2 Weeks of Sea Kayaking in Alaska

Expedition Outline

Location: Kenai Fjords National Park

Days: 14

Mileage: ~125 nMi

Itentirary:

Day 1: Fly into Anchorage, drive to NOLS base (1 hr), collect all expedition supplies (from rations, to chart, to kayak), and stay the night.

Day 2: Start day at 6am, leave NOLS at 7, and arrive at Seward 10-11. Get water taxi to drop off at Kenai National Park ranger station & spend first night camping at campsite across Aialik bay. Best to paddle during flow period to use current to ferry over, but only about 2.5 nMi to campsite either way.

Day 3: Kayak through Aiakil Bay to see Addison Glacier & get accustomed to waters and paddling. Return to same campsite at night.

Day 4: Paddle along peninsula and out of Aialik bay to far side of Harris bay. Nearly 20 nMi paddle, and moving at 2 knots (slow pace) it would take over 9 hours. Essential to get up early and use current to your advantage. Leave during ebb and hopefully turn peninsula during flow. Furthermore, there are many land inlets which may produce challenging eddies to paddle through. There are landing beaches along the way, but no designated camping areas.  

Day 5: Explore Harris bay. A paddle along the entire bay would be nearly 20 nMi. Move campsite to farther south on the peninsula, only one bay away.

Day 6: Kayak 20 nMi to campsite in Nuka bay. Leave during ebb and beware of McArthur pass between the end of the peninsula and the island which could have violent waters.

Day 7: Explore the west side of Nuka bay.

Day 8: Move into east side of Nuka bay, but remain on the west coastline for the majority of the paddle for more simple underwater topography. The paddle is about 10 miles and should be during flow to move with the current.

Day 9: Explore the west side of Nuka bay, surrounded by incredible glaciers, for as far as 20 miles. Can also move to the other campsite farther inland.

Day 12: Kayak 10 miles to roaring cove on ebb current for pick-up! Spend night in Seward.

*This is route is 125 nMI of challenging kayaking all in 9 days, averaging approximately 14 miles of kayaking per day. Therefore, I've added in 2 days for rest and to account for unpredictable weather and water conditions. These two days can be used whenever needed, making this a 11 days on the water.

Day 13: Return to NOLS basecamp and return all equipment. Stay the night there.

Day 14: Go back to anchorage airport and fly home :(

*For a detailed route map, follow the link: "DeepZoom - Plan trips on the water"