Gulkana River (Canoe, Raft, Fish)

In summertime, men’s thoughts turn to the most mysterious and seductive of creatures. Their viesages may range from pink to ruddy red. They move gracefully, playing it cool and pretending not to notice those who are ogling them. But when they respond to a man’s entreaties, they come on hot, taking the bait hard and bending a fisherman’s rod over double.

When your thoughts turn to fishing, head to the Gulkana River.

The Gulkana emerges from a series of lakes south of the Denali Highway, across a low divide from the Tangle Lakes. Then it meanders south toward Paxson Lake, which has a nice campground on it adjacent to the Richardson Highway. This is where most rafters and canoeists begin their fishing trips down the Gulkana River, while jet boaters typically launch out of Sourdough campground further downstream.

Paxson Lake is at least four hours from Anchorage, so it makes sense to drive out after work and camp at your put in, stashing a car along the way at Sourdough to run shuttle at the end of the trip. Paxson Lake is a lovely campground, particularly the walk-in tent sites that overlook the lake. It also has a pump with fresh water to fill up bottles before launching boats.

The first part of the trip is a three mile lake crossing. If you’re canoeing, wake up early and get across the lake before winds pick up, which is most frequently in the afternoon. Rafters will have a slow and tedious paddle whenever they set out, unless they have an outboard to motor across the lake. Canoeists can expect the lake to take about an hour in good conditions.

At the end of the lake, the Gulkana River emerges in a surprisingly small stream. This lake outlet has tons of grayling and other fish, and it’s worth stopping to throw in a lure or a fly. Grayling definitely will take spinners that are cast out and swing back to shore through the riffles. Good fishing continues for the next few miles, as the Gulkana lazily goes through a quasi-pond before riffling downstream to it’s confluence with the Middle Fork. This section of river, which has Class I rapids, should be taken very slowly and fished thoroughly. For skilled canoeists, the bow person can fish while the stern paddler navigates. For others, there are good takeouts on sand and gravel bars to fish the deeper outer bends. Rafters will have no problem fishing from the boat throughout, though they may have to push the boat across shallow bars in low water years like this one.

Just a few miles downstream of the lake, the Middle Fork comes in from the right and the Gulkana River appears to double in size. The fish seem to enjoy this habitat as much as the smaller river upstream: Grayling and rainbow trout will strike at lures such as spinners and flies such as Dolly Llamas, Wooly Buggers, and Egg Sucking Leeches. Unless you’re an exceptionally patient person, I recommend bringing a fly rod and a spinner. Fly fish for a while, and if you hit a dry spell throw in a Mepps spoon to get some grayling action and break the tedium.

Just when you feel like you’ve caught several hundred fish, the Gulkana becomes inexplicably flat and windy, and mosquitos often make their way out onto the river. It’s worth paddling through this section toward faster water and the Gulkana Canyon.

               

The Bureau of Land Management, which has a highly detailed brochure about the Gulkana, says that Gulkana Canyon is Class IV. That is not true, but the exaggeration shouldn’t detract from the Bureau of Land Management’s fine job in handling extremely heavy paddler traffic on the Gulkana. I have never seen so many paddlers before. There are probably theme parks whose water rides have less boat traffic than the Gulkana. The Bureau of Land Management has attempted to deal with all these visitors by encouraging people to use existing campsites and to pack out their waste, both of which are wise. If you’re paddling the Gulkana, bring a waste management system and pack it out.

The Bureau of Land Management also has a sign by the side of the river that marks the beginning of the Gulkana Canyon, as well as a large portage trail on the left. Regardless of whether you intend to paddle the canyon, take out here to scout the rapids. The canyon has approximately 100 yards of Class II drops with a cleaner line on the right side, at least at lower water levels. Then there is a more complex Class III drop, in which four large boulders split the river into fairly small channels. The easiest canoe line is center left, and rafters can choose to run center left or center right. Either way, large rafts have a significant risk of pinning during low water.

There is one small and three fairly large camping areas right below the canyon. Downstream, there is still more good fishing, and more fun whitewater as the river flows through seemingly endless Class II bends and rapids, with numerous good campgrounds on gravel and sand bars. Eventually, the river flattens out some, and you'll see a weir at which Fish and Game monitors kings. The weir marks the area of the river in which jetboat traffic from downstream becomes more common. From this point, it is about an hour and a half paddle down to Sourdough Campground in a canoe, or a significantly longer float in a raft. Three or four days is a good trip length from Paxson to Sourdough, depending on how much you want to fish.

The Gulkana River is a class canoe trip, with fun Class II-III rapids, a canyon with an imposing cleaver rock in the hardest rapid, and unbelievably good fishing. It is a great raft trip too, particularly if you can motor across the lake at the top or have energetic rowers. If at any point in your life you've been skunked fishing, head to the Gulkana and get redemption.