I have been intrigued recently with Roman's packrafting podcast, etc. I did a thru-hike of the Border Route through the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota in May, and in several spots a packraft would have been ideal to do some lake and river exploring.

Most people go the other way: they canoe through the BWCAW, and do dayhikes on the BRT or some of the portages. A packraft would invert this emphasis.

A google search of packraft+BWCA came up dry.

I'm curious if anyone in the forum knows of someone who has packrafted through the BWCAW, or is considering doing so?

--Kurt

I've been wondering the much the same ... except more along the lines of canoing to one of the BWCAW's Primitive Management Areas, caching the canoe and bushwhacking into small lakes inside the PMA. Or trying some old travel routes that haven't been maintained for years.

I too have been curious about a BW packrafting/hiking trip. The packraft seems about the perfect option for lengthy portages, although I'm not sure of it's quality in long distance, low-current paddling. Someone more packraft savvy would have to chip in on this conversation.

I packraft, canoe, sea kayak, and river kayak. For the 14 years I lived in Minnesota, I did an annual two week canoeing trip to the BWCA. I believe a canoe is the ideal craft for most of that environment. For all of the routes I used over the years, there were numerous short portages each day and the wind wave heights, primarily determined by fetch, were small. The difficulty packing and unpacking a sea kayak and negligible wave heights, negate the benefit of a sea kayak. A packraft is a displacement hull with a very short water line length; this limits the practical cruising hull speed to about 2 mph versus 4-5 mph for a canoe or kayak.

The BWCA environments where the packraft is better than any other alternative are: where backpacking accounts for a substantial portion of a trip, white water rivers (no space to carry camping equipment in conventional WW boats and canoes require heavy custom spray skirts), or where public transit is an element of the logistics. That said, I believe you could select specific trip routes in the BWCA that leveraged all of the packraft’s competitive advantages versus other water craft options.

Calm water packrafting is better with two. That's why Hig and Erin eventually tied their boats together.

Here's a video in Canyonlands of my wife Peggy and me in one boat -- an early Alpacka Dory ("Fjord Explorer"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEqJ0GuN8Hs

I'd love to wander through the Boundary waters hiking and tandem packrafting.

Edited by sharalds on 11/12/2008 09:19:16 MST.

i have a friend named Joe who frequents BWCA paddling websites (goes by the name portagekeeper) and I would be surprised if he doesn't frequent BPL as well knowing his MO. Joe got me thinking more and more about weight on my paddling trips-he's always trying to shave ounces/grams.

i went on a portage clearing trip (led by him) this spring and he had some great stories about bushwacking and packrafting to some remote interior lakes in the BWCA. i hadn't heard much about packrafting so i almost didn't believe him. i laughed when he told me he used hand paddles. after hearing his stories though about lakes unreachable by conventional (canoe) means it would be worth it though.

maybe i can point him in the direction of this thread.

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