OK, I'm getting serious about trying some packrafting, and am thinking about possible good trips.

Would love to hear ideas from some of you. Any ideas from 1 day to 1 year. No limits. One of the beauties of this multi-mode trip is that there are no established routes and the possible variations are mind-boggling.

I'm sure I could devise some awesome trips in Southeast Utah and Alaska.

Any ideas? Packrafters - any great trips you've done?

This question is too much fun. I love packrafting - since I got an Alpacka, all my trips have become packrafting trips...

For a shorter answer, see my Alaska Packrafting trips page.

Alaska is the heart of packrafting... Start asking around, and you'll come up with about a million ideas. Not that there are any shortage of never-done routes to come up with on your own.

Kenai Fjords: Hiking over steep ridges, paddling across fjords with tidewater glaciers, opening out onto the Pacific Ocean. Lots of bears (including one that bowled me over), mountain goats, seals and sea lions, fish... About 2 weeks traveling time (we took 3, and camped out for a week in the middle). My favorite packrafting trip so far.

Copper River: Huge glacial river, in a steep notch in the mountains. Glaciers calving into the river, sand dunes along side. To take advantage of the packrafts, hike the Wrangell mountains on your way there...

Hulahula River, Brooks Range: Many packrafters have done this one. Start in Arctic Village to hike over the range and float down to Kaktovik. Or start on the haul road and hike out to Arctic Village first.

Nushagak watershed in Bristol Bay - downstream of the proposed Pebble Mine site.
More Kenai Fjords - this time in February.
For more winter fun Skiing and packrafting on the Kenai peninsula (Alpacka rafts work well as sleds).
Or try Prince William Sound...

Unlike most packrafters, I do both ocean and rivers in them. In fact, my next packrafting trip (Seattle - Aleutians) will use them mostly for between islands, across fjords, and other ocean travel.

More than you wanted? :)

Edited by mckittre on 05/13/2007 23:08:27 MDT.

My top five are:

"Arctic Circle" -- Gates of the Arctic NP, Brooks Range, Alaska. fly into Kutuk Lake on the Alatna River from Bettles. Hike through Arrigetch to Noatak River's headwaters. Float Noatak to Portage Creek (where most people fly in for Noatak). Hike over Portage Pass to Alatna River. Float Alatna back to start. Unique Loop trip with awesome scenery.

"Hula-Hop" -- Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Brooks Range, Alaska. fly into strip on East Patuk Creek on the Hulahula River from Kaktovic, Barter Island. Float Hulhula to edge of mountains at Old Man Creek; walk to Okpilak River. Float Okpilak to where it's too much for you. Get out, walk to Jago River, float to coast. Walk Coast to Barter Island. Paddle to Kaktovik. Mountains, foothills, coastal plane, coastline -- grizzlies and polar bears.

"Franklin River" -- Tasmania, Australia. Full on river trip. about 7 days. Aussies have been using their version of packrafts to run this since the early 1980s. A true world-class classic packraft trip.

"Grand Canyon" -- oops, that's outlaw.

"Charlie River" -- Drive to Circle. Have pilot pick you up and then fly-in from Central Alaska to 3-Finger Strip on upper Charlie. Float to Yukon. Float Yukon to Circle. get out and go to your car. Clear Water. Beautiful Interior Wildernes.

Edited by romandial on 05/14/2007 15:45:19 MDT.

Erin / Roman -

Thanks. Some great ideas. I've read Erin's site and like the Copper River trip. Looks like a big river.

And Roman's Alatna/Noatak idea sounds really attractive. I'm kinda booked already for long trips this year, but next year.......

Grand Canyon. I'm an Arizona boy, so that's attractive. Just have to figure a way make it look legit. Just crossing the river....

I'm sure there are some good possibilities in Canyon Country on the Escalante, San Juan and Green rivers. I just haven't busted out the map yet.

And then there's Canada. A lot of water up there. I like the idea of getting dropped into a very remote spot and packrafting your way out. My National Geographic world atlas just got more exciting.

I am considering a backpacking trip starting at the S. Fork Flathead headwaters located in the Bob Marshall Wilderness area. I would then pack raft and fly fish about one week on about 40 miles of the river. I am planning to take out just above the Gorge and then backpack out.

If you have been in this area, would you please share the highlights of your experience?

Howdy Richard, I've recently returned to MT (with packraft in hand) and have been eyeing the S. Fork and other trips in the Bob and around the state. I'm into going--and meeting up with others interested in the same.

Anyone up for a weekend trip this spring before flows drop too much more? I have a few ideas in mind. Give a shout...
Luke

Anyone here done any trips on the green river through canyonlands? I am thinking of doing a packrafting trip through here around March. I found a rafting book that describes an old trail that can be used to exit the canyon before reaching the confluence. This would make a great loop if starting at the syncline trail, down upheaval canyon to fort bottom. Then meander down the river for several days while reading some Abbey, stopping to explore sidecanyons in the maze district. Exit via stove canyon and hike up to the white rim road near white crack and up murphy trail to the top of the island in the sky. An easy 10-20 mile hitchhike back to the starting trailhead. But it may be too much flatwater to be fun in an alpacka raft. Does anyone have thoughts on this?

Joshua -

That sounds like a good trip. I've been scouting for possible trips too, and that looks good to me. I have not been on that section of the Green River, but I think it will be pretty tame in there. I have no problem with flat water in Canyonlands. What's better than floating slowly through the canyons? Days like that are not counted against your allotment for life.

Maybe I'll see you out there.

Don

The Green is flattish, yes, but a very scenic and beautiful packraft. The Escalante is stellar - one of the best in the lower 48. Also good is the Dirty Devil. There are some smaller creeks that are super fun through bigger slots but you better have the pourovers scouted...you'll find those when you get to that point.

The beauty of, especially, the Escalante, is the ability to link up SO much incredible canyoneering and mesa walking as well. I've done three packrafting treks there > 100 miles without crossing my path.

In addition to the desert, there is great wilderness packrafting in the Cascades (WA + OR) and Olympics. I've not spend much time in the Cascades, but packrafted a bunch of the rivers in the Olympics when I was working over there in '87-'92. My favorites: Sol Duc, Hoh, Bogachiel, Quinalt, Dosewallips, Duckabush, and the creek crashing out of the Blue Glacier on Mt. Olympus.

In that same period I explored the very scary rivers busting out of Mt. Rainier's Glaciers. These are rather exciting, and worth a look. I had one "opportunity" to packraft through a glacial cave. Stupid.

One of my all time favorite wilderness treks ever was a start over on the Skokomish in the SE corner of the Peninsula, trekking up to the S end of the Bailey Range, doing the Bailey traverse, dropping in the upper Hoh and floating it all the way to the Ocean, then walking overland to Lake Ozette and paddling to the N end of the lake. An amazing "multi-mode-of-transport" experience, between the river boating, walking, and glacier travel. We spent the night at Sand Point on our last night and packrafting in the surf too. So fun.

Many of the big rivers in OR/WA/ID are bordered by
dirt roads (timber and recreation access) and have a wilderness character to them, so don't count them out. (I bet some of California's coastal rivers are pretty good too.) I highly recommend the Cowlitz (WA), Deschutes (OR), Grande Ronde (Eastern WA/OR), Upper Green (WA), N Fk Clearwater (ID), Snake (WY/ID/WA), Salmon (ID, incl. the wild Frank Church section), Kelly Creek (ID), and St. Joe (ID).

In MT you have the S and M Fk Flathead, and for remotish rivers with good campgrounds en route, the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Rock Creek, Clark Fork, Boulder, Stillwater...etc., etc.

In WY the major rivers in the NW where I've been are the Snake thru GTNP down to Pinedale, the Upper Green from its source in the Winds down as far as you want to go (long river!), the Sweetwater (slow, but ... introspective ... lots of cows), the Wind River, and Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone.

Any river that can be kayaked can (almost) be packrafted. The limits are your own, probably, as in kayaking.

But what makes a good packrafting river? The ability to load a bunch of gear in your raft and go. And go. And go. Which means the river needs good camping access en route with islands, campgrounds, or trailheads leading up from the river to pretty places, like lakes, waterfalls, ridges, peaks, etc. If you "need" vast and remote wilderness packrafting, then you need to go to the Bob Marshall or Frank Church Wildernesses, AK, the Yukon, BC, or another continent. Open your horizons a bit and you'll make a lot more available to you and still have a terrific packraft-camping experience.

Other great trips, as your skills increase, involve the small creeks during high water. That opens up a truly VAST quantity of wilderness packrafting.

Edited by ryan on 08/30/2007 23:21:29 MDT.

My, oh my. I knew you had done plenty of packrafting Ryan but I don't think I quite knew how much. Out of curiosity how much of what you do is done solo? Am I right in guessing that the bulk of the swifter water, especially water flowing Class III and higher, you share with others?

As I gaze at maps I've a feeling that I can find some interesting packrafting in Ontario up in the Sand River area. Some of the UP in Michigan I know has rivers that are very canoeable but they may lack the scenic interest and suficient lakes/islands.

Ken,

Much of the early stuff I did with partners, spotters, throw bags. The old army packrafts we used were...better than a Sevylor but still...Sherpas were a big step up. And of course, now that we have decked Alpackas, what is possible is off the charts compared to those days.

Roman's been doing this a lot longer than I have, he probably has a much better grip on what the new Alpackas can do vs. what the old packrafts could do, because I wasn't rafting much stuff above Class 2 years ago, and only hit Class 3 here and there, and never any IV. Back then, Class 2-3 was a big deal even for an experienced paddler, so partners were essential for me.

Now, I go comfortably solo in solid III conditions - note there is big risk here, esp. on unscouted runs. And I've flipped my boat solo in the middle of nowhere. It's pretty spooky, gets the adrenaline going.

The only big solo trips I did back then were the west slope Peninsula rivers, which are long, pretty easy, but lots of logjams to portage around. The east slope rivers are steep, lots of Class III up high, and riskier in that respect.

Ryan - Thank you for the excellent list of packrafting opportunities. What rivers have not been done yet that should be raftable? There should be some low hanging fruit out there to qualify an ambitious packrafter with a first descent.

Roman - What rivers do you know of in Alaska that have not been run in a packraft....that should be raftable?

Please be sure to bring back pictures when you go.

I read Clint Garrett's piece in the digital mag on his Alpacka trip to the South Fork Flathead with interest. I've been planning to take my sons on a very similar trip (except perhaps hiking in from the Holland Lake trailhead) and have some questions for Clint or anyone else who's done this. First, for time-budgeting purposes, I'd like to know how long it took to float from the headwaters down to the Meadow Creek Gorge takeout.