GLACIERS AND GRIZZLIES

Photostory by Lyn Hancock

“I think you’re having us on, Ron. There aren’t any bears on the Alsek,” John joked
to our guide as our rubber raft rollercoastered through the standing waves of what
is generally considered the wildest river in North America.

“You’ve showed us fresh tracks in the sand and hair rubbed on the bushes, told us
stories of bears ambling through camp and trapping you in rafts, you’ve bragged
about the Alsek being home to probably the highest densities of grizzlies, black
bears and glacier bears in the world, yet you haven’t actually showed us any bears!”

Ron, one of our three miracle guides from the Yukon-based company, Nahanni
River Adventures, was too busy to respond to John’s joshing! Battling rolling
waves, crisscrossing currents and gutsy headwinds to keep us afloat in the Class 3
rapids, he was alternately pushing and pulling with the oars, going with the flow of
the wallowing troughs and cresting waves but trying to keep clear of holes and
boulders.

John and Chris hung grimly to perimeter lines ready to grab paddles. I slurped
around in the bouncing bow trying to take photos of our rafts against a stunning
background of mountains and icefields. Ted held one hand on the cargo lines for
safety and the other on me in case I fell overboard.

“Kodak moment coming up,” called Ron suddenly as we swirled around a 90 degree
bend in the river and came face to face with a massive wall of ice – the famous
Lowell Glacier which has surged and dammed the Alsek several times, drowning
whole villages. From our viewpoint in the rafts, much of its magnificence was foiled
by fields of bergs and growler bits bobbing around in Lowell Lake at the foot of the
glacier’s terminal moraine.

Suddenly, someone called, “There’s a bear!” I swung my camera around to follow

waving fingers pointing to a big brown grizzly “welcoming us to camp” Ron wrote
later in our daily journal.

Grizzlies and glaciers are the most popular attractions of a trip down the Alsek
River and this was our first glacier and our first grizzly. We watched entranced
from a safe back eddy as the bear ambled along a gravel spit, swam across the ice-
chunked lake, and beached itself on the very side of the river we planned to camp.

The Alsek is a short river but it is surprising, constantly changing as it drops

dramatically from alpine tundra at 1800 feet to sea level in just 160 miles, and varies
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in width from 40 feet in Turnback Canyon to 3 miles at its confluence with the
Tatshenshini.

It has many claims to fame.

It flows through three political entities, from Yukon to British Columbia to Alaska;
through three national and provincial parks, from the confluence of the Dezadeash
and Kaskawulsh Rivers in Kluane National Park and Reserve, Yukon, to the
Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park, British Columbia, to Glacier Bay National
Park and Preserve, Alaska. It drains the eastern edge of the St. Elias Mountains, one
of the world’s largest non-polar icecaps containing more than 350 glaciers, and
comprises the world’s largest continuous block of protected parkland. It is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Canadian Heritage River.

Its landforms, created by ice and earthquakes, are incredibly diverse. In our 11 days
on the river, we experienced alpine tundra, glaciers, icebergs, lakes, sand dune
deserts, narrow canyons, open woodlands, gloriously flowered gravel bars and lush
rainforests, we meandered through shallow braided streambeds hissing with silt and
we shot past deep holes of whitewater.

Our experiences were equally diverse. We hiked, climbed, paddled, rowed, walked
on glaciers, skirted crevasses; we traveled by van, raft, plane and helicopter. Twice
the rapids were so horrendous we had to portage around them. Out of our group of
eleven, only Connie in a wet suit was game to accompany our guides through Lava
Hole North, named for the world famous Lava Hole in the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado River. The rest of us, brandishing bear bells and pepper spray and singing
bear defence songs, lined the bank along a bear trail to watch their exciting passage
but it was a tossup which was more hazardous, the frigid “boat-eater” rapids in
front or the nearness of grizzlies behind.

Portaging Turnback Canyon by helicopter was my highlight in a succession of

highlights. Few people have paddled the Alsek River and even fewer have attempted
to paddle the Class 5 and 6 rapids of Turnback Canyon. Luckily, Doug, a veteran
pilot with Trans North Helicopters, slung us and our deflated rafts through this
writhing ten-mile gorge in a Bell Jet Ranger. He made our 15-minute zigzag
between the canyon walls and the toe of the Tweedsmuir Glacier a thrilling learning
experience.

By Day 11 of our trip, glaciers hung in line on each side of the river but often their
needle-nosed tops were shrouded in cloud and fog which Bob called “glacier
breath.” We donned as many as six layers of clothing to ward off the cold. Despite
the change in weather, we were all eager to walk on the actual furrowed surface of
Walker Glacier. “This is the most dangerous part of the trip,” our leader warned,
“so you must keep together and not try straddling any crevasses.” Even so, he did
let us stand on the edge of one deep crevasse and peer down 200 feet into its surreal
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blueness. We celebrated our glacier walk by dipping our bottles into melting glacial
ice, the purest water in the world.

The Alsek continued to live up to its reputation for glaciers and grizzlies when, from
the comparative safety of a moraine, we watched a huge Alaskan brown bear, our
tenth bear sighting of the trip, munching berries and rubbing its rump against the
silt-based bushes of a glacial lake.

The river ended in a crescendo of contrasts – from the stark splendour of gigantic
icebergs in the Channel of Death to the lushness of the coastal rainforest and the
calm waters of our take-out point in the Gulf of Alaska.

At Madge’s suggestion, we spent the last hour on the river in complete silence,
meditating on our individual experiences. The Alsek, truly one of the most mystical
rivers of the world, had far exceeded our expectations.

On the flight back to Whitehorse, we flew along the river at glacier-top level in
glorious sunshine through the highest mountains in North America and relived the
journey all over again.

C Lyn Hancock 2003

Word count: 1090

Sidebar:
For further information, contact Nahanni River Adventures, Box 31203,
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada Y1A 5P7, phone 1-800-297-6927, fax 1-867-668-3056,
email: info@nahanni.com All inclusive cost for July 15-July 28, 2003 trip from
Whitehorse, Yukon is $4,095 plus $50 park fee.