If you have a good upscale touring sea kayak and live in lower 48 states, how do you carry your kayak to Alaska?
Is renting a kayak locally in Alaska cheaper than carrying your own kayak with you?
Has anyone done this before? How did you do it?
Thx.
Considering that I flew there
renting was cheaper, but not cheap. Definitely worth the price, though.
If you’re going to do it a lot, consider buying a high-end folding kayak, like a Feathercraft. You can take those on a plane for a little extra $$$.
Wayne
consider rent
Unlike many of the cheapie rental outfitters in the lower 48, AK outfitters seems to stock their rental fleet with good quality fiberglass touring boats. At least that’s my impression having taken a couple of guided tours up there. So you may in luck as far as finding a good boat that suit your need.
That is, you’re not very particular about exactly which kind of boats you paddle.
Also, if you’re going for multiple weeks, the rental cost adds up…
I have this view of a long line of…
…prospectors trudging up Chilkoot Pass to
Yukon with a lone kayaker in among them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_West,_RSW
Simple put it on your roof and go.
My wife and I had the trip of a life time four years ago. We put our two sea kayaks on the roof of our pick-up, our two mountain bikes, backpacking tent, and all our other gear in the bed under the cap and hauled our 19 foot travel trailer from NC to Alaska and back.
We went up via the AlCan and Top of the World highway and came back via the Alaska Ferry system in the inner passage.
The trip was for four months and we paddled in just about every place in Alaska that we could get to.
We hiked on glaciers and in Denali NP.
We had numerous bear encounters, and many times were forced off beaches where we stopped for lunch, by them wandering out of the woods looking for a meal.
I have attached a picture of one of the Orcas of a pod of thirteen that we paddled with for six miles on the way back in Johnstone Straight BC.
We paddled in Glacier Bay and with the Humpbacks in Icy straight and camped on the beach beside where they cruised back and forth doing their feeding.
[http://thumb10.webshots.net/s/thumb4/0/2/10/105500210tGwmgm_th.jpg](http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1105500210049732290tGwmgm)
If you would like a copy of the trip report, drop me an e-mail and I’ll gladly e-mail it to you.
You can get a good idea of what the trip is like.
Cheers,
JackL
Great picture but
I could only imagine the feeling you had being there taking the picture.
I can only see the picture…you feel the picture.
I’ll never make the trip Jack but I’d love to read your story.
Richard
My wife is the photographer
and takes ninty percent of the pictures
I should have posted the one with me in it and the large Orca in the back ground, but as it was it took too long to find the one I posted.
Here is another, and this is one that I took with her in it.
During our first few paddles up there we were quite intimidated by the enourmous size of everything, but after a few days thouroughly enjoyed being the master of our own fate and didn’t hesitate to venture anyplace.
[http://thumb10.webshots.net/s/thumb4/6/0/95/91560095UVIpts_th.jpg](http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1091560095049732290UVIpts)
Cheers,
JackL
