Reply To: Talkeetna River
Hello!
I want to share some thoughts on Talkeetna Canyon packrafting. Ive done a few trips over the last few years at escalating water levels trying to find the sweet spot for packrafting.
My first trip was 4K CFS. This water level was spectacularly scenic for the clear blue water contrasted with golden leaves. Entrance Exam (III at this level IMO) was a straight forward stay on the tongue move. Toilet Bowl (IV) was most fun at this level as a line opens up on the R side of the toilet bowl rock which is very fun and easy to lap! The rest of the canyon felt like class III, with long recovery sections after rapids. Id take almost anyone into the canyon with confidence that gear would be recovered after any swim. Personally, I wanted more juice in the river at this level.
At 6K CFS the following year, Entrance Exam was more challenging in a packraft, as the tongue flipped about 30-50% of our experienced crew, but recovery pool afterward is still great. The fun R side of Toilet Bowl was big enough that nobody in our group ran it, and the standard left side line was straightforward. The rest of the canyon felt similar to at 4K CFS minus the crystal blue water.
Just recently, I came through the canyon at 8200 CFS after hiking in from the Chickaloon. This level finally felt like the continuous whitewater experience! Entrance Exam looked very similar to at 6K, with the recovery area slughtly more washed out (a nasty strainer exists below entrance exam now, more below, so we walked the rapid). The left line on Toilet bowl was way bigger and pushier. The rest of the canyon was my favorite at this level! It was bigger, pushier, and definitely more continuous without good recovery after many rapids. The lines were all read and run but water was big enough that being offline would be a swim. I felt like in many places it would be a challenge to hold gear and self rescue due to continuous nature of the water. The lines were simple enough where it felt fun and not stressful.
Overall, this 8 ish K level felt like the top I would want for Talkeetna Canyon in a packraft, but was also the most fun. I think much more than this would feel unsafe, as I would worry about losing gear in a place that would be horrible to walk out of. For comparison, it felt like a level just below magic line on 6 mile (3rd canyon) between 9.9 and 10 feet where something changes from fun and managable to powerful, continuous, and kind of sketchy in a packraft.
A few other notes:
Entrance Exam has a very nasty river wide spruce strainer right now just as it exits the slot. It was hard to spot from the scout. Best case scenario would be a long swim with hung up gear. Looked like the kind of log that would hold you under. If you are going in this fall please look for this! We walked.
The hike in from Chickaloon was fast and amazing. The horse trail up the chickaloon has been very well maintained and was shockingly fast and goes well above moss creek.
I hope this info is interesting to some!
Charlie