Paddlesports Schools:

Paddlesports Schools:

Paddlesports Schools:

Paddlesports Shops:

The Tonsina is a wilderness trip that feels as though Marty Stauffer should be narrating from the back of the boat. Tonsina Lake is an opaque turquoise, windswept and surrounded by a rugged landscape of sharp, snowy mountains, thick willows line the banks and create an almost impenitrable fortress for hikers. Crystal clear Greyling Creek flows in on the north eastern side, towards the mouth and makes a great first night campsite and fishing stream. Chinook and Sockeye salmon migrate up the Tonsina and work their way into the clearwater tributaries to spawn and are followed closely by Arctic Greyling and Rainbow Trout voraciously feeding on the roe. Bear trails provide the only way through the dense willows and though plentiful, are in no way comfortable.

In the flats as the river meanders out from the lake look for moose along the boggy banks. Clearwater creeks enter from all sides providing different options for additional campsites and fishing stops. The jagged mountainous landscape gives way to forrested hills and the river slowly builds its velocity and becomes a freestone in nature. Grizzlies wander the banks and wade in pools to catch salmon. Soon the banks close in to a semi-canyon and relatively easy class III rapids with scattered holes head straight for the Wrangell Mountains. The character makes a dramatic change at the confluence with the wide and brown Copper River. Do not underestimate the power of this relatively calm section, the Copper is an extemely powerful river the scale of which makes judging the size of features difficult, some of which are absolutely massive holes. Campsites become mud and gravel bars which are covered with bear and wolf prints and visits in the night are likely. The take-out on the upstream side of the Chitina confluence will be a bittersweet sight.