Noatak River Trip

Summer of 1996

How To

How To Canoe the Noatak

Here is a brief list of the important points about planning a trip to the Noatak:

  • We were able to take commercial flights from Seattle to Fairbanks to Bettles. In Bettles we got a bush plane to fly us into the head of the Noatak river where canoes were waiting for us. We paddled to Noatak village were we dropped off the canoes and arranged for a plane to take us to Kotzebue. From Kotzebue we had commercial air flights back to Seattle. It is also possible to paddle to Kotzebue, but involves an open water crossing.
  • Find an outfitter in Bettle's Alaska to provide you with canoes and flights. We used Sourdough Outfitters and found them very reasonable to work with.
  • Learn about bear safety before traveling here. We never had a problem with Grizzle bears, but we took precautions. After our return I heard that during our time there someone was killed by a Grizzle near the Noatak headwaters.
  • There is not much one can do to protect food. The Park service rented us two bear barrels for our food, which was enough to hold the most meager of emergency food. The rest of the food we carried in a large dry bag and 3 white 5 gallon buckets. The buckets kept food from getting crushed, were easier to search through, and made good seats, but the dry bags severed quite well.
  • Bring enough food.
  • More information is available at:


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Page last modified:  Feb 18 17:27 2010  by  Tom Unger