The Alsek and Tatshenshini Rivers offer some of North America’s most spectacular wilderness journeys — a rare river system that begins in the world’s largest non-polar icecap and before flowing through the Yukon, British Columbia and Alaska under the towering mountain ranges to the Pacific coast of Alaska.
Protected within one of the largest protected areas on earth, this network of National parks and Indigenous traditional territories, this region is renowned for immense glaciers, deep river valleys, abundant wildlife, and dramatic scenery on a Himalayan scale..
For paddlers, hikers, photographers, and wilderness travellers, the Alsek and Tatshenshini offer a journey through one of the wildest landscapes on earth.
The Tatshenshini-Alsek region is internationally recognized for its ecological importance and extraordinary concentration of protected wilderness. Kluane National Park and Reserve, Glacier Bay National Park, and Wrangell–St. Elias National Park together form part of the largest internationally protected mountain wilderness on Earth and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The rivers flow through a landscape still melting out from the last ice-age. The world’s largest non-polar icecap feeds these rivers that wind through broad valleys beneath the world’s tallest coastal mountain, Mount Fairweather.
Millions of years of tectonic uplift, glacial erosion and powerful rivers have created ideal habitat for all five species of Pacific salmon and the keystone species they support. This intact ecosystem and its and salmon-bearing waterways support the world’s densest population of grizzly bears as well as mountain goats, moose, wolves and bald eagles.
For thousands of years, these river corridors served as important travel and trade routes connecting interior and coastal Indigenous communities.
The region lies within the traditional territories of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, Kluane First Nation, and Tlingit People whose knowledge and stewardship of the land continue to this day.
Their ancient routes through these valleys connected cultures, supported trade networks, vibrant material cultures long before modern borders or parks existed.
The defining feature of the region is its scale. Towering peaks of the St. Elias and Coast Mountains rise over 15,000’ above immense icefields that feed the Alsek and Tatshenshini rivers year-round.
Surging glaciers dominate the horizon in many sections of the journey, while hanging valleys, waterfalls, and powerful river currents create a constantly evolving landscape shaped by ice and water
As the rivers approach the Pacific coast, the environment transitions dramatically from alpine and subarctic terrain into temperate coastal ecosystems influenced by the Gulf of Alaska’s maritime weather.
Journeys through the Alsek and Tatshenshini region combine expedition rafting, wilderness camping, wildlife observation, and immersive northern travel experiences in one of the planet’s great intact ecosystems.
Operating since 1972 Nahanni River Adventures and Canadian River Expeditions bring decades of northern river expertise, thoughtful logistics, and a deep respect for these extraordinary landscapes. Whether navigating glacier-fed rapids, hiking beside immense icefields, or observing wildlife, every expedition offers a rare connection to this globally significant, wilderness areas.
Join us on a 12-day Rafting & Hiking Expedition on the Alsek River
Join us for an 11-Day Rafting & Hiking Expedition on the Tatshenshini River
Join us for an 8-day Rafting & Hiking Expedition on the Upper Alsek River
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