Peters Hills to Tokositna

I wanted to do one last trip this season while the fall colors were still out.  We would hike Peter Hills, located south of the Alaska Range, 130 miles north of Anchorage.  If the weather was nice, it would offer fantastic views of Mount Hunter, Denali, and Foraker as well as many others.  After hiking Peter Hills we would float the Tokositna River which flows east out of the Alaska Range and joins with the Ruth River before merging with the Chulitna River.  Our take-out point is where the Chulitna River intersects the Parks Highway.

To do this trip like most others required a shuttle, so I needed a trip partner.  I recruited a co-worker, David Juran.  I called him and described the route; twelve miles of hiking and thirty miles of floating in two days.  Now, he had never been in a packraft and hadn't even been in Alaska for more than six months, so of course he accepted with naive excitement.  Dave is a great guy and enjoyable to be around with his child-like humor, so I was looking forward to spending a couple days outside of work together.

We parked Dave's truck at the Chulitna River bridge on the Parks Highway and headed for Petersville.  The road to Petersville is a little rough and takes about an hour to drive the entire distance to where an ATV trail leads in to the high country.  I typically get lost being on trails and this was no different, soon enough we had to backtrack, but just once.

Finally, off trail we were starting to get some distance between us and the car.  Peter Hills has several small lakes and hills to go around.  Route finding wasn't difficult but you had to take your time to find a dry route.  Never really getting on a ridge, Peter Hills, is as it sounds, hilly.  There are multiple ups and downs but nothing with much elevation gain or loss.

Nearing the end of Peters Hills, the clouds cleared completely and the views of the Alaska Range were incredible.  Unfortunately, we had to start dropping down towards Home Lake.  Not only were we leaving the grand views of the alpine but we were headed for an inevitable bush whack.

On our descent we were able to devour an abundant amount of high bush blue berries (mountain huckleberries).  I would break off a branch and eat while walking down towards the Alaska jungle.

Once in the brush we were able to break through fairly easily but as usual the lower we went the worse it got.  We found a decent game trail and followed it for a ways until it seemed to meander off in another direction.  In hindsight we should have stayed on the game trail as we wound up in the bottom of a small drainage.  More than likely the trail went around the drainage, staying high instead of going straight through it like we did.

Once at Home Lake, darkness was approaching fast and we didn't have much time to find a campsite.  Alders sloped around the entire south side of the lake.  The north side looked marshy but flat.  Confident we could find a flat, dry area across the lake, we blew up our rafts and crossed. We found just enough room in a dense forest of willows to camp and pitched our shelter with the help of headlamps.  It was arguably the worst camp that I've ever had, but it worked and was comfortable enough.

We woke early knowing that we had an all day float ahead of us.  It was a cool, crisp, fall morning and paddling down the lake through marshes we saw salmon, ducks, grebes and a pair of swans.  Coming toward the end of the lake we discovered beavers had dammed the outlet.  Approaching the dam, the beavers would swim back and forth across the channel slapping their tail and bodies with such force it looked painful.  As we were crossing their territory they mysteriously disappeared.  We could feel them watching us as we portaged the dam.

At the confluence of the Tokositna there were so many salmon their backs brushed the bottom of our rafts as we floated over top of them.  The Tokositna River, slowly meanders without rapids except the occasional jet boats that powered up and down the river.  We laid back and enjoyed the view that became better and better the further east we floated.

We took a few breaks to stretch our legs.  Eventually we passed the confluence of the Ruth and further down river had lunch at Tokosha Mtn. Lodge.  We poked around the vacant property (that is for sale for anyone interested) before heading back into the water.

Once back in the water we came upon the only rapids the river had; a short boulder garden.  Lining the boats down most of it we put in for the last set giving Dave and myself some much needed excitement and practice.  Just before joining the Chulitna River we saw a black bear swimming across.  The third bear of the trip.  The other two, a black bear sow and cub we saw far off in the alpine while hiking Peters Hills.

Once in the Chulitna, it was a fast float to the bridge.  The Chulitna was a little more exciting.  It was fast, braided, zero rapids, a little wood, and lovely views of the mountain range yet again.  At the bridge we were happy to be done with our eleven hour float and nearly 48 hour trip.

If I were to do this route a second time, there are a couple things that I would require before going again.  If you follow these two prerequisites, this would be a most spectacular and scenic trip.

1. I would make sure the weather was as good as we had it on this trip.  This isn't a good enough trip to not have the scenery making it worthwhile.
2. Take two nights to do the trip.  The first night you should camp in the alpine, taking in the evening and morning lighting on the mountains. On the second night camp along one of the many river bars, ideal for a campsite.