Join Kawanti Adventures on an action-packed excursion that brings fun for the whole family! Zipline through the trees, get muddy with ATV and go-kart rentals, and walk through the preserved Tongass National Forest sanctuary with bear and eagle spottings. Book Kawanti Adventures outdoor sightseeing and wildlife tours in Ketchikan and Juneau online here.
Kawanti Adventures
4 Activities
Rainforest Sanctuary, Totem Park & Eagles
The Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary is a 40-acre private preserve of temperate rainforest bordering the Tongass National Forest. Take a guided nature walk exploring the wildlife and ecology of the preserve. Visit a historic sawmill, explore a totem park, and view a featured raptor at the Alaska Raptor Center Ketchikan exhibit. Here’s how your rainforest exploration will surprise and delight you. You’ll start out with a scenic eight-mile coastal drive to rustic Herring Cove and the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a temperate rainforest, nestled into the Tongass National Forest. When you arrive, a naturalist guide will be on hand to take you on a 0.75 mile guided rainforest exploration along an improved trail amongst stands of hemlock, spruce and cedar trees. The forest floor is covered with mosses, wild flowers and a variety of berries. Your guide will lead you to a protected open estuary where you follow Herring Creek along an elevated wooden boardwalk overlooking grassy wetlands. During the seasonal spawning season, bears and seals feed on salmon in Herring Creek. Bald eagles and other birds wait for scraps in the estuary. Sitka black tail deer, mink and marten also frequent the area. Weather, tides, and seasonal ecosystem changes result in varying levels and type of wildlife activity. Everything here is alive with color and cultural history. After your trail walk your opportunity to learn about the natural history, wildlife and cultural traditions in the region continues. You’ll be guided through the historic Herring Bay Lumber Company sawmill, seeing saws and machinery that powered this mill. Keep your camera ready as you see a bald eagle at the Alaska Raptor Center exhibit. Explore the first Tsimshian totem pole park in the country with its impressive 40-foot totem and 13 poles carved by the same artist. Before your return to town visit the General Store and pick up a souvenir of your uniquely Alaskan experience.
Rainforest Zip, Skybridge & Rappel Adventure
Plan to fly through the Ketchikan rainforest on this tree top zipline adventure. This course is designed for people who are looking for an adrenaline rush, love ziplining, or want to step up to new challenges like skybridge suspension bridges and rappelling. Imagine yourself gliding through the top of a rich rainforest canopy along a series of eight cable zip lines. You’ll be zipping along the border of the magnificent Tongass National Forest, navigating three aerial bridges suspended among spruce, hemlock and cedar trees. This Ketchikan rainforest reserve is home to one of Alaska’s richest salmon spawning streams and a pristine inter-tidal estuary. The area is a rainforest sanctuary, home to a high concentration of bald eagles, black bear, and a variety of other species. Here’s how you’ll ride, glide, and rappel along the way. The tour starts at the downtown dock with an eight-mile narrated coastal drive to Herring Cove. An all-terrain custom 4×4 Unimog will pick you up at Herring Cove, transporting you up a steep rainforest hillside to the canopy chalet. You’ll meet professionally trained guides who will outfit you with sophisticated safety equipment and give you a detailed orientation prior to zipping from the first platform. Your tree top zipline adventure features a flight over eight ziplines and three suspension bridges, looking out on beautiful nature trails. Your guides will progressively ease you into the forest canopy along cables ranging from a short 100 foot to the 750 foot pulse pounding "Ben’s Revenge”. Throughout this award-winning adventure you’ll be surrounded by the sights and sounds of the rainforest wildlife reserve. There is so much to see from the tree platforms, including spectacular panoramic views and possible wildlife sightings. You’ll fly over a cascading creek and lush forest, and cross three hanging sky bridges – all giving you breathtaking views of the forest 135 feet below. The final zipline emerges from the rainforest and transports you over lush grassy wetlands to a viewing tower, 55 feet above ground. Here you’ll rappel to the ground and gear-down at the base camp. Stop by the General Store, where you can see the pictures taken during your zipline experience, picking out the ones you’d like to buy and shopping for mementos of your Alaska adventure. Before you head back to the dock have your camera ready as you explore the totem park, historic sawmill, watch blacksmith at work and see an eagle up close at the Alaska Raptor Center exhibit. And off you go, full of awesome memories. Highlights: *Experience 8 dual rainforest ziplines *Traverse 3 treetop skybridges *Hillside ascent aboard all-terrain vehicle *Wildlife search from the treetops *Experienced guides and state-of-the-art equipment! *Receive a unique achievement medal!
Adventure Kart Expedition
Sit back, strap yourself in, and hit the accelerator for the off-road adventure of a lifetime! You’ll cruise mountain trails through a harvested area of timber. This is the perfect route to your off-road ride. One where you’ll stop and take in spectacular views of the Tongass National Forest, Behm Canal, and Alaska’s fabled Inside Passage. Here’s how your Kart ATV adventure will roll along. Learn about the history, culture and economy of Ketchikan during a motor coach drive to your starting point. Then you’ll be prepped to take on the rugged Alaskan wilderness from the driver’s seat of a specially designed off-road adventure kart. Highly trained and experienced guides at the Adventure Kart base camp will give you a safety briefing and help you gear up for the exciting, one-and-a-half-hour guided trek. You’ll feel the rush of adrenaline right away when you set out in a custom designed Tomcar that puts your driving ability to the test. Get dirty and adventure into Alaska’s wild side. You and your passenger will set off in a caravan of karts, with your guide in the lead ATV. You’ll be exploring the remote back country of the Tongass National Forest along several miles of improved forest trail. A comfortable pace is maintained as you thread your way through mountainous roads, around steep curves, on the climb to the awe-inspiring views. Stops will be made along the way to soak up the grandeur and beauty of this lush green land. Nice time for a snack and drink, and then drivers and passengers can switch positions for the return trip. Be on the lookout for wildlife along the way. Eagles, deer or bears are often seen and heard!
Black Bear Express
Ketchikan's finest bear viewing accessible by road! Visit Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary for this unique opportunity to see black bear in their native habitat. Watch for bears from the safety of the raised boardwalks which maximize your viewing and provide protection. This is a short tour focused on opportunity to view bears. Your experience will start with a narrated tour through Ketchikan, followed by a scenic coastal drive to the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary. Within a very short time, you’ll find yourself in bear country. The only drive to bear viewing areas in Southeast Alaska…. This tour offers the same duration for black bear viewing as our comprehensive Black Bear & Wildlife Exploration tour. However, it is streamlined to exclusively focus on black bear sightings, omitting the additional time allocated for exploring our mini-features on site. This experience is curated strictly for seeing black bears in their natural habitat. When you arrive at the sanctuary, naturalist guides will join you, bringing the rich forest to life as you walk along an improved trail. You’ll be surrounded by magnificent stands of spruce, hemlock and cedar trees. And soon you’ll be watching for wild bears in search of spawning salmon and ample berries. These are safe, protected raised boardwalks, exclusively for bear tours only. You can expect to have an intimate viewing experience and to reduce environmental impacts, only a limited number of groups have access to this private bear viewing area. Your guide will lead you along another boardwalk system perched over the grassy wetlands alongside Herring Creek. You’ll have the chance to observe a rich run of spawning salmon and the bears and seals that come to fish for them, along with bald eagles and other birds that wait for scraps in the tidal estuary nearby. Your transportation will be waiting to pick you up where the tour began. *Please Note: The half-mile long trail is over relatively flat terrain. The focus of your tour will be on viewing black bear in their natural habitat. Your guide may change the order of the tour or time spent in any one area to give you the best chance to see bears. Although the chances for seeing bear are excellent, wildlife sightings cannot be guaranteed. The wildlife viewing time is approximately 60 minutes. Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. No food or drink is allowed on the trail. You must follow your guide’s instructions at all times to ensure your safety. *ABOUT ALASKA RAINFOREST SANCTUARY In the heart of the Tongass National Forest lies Kawanti Adventures’ very own Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary. The sanctuary is known for its forest trails and boardwalk system that leads to an open estuary complete with a creek running out to the famous Herring Cove. The sanctuary is a hot spot for all wildlife, but specifically bald eagles and black bear.
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