Rafting the Nenana River

at Denali National Park

This raft trip with Nenana Raft Adventures travels 11 miles through Nenana Gorge of the Nenana River, which is the eastern border of Denali National Park. There were 12 major rapids rated at Class III or IV, several of which had six foot tall standing waves which stopped us dead when we hit them, forcing us to dig in with our paddles to get going again. To complicate matters, the Alaska Railroad tracks run on a ledge above the river, and derailments over the years have deposited railcars, rebar, rails, and other obstructions into the water, which is why we were required to wear helmets.

Unfortunately, we were so busy paddling through the rapids, I was unable to capture the immensity of the rapids on my camera. This photo is of a much smaller rapid where I could quickly take a one-handed shot. We were all wearing full-body drysuits, river booties, life jackets, and helmets, and though the water was extremely cold and was regularly inundating us, we remained warm and dry. The cost for this 3 hour trip was a very reasonable $60 in 2004.

This is the photo the raft company took as we paddled by, but this rapid, though providing easy access for their photographer, was not one of the bigger, more impressive rapids.