Icy Bay Sea Kayaking Trip Video
Trip Info
You’ll love five nights camping in Icy Bay, one night at a lodge in Yakutat. 5 days of paddling, hiking and photographing.
Camp by the beach and enjoy a nightly fire and great food. The view from dinner doesn’t get any better.
Paddling adventures will takes us across the bay and up the various fjords and passages of the bay. We’ll try to get up close to the various glaciers and icebergs but must treat them all with respect. Water in the bay can easily reach depths of 300 feet!
This is rated as an easy trip and we offer a flexible itinerary to accommodate you/your group.
Combine a few days sea kayaking with some hiking, beach camping, exploring and relaxing in one of the most impressive landscapes anywhere. Basecamp and enjoy paddling different fjords each day.
Or if you’re looking for something a little more adventurous we can break camp each day and paddle to a new location.
Your call.
Coastal Alaska
Icy Bay
100 years ago, this bay was covered in ice. A multitude of massive gainers crept southward from the St. Elias Mountains and met the shores of the northern Pacific Ocean along the Cape Yakataga shoreline. There was no bay here when Captain Cook sailed by in 1778.
Today, after a century of recent glacial retreat, Icy Bay is a cluster of cool, deep bays. As the glaciers recede further northward toward the lofty sanctity of the St. Elias Range, Icy Bay grows even larger.
Three large fjords constitute the best of our paddling domain, and we’ll explore the nooks and crannies of all of them; the Taan and the Tsaa in particular.
Icy Bay was labelled one of the 10 treasures of the world by National Geographic, and truly lives up to its reputation. Icebergs the size of a small house float by. Mountains soar overhead.
Mt. St. Elias
Any commentary on Icy Bay inevitably includes observations on Mt. St. Elias.
Why? Because it’s a remarkable mountain, and a powerful spectacle. When the clouds clear and the mountain comes out, it commands our attention.
Rising over 18 000 feet directly from the shoreline, the mountain is the tallest coastal peak in the world. Sitting on the US/Canada border, it is the second tallest peak in both countries. Its presence above our camp and our excursions is constant. You’re ever aware of this mountain.
The Saint Elias mountain range is the world’s tallest coastal mountain range, and the scenery here is without equal. Snow-capped peaks surround you. You’ll also get great views of 4 glaciers, the Guyot, Yahtse and Tyndall Glaciers being the most prominent.
Who's This Trip For?
This trip is a great option for those looking for an easy vacation in a remote and beautifully wild setting. It’s also customizable enough to fit both novice paddlers and experienced kayakers and outdoors people.
Looking for a quiet getaway? This trip is for you. Solitude and a peaceful serene wilderness locale make the Icy Bay Sea Kayaking Trip the perfect summer destination. The relatively calm, glassy water of the fjords make it a nice place to paddle for those with little or no experience.
You might also take short easy dayhikes along the beach or through the woods. Explore the edges of the glaciers at the far reaches of the fjords. There are numerous small creeks and waterfalls to enjoy and photo opps around every bend.
For those folks looking for a more rigorous outing we’ll break camp each day and kayak the entire length and breadth of the bay. There are campsites along the beach near the glaciers. If you’d like we can make this an expedition adventure of the entire Icy Bay.
Testimonials
Where Are We?
Logistics
Depending on the exact trip itinerary and extension options you’d prefer, we depart from Yakutat to Icy Bay, or possibly from McCarthy. We’ll fly in to Icy Bay, land on a spectacular beach, and set up camp.
Weather issues
The Taan Fjord still shows on many maps as ice covered! The calm, protected pristine waters of these fjords make classic Alaska sea kayaking. Even in inclement weather we’re typically able to get out and paddle. We can venture up the various fjords towards the glaciers, hike the shore lands and poke around the glaciers as we explore this very dynamic area.
Gear Requirements
I’ll provide you with a detailed gear list upon your reservation. download the Free eBook Info Packet for a brief overview if you like.
Trip Options & Extensions
There are various possibilities to extend the trip. We can head to the nearby Samovar hills for a multi-day hike, or the Lost Coast for a backpack/packraft trip, or cross over the mighty St. Elias Mountains and combine this trip with one of the backpacking/basecamp trips in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, such as Iceberg Lake – Bremner Mines. For a challenging adventure, we can grab our backpacks and traverse across the mighty Malaspina Glacier in an honestly epic adventure. Not for the meek!!! We can, if you’re interested, also extend the Icy Bay sea kayaking portion of the trip to more thoroughly explore every nook and cranny of this amazing place!
Trip Itinerary
Caveat – don’t expect your trip to run exactly as I outline it here. This section is here to give you an outline of a typical itinerary, and is only intended as a sample.
Exact logistics will vary by year and by trip.
That said …. read on
– You need to arrive in Yakutat the night before our trip begins.
– We’ll meetup the morning of your trip departure date for a brief orientation and gear review. next, meet your pilot for a spectacular charter flight to Icy Bay. We’ll fly to Icy Bay, land on the beach, have a bite to eat, and then establish our campsite.