About Us

Real Guides. Real Wilderness. Since 2010.

We are a locally owned McCarthy Alaska outfitter offering guided rafting, glacier hikes, and backcountry wilderness trips in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

TALK WITH A LOCAL GUIDE

Multi-day Alaska rafting trips through Wrangell-St. Elias wilderness on glacial rivers.

World-Class Recognition, Grounded in Real Experience

In 2025, McCarthy River Tours was recognized by the World Luxury Travel Awards as Best River Rafting in the United States.

For us, the award reflects years of careful guiding, small groups, and direct experience leading rafting and wilderness trips in the remote backcountry of Wrangell–St. Elias National Park.

There’s Alaska, and then there’s Wrangell–St. Elias.

McCarthy River Tours began because a group of river guides spent enough time exploring the Kennicott Valley to realize something was missing: an outfitter that puts people over profit, stories over souvenirs, and safety over shortcuts.

We’d seen too many crowds, too much rushing, too many checklist versions of Alaska that missed the point entirely. So in 2010, we started guiding trips the way we wanted to experience this place ourselves—small groups, proper gear, and enough time to actually feel where you are rather than just photograph it.

Since then, we’ve helped guests step away from the tour buses and dive deep into the real backcountry of Wrangell-St. Elias. The kind of places where glaciers still calve into rivers, weather determines the schedule, and the best moments happen when you stop trying to “do it all” and just settle into where you are.

We’re not a big-group, one-size-fits-all operation. We’re a crew of experienced guides who believe in small groups, personalized trips, and backcountry experiences that actually feel wild. Whether you’re celebrating something significant or just want to reconnect with something real, our trips are designed around your pace, your comfort level, and your sense of adventure.

Wrangell-St. Elias is not a place you “run through.” It’s a place you feel. And we’re here to introduce you to it the right way.

Want to know more about McCarthy and Kennecott? Curious how to link your rafting trip with local lodging or camping? Check out our sister site, Explore McCarthy Alaska for planning tips from folks who actually live here.

Our Mission

To deliver the best Alaskan river and wilderness trips in the industry—built around genuine guest experience, top-tier safety, high-quality gear, rich local history, and deep respect for the land we call home.

Our Core Values

Guests are at the core of everything we do.
Your experience, safety, and comfort determine how we operate, not our convenience.

Safety, Comfort & Adventure.
These three elements aren’t negotiable or interchangeable. You need all three for trips to work.

Dedicated to the Alaskan Wilderness Experience.
This means real wilderness—remote, unpredictable, and worth the effort it takes to reach it.

Certified and Leave No Trace.
We follow Leave No Trace ethics because protecting these places isn’t optional when you operate in them.

Supporting Local Alaska Communities.
We buy local, volunteer locally, and stay involved in McCarthy because we live here year-round.

Our Promise to You

You’ll get more than a trip. You’ll get expert guides who know this landscape through years of direct experience, not memorized scripts. You’ll get honest answers and real stories, not sales pitches. And above all, you’ll get a safe, well-executed, small-group adventure through one of the wildest corners of North America.

We Set the Standard in McCarthy. Here’s How.

Notable McCarthy River Tours Firsts

First to outfit every guest with complete safety gear—no exceptions:

Premium drysuits for all rafting participants (yes, this means you can safely jump off an iceberg if you want)
Helmets required on all whitewater sections
Type V high-float PFDs for everyone

Every guide is Swiftwater Rescue certified—because safety protocols aren’t optional in remote terrain.

First rafting company in McCarthy to run trips on the Tana River, opening access to Alaska’s premier Class IV whitewater in Wrangell-St. Elias.

Pioneered the glacier lake plunge—made possible by the professional gear we provide and guides who understand how to make it both safe and memorable.

Committed to local food sourcing—because even wilderness meals should reflect where you are and support the communities that make this work possible.

These aren’t marketing talking points. They’re operational decisions that shape how trips actually work and how safe guests actually are.

Raft guides taking a group image - McCarthy River Tours

The People Behind the Oars

The heart of McCarthy River Tours is the guide crew who lead our rafting and wilderness trips in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Our guides are river professionals, glacier travelers, storytellers, safety experts, and problem-solvers. They’re also the kind of people who notice when someone is nervous, who take time to teach without making it feel like a lecture, and who care about the experience you’re having, not just staying on schedule.

They’re wilderness nerds and some of the best campfire cooks in Alaska. They know which gravel bars make good camps, how to read changing weather, where the bears tend to fish, and when to tell the story about the prospector’s cabin versus when to just let the silence do the talking.

Want to meet the crew? Visit our Meet the Guides page.

A note from our founder

“Alaska changes people. That’s what happened to me when I was ten, the first time I came to the Kennicott Valley. Starting McCarthy River Tours wasn’t about building a business — it was about building something worth sharing. Something that makes people feel small in the best way. We’re here to guide you into those moments — the kind you’ll remember long after the gear’s been packed away.“

— Nik Merlino, Founder

Guided by Nature. Grounded in Values.

Our Commitment to Sustainability

At McCarthy River Tours, sustainability isn’t a buzzword—it’s fundamental to how we operate. As stewards of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and people who’ve chosen to build lives in Alaska’s wild places, we believe that offering unforgettable wilderness adventures goes hand in hand with protecting the land, supporting local communities, and honoring the cultures that came before us.

We are proud to be certified under the Adventure Green Alaska program, in recognition of our conservation efforts and commitment to sustainable tourism.

Environmental Stewardship

We operate with Leave No Trace certified ethics, minimizing impact on delicate ecosystems with every trip. This means:

Biodegradable soaps and pack-in/pack-out waste systems
Zero-trace campsite protocols
Water conservation practices
Teaching guests these same practices, not just following them ourselves

We’ve begun assessing our carbon footprint and improving travel logistics to reduce unnecessary fuel usage. We invest in high-quality, long-lasting gear that minimizes waste rather than cheap equipment requiring frequent replacement.

These aren’t perfect solutions, but they’re honest efforts from people who care about the places they work.

Always Improving

Sustainability is a journey, not a destination. We’re continuously refining operations, expanding goals, and staying accountable to our guests, our community, and the wilderness that makes all of this possible.

Whether you’re floating through iceberg-filled lakes, running whitewater rapids, or hiking ancient glacier valleys, you can feel good knowing your adventure is part of something larger than a vacation.

Cultural Respect & Education

We weave Alaska’s rich cultural heritage into trips—not through scripted narratives, but through respectful storytelling grounded in actual knowledge. Guests learn about Ahtna and Chugach Dena’ina land use, explore historic mining routes, and experience the human history of the Kennicott Valley through immersive walking tours and conversations around evening fires.

We’re deepening our guide training with historical research tools and cultural education resources, ensuring every trip honors Alaska’s past while experiencing its present wilderness.

Supporting Local Communities

We’re rooted in McCarthy, and we put that commitment into practice:

Buying local foods and goods whenever possible
Volunteering in town clean-ups and community projects
Donating trips to local fundraisers
Serving on community boards
Employing local residents and seasonal workers from Alaska communities

We’ve also launched a training scholarship program to help young Alaskans—especially from rural or underrepresented backgrounds—gain the skills needed to become professional wilderness guides. The next generation of Alaska guides should include people who actually come from Alaska.

Respect for this place

We live here, so we try to operate like it. We follow Leave No Trace practices on every trip because we’ll be back on these same rivers next week and next season. We talk honestly about the Kennicott Valley’s history, including Indigenous land use, the copper mining era, and the communities that make McCarthy what it is today.

We buy local because it matters to the people we live alongside. We volunteer because small communities only work when everyone contributes. We stay involved because this isn’t just where we run a business—it’s home.

We don’t treat stewardship like a marketing angle. It’s simply part of doing this work responsibly in a place like Wrangell-St. Elias.

Beaver landed at Tebay Lake McCarthy River Tours Kayak Trip

Since 2010, guiding trips through Wrangell-St. Elias the way we’d want to experience it ourselves: small groups, proper gear, enough time to actually feel where you are.

Have Questions?

Give us a call or send us a message. We’re happy to help you plan the right trip for your group, answer questions about logistics, or simply talk through what you’re hoping to experience.

Thanks for considering McCarthy River Tours. We look forward to getting you on the water.

Call us at 888-609-RAFT.

Contact Us to Start Planning Your Trip