Photo Courtesy of Yvette Galbraith/Alaska Rivers Company
Gary Galbraith, a river guide for 30 years, with happy clients on the Kenai River.
Gary Galbraith, a river guide for 30 years, with happy clients on the Kenai River.
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Photo Courtesy of Yvette Galbraith/Alaska Rivers Company Gary Galbraith, a river guide for 30 years, with happy clients on the Kenai River. |
By Yvette Galbraith
Special to the Turnagain Times
Thirty-three years is a long time to have the same job, and do the same thing over and over again, year after year. But when it involves rowing people down the beautiful turquoise waters of the Upper Kenai, your job can never get old. In 1976 an adventurous, well-traveled young man, Gary Galbraith, came to Cooper Landing to settle. He considered it to be the most beautiful place a person could live, and it is where he chose to raise a family and start his guided rafting and fishing business, Alaska Rivers Company.
When Galbraith started working on the river, he joined just a couple others who offered guided rafting or guided fishing on the upper Kenai. In over 30 years of operation, many changes have occurred throughout the Kenai Peninsula. When Gary was asked about those changes in business since the ‘70s, he replied, “My first year included strapping the raft to the top of my car to get clients back from Sportsmans,” said Galbraith. “Now, I have vans that hook up to a custom trailers to haul our boats back from the river. Back then, we didn’t have to have all these permits to guide rafting and fishing trips on the Kenai. Now I think we are up to over 20 or more different forms or certifications that our guides have to carry, but the beauty of the river and what it has to offer has stayed the same.”
Galbraith has guided many rafting trips around the state, nation and world since he started Alaska Rivers Company. He’s been well known for his whitewater kayaking, and for a time, offered kayaking and canoe lessons on the Kenai. Then in the off season, Galbraith use to share his backcountry winter pursuits with clients in offering snow cat tours, back country skiing and heli-guiding.
Today, you’ll find Alaska Rivers Company focused on offering custom built log cabins for rent, guided scenic raft trips, guided drift boat fishing and guided hikes. In the off season Galbraith can be found down the Grand Canyon, playing in the back country skiing with his family or continuing his building projects, which span over those 30 plus years.
He’s happy to see that there are several businesses in the Landing and surrounding communities offering a variety of outdoor adventures that many of today’s visitors pursue.
Aside from not allowing motors on the upper portion of the river since the ‘90s, not much has changed in what the Kenai has to share. For those who take a guided raft or fishing trip, there have always been breathtaking scenic views that you would never be able to see from without going with the flow of the river. There has always been the opportunity to see bears, moose, eagles, goats and sheep from the peaceful tranquility of the Kenai’s turquoise waters.
Rafters and fishermen alike have for years had the opportunity to float down the river, away from the crowds and shoulder-to-shoulder fishing. Only a select number of commercial outfitters, like Alaska Rivers Company, are permitted to take their clients into the heart of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, through what is known as the Kenai Canyon.
These folks get to experience the Class II & III rapids, enjoy the solitude away from the highways and the crowds, and then to finish it all off, enjoy the magnificent beauty of Skilak Lake.
“Even after 30 years, it doesn’t get much better than this,” said Galbraith. “Floating down the Kenai River and being able to enrich people’s lives by providing a safe, fun and beautiful adventure, every day!”
Alaska Rivers Company is located at Mile 50 Sterling Highway in Cooper Landing.
Tel. 888-595-1226.
Yvette Galbraith co-owns Alaska Rivers Company with her husband Gary.