Description: Talkeetna is located where three rivers, the Talkeetna, Chulitna and Susitna converge. What better place to establish a tour operation featuring fishing and river tours. I first learned of Mahay’s on the television show "Extreme Alaska" although we opted for a more peaceful tour than their high-speed extreme jet boat ride, the Devil’s Canyon Adventure.
Our boat captain was Israel, assisted by naturalist Conner. Both young men provided a lot of local knowledge and perspective on life here in the river valley. Along the way we saw a lot of bald eagles. We also saw several black bears scampering into the hillside as our airboat made its (loud) way down the river. We also had the opportunity of seeing a few late run silver salmon making their way upstream at one of the creeks that fed the Chulitna River.
One of the features of all of their tours is a stop at their fish camp and hunter's homestead down river. At the fish camp, we learned about living off the land; hunting and fishing. Walking a little further down the trail brought us to the homestead cabin. It is amazing to me that people live in the small 10x12 thatch roof dry cabins. Israel told of how his parents moved to Talkeenta from Upstate New York back in the 1970’s and homesteaded their five acres and built (by hand) their small cabin that was not accessible by any roads. After our little stop here, we were given a chocolate chip cookie and soft drink snack.
The Three Rivers Tour is offered daily through the end of August at 3:15pm and travels approximately 50 miles over the course of the three and a half hour trip. For guests staying at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, the shuttle stop is right in the Mahay’s parking lot. One thing guests should be aware of, the cruise lines heavily market this tour in their land packages and as such, if traveling independently, you may be among a large contingency of cruisers. While not necessarily a bad thing, they are interesting to watch while traveling. Nuff said on that.
The price of the Three Rivers Tour is $110 for adults and $55 for children ages five and under. Yes, this means that a seven year old child is the full adult price of $110. But do not angst much, as Mahay’s does participate in the Northern Lights discount coupon book with a 2:1 offering. We enjoyed our time with Mahay’s and would recommend this to anyone staying in or passing through Talkeetna.
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