The most direct way to access Sheenjek River for a float trip down is a flight out of Fairbanks. However you can take a scheduled flight from Fairbanks to Arctic Village and then a charter from Arctic Village to Sheenjek River.
Sheenjek River is managed by both U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The river heads in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Romanzof Mountains. It flows primarily south before joining Porcupine River just to the east of Fort Yukon. The upper Sheenjek is faster paced and can include Class II rapids, while traveling through beautiful arctic mountain landscape of the Brooks Range of treeless high tundra. The lower Sheenjek is slower deeper and more relaxed with rolling hills and scattered forest.
The Sheenjek River makes for a great float trip that can take up to two and a half weeks depending on weather and which type of boat you float in. High country float trips generally start at Double Mountain strip. Most of the water is Class I, occasionally Class II. Sweepers and jams are hazards you can expect to encounter, so be mindful. July is generally the best time to float the river. The later in to August you get the lower water levels and colder temps, and more traffic along the river picks up as hunting season is open.
Grayling, round whitefish, slimy sculpin can be found throughout the river. Other fish found in Sheenjek River primarily near the headwaters include longnose sucker, humpback whitefish, broad whitefish, least cisco, burbot. Sheefish and northern pike, are found closer to the Porcupine River. In fall chum salmon are historically the most abundant salmon species in the river, arriving in August and spawn ending in October.
Moose, caribou, and grizzles are likely to be seen floating the river.
Some of the Porcupine Caribou Herd winter along Sheenjek River.
Native name published in 1895 by U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS). J. H. Turner, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS), in 1889 called it "Salmon," presumably a translation of the native name.
The Sheenjek River served as a travel corridor for trading between the Athabascan and Inupiat.
Up until the 1940's there was an active village near White Snow Mountain. Many of the residents moved to Arctic Village.
