er loop is a great first pack­raft­ing trip. For those with pack­raft­ing skills, this route offers a quick, easy-to-access, mul­ti-sport adven­ture. The hike up to Berry Pass is seri­ous­ly under­rat­ed, and the views of the 20 Mile water­shed are absolute­ly stunning.

A com­bi­na­tion of clas­sic Alaskana: float planes, big moun­tains, crys­tal blue lakes, and home­steading his­to­ry. This route” is unique­ly freeform. You’ll be able to choose from hun­dreds of avail­able hik­ing options. With the vast major­i­ty of the pad­dling being on flat water this is a great option for a novice packrafter.

[{"slug":"denali-national-park","title":"Denali National Park & Preserve"},{"slug":"chugach-national-forest","title":"Chugach National Forest"},{"slug":"lake-clark-natl-park-preserve","title":"Lake Clark National Park & Preserve"},{"slug":"anchorage","title":"Anchorage"},{"slug":"mccarthy","title":"McCarthy-Kennicott"},{"slug":"glacier-view","title":"Glacier View"}]

Expert Advice