Our last adventure to the Alaska wilderness included a 21 mile river raft trip down the Klutina River fishing for what turned out to be the elusive trophy-size king salmon. The Klutina River is a beautiful fast flowing river fed by the glacier waters from the Klutina Glacier and the Klutina Lake. It's 63-mile run ends at the Copper River in the small town of Copper Center, AK
We met our guide early morning after our arrival the previous day, packed ourselves into his truck with 2 other anglers and made our way for about an 1-1/2 hours through the wilderness to our launching spot on a 4-wheel-drive pot-hole ridden unimproved dirt road that occasionally opened up to expose amazing views overlooking the river below.
Once in the raft and on the river we spent the next several hours enjoying the AK scenery and ride as we glided through everything from smooth water to white water rapids, stopping at various spots chosen by our guide. At these fishing stops we'd spend time casting out from shore into the fast-moving water hoping to entice a serious bite from a king.
Unfortunately, no kings were caught by any of us that day on the river. The river flow was exceptionally strong and the color tainted from the prematurely melting glacier upriver. Due to the higher weather temperatures being experienced in AK and worldwide many of the ancient glaciers there are melting faster and releasing water flows into their rivers at amazing rates. This river was "blown-out" from the high flow rates. Such flows can literally shut down fisheries for a river or waterway.
In any case, the experience of the adventure will be with us forever. The excitement, the scenery, the occasional brief hook-up, the ride down the river on the raft through the rapids, fishing from the sandy or muddy river banks, and even the bumpy long ride up the dirt road will always be remembered. And the comradery..well, it will always be cherished.
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