mccarthy river tours & outfitters - day tours

Hi Beth, Thanks for the reiew! I sure had fun with you and the ladies this past summer, looking forward to another visit this coming summer! The Kayak trip is a nice relaxing way to get up close and personal with the Glacier, Icebergs, and calving rocks isn't it? The lake can be such a calm and relaxing place, especially on a bluebird day like we had! Sometimes we wish the raft trip could be longer as well, but with only 6 miles of river to raft before it requires an airplane pick up, going any further would change the cost from under $100 per person to over $1000 for a group of four. We are proud to be the first raft company in McCarthy to put together an affordable rafting trip that all income and skill levels can enjoy, on top of that we also are proud to be the first to outfit our guests with Drysuits for the cold glacial water and paddles for a participatory experience. Sometimes our Guides manuever the water so well the rapids can feel a lot like class I water, but our trip is solidly Class II and Class III whitewater and sometimes can get even higher on the rating scale if the water is REALLY high. In whitewater rating scales, a class I river is one that you could boat with minimal effort/paddling and is suitable for a relative beginner to captain. Basically you could get on the boat and bump down the river with minimal effort and consequence, which is not the character of the Kennicott River, while fun, it takes skilled manuevering to successfully navigate. We are excited to be offering new trips this summer that will add to that excitement level, like an Infaltable Kayak River Trip. Also, if you would like to try the Lake & River trip again, I will personally make sure that you feel like the river is more than Class I! Thanks again Beth, we have really enjoyed seeing all of you the past few summers and look forwad to going out again with you in the future! We appreciate your business and reviews very much!

Thank you for your review Alaska2014, we appreciate honest reviews from all of our guests! While the glacial lake protion of our trip does feel long to some folks, floating on a lake that has only formed in the last 20 years next to a 25 mile long glacier is an experience in itself. Many folks find that exploring an actively forming landscape, plunging from icebergs in to the icy waters while protected by a drysuit and spotting for wildlife to be the highlight of their McCarthy experience. Although we have never heard walking on a glacier described as a "time filler" before, we do inform our guests that it can be uneven and rocky to walk on and requires a certain level of group and personal safety to be exercised! Every once in a while a trip down the river can arrive in just a half hour due to higher water than usual, the average length of rafting the river is typically between 45 minutes and an hour. Sometimes we wish the raft trip could be longer as well, but with only 6 miles of river to raft before it requires an airplane pick up, going any further would change the cost from under $100 per person to over $1000 for a group of four. Our goal in creating this trip was to put together the first cost affordable raft trip for all income and skill levels, we are proud to be the first company in McCarthy to be able to offer that all while being the first to equip all clients with drysuits for comfort and paddles for rafting fun!Wea re excited to be offering some more "high octane" trip options this summer for folks looking for a bit more of a challenge, perhaps something like that would interest you more! We appreciate you taking time to review and appreciate your business very much! We hope to see you in the Wrangell Mountains again!

Hi Julie, thanks for your great review! We are glad to hear that you and your children all had a great time rafting with us. We sure like taking families out and getting kids on the river for some fun whitewater. Good advice for folks to be ready for the drysuit experience, for many of our guests it is there first time with a drysuit on and at first it can seem a bit like being a turtle when you have to put your head through the neck gasket! Once we are out there and that glacial water greets you with the first splashes of the day, those drysuits are a welcome protective barrier! We are proud to be the first raft company in McCarthy to supply Drysuits for our guests which enables us to offer exciting paddle boat trips where all of our guests get to participate while protected with state of the art gear. Thanks again for taking the time to review us and we look forward to seeing you again in the Wrangell Mountains soon!

We had a lot of fun on our 5 hour excursion, Nick & Chris were great guides and shared a wealth of knowledge about the "dirty glacier". At first it seemed like a kind of desolate area but once Nick started sharing his stories about the glacier's activity and history it made the paddle part of the trip a lot more interesting. Once you hit the rapids you need to hang on tight and it will get the adrenaline running, it was great fun and Nick & Chris know how to handle the river and kept us busy with our paddles! The suits keep you plenty dry and can be a bit too warm when Nick goes over the safety rules for the rapids but it is very important info. The rapids were a blast and we knew what to do to keep it safe and fun.

Hi Barbara, thanks for your review. I had a great time with you and your son on our trip in June, the whitewater on the Kennicott is fun isn't it? We are sorry to hear you did not enjoy the geological and glacial portion of our trip. Many folks that go out with us tell us that floating on a boat next to the face of a glacier, jumping off of icebergs in to the water while protected by a dry suit and hiking around on a newly forming landscape (can you believe that 15 years ago the Glacial Lake didn't even exist?) as the highlights of not just the day trip but their entire trip to McCarthy. We do encourage folks to only suit up half way if they do not plan in jumping in to the refresehing water, it is unfotunate if somehow we failed to let you know. We are excited to be adding a few new trips next year that you may find more exciting. We hope your travels home went well and look forward to seeing you in the Wrangell Mountains again!

Beth, thank you for the review! We all have such a great time with you guys. Thank you for all the great conversation and fun while out on the water. What a beautful morning it was! We are all looking foward to seeing you next summer! Have a great winter!

Hi Marie, Thank you for your review! We are glad to hear you had a great time with Kyle. with over 10 years of living in McCarthy, he has some great stories to tell and local infomation for folks interested in hearing about many facets of the area. The drysuits sure make a difference in rafting these cold rivers don;t they? Thank you again for coming out with us, we appreciate your business and look forwad to seeing you in McCarthy again!

Thank you for your review, we are glad you had a good time with John, always good to hear what a great job he does. We are sorry to hear you felt you waited a while for the safety boater, we did have a snafu that day because our original safety boater came down with a last minute sickness and I hussled to get out there and meet up with you. However, we did arrive back to town in our advertised 5:30ish time frame for post trip. We chatted for awhile in the shop afterwards and if I would have known that you were not going to be catching the shuttle, I would have happily brought you guys up the hill myself! Hope your trip home went well, and look forawrd to seing you in the Wrangell Mountains again!

On a weekend visit to McCarthy, my three boys (ages 9, 12, and 14) went on the 5-hour lake and river trip. Our guide and owner, Nick was fabulous. They outfitted us with everything we needed, just bring warm pants and socks, water, and a snack or two. My boys and I had such a great time. They swam in the lake, jumped off 12 foot icebergs into the lake, and we splashed our way down river. We would definitely do it again!

We loved our river raft ride with Kyle. He was so knowledgeable, safety minded, fun and patient. We felt very confident and safe in our half day excursion with him. We even had the opportunity to hike a glacier and were delighted to discover a lake on the other side and a baby iceberg. It was a super fun and worthwhile adventure!

We had a great adventure with John! When he invited our group of six to swim in the glacier lake, my guys got out and climbed up the glacial ice and jumped into the lake! They loved it! They got a big splash and a great memory! The dry suits and safety vests gave them all the protection & lift they needed to stay above the surface for a bouncy swim back to the boat. Priceless! After that we got our river rowing instruction. John kept us in the exciting parts of the river, while guiding our rowing to keep us on tract and safe. Thick warm socks & neoprene gloves will make all the difference for staying warm. We couldn't wait to get back and watch the videos!

Hi ChugiakBarbie, we are glad you had a great time with John, he is a great guide! That was an interesting day with the big Glacial Outburst flood happening and putting our river rafting on hold. Unfotunately, since the the trip price was already discounted over 50% of market rate, and our launch time was modified to fit your families time frame and arrival time, we are not able to offer any additional discounts, but we are glad we were able get you out on the water on such a beautfiful day and glad that you had such a great time! We hope to see you here in the Wrangell Mountains again!

Hi John,Thank you for the great review! Mikey and I had a great time on the Tana with you guys, a great crew to row some of this National Parks biggest rapids with. One day the Tana will be "discovered" and we can all think back to the early days on such an amazing river! I Hope all of your other Alaska travels were great as well and we see you again soon in the Wrangell Mountains!

Thank you for posting your thoughts Kenton, we are always thrilled to hear from long time Alaska visitors who come on our trip and experience another great adventure in our beautiful state. The high water is fun and Gabby is a great guide, we hope to see you next time you visit Alaska!

My first time in Alaska and first time on class III water. Gabby did a wonderful job leading educating our group on safety and leading us down the river. So much fun...she has a wonderful attitude and made the trip fun! Thanks Gabby!