Old Bettles Ski

Located downriver about six miles from Bettles is Old Bettles—orginally called Bettles until the new Bettles was built and after that it was referred to as Old Bettles. We decided to ski down there on the winter trail instead of the river. A well-established mushing trail made for fast skiing on the 11.5-mile round trip.

On the mushing trail to Old Bettles

The trail starts on the west side of the gravel pit next to the runway. The trail drops off a small ridge (15 to 20 feet) into the lowland of spruce. Spruce dominates the country that is pocketed with patches of aspen and willow. The trail is practically impassable in the summer because of the muskeg and stretches of stagnant water.

Crossing the snow-blown Koyukuk River was the last step to reaching Old Bettles, which itself was buried in several feet of snow. The mushing trail created a hard trail to cross the river on; otherwise it would have been a deep slog through the snow.

Crossing the Koyukuk River

Several buildings are still standing in Old Bettles, including the general store. The last person moved from Old Bettles back in the 1980’s if I remember correctly. Old Bettles was a native settlement that marked the point on the river where steamboats could go no further. The town was a major supply point for miners working on the John and Koyukuk Rivers upstream.

What once was the Bettles Store

Now, the abandoned town serves as a recognizable pick-up point for boaters coming off the John River, which joins the Koyukuk River just north of Old Bettles.

One of the Old Bettles cabins

Old Bettles is also a source of confusion. On topographic maps, it is still labeled as Bettles while the current location of Bettles is only marked as Evansville (which is the native village on the north end of Bettles). Therefore, some boaters float past Evansville thinking that Bettles is downriver and continue on to Old Bettles (labeled Bettles on their map) and realize their mistake when they arrive at the abandoned town. 

Another cabin half buried in the snow