Kaguyak Crater/Big River, Katmai National Park, Alaska

I just got back from the most amazing/horrible trip I have ever taken. We have been talking/planning this trip for several years, but finally we were able to make it happen last week. Clint, the owner of Hallo Bay Wilderness Camps, wants to offer this trip as a tour for guests, so Simyra and I had to scout it out first to see if it's feasible to do with guests. Here's what we did...

Monday June 15: 1 hour float plane ride from Homer to Kaguyak Crater in Katmai National Park. The crater has a mile & half wide lake inside, where the former volcano blew a long time ago. We landed in the crater lake and taxied to a small rock beach where we got out and unloaded our gear. The plane left and we inflated our Alpacka packrafts and secured our gear in dry bags and started paddling around the crater hugging the shoreline. We eventually got to the lowest point in the crater and set up our camp. 

Pilot Trent and Simyra by the float plane

Inflating the packraft

-picture by Simyra

Simyra enjoying the snowpack in the crater

Paddling in the Crater. Sulfur below the water makes the water a nice color-picture by Simyra

Our campsite in the crater

Tuesday June 16: We hiked up out of the crater at the lowest point but still a very difficult steep incline to the crater's rim. We then hiked along the rim for about 3 miles. We followed old bear trails on the rim, created by bears stepping in the same spots over who knows how many years (see youtube video below). We had great views of the surrounding areas and could see the river we planned to raft in the distance. Then we headed back to our camp. While getting ready to raft again, a bear walked through our camp to the water's edge. We had no problems and he went on his merry way. We then rafted along the rest of the crater's shoreline to where we started the day before. We got out once to climb up and out of the crater at another low point and found the most impressive of bear trails.

After completing rafting the total circumference of the crater we then rafted straight to the island in the middle. We found a spot to get out and climbed up on the island where we had our dinner while being swarmed by angry seagulls. After dinner we rafted back toward camp and I tried to fish along the way. We had heard rumors that there were fish in the lake, but I became so nervous that it would be some mutant monster that I was ready to chuck the pole if I saw something big coming. However, I didn't fish long and not that deep (the lake is almost 600 ft deep) and did not find anything. (Note: no one has ever packrafted in the crater lake before).

Kaguyak Crater

View of Big River from Kaguyak Crater Rim

Hiking the rim of Kaguyak Crater

Walking through Alders

-photo by Simyra

Bear passing through camp

Bear posing at the water's edge

Bear trail on the rim

Simyra eating dinner on the island

On the island (little plug) in the crater-photo by Simyra

Fishing with a hiking pole in the crater-photo by Simyra

Wednesday June 17: We hiked up and out of the crater with our 50lb packs, proving to be extremely difficult. Then we headed down toward the river. There are no trails heading down because no one has ever done this before so we were blazing our own way and bushwhacking through Alder trees and Willows. It was a slow going process- walking through thick Alder trees with paddles sticking up out of your pack catching on every branch is very frustrating. We went from tree thickets to grassy areas and headed in the general direction of North West toward the river. Eventually we found the ravine that would take us straight there but ended up having to walk down a creek for a long bit, sliding all over the place. It took us all day to go just under 2 miles to the river. We camped right by a river that leads to Big River.

About to hike out of the crater with my 50lbs of gear-photo by Simyra

Don't let the smile fool you-we were miserable

A clear patch after hiking through Alders

Down the waterfall

Through the Willows

Thursday June 18: We inflated our packrafts and headed down river. We practiced pulling into eddies and getting comfortable in the rapids because we knew it was going to get rougher. We hit what I would consider Class 3 rapids and had a good time. Then the river got narrower and the cliffs got taller and we knew the big waterfall we had seen on google earth was coming up so we got out at curves and walked ahead to scout it out. We did this several times and then I would paddle first, get out and have a rope ready for when Simyra would go by in case she couldn't get into the eddy. All went well and we got to a corner we thought the falls were around so we got out and hiked up a hill and sure enough the waterfall was just around the corner so we went back and packed up all our stuff and hiked up the hill and past the waterfalls. Luckily we found an animal trail to follow which led us right back down after the waterfall where the river widened out and calmed down a bit. We re-inflated our rafts and got back on the river for another few miles until we pulled over to camp for the night.

Simyra rafting

Rapids on Big River

View of Big River Rapids

The Waterfalls that we bypassed

The waterfalls in the background

Friday June 19: We set out on our first overcast day rafting. The rapids were lessening and the logs in the river were increasing. Simyra got caught by a snag in the river and after I tried to get to her and got swept away she flipped and started floating down river. She eventually lost the raft and paddle and the raft got hung up in another sweeper. I was paddling after her and made the call to stop and try to get the raft out thinking that Simyra would be able to get to shore. So after several attempts and trying to dislodge the raft and the heavy backpack and getting swept away by the current, I was able to get the backpack and eventually the raft. I floated it down to where mine was and strapped them together and paddled down to find Simyra, who I found on shore half mile down river. She was shaken up and we had to reasses the situation since we had one less paddle. We decided to split my paddle in two and both use half a paddle. We keep going up until Simyra flipped again and then we decided to strap our boats together. It became hard to steer with the boats together and then I saw a huge tree in the water ahead with no time to get around it. We hit it and Simyra flipped, got sucked under and popped out and started floating down river. Since my raft was attached it got pulled down too and I got dumped out and started floating. I grabbed a branch and turned around to see the two rafts stacked up in the tree, one vertical one horizontal as I couldn't hold on anymore and let go. Eventually we were able to get to the bank and get out. Immediately I decided we needed to go back and get our stuff. I had my Spot on me but the satellite phone was in Simyra's bag. So we hiked up hills and across streams back upriver, but then the rafts were on the other side so we had to figure out how to get over there. After a failed attempt to swim to the other side across the current, I went further upstream and decided to jump in the current and backstroke to the other bank. The current wasn't as strong and I was able to make it. Then I hiked down to the tree with the rafts in it, climbed out across the tree over the river and began trying to get the rafts unstuck. The heavy packs sucked in the snag in the current was extremely difficult to get out but I was able to move it and then I was able to step on the raft and push it under the tree. Since they were still attached I was able to keep pushing the raft down and eventually they popped out the other side and started floating down river. Then I jumped in after them and swam to catch up to them and pulled them to the bank. That was the point where we decided not to raft anymore. We only had half a paddle left and we knew that strapping the boats together was not a good strategy in sweeper lined waters. Plus I was not willing to risk a 4th flip that could be the one that we don't get lucky with. So we packed up, phoned Clint to tell him we were going to hike the rest of the way (about 3 miles to the coast). As we started hiking it was slow going trying to follow the main channel, crossing creeks and going up hills. Then we hit some quicksand. 50# packs does not make that any better. Long story short I was able to move faster and get out and go back to get Simyra's pack and then she got out. That was the breaking point. We couldn't go 10 minutes without something happening. At this rate it would take us 2 more days to get to the coast to get picked up by a plane. Plus, what if we got to a channel that we couldn't cross or to go around it would add miles to the trip. So Simyra called Clint and asked to get a helicopter to pick us up. We didn't think we could go any further and didn't think there would be another spot a helicopter could land to pick us up so we stopped there. 2 hours later Jim with Maritime Aviation following my Spot's coordinates and the bear flare we lit landed to pick us up. We were back in Homer by 9:30 Friday night. 

Rafts stuck in the tree that flipped us

That orange blob is me in the tree trying to get the rafts out-photo by Simyra

After the quicksand debacle-photo by Simyra

Waiting for the helicopter-photo by Simyra

Simyra using the bear flare to signal the helicopter

Our Hero

In conclusion: The trip started off great and Clint could definitely offer Crater packrafting trips but that's it. The hike down out of the crater was miserable. The rapids were fun. We need more experience in whitewater and paddling. Simyra needs to learn how to swim and become more comfortable in it. We were extremely lucky that we got out of that situation with our lives and most of our gear (sadly my water bladder got swept downriver and Clint's paddles are probably in the Shelikof Strait by now), and without any broken bones or gashes (we are pretty banged up and bruised from hitting all the rocks in the water). Even though we technically had to get rescued, we accomplished a lot. Especially since no one has ever done what we did. No one has hiked down from the crater or rafted Big River before. We were the first ones, and we made it pretty damn far. There is talk of getting the waterfall named after us (since we're the first people who has ever made it there). All in all, I'm glad to know that I can handle a situation like that and still have a clear head and make tough decisions. Even though I put myself in some risky situations trying to retrieve the rafts and gear, I knew it had to be done and I felt confident that I could do it. If those rafts got caught in any other kind of snags I might not have been able to get to them and then we would have had nothing. We had some close calls. 

Makes for a good story.

Big thanks to Clint for supplying all the packrafting gear, sending us out there via float plane, and picking us up by helicopter. 

Our journey down the crater and Big River according to my Spot check-ins

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