Your Safety

You're on your own. This is the number one message preserve visitors must know and apply to their visit to Yukon-Charley Rivers. There is no cell phone service and there are no amenities or services in the preserve. When you depart Fairbanks, Tok, Eagle, or Circle, you may not see another person until your return to civilization or your pilot comes to pick you up. Visitors must be self-reliant and able to execute self-extraction and communication, should an emergency situation arise.

Planning

Read our Backcountry Trip Planning Guide in preparation for your trip and download a free outdoor gear checklist (1.57mb). As the majority of our visitors travel by river, whether it be floating the whitewater of the Charley in an inflatable raft or canoeing or motorboating on the Yukon, we have developed a River Trip Planning Guide for Alaska, to help you be better prepared for your adventure. If your trip involves hiking or crossing waterways, from small creeks to major rivers, visit our Backcountry River Crossing webpage to learn safe techniques to get you to the other side and back again.

Leave a detailed trip plan with friends & family and describe to them what you are doing, where you are going, and what to do if you do not return by a certain date. Make sure they understand the inherent unpredictability of remote Alaskan transportation in regards to weather.

Download a free detailed backcountry trip plan (59kb PDF) and leave one at home, bring one with you, and leave another with your pilot, if you are flying.

Access

If you are relying on air travel for your visit, be aware that air taxis are often times unable to fly in inclement weather. Bring a few extra days of food and allow for 'weather days' in your trip plan to accommodate poor weather. Learn more about transportation to public lands in Alaska and chartering aircraft.

Many visitors to Yukon-Charley Rivers arrive & travel by motorboat during the fall hunting season. Visit our Hunting Resources and Boating Safety webpages to learn more about planning a successful and enjoyable trip to the preserve.

Communication

Unlike many other satellite communication tools which operate on satellites that do not provide reliable service as far north as Yukon-Charley Rivers, satellite phones are an excellent method of two-way communication in Alaska's backcountry, as they function on satellites that orbit the earth north to south and vice versa, providing excellent coverage in Alaska's wilderness areas. Consider renting a satellite phone in Fairbanks before your trip to the preserve.

Land Ethics

Follow the wilderness ethic of others and leave this wild land as you found it, or better, for future generations. Learn how to do this by reading about Leave No Trace in Alaska's Backcountry. Visitors in the park must practice minimum impact camping techniques by adhering to Leave No Trace principles, follow backcountry safety guidelines, and be aware of the fragile ecosystems and private lands within the park.

Bear Safety

Watch a short video on staying safe in bear country to learn safe and responsible practices for recreating on Alaska's wild lands. Learn more about bear safety through the Alaska Public Lands Information Centers' bear safety page.

Bear-resistant food containers are required for your overnight visit to Yukon-Charley Rivers and are provided free of charge at the Eagle Visitor Center. No reservations can be taken as they are provided first come, first serve. Yukon-Charley Rivers provides steel drum BRFCs with locking lids. No backpacker BRFCs are available at this time through Yukon-Charley Rivers.

If you are hiking, packrafting, or kayaking in Yukon-Charley Rivers, please visit the Alaska Public Lands Information Center in Fairbanks to rent a backpacker BRFC. Be aware these backpacker barrels are rented for hiking, packrafting, and kayaking only, where the large steel BRFCs are impossible to use. Canoeists are required to use the steel BRFCs, provided in Eagle.

For more links on safety and planning your trip to Yukon-Charley Rivers, visit the Fairbanks Alaska Centers website.