The History of NOVA Alaska Guides
NOVA is Alaska’s oldest family-owned & operated river rafting company. We were the first to run guided trips on the Matanuska River and Six Mile Creek, and the first to offer guided tours on the Matanuska Glacier.
How It All Began
In the 1970s, Chuck Spaulding began experimenting with river gear and rafting techniques, unknowingly positioning himself at the forefront of a new global sport. Chuck was drawn to the remote beauty of the Matanuska River Valley. He and his wife, Malia, found property in Chickaloon, where they built their family cabin and homesteaded, living their dream in the heart of this wild landscape.
Chuck was quite the adventurer and visionary. He experimented with extreme sports like aerial hang-gliding, flew fixed-wing aircraft, and pioneered rafting lines on the Matanuska River and Six Mile Creek. He and Malia raised their two sons with a spirit of adventure, practically growing up at guide camp, and started NOVA right on that property.
Chuck also pioneered river trips on the Talkeetna, Chickaloon, and Copper rivers, using everything from bush planes to horses to access remote waterways. He was the first in Alaska to use dry suits on trips and hosted the first Swiftwater Rescue course in the state, which is now a standard for all NOVA guides. NOVA launched Alaska’s first Class V commercial whitewater run and became one of the first companies to guide on glaciers.Chuck Spaulding’s adventurous spirit and vision laid the foundation for Alaska’s whitewater rafting industry.
An Interview with Our Founder, Chuck Spaulding, from Alaska.org
Before his passing in 2021, he reflected on his journey.
Q: What do you do? What’s unique about what you’ve created? What life experiences led you to where you are today?
Chuck: We run NOVA, an adventure guiding service offering whitewater rafting, river floats, and glacier tours.
I arrived in Alaska in 1972, before the pipeline era. I fell in love with the place immediately. Anchorage was so cool back then. I remember walking into a bar and ordering a beer. The guy next to me ordered a beer, pulled out a gun, slapped it on the bar, and slid it down to the bartender. I thought, “This is not Disneyland!”
My wife and I ended up living in the Matanuska River Valley between the Talkeetna and Chugach Mountains. It’s an extraordinarily beautiful place.
As it turned out, it is also home to a number of great whitewater runs, and I was lucky to participate in the early explorations.
I learned how viable river travel could be on many of these smaller and challenging rivers. The equipment and skills necessary to allow access to these rivers had only recently been developed.
We decided to start a family and focus full-time on getting NOVA to support us. We were still young, and we had a strong desire to experience homesteading similar to what we’d read and heard about.
I found affordable property in Chickaloon, where we operated a number of different trips. We built a log home and powered it with a generator for 15 years.
We raised two boys there and had the most wonderful experiences as a family in a little community, with spectacular beauty and a struggling business.
Q: What makes Alaska special for you?
Chuck: There’s a great sense of pride of place. You feel like you and Alaska can do things differently from elsewhere. The fact is, Alaska hasn’t been tarnished. There’s a sense that we can avoid mistakes made in other places.
Early on in Chickaloon, I saw a huge benefit in land planning. The unprecedented thing we did was to create a 5-acre minimum lot size for any future subdivisions in the community. It allowed a person to build their dream home – be it a tarpaper shack attached to a school bus or a pink Mediterranean – without offending their neighbors. It became a model for other small communities to start from.
Q: What are your favorite places and/or experiences in Alaska? What do you remember most about them? What have you learned from them?
Chuck: I really love my home area. I feel it rivals many worldly locations for its dramatic scenery. When our clients come up to even rendezvous, they are getting an eyeful of panorama. Then we take them on the whitewater or a glacier, and that’s a whole other level.
Not many people travel this route, which also makes it special. While tourism was exploding everywhere else, our little area stayed quite sleepy.
Along with rafting, I got the flying obsession in the late 70s, when I was introduced to hang gliding. In that era, we really lived through the dinosaur times in terms of equipment. It was virtually like bamboo poles. My friends and I who survived those early experiences ended up enjoying the more advanced equipment that was developed. It took the sport to colossal accomplishments in glider flight.In Alaska, it was especially rewarding.
As we got older, we eventually got into airplanes for our work and fun. Development was making it difficult to find a place to land the gliders. Big fields were disappearing. The gliders were heavier, too, and climbing with them was harder.
Flying also opens up a lot more backcountry options for adventure travel in Alaska.
Q: Alaska.org’s mission is to show visitors a more authentic Alaska Experience. What are those qualities? How does it change an Alaska vacation?
Chuck: The more authentic experiences are not where the travel industry has pasteurized it. Travel the world, and you’ll find the same issue at any destination that has a cruise port of call. Places that aren’t particularly special end up being successful, because the industry creates the picture and sells it.
I believe this is ideal for a particular clientele that needs the easy experiences. It’s not ideal for the locals who call these places home.
There’s a great balancing act to successfully managing destinations and tourism with locals. Many famous destinations are now struggling with this issue.
Read the Full Interview With Chuck Here!
Here’s to Another 50 Years of NOVA
Nova is turning 50! In 2025 we celebrate half a decade of showing people the beauty of our backyard. With thousands of new memories made each summer, we are excited to continue to bring you on the thrilling adventures that Alaska has to offer.
Chuck and Malia’s journey with the company came to a close with Chuck’s passing, leaving the company in the hands of the next generation. Their sons, Jack and Travis, proud born and raised Alaskans, are dedicated to furthering the family dream for another 50 years.
