McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters

McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters

McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters
5
River Rafting & TubingEco ToursHiking & Camping ToursStand Up PaddleboardingKayaking & Canoeing
Monday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
Closed
Sunday
Closed
About
McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters was founded in 2010 in the spirit of exploring the great rivers located in Wrangell St. Elias National Park. With over 13 million acres of federally protected land, Wrangell St. Elias is the largest park in the United States. In Alaska, Adventure is the name of the game! With more wilderness than any other state in the America, an Alaska raft trip can create memories for a lifetime. We offer trips for all skill levels, including some of the finest scenic rivers and undiscovered whitewater stretches in the world. McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters is excited to help you with your Alaska plans, our knowledgeable and friendly staff are happy to help you with each step of your travel planning process. Please contact us at any time to discuss your Alaska Raft Trip or any other parts of your Alaska adventure.
McCarthy, Alaska

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Tours and Tickets by McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

5.0
5.0 of 5 bubbles281 reviews
Excellent
262
Very good
16
Average
3
Poor
0
Terrible
0

Adventurer635570
2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2022 • Family
We stayed for three nights at McCarthy. Since it was going to rain the third day we booked a trip with McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters. We chose the 4 hour lake and river rafting based on some very informative email interaction with Chris. The trip was really amazing. We had lots of fun and always failed safe despite some fun big waves on the river. Given our younger kids we had three tour guides: Ally, Sarah and Violet, with Ally being the lead guide. They all made the experience super fun for the whole family and our kids learned a lot about McCarthy and the glacier and had lots of laughs. They also have a pick up and drop off service and even the bus rides to and from the river were very fun and super enjoyable. I can highly recommend this tour for old and young ones. Thank you Ally, Sarah and Violet!
Written June 10, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

David A
Kathmandu20 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2023 • Solo
Rafting 100 miles of Alaska's Copper River is not for the faint of heart. It's hard to overstate the number of variables that are outside of your control—weather, wild animals, river hazards, accidents, etc. You DEFINITELY want to be with experienced, competent guides.

McCarthy River Tours provided just that—our guides had dozens of multi-day trips and hundreds of "river days" under their belts. They were highly skilled in navigating the complex currents of the river, provided EXCELLENT service and hospitality, and made the whole trip an absolute blast.

10/10 would go again deep into the Alaskan bush with this company!
Written September 24, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

allison1080
Raleigh, NC34 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022 • Family
We did the 4 hour lake and river rafting tour. Our guide, Gwen, was great! She gets 5 stars. The overall experience was 4 stars because we felt the paddling the lake part was way too long and somewhat boring. If we were new to the area, then it would have been better because we would be learning about glaciers. However, we had done an all-day glacier hike the day before and knew everything Gwen was telling us. The actual rafting part was wonderful and my family of 5 really enjoyed that - our 3 teenagers loved that part! This experience would be better if it was a shorter time period with less "passing the time" while paddling slowly across a lake. Two of our dry suits leaked and the people were quite wet at the end. My teenagers loved this, but my husband and I think it could be improved to make it 5 stars and we probably wouldn't book it again.
Written July 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Wei C
Pasadena, CA3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
We took the 4 Hour Kennicott glacier lake & river raft tour, it was super fun with viewing of Kennicott glacier and icebergs floating in the lake. Our guide Lily is truly knowledgeable and fun at the same time, gave us lots of info about the place and helped my wife to clean up her skin burn (suffered prior to the tour). She recommended a nice place to eat as well, making the whole trip so much more enjoyable!
Written September 4, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

SKW
Sitka, AK10 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2022 • Couples
If you want to get in the water and have fun in an afternoon, this is your tour. We had zero experience but we’re Alaskans vacationing in Alaska and decided to check out rafting in McCarthy. We had a blast! The guides, Johnny with the hair, Lily, and Violet answered every question and made everything fun. Violet was our guide in our raft and was the perfect guide, between talking up how fun McCarthy was, teaching us Rafting 101, and telling us how much fun guides have on river trips in AK. They do have fun; the enthusiasm was contagious. We would definitely consider another trip with them and have our eyes on a multi day.

Why come to Alaska if you’re not getting on the water?!
Written September 6, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Miscleo
Chicago, IL18 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020 • Couples
We had an amazing time and Johnny was a phenomenal host. That said, the cost for the half day 4 hour glacier lake tour was much too high, particularly given that the tour was promised at 4 hours 15 minutes, but was only 2 hours 45 minutes.

This half day (really 2 hour 45 minute) tour was 50% more than a full day (8 hour) kayaking tour in Seward, and more than 50% more than a full day (8 hour) glacier hike.
Written August 2, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your thoughts and for taking the time to come out with us on your McCarthy adventure. We're bummed to hear you weren't completely pleased with your excursion as our goal is to be the highlight of your McCarthy experience. 2020 has been a tough year with the pandemic, as late as early May, we weren't even sure if we were going to be able to operate. We made adjustments to our scheduling and our tours to reflect the current realities & ensure for the safety of our guests and employees. The biggest adjustment was changing all of our day tours to be privately booked to ensure the safety of our guests. With that adjustment, our prices reflect the cost of operating groups of varying size with the per person cost going down with the more folks that are in your personal group. To successfully offset costs of trips, we naturally have to charge more for smaller parties. Our location and operation are much more remote than Seward which makes it hard to offer a direct price comparison, Seward is 2 hours from Anchorage on a well maintained highway while in McCarthy, in America's largest National Park, we are 8 hours with 320 miles, including 60 miles of dirt road, separating us from the financial hub of the state. The added mileage and remote location significantly increases the cost of operating. It is also hard to price compare directly with a glacier hike, the equipment involved with paddling in glacial waters, (drysuit, flotation device, kayak & paddle)) is significantly more than the price of the crampons needed to go on a glacier hike. We are the only raft outfitter in McCarthy that offers drysuits with trips, allowing you the experience of jumping from an iceberg into a glacial lake as well as protecting your personal belongings from the sticky glacial silt. I asked Johnny why your trip was a bit shorter than anticipated as our trips are typically full length if not longer than the advertised time, this being one of the benefits of a private booking. From what I understand, it was a misunderstanding on his part as he said the breeze on the lake was picking up and clouds were moving in, he made an assumption that you were getting cold from the weather and decided to bring you in a little earlier than anticipated. He apologizes for the misunderstanding and is bummed that he read the situation wrong. We had a great time meeting you and hope that the rest of your Alaska travels have gone well! Thank you again for supporting small, Alaskan owned business' in a very tumultuous time!
Written August 8, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Alexandra B
2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2021 • Family
Violet was our tour guide, she was extremely friendly, smart and funny. She provided an excellent tour of the glacier lake and we learned so much about the area and about rafting and mountains and glacier surrounding us and answered any questions we had about the surrounding area. she is a True badass who literally hikes mountains on her day off?! we got stuck at one point and with no hesitation she jumped out of the boat and pushed us back into the river. She was really accommodating to me and my family.

The only thing I wish was different was that the tour was advertised as 4 hours and we anticipated an hour of Lake time with the rest being rafting but only ended up getting maybe 30 minutes of time on the river, so we were a little disappointed that it wasn't advertised that way.
Written July 8, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Pam H
2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2023 • Friends
We rafted the remote Copper River for 7 days with guides Marlon, Jake, and Brakyn. The trip had beautiful scenery floating through the Chugach Mountains and included our last two nights camped in front of the Childs Glacier which was cracking and calving alot during our stay -that was spectacular. The guides did a great job selecting campsites, making delicious meals for us, and stopping at or pointing out highlights along the river. The company provided very nice sleeping bags, pads and tents for our use. We were in very capable hands! We saw one brown bear, and lots of eagles and seals. Bring warm clothes!
Written July 4, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

DiDi714
Grenada9 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021
My family of 4 (husband, parents and 2 boys age 10 and 12) went out on a half day tour with Johnny on the river. He was very personable, interacted with both grandparents and kids very well, even laughed at my kids fart jokes. Johnny picked us up from our hotel (Kennicott Glacier Lodge) and made sure we were fitted in our dry suits before heading down the river. The kids loved jumping off an iceberg in the lake before heading down the river. My kids say this was the highlight of our Alaska trip! We would highly recommend! Also after you are done, the booth also sells ice cream!
Written July 3, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Tera C
6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021 • Family
Glacier lake, kayaking and jumping from a glacier!
We met Violet today at 2:00pm and she had everything ready for us! We suited up in fry’s units and flotation devices and set out for a short stroll to glacier lake. We are a family of 5 with dad, mom, and 3 kids ages 16, 13, and 9.75!

This was a perfect adventure for our family. We love kayaking and it was a beautiful day! Violet was super informative about the glaciers, the lake, and surrounding mountains. It was also super fun to jump from the glacier and watch the rocks tumble down the glacier.

I highly recommend this trip and we will cherish the memory!
Written June 15, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2025)

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