Seven Pass - Alaska 2018
In August 2018, I traveled to Alaska for the 15th time. Three of us did the Seven Pass backpack and six of us floated about 150 miles along the Chitina-Copper Rivers, both in Wrangle-St. Elias National Park, the largest in the US. This gallery contains annotated photos of the Seven Pass Backpack. The Chitina- Copper Float photos are in a separate gallery.
We arrived during a major rain event . Backpackers were stranded in the backcountry and the Copper River was at flood stage. But after waiting for a day, the weather improved and Jeff Fisher, Brian Elliott, and I were flown into the Bremner mine area to start our 7 day backpack. Total hiking time was about 50 hours while covering about 30 miles. Most of the rain occurred at night so we rarely had to walk in the rain. It was very slow going. We had stream crossings, glacier crossings, and serious brush to overcome. Although we had maps and some waypoints, it was difficult to avoid the brush. The stream crossings caused us some concern, but we managed to find safe ones. We all thought it was one of the more difficult backpacks we have done. Going with a light pack was the key for me to be able to do the trip. I started with about 32 pounds not including water. This allowed me to keep up with my younger stronger companions.
See the Falcon Book “Hiking Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve”, by Greg Fensterman, 2008 for a description of the route. We hiked in the opposite direction from the books description. Bush planes fly you to the start and pick you up at the end.
The detailed itinerary below includes both the backpack and the float trip.
ITINERARY - Seven Pass Backpack
Day 1 - Sun 8/5 - Arrive in Anchorage and stay in the Arctic Adventure Hostel.
Day 2 - Mon 8/6 - Take shuttle run by Wrangell-St Elias Tours to McCarthy. We pass the Chitina-Copper River confluence where we will be floating in a week or so. We see ruins of the 100 year old Kennicott mine railroad bridges in route. Because of the rain we stay at the Lancaster Hostel in McCarthy rather than camp.
Day 3 - Tue 8/7 - The rain grounds the backcountry flights so we spend another day in McCarthy.
Day 4 - Wed 8/8 - BP 1 - We fly to the Bremner mine in a Beaver aircraft arriving at 12:30. We hike until 8 pm and climb more that 2,000 feet, camping on the far side of the highest pass we will cross. It is the easiest route finding day and has minimal brush. It rains at night.
Day 5 - Thur 8/9 - BP 2 - Our easiest hiking day. We camp at the upper reaches of Monahan Creek.
Day 6 - Fri 8/10 - BP 3 - A very hard day. 13 hours of hiking. Two difficult stream crossings, lots of brush, and a hard descent to a poor camp in the moraine south of Bremner Glacier.
Day 7 - Sat 8/11 - BP 4 - 8 ½ hours today including a difficult climb after crossing the glacier when we get off route.
Day 8 - Sun 8/12 - BP 5 - Another 8 ½ hour day but no major problems. It rains at night.
Day 9 - Mon 8/13 - BP 6 - Great weather as we cross our 2nd glacier. Camp is near Iceberg Lake where we will be picked up tomorrow morning.
Day 10 - Tue 8/14 - BP 7 - The Beaver picks us up at 10 AM as as scheduled. We fly to McCarthy and meet Pete Ackerman, Carl Hamke, and Judi Steciak who had arrived in McCarthy the previous day. We all shuttle to Kennicott and take the copper mine tour. We spend the night at the Blackburn Cabins in McCarthy.
ITINERARY - Chitina-Copper River Float
Day 11 - Wed 8/15 - CC 1 - It takes two Beaver flights to take the 6 of us, 2 SOAR canoes, a 16-foot raft we rented, and all our gear and food to Jakes Bar on the Chitina River. We spend the day inflating and packing our boats. Some of the group sleep inside the well maintained cabin there. We will float the Chitina for 60 miles until it meets the Copper. This is Mile 0.
Day 12 - Thur 8/16 - CC 2 - Camp at Mile 14 - The Chitina is the largest river any of us have paddled. It is also very fast and has lots of channels. It takes constant effort to chose the correct channel. We stop and camp just as it starts to rain.
Day 13 - Fri 8/17 - CC 3 - Camp at Mile 36
Day 14 - Sat 8/18 - CC 4 - Camp at Mile 57
Day 15 - Sun 8/19 - CC 5 - Camp at Mile 17 (We restart our River miles to 0 at the confluence of the Chitina and Copper). The confluence of the Chitina and Copper was one of the areas we were concerned about. Large boils often exist here. We are able to stay away from any problem areas. It is 92 miles from the confluence to our takeout near Cordova. The water levels will vary from 140,000 to 250,000 cfs while we are on the river. It was flowing at almost 350,000 cfs a week ago. The current is 6-8 feet per second. This is huge! The Mississippi River near St Louis has an average of about 150,000 cfs in August.
Day 16 - Mon 8/20 - CC 6 - Camp at Mile 36 (Dewey Creek) - We arrive at a nice camp. We quickly set up tents, large tarp, and cook tent as it starts to rain. It rains most of the afternoon and night.
Day 17 - Tue 8/21 - CC 7 - Layover Day - It rains in the morning but lets up in the afternoon. We are able to do a short hike.
Day 18 - Wed 8/22 - CC 8 - Camp Mile 52 - Sunny much of the day. We pass the huge sandy peninsula that separates the Copper River from the Bremner.
Day 19 - Thur 8/23 - CC 9 - Camp Mile 74 - Big island in front of Miles Glacier - Today we run Abercrombie Rapid, the only rapid on the trip. It is rated Class 2-3 which is not difficult for a raft. But we are concerned that the big flow rate could cause problems for the SOAR canoes. However, we manage it with no problems. We have spectacular views from our camp near Miles Glacier.
Day 20 - Fri 8/24 - CC 10 - Layover Day - In the morning we walk about 3 miles around the island. In the afternoon, we circumnavigate the island in the SOARs. We are able to land the canoes closer to the glacier for great views.
Day 21 - Sat 8/25 - CC 11 - Camp Mile 78.5 - Million Dollar Bridge - We find a good camp right next to the bridge. We walk across the bridge to get great views of the calving Childs Glacier. We meet Luke, who runs a lodge close by. He gives us a weather forecast (not good) and advice about how to get to the takeout tomorrow.
Day 22 - Sun 8/26 - CC 12 - Camp Mile 92- at end of road from Cordova - With Lukes help, we carry SOARS over to east side of the Copper. It is a safer place to launch to avoid floating ice and avoid being pushed into the calving Childs Glacier. A very early start (to beat the weather) gets us to the takeout by 10 AM. We set up camp as it starts to rain and continues though the night. We spend the day breaking down our gear.
Day 23 - Mon 8/27 - To Cordova and Home - We have arranged for a shuttle to pick us up and take us to the Cordova airport. Cordova is a small town of about 700 people with no road access to the rest of Alaska. The rented raft is flown back to the McCarthy area by bush plane. We all have different flight arrangements to get us and our gear home.
Read MoreWe arrived during a major rain event . Backpackers were stranded in the backcountry and the Copper River was at flood stage. But after waiting for a day, the weather improved and Jeff Fisher, Brian Elliott, and I were flown into the Bremner mine area to start our 7 day backpack. Total hiking time was about 50 hours while covering about 30 miles. Most of the rain occurred at night so we rarely had to walk in the rain. It was very slow going. We had stream crossings, glacier crossings, and serious brush to overcome. Although we had maps and some waypoints, it was difficult to avoid the brush. The stream crossings caused us some concern, but we managed to find safe ones. We all thought it was one of the more difficult backpacks we have done. Going with a light pack was the key for me to be able to do the trip. I started with about 32 pounds not including water. This allowed me to keep up with my younger stronger companions.
See the Falcon Book “Hiking Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve”, by Greg Fensterman, 2008 for a description of the route. We hiked in the opposite direction from the books description. Bush planes fly you to the start and pick you up at the end.
The detailed itinerary below includes both the backpack and the float trip.
ITINERARY - Seven Pass Backpack
Day 1 - Sun 8/5 - Arrive in Anchorage and stay in the Arctic Adventure Hostel.
Day 2 - Mon 8/6 - Take shuttle run by Wrangell-St Elias Tours to McCarthy. We pass the Chitina-Copper River confluence where we will be floating in a week or so. We see ruins of the 100 year old Kennicott mine railroad bridges in route. Because of the rain we stay at the Lancaster Hostel in McCarthy rather than camp.
Day 3 - Tue 8/7 - The rain grounds the backcountry flights so we spend another day in McCarthy.
Day 4 - Wed 8/8 - BP 1 - We fly to the Bremner mine in a Beaver aircraft arriving at 12:30. We hike until 8 pm and climb more that 2,000 feet, camping on the far side of the highest pass we will cross. It is the easiest route finding day and has minimal brush. It rains at night.
Day 5 - Thur 8/9 - BP 2 - Our easiest hiking day. We camp at the upper reaches of Monahan Creek.
Day 6 - Fri 8/10 - BP 3 - A very hard day. 13 hours of hiking. Two difficult stream crossings, lots of brush, and a hard descent to a poor camp in the moraine south of Bremner Glacier.
Day 7 - Sat 8/11 - BP 4 - 8 ½ hours today including a difficult climb after crossing the glacier when we get off route.
Day 8 - Sun 8/12 - BP 5 - Another 8 ½ hour day but no major problems. It rains at night.
Day 9 - Mon 8/13 - BP 6 - Great weather as we cross our 2nd glacier. Camp is near Iceberg Lake where we will be picked up tomorrow morning.
Day 10 - Tue 8/14 - BP 7 - The Beaver picks us up at 10 AM as as scheduled. We fly to McCarthy and meet Pete Ackerman, Carl Hamke, and Judi Steciak who had arrived in McCarthy the previous day. We all shuttle to Kennicott and take the copper mine tour. We spend the night at the Blackburn Cabins in McCarthy.
ITINERARY - Chitina-Copper River Float
Day 11 - Wed 8/15 - CC 1 - It takes two Beaver flights to take the 6 of us, 2 SOAR canoes, a 16-foot raft we rented, and all our gear and food to Jakes Bar on the Chitina River. We spend the day inflating and packing our boats. Some of the group sleep inside the well maintained cabin there. We will float the Chitina for 60 miles until it meets the Copper. This is Mile 0.
Day 12 - Thur 8/16 - CC 2 - Camp at Mile 14 - The Chitina is the largest river any of us have paddled. It is also very fast and has lots of channels. It takes constant effort to chose the correct channel. We stop and camp just as it starts to rain.
Day 13 - Fri 8/17 - CC 3 - Camp at Mile 36
Day 14 - Sat 8/18 - CC 4 - Camp at Mile 57
Day 15 - Sun 8/19 - CC 5 - Camp at Mile 17 (We restart our River miles to 0 at the confluence of the Chitina and Copper). The confluence of the Chitina and Copper was one of the areas we were concerned about. Large boils often exist here. We are able to stay away from any problem areas. It is 92 miles from the confluence to our takeout near Cordova. The water levels will vary from 140,000 to 250,000 cfs while we are on the river. It was flowing at almost 350,000 cfs a week ago. The current is 6-8 feet per second. This is huge! The Mississippi River near St Louis has an average of about 150,000 cfs in August.
Day 16 - Mon 8/20 - CC 6 - Camp at Mile 36 (Dewey Creek) - We arrive at a nice camp. We quickly set up tents, large tarp, and cook tent as it starts to rain. It rains most of the afternoon and night.
Day 17 - Tue 8/21 - CC 7 - Layover Day - It rains in the morning but lets up in the afternoon. We are able to do a short hike.
Day 18 - Wed 8/22 - CC 8 - Camp Mile 52 - Sunny much of the day. We pass the huge sandy peninsula that separates the Copper River from the Bremner.
Day 19 - Thur 8/23 - CC 9 - Camp Mile 74 - Big island in front of Miles Glacier - Today we run Abercrombie Rapid, the only rapid on the trip. It is rated Class 2-3 which is not difficult for a raft. But we are concerned that the big flow rate could cause problems for the SOAR canoes. However, we manage it with no problems. We have spectacular views from our camp near Miles Glacier.
Day 20 - Fri 8/24 - CC 10 - Layover Day - In the morning we walk about 3 miles around the island. In the afternoon, we circumnavigate the island in the SOARs. We are able to land the canoes closer to the glacier for great views.
Day 21 - Sat 8/25 - CC 11 - Camp Mile 78.5 - Million Dollar Bridge - We find a good camp right next to the bridge. We walk across the bridge to get great views of the calving Childs Glacier. We meet Luke, who runs a lodge close by. He gives us a weather forecast (not good) and advice about how to get to the takeout tomorrow.
Day 22 - Sun 8/26 - CC 12 - Camp Mile 92- at end of road from Cordova - With Lukes help, we carry SOARS over to east side of the Copper. It is a safer place to launch to avoid floating ice and avoid being pushed into the calving Childs Glacier. A very early start (to beat the weather) gets us to the takeout by 10 AM. We set up camp as it starts to rain and continues though the night. We spend the day breaking down our gear.
Day 23 - Mon 8/27 - To Cordova and Home - We have arranged for a shuttle to pick us up and take us to the Cordova airport. Cordova is a small town of about 700 people with no road access to the rest of Alaska. The rented raft is flown back to the McCarthy area by bush plane. We all have different flight arrangements to get us and our gear home.
