Wells Creek
Wells Creek flows from the south flanks of the Alaska Range into the Nenana River where the Nenana swings near the Denali Highway, approximately 30 minutes east of Cantwell. With eight miles of nearly continuous, mostly easy (with one very notable Class IV exception) whitewater, Wells Creek deserves to be part of the Denali-area grand slam, along with Honolulu Creek, Moody Creek, and the Bull River. Accessing the Wells is easy. There’s a pull off from the Denali Highway at the Wells/Nenana confluence, just a couple miles east of where the Nenana swings right against the road. From this pull off, which requires a steep drive down a couple switchbacks to the river (or park at a large gravel lot directly adjacent to the road and walk down the switchbacks), you’ll cross the Nenana by packraft, then cross the mouth of the Wells, and find an ATV trail that follows the east bank of the Wells for a quarter mile or so. This ATV trail bends away from the river, then ascends the ridge that separa...
