Days 1-2
Arriving in the Juneau airport, you’ll truly be awe-struck to see such a location. A town clinging to the snowcapped hillsides, Juneau rests right on the shoreline next to the vast blue sea. As you enter the airport, you’ll be greeted promptly by your Wilderness Ventures leaders as well as you fellow venturers. Once everyone is together, you’ll get the feeling of what a fabulous trip you’re about to embark on simply because everyone that surrounds you is overflowing with excitement and enthusiasm. From the airport, you’ll head out to your first campsite only a few minutes away. A great night, and a great way to start your trip, we’ll spend our time hanging out, setting up out tents, and having a blast getting to know each other and letting it sink in that we’ve just arrived in Alaska!Days 3-7
After taking care of all the preparations the couple of days before, the time has come for us to ‘set sail’ on our sea kayaking voyage around the Chichagoff Island! Our adventure starts when we hop on a bush plane in Juneau and fly on over to Gustavus, Alaska. In Gustavus, we’ll grab our kayaks and take a boat shuttle to the Idaho Inlet of the Chichagoff Island at which our paddling shall commence! For five days we’ll paddle from incredible campsite location to incredible campsite location, along the way we will most likely see Humpback whales! While we’re out there, we’ll also learn all the skills and practices we need to make it through the backcountry in comfort, such as backcountry cooking, minimum impact camping, as well as map and compass skills. On our final day, we’ll again rendezvous with our boat shuttle and float our way back to Gustavus. Again, from Gustavus we’ll fly back to Juneau to shower, do laundry and ready ourselves for the next leg of our expedition. Finally, we’ll hop on a ferry from Juneau to the wonderful little town of Haines; traveling along the pristine waters, we’re sure to see dozens of bald eagles, whales, and possibly some seals!Days 8-12
A bush plane will take us to Davidson Glacier where we’ll spend the next three days scaling its glacial cobalt ice! As we all ascend up the vertical and near vertical walls, we’ll learn the proper techniques of vertical ice climbing, glacier travel, and constructing anchors. And once we’ve climbed all the vertical feet we care to, we’ll head back to Haines via float plane for showers and laundry. While we’re there, we’ll also do some shopping in preparation for our next backpacking trip in the Yukon wilderness!Days 13-17
Making our way back to Haines we will begin our five-day venture in the Yukon wilderness. As we begin our hike we’ll be treated to an awesome view of the Icy Strait and its neighboring mountains, an extraordinary view certain to be a hike favorite. On our third day, we’ll venture over the alpine passes where we will be able to look back into Alaska from our campsite in the Canadian wilderness. As we proceed, it’s interesting to know that we’ll be following the very footsteps of the miners who traveled to Klondike.Days 18-19
Before our adventure in the land of the midnight sun draws to a close, we won't be able to resist sinking our paddles into the legendary whitewater of the Blanchard River! These exhilarating class III rapids are sure to open your eyes, and get your heart pounding a little as well. Under the guidance of professional instructors, we'll savor this last amazing activity before we turn our attention to the close of our journey.Days 20-21
From Haines, we’ll take the ferry back to Juneau. There we’ll all get together for our traditional and delectable trip-closing banquet. A perfect way to end our days together, we’ll all get to hang out one last time and talk about our incredible expedition. The next day, we’ll all unfortunately have to depart for our homes. It’s a day of tough good-byes, but its great to know that you’ve made friends and memories for a lifetime.
