Kluane National Park: Jarvis River to Alsek River via Kaskawulsh River (3 days / 70 km)
This trip takes you into the beautiful mountains of Kluane National Park, travelling on three different rivers. This 70 km journey varies widely along the way, going from the small narrow and windy Jarvis River to a large, fast-flowing Kaskawulsh River, before going back up the Alsek to the takeout point.
We did this trip in 3 days and we were a group of 4 with 3 dogs, paddling 2 open canoes (Esquif – Pocket Canyon and Nova Craft Moisie). One person in the group had done the trip in a packraft a few years earlier, which is how we got most of our background information, although doing this trip in a packraft would be very different, which will be covered in the report. This trip went well overall, but turned out to be a lot more challenging than we thought.
Trip Completed: July 2023
Trip Summary
Location: Haines Junction/Kluane National Park
Traditional Territory: This route takes place on the traditional territory of Champagne and Aishihik First Nations
Maps & Resources
Guidebook: Some information about this trip can be found in the Paddling in the Yukon Guidebook.
Map: I use the Canada Topo app for all my river trips, which is a free app (on iPhones) which uses the original topo maps of Canada. You download the maps of your route before departing, and you can use them on your phone (or iPad) while out on your trip just like you would use a regular GPS.
Permits & Reservations
Campsite Reservations: No reservations are required.
Permits: Yes, if you want to sleep in the Park (which is likely) you need an overnight camping Parks Canada Permit, which you can purchase at the main office in Haines Junction.
Know Before You Go
Season: Early summer, as the Jarvis water levels will get too low later on in the season.
Cell Reception: No
Water: The water on the Jarvis is clear – so nice to filter. It’s a different story on the Kaskawulsh and Alsek, so fill up your water bottles before leaving the Jarvis. Both other rivers come off glaciers, so they are super silty.
Wildlife: Both black and grizzly bears are present in the area, but not a huge concern as long as you keep a clean camp.
Waste: This is a remote trip with no facilities
Outfitters & Shuttles
Outfitter: We did this trip on our own. The closest outfitters are in Whitehorse, which works fine to rent gear if needed, but would make the trip expensive if you needed to hire them for shuttles.
Shuttle: The starting point on the Alaska Highway is very simple, the pick-up is another story. It’s a bumpy ride along an old road into the park including some small creek crossings. You need a 4×4 vehicle with good clearance. We had a Ford 150 and a Toyota Tundra and while we had to take our time, it worked well. We would not recommend going in there if there is a lot of rain in the forecast, as the creeks could become a real issue to cross. Bring a metal shovel with you to smoothen some of the creek drops if needed.
Trip Report
Day 1: Alaska Highway to Kimberley Creek (20 km)
The weather was amazing this day and we were told that the first section was quite easy and wouldn’t take us too long. So, we figured we could leave Haines Junction at noon to drop off a car at the takeout, before heading to the put-in. This brought us to the put-in at 4 pm. We figured that if worse comes to worse we would be done at around 10 pm which is fine since the sun was shining and there’s endless daylight at this time of year.
The Jarvis River was a bit lower than we expected, and there were two portages due to log jams, which we were aware of. The first section was fun, class 1-2 rapids with some tight corners to manage with some down trees sometimes almost blocking the entire river. With the low water, our boats were definitely taking a bit of a beating, as we were often sliding through some sections.
The first portage went smoothly, we followed the old channel on river right and it wasn’t much longer than 200 m or so. The second one was longer and more challenging. Close to the 600 m mark, we had to bushwalk some sections and work through some deep mud, mostly following old channels on river left.
The section following the second portage became slower and slower as we went on. Next thing you know, it was past midnight, and we hadn’t reached Kimberley Creek yet. To make things more complicated, the section we were in was basically a giant swamp with mosquitoes ready to eat you alive if you stop.
The sun dropped, and it got colder, but we pushed along. We arrived at the Kimberley Creek fan (the creek fans out as it approaches the Jarvis River) at around 1 am, tired and getting cold. We were hoping to camp there, but it really wasn’t a great camp spot. The river picks up speed there, so we were hesitant to go further. But not wanting to camp in muddy large boulders, we decided to see what the next corner would bring.
Yep, you saw it coming, the classic late-in-the-day bad decision. As we paddled around the corner, the river was super narrow, and pushy. The river pushed both boats right against a thick willow bush and we almost tipped in glacial cold water. We managed to pull our boats on the next gravel bar, and decided to line our boats a little further down to find a good camp. It was 2 am by the time we set up our tents.
Campsite: This camp ended up being very nice, although it had no real shelter from the wind, which picked up in the night and had part of the crew get up to reinforce their tent peg arrangements.
| Total Distance | 20 km |
| Portaging Distance | 800 m |
| Number of Portages | 2 |
| Campsite Reservation | No reservations required |
Day 2: Kimberley Creek to Ferguson Creek (35 km)
We got up a little tired from our late and windy night. We took our time to have a nice breakfast and threw on our drysuits for a spicier section of the river that was coming. The remaining section of the Jarvis River was like a luge run! Bouncy class 2, super narrow, shallow and ultra-steep. You just keep crossing your fingers that you won’t come upon a tree stock across the river. Although a little nerve-racking, the section went really well and we hit the Kaskawulsh River in no time.
The Kaskawulsh River surprised us. It was much wider and with more volume than we anticipated. To add to it all, we had a headwind of somewhere between 50 and 70 km/h. The current is also very fast on the Kaskawulsh River, so with the current pushing against the boats on one side, and the wind on the other, it became extremely challenging to keep our canoes straight. Add in some waves and large boils, we were in for a battle. We just kept fighting our way down until we couldn’t do it anymore.
The river was wide enough and pushy enough that it was hard to find places to stop. In the afternoon, we pulled over at the beginning of the fan of Ferguson Creek, and since it was a good place to pull over and pull the boats off the river, we decided to camp there. The wind was still super strong, so being on the edge of the large creek fan, we were able to find a little bit of shelter from the trees.
Campsite: Beautiful flat campsite with an endless amount of room, overlooking the river with a beautiful view of the St Elias Mountain Range.
| Total Distance | 35 km |
| Portaging Distance | 0 |
| Number of Portages | 0 |
| Campsite Reservation | No reservations required |
Day 3: Ferguson Creek to take out (15 km)
Although it was another beautiful day, the wind never really stopped throughout the night, so we got up early and hit the river as soon as possible to try and avoid the worst of it to finish the Kaskawulsh River.
We only had about 8 km left on the Kaskawulsh River, and since it was high, with tons of braided sections, we mostly stuck to river left channels until reaching the Alsek about an hour later. The section on the Alsek is about 7 km to Serpentine Creek, and although it’s not a fast-flowing section, you still have to paddle against the flow. Here, the strong wind came in handy. We had such a strong tailwind, that for most of the section, I only had to rutter in the back while my bow partner was either paddling slightly or standing up to create a sail, and it was enough to push us upstream at a good pace!
We reached the truck early in the afternoon at Serpentine Creek, before starting the bumpy truck ride out of the park back to Haines Junction.
| Total Distance | 15 km |
| Portaging Distance | 0 |
| Number of Portages | 0 |
| Campsite Reservation | N/A |
Reflections
This trip was more challenging than we expected for two main reasons.
First, the Jarvis River was lower than we had hoped, it does not have a gauge, and we have great knowledge of water flows in the area but were still a bit surprised by the level. This made it more challenging to travel as it made the small rapids very bumpy, and it made it hard to avoid potential dangers like trees in pushy corners.
Second, the Kaskawulsh River was bigger and pushier than we had expected, on top of having crazy headwinds. We had checked the forecast but still didn’t think it was going to affect us this much.
Overall, it was a great trip, but we were happy that we had a crew of strong experienced paddlers.
There are a couple of options for this trip to make it different. There’s an old mining road that joins the Jarvis just before the first log jam. We have done that trip once, and unless you have an old beater truck that you are ready to beat up in deep mud, it’s not a good option.
Packrafting is a possible good option for this trip. It would make the portages easier, and you could simply hike the upstream portion of the Alsek River. There’s an old road that isn’t driveable from Ferguson Creek to Serpentine Creek. That said, it would make the trip a lot longer, as the slow section on the Jarvis River would be extra slow, and if it was windy like it was for us on the Kaskawulsh River, it could literally become impossible to paddle downstream.
Author Bio
Gabe grew up paddling in Abitibi, Qc and moved to the Yukon in 2008 and guided throughout the Territory for several years. In 2013, he led a 2-month canoe expedition called ‘’Paddle for the North”, to document what was happening in the Peel Watershed at the time. The documentary won several awards in film festivals including the Banff Mountain Film Fest, International Vancouver Film Fest and the Paddling Film Fest. Since then, Gabe became a biologist and now teaches field courses in the Northern Environmental Science program offered at Yukon University. The canoe is by far the preferred way to explore the north.
Instagram: @gabe_rivest
YouTube: @gabepaddles