Upper Winner Creek Trail, 20 Mile River Pacraft Float

As mentioned earlier, the next stage of Josh and my odyssey was to hike another section of the historic Iditarod trail known as "Upper Winner Creek" trail near Girdwood, following it over Berry Pass to its terminus on the banks of an unknown feeder stream and on to 20 mile river. Though hopefully someday the vision of a contiguous trail following the route of the historic Iditarod trail will be realized; currently only sections of this ancient trail system are defined and or navigable. For this reason, in order to make Upper Winner Creek a true traverse one must float down to the Seward Highway via 20 Mile River, since the trail dead ends deep in the mountains.

The modern water craft of choice in these situations is what is commonly known as the "Pacraft." Hearing much about pacrafting in and around Anchorage of late, I've been itching to give it a try, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Josh and I rented pacrafts and dry suits from John of PacRaft Alaska. Per John's advice, we picked up our setups a day in advance and floated a section of Campbell creek for practice inflating and paddling. This proved sound advice and a lot of fun. Next morning we were on trail by 7:30 am.

     There is frustratingly little current info on this trip online at this point, so I here relate answers to the questions I wish I had answers to before starting out.

Starting form Alyeska follow Winner Creek Trail to Upper Winner Creek Trail. According to Imus Geographic Chugach State Park map I used, one must diverge from the established trail and begin the ascent to the pass on a separate back country route; this is NOT the case. Once on Upper Winner Creek trail, stay on the trail and follow it down the valley, over Berry Pass, down the other side, and over a beautiful bridge. The established trail abrubptly ends on the south side of this bridge; however, the path to the put-in is cleared and marked with surveyor's tape and very obvious. Following this cleared swath through the brush will lead you to gravel bar at the bottom of a slope suitable as a put in. The put-in is a feeder stream, which may be shallow in places. We also found that staying in the braids that flow west kept us in the main stem of the stream; cutting to the east dumped us into a flood plain in the alders, and some serious bush-wacking was required to get back on the main stem of the stream (back to the west). This stream widens and deepens as it goes. Some sweepers were encountered, but were mostly obvious. Once on the 20 Mile, the going is easy. Some sources expressed concern about slow flow or having to paddle against the incoming tide; we did not find these to be the case between 5 and 7 pm when we drifted through. While the 20 Mile is not fast, it seemed sufficient to carry us at good speed without much exertion. We estimate total mileage at 23 miles. It took us 12 hrs. with some stops to for blueberries, pictures, etc.

This was really spectacular country, a trip I highly recommend for those up for a 23 mile day.

We traveled at least 45 miles on the historic Iditarod trail between Crow Pass and Upper Winner Creek/20 Mile River. Our experience with PacRaft Alaska was a good one, and I would rent from John again. He is also an excellent recourse for trip and general paddling advice.