Do You Need Rain Pants for Alaska Backpacking? (Yes, Here’s Why)

December 3rd, 2025 by Carl D
Backpacking in the Rain, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
Well-dressed group backpacking in the rain, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

hey Folks,

When you’re packing for a backpacking trip in Alaska’s wet climate it’s important to think beyond just a rain jacket. It can rain a lot. You need to carry rain pants as well.

Does it Really Rain That Much in Alaska?

Travelers planning a trip to Alaska often wonder: Does it really rain that much in Alaska?

The short answer?

Well, I asked Trevor, our backpacking guide extraordinaire, who’s had more than his fair share of wet Alaska backcountry time. Trevor spends most of the summer walking around in the mountains guiding folks who wonder why he’s drier than they are.

“Yes, it rains. But not always in the way you might expect. Duration matters more than volume (typically).”

So how much rain are we talking about?

When it rains in coastal Alaska, it’s usually a lighter, steadier rain rather than a sudden downpour like the Rocky Mountain afternoon thunderstorms or the heavy East Coast rain events you may be used to. Think the Pacific northwest weather patterns.

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IOM Dec 2025 – Fishing Time

November 29th, 2025 by Carl D
Female brown bear fishing for salmon in Katmai National Park, Alaska.
Hungry Momma!! This sow went HARD after salmon. A joy to watch.

Hey Folks

Here’s our Image of the Month for the holiday season.

Harkening back to our early September grizzlies in the Mist Trip. Bears were not so hungry this summer in this area; fish were so plentiful. But this mother sown and her 2 two year old cubs showed up and gave us a spectacle.

We watched her and her twins go after fish relentlessly for several hours. Fish after fish and fish. Brown bears sure can put them away when they want to. Amazing.

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Cold Weather Photography Clothing

November 21st, 2025 by Carl D
Cold weather photography tips - from Snowshoeing, McCarthy, Alaska.
Snowshoeing on snow machine trail on Kennicott River, winter, McCarthy, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Key Takeaways: Staying Warm While Photographing

  • Three L’s rule: Loft, Loose, Lots – puffy layers that fit loose, and lots of them
  • Size up everything: Boots and gloves need to be bigger than you think for blood circulation
  • Solve the hand problem: 3-layer glove system + chemical warmers + pockets as warming stations
  • Act before you’re cold: Mitts on early, warming breaks every 30-45 minutes, movement generates heat
  • Know your temperature range: Different cold needs different gear (-10°F vs -35°F is completely different)

Winter Photography Demands Different Gear

The cold in Alaska, in the winter, is incredible.

Its stillness, its silence, its depth, and the intimacy of really feeling alone in the frozen north woods is an experience like no other. It’s almost as if the cold is some thing, some being itself, a tangible reality rather than a temperature. It’s a unique experience, and it’s not at all entirely bad – in fact, I love it.

But I don’t love freezing my tail off. My friend Patrick, longtime Alaska resident and a fantastic photographer says it best, “I like being in the cold, but I don’t like being cold”. #Truth

It’s really an extraordinary experience, and I do look forward to the winter. But I don’t want to be cold; I want to be bundled up and cozy, and enjoy the cold from inside my insulation.

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Glacier Hiking for Backpacking Trips in Alaska

November 6th, 2025 by Carl D
Backpacking on a glacier in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
Guide Training in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

Hey Folks,

We run backpacking trips. Lots of them. We spend a lot of time on ice. A LOT of time. Over the years, collectively, the guides at Expeditions Alaska have clocked hundreds of miles walking, camping, relaxing, and exploring, on ice.

It’s such a big part of what we do, glacier travel is an integral part of our Guide Training Camp. I thought we might share some of the notes we reference for guides during that camp.

What You Should Know About Hiking on Glaciers in Alaska

Traction

Kahtoola Microspikes are great

  • “When do I put them on?” As soon as ice is the norm (not moraine/rock).
  • A lot of folks have trouble putting them on. Don’t skimp or rush it. Take your time. Make sure they’re on securely.
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Rafting on the Canning River, ANWR, Alaska

October 14th, 2025 by Carl D
Rafting Canning River, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.
Rafting Canning River, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a photo of us rafting down the Upper Marsh Fork of the Canning River – essentially the headwaters of the Canning in the Brooks Range, close to the continental divide.

The river here has eroded its way through the layers of bedrock to form this really neat little mini-canyon. I hopped out of the boat to take some photos of the run. Actually, we ran it several times, and I shot each time, some horizontals, a few verticals, some wider, some tighter, trying to get different compositions of essentially the same scene. I like this one the most, I think the vertical frame gives heightens the sense of action of the rafting, and accentuates the canyon walls and the mountains – it’s not as spacious as some of the horizontal compositions, but it feels closer to what the experience was for me.

For me, any photograph should strive to do that – present the experience of the photographer. I emphasize that in our Photo Tours.

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Grizzly bear cub twins

December 31st, 2024 by Carl D
2 grizzly bear cubs, twins, cubs of the year, Katmai National Park, Alaska.
Alaska Brown Bear Photo Tours

Hey Folks,

Had my bear spray handy this afternoon. Even though they might only be little, grizzly bear cubs are pretty bold – bold enough to climb on a stick and poke their tongue out at my camera.

They know full well, of course, that their mother outweighs me by several hundred pounds, is a coupla yards quicker than my aged legs can carry me 😁, is quite a bit stronger, has bigger, pointier teeth, sharper, longer claws, and is a LOT more willing to get in a tussle than I am.

Hence, they’re pretty bold.

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Designating Wilderness: Your Choice

December 27th, 2024 by Carl D
Coastal plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska (aerial photo).
Coastal plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska (aerial photo).

Hey Folks,

[UPDATED: An older piece of writing I thought might be useful to re-publish nowadays – some things don’t really change.]

The Public Comment Hearing

One night I attended  public comment hearing for the preliminary stages of a Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). In short, a comment period allows the public to offer information and thoughts on some of the issues they feel might need to be addressed, and oftentimes their thoughts as to how those issues should be addressed. The CCP is a document that “outlines and guides long-term management” of the Refuge.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) are the land management agency responsible for managing the Refuge. It’s worth browsing the FWS ANWR webpage for some useful ideas on how this works.

The Debate Over Wilderness Designation

One of the critical topics up for discussion is the designation of  “wilderness” in the Refuge. Currently, nearly half (41%) of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 19.3 million acres is designated wilderness. The remaining 10 million acres are not currently designated “wilderness”.

The FWS proposed to study these areas and determine whether or not they qualify as wilderness; the ‘Wilderness Review‘ section of the CCP. A recommendation would then be made to Congress to designate these areas wilderness. Such a designation would render the Refuge off-limits to oil and gas extraction.

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Bear Claws; black, polar and grizzly bear claws

December 17th, 2024 by Carl D
Comparison of Grizzly bear, black bear and polar bear claws
Bear claw comparison: black bear (Ursus americanus), polar bear (Ursus maritimus), grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), and Kodiak brown bear. Click image for larger view.

I thought I’d post this old shot, as it might be of interest to some folks. A photo showing the different size and shapes of claws from various species of American bears. From left to right, the claws are: black bear, polar bear, grizzly bear, coastal brown bear or Kodiak bear. The polar bear is the only true carnivore out of those species, but it’s claws are but a fraction of the size of those belonging to the great grizzly, and in particular, the coastal brown bear.

What Makes Each Species’ Claws Different

The claws in that photo tell you everything about how each bear makes a living.

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Weather in Alaska

November 12th, 2024 by Carl D

Hey Folks,

One of the most common questions we get, every trip, every year, every month, is “What to pack?”

We provide all guests with a ton of info on packing. People often look for a shortcut and then want to “hope for the best”. “Will I be OK with … “ is usually really a question of “I don’t want to bring xyzzy”.

And, of course, you MIGHT be ok without all that gear. You might just nail the weather and enjoy shorts and t-shirt weather the entire time.

But you might not.

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Meditation on American Guiding: Frontier Era to Now

February 19th, 2024 by Carl D
Heart of the Park Backpacking trip, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

It’s sad that opening up the book on the history of guiding opens up the book on the history of colonization. It definitely does.

That being said, there were early frontier guides that were closer to native life, and some that wanted to destroy it.

Kit Carson and the Frontier Guides

Kit Carson (1809-1868) was in the camp of the former.

In the frontier era, many guides roamed the wilderness, yet none garnered as much admiration as Kit Carson. He never made it to Alaska, but he made it everywhere else. Renowned for his pivotal role in the USA absorbing California and New Mexico, in his later career Carson led the defense against Confederate attempts to seize the nascent American West. To delve deeper into these captivating stories of how our country relied on this man to create a bi-coastal nation, I recommend losing yourself in Hampton Side’s Blood and Thunder. Carson forged close bonds with numerous tribes, fully immersing himself in their languages and lifestyles. 

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