3 days
We stashed our bikes (more on this later), with helmets, bike tool stuff, extra water, and snacks in a ursack (more on this later), and then drove down Petersville road. Charlotte, Rowan and I started out Saturday morning on ATV tracks Ivona and I had hiked around the year prior, after biking in with camping stuff for an overnight. The ATV tracks lasted for maybe 3-5 miles (?) and then we walked a series of ridges. Lot of blueberries before getting onto the ridge.
Super nice views. We got to be in the top percentage of tourists to Alaska that have seen the summit of Denali! You could see up the Tokositna, where you would come out from the Pika if you were hiking out. We funneled down off the ridge into the bushes. We aimed down river of the lake, thinking we could maybe avoid a beaver damn or find better camping that way. We ended up camping on a grassy hump above the lake outlet. It didn't look like there was camping for a little bit along the outlet, and we wanted to get off the ridge and complete the raft portion the next day. If you had more time or wanted to load other days, camping on the ridge would be nice too. We ended up walking around 12.5 mi this day.
The next morning we paddled along the outlet, portaged a beaver damn, and connected with the main channel after around 6mi. We continued on the Tokositna for around 24mi before connecting with the Chulitna. The Tokositna maintained Class I and maybe some Class II, but we also had low water. Maybe watch for features were the Ruth comes in, cool to think about tracking this river up to areas I've been in as well!
Once we connected with the Chulitna the current picked up. I actually had only rafted the Chulitna the first week of May when Erin and I skiied then rafted to Talkeetna from the Eldrige, so I wasn't sure if it would be pushier. The canyon and all had minimal features, and overall just fast cold glacial water. We could have floated to Talkeetna, but that would have required a car shuttle, which I would have wanted to avoid and hitch hike instead. So we looked for areas to pull out and make bike to make it a loop. Charlotte had a good idea to park at the East-West Express Trail. I took a small track down a little trail towards the water while we were stashing our bikes. We pulled out that evening after 44mi of rafting, which took us around 11 hours, lining up with my track and Charlotte's pin. This area was the most rapid-like water we had seen but staying along the side trying to pull out was calm. We bushwhacked up a bit and met up with the trail. We camped in the bushes around here.
The next morning we hid our boating stuff and extra food separately, then biked along the highway past Trapper Creek, and down Petersville road. It was 7mi along the paved road to Trapper. I think the pavement on Petersville road stopped 10mi in, and the bike total was 37mi in 4 hours. There's some hills but the gravel is in good condition. You could also hitch hike this road back likely, especially during hunting season.
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