Charley River
I didn’t need to look at a single photo to know the Charley River is worth visiting. If Fast and Cold author Andrew Embick considered it one of his five favorite rivers to paddle, I figured it had to be worth the trip. Rising from the very remote mountains to the northeast of Delta Junction (good luck finding their name on a map), the Charley River runs north over a hundred miles before joining the Yukon ten miles upstream of the historic Slaven roadhouse and several dozen miles upstream of Circle. Entirely protected within the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, the Charley feels like a novelty: It is a clear, non-glacial river flowing through stunning mountainous terrain with outstanding hiking. Improbably, the hiking opportunities just seem to get better as the Charley winds through the mountains past high cliffs, innumerable swallows, and furtive peregrine falcons. The wolves were less elusive. Their tracks were everywhere and they serenaded us at our first campsite. As the riv...
