Noatak River

One of the world’s last remaining vast wilderness areas, the Noatak River is the largest undisturbed watershed in North America.

At its headwaters, encircled by the towering Arrigetch and Endicott mountains, the river flows 65 miles through the Gates of the Arctic National Park, and then another 265 miles through the Noatak National Preserve to the Kotzebue Sound on the coast.

We begin our journey in Bettles, Alaska and fly two hours along the Alatna River Valley and up and over the spectacular Arrigetch Peaks. We land up high in the valley, and spend a day simply enjoying this high alpine environment. We can easily take hikes in the tundra up ridgelines to enjoy the views. Alpine lakes called Pingos, are everywhere. A curious phenomenon is that these pingo lakes hold fish. There are many theories as how they get there…

When we are ready to continue down river, we can travel by oar raft, paddle raft, kayak, or packraft. Each group gets to decide their modes of travel.

We will spend 14 days on the river, and taking days to hike and fish along the way. Our moveable camp is comfortable, with a screened/weatherproof dining tent where we can enjoy meals together and relax in camp even if the bugs or weather might want to challenge us. We have certainly enjoyed glorious evenings in the alpine in June dining Al Fresco comfortably with the gentle river breeze!

We will travel from the Upper Noatak Pingo lake where we fly by float plane down to the massive Matcharak Lake about 40 miles or so. Most of our hiking will be in this upper valley. From there the river picks up volume and speed as we leave the Gates of the Arctic National Park and enter the Noatak National Preserve. We will travel through about 10 miles of fun class II canyon, and make river miles until we join the Cutler River confluence where is our take out. The river mileage total for a 14 days would be approximately 130 miles. A wheeled plane will pick us up along the gravel river bar and take us back to the village of Kotzebue.

For those looking for doing the entirety of the Noatak River out to Kotzebue, or wanting to continue down the Grand Canyon and Noatak Canyons down to the Village of Noatak, or do a packrafting trip down to Lake Matcharak, simply get in touch with us to arrange this. We also have groups that tackle different sections over several summers.

2024 Scheduled Trip:

14 Days: $9500

• June 15-29

• August 1-14

• Alternate Dates on Request

Price Includes:

• 2 hour scenic float plane flight from Bettles to Upper Noatak Valley

• Wheel plane flight from Cutler River to Kotzebue

• Permits and User Fees.