24 Hours: Packrafting the Grande Ronde River

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Rubber-boating expeditions, steelhead fishing, chukar hunting, and canyon backpacking in the Grande Ronde’s 90-mile “primitive” corridor was my saving grace of outdoor adventure while attending college in the middle of a wheat field.

So, when Brian, my long time friend from Pullman, invited me for an overnight float through some of its more remote and rugged canyons, my skin crawled with excitement. Some people relive their college years through alumni football tickets; others revisit their fraternities and try to show the young kids how to party. As for me, I’d do it with wet feet on the Grande Ronde River, which holds a special spot in my heart as one of earth’s most amazing places.

ARTICLE OUTLINE

Introduction
Return to the Ronde
- Video
Gear Notes
More Information
Previous "24" Episodes

# WORDS: 1670
# PHOTOS: 2

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Oct 30, 2012 at 6:11 pm #1295663

Stephanie Jordan
Spectator

@maia
Locale: Rocky Mountains

Companion forum thread to:

24 Hours: Packrafting the Grande Ronde River

Oct 30, 2012 at 6:56 pm #1925491

Jerry Adams
BPL Member

@retiredjerry
Locale: Oregon and Washington

Good read, thanks

I keep eyeing that area for a late winter backpack, maybe up the Wenaha from Troy. You have only whetted my appetite.

Oct 30, 2012 at 7:00 pm #1925495

Luke Schmidt
BPL Member

@cameron
Locale: Alaska

Ryan nicely done video and I loved the story. Sometimes a daring armature's trip creates a much more exciting story than a perfectly executed trip by an expert. Sometime I gotta write up my near death experience kayaking on a flooded river.
Keep up coming and if you have any more of those, shall we say "learning experiences" I'd love to hear them.

Oct 30, 2012 at 7:28 pm #1925504

t.darrah
BPL Member

@thomdarrah
Locale: Southern Oregon

Ryan,
I could share with you a story of nearly drowning in the Narrows as a young man. Thanks for posting this adventure and for the great pictures. Having grown up in the area I'm feeling a little homesick and will likely have bad dreams about relentless whitewater but reading the article is worth it.

When floating the Grande Ronde you hear the "Narrows" long before you see the intimidating (for me) stretch of whitewater. Putting out on the left bank above the rapids allows you the opportunity to survey the approaching challenge and plot strategy/survival. Back in the water, having hopefully selected to best line, it is a true commitment with no turning back. Once you have dropped into the "Narrows" the only way out is to make it to the other end, with or without your raft!

Oct 30, 2012 at 8:25 pm #1925513

Richard Nisley
BPL Member

@richard295
Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

Ryan

That was a GREAT trip report and video! What was your initial impression of the Alpacka dry suit?

Oct 31, 2012 at 3:52 am #1925549

James Marco
BPL Member

@jamesdmarco
Locale: Finger Lakes

Nice trip report, Ryan! Yeah, the tenkara rods are not exactly designed to let a fish run. Too bad you lost the rod, always annoying…

Steelhead are noted for tail walking and other acrobatics. Once they decide on a direction, often the only thing you can do is throw them slack enough to let them think they "escaped". Not something you can do with a tenkara.

Oct 31, 2012 at 3:53 am #1925551

Paul Mountford
BPL Member

@sparticus
Locale: Atlantic Canada

Ryan,

A question on your feet – would you say your system keep your feet dry, wet but warm, or wet and chilly. If you were planning a much longer trip, say a one to two week trip in conditions around freezing, would you change anything with your footwear system?

Edited for second question after watching your video.

The neck gasket looks very loose on you. Is that how it came, or did you stretch/trim it to make it more comfortable?

Oct 31, 2012 at 5:29 am #1925557

Jolly Green Giant
BPL Member

@regultr
Locale: www.jolly-green-giant.blogspot.com

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.

Oct 31, 2012 at 7:31 am #1925578

Greg Mihalik
Spectator

@greg23
Locale: Colorado

Thanks!
I'm inspired…

Which "21-foot Daiwa" did you use?

Oct 31, 2012 at 10:26 am #1925625

John Mc
BPL Member

@retiredjohn
Locale: PNW

Sounds like a typical Wazzu Cougar…. I miss Pullman. I graduated in CE in 89.
I wish at that time I was as adventurous as I am today.

Oct 31, 2012 at 11:21 am #1925640

John Topping
BPL Member

@johnt
Locale: Peak District

Ryan,
You are on a roll at the moment. Fine fine work.
Thanks

Oct 31, 2012 at 11:41 am #1925645

Johnathan White
Member

@jwrambler

Ryan, another stunning vid – inspiring, beautiful, well done!

Oct 31, 2012 at 11:57 am #1925656

Bryan Ingersoll
BPL Member

@bingersoll
Locale: Midwest

Really enjoyed it! Checking the weather now to see which gear to pack for the weekend after this inspirational video.
24-48 hour adventures, fly fishing and packrafting are "food for my soul".
I can't thank you enough. It was on backpackinglight.com years ago that I was first introduced to the Packraft. Now its hard for me to imagine back country travel along a trout stream without it.

Thanks Ryan!

Oct 31, 2012 at 12:21 pm #1925667

Jay Wilkerson
BPL Member

@creachen
Locale: East Bay

Excellent Stuff! 24 hours is a nice round number.

Oct 31, 2012 at 4:13 pm #1925724

Yohei Aoyagi
BPL Member

@zzz_bear
Locale: Tokyo

Ryan,

I love 24 series and your filming of backpacking!

Oct 31, 2012 at 4:26 pm #1925725

Eugene Smith
BPL Member

@eugeneius
Locale: Nuevo Mexico

Killer. I enjoyed this very much Ryan.

Oct 31, 2012 at 7:03 pm #1925745

David W.
BPL Member

@davidpcvsamoa
Locale: East Bay, CA

Thanks Ryan. Excellent report, video and write up! Have you had any past success landing a steelhead on a Tenkara rod?

Oct 31, 2012 at 8:17 pm #1925753

Jeff Gerke
Spectator

@mtnrunner
Locale: Utah

Great video. Was that a HMG Porter that you where using for a pack? Been thinking about getting one. Haven't decided between the Porter and the Windrider 3400.

Oct 31, 2012 at 8:38 pm #1925755

Luke Schmidt
BPL Member

@cameron
Locale: Alaska

I'm pretty sure that was an Expedition pack. Ryan mentioned it in his photo essay on the Lamar and reviewed it with Chris Wallace a while back.

Nov 1, 2012 at 5:41 am #1925798

Peter S
BPL Member

@prse
Locale: Denmark

Great video Ryan.

I hope BPL will be doing more videos in the future as part of the articles on gear reviews, sotm, trip reports and so on…

/Peter

Nov 1, 2012 at 12:38 pm #1925872

Jeff Gerke
Spectator

@mtnrunner
Locale: Utah

Thanks Luke.

Nov 2, 2012 at 3:26 am #1925977

Hendrik Morkel
BPL Member

@skullmonkey
Locale: Finland

Superb video and article, Ryan.

It's good that you promote these 24 trips, as for many of us that are the only possible trips at the moment =) I'm looking at 24 possibilities myself right now because of this one!

Nov 2, 2012 at 11:57 am #1926030

Roger B
BPL Member

@rogerb
Locale: Denmark

Yet another excellent article Ryan, which provides lots of information. What weight of cuben is your shelter, .51 oz/sqyd or heavier? I assume your are still using your ID event bivy. It seems that you and I had the same problem with the threads on our jetboils. Your comments on gear and why you packraft are always enlightening, and increasingly convince me that I should play with a packraft.

Thanks again, looking forward to your next adventure.

Nov 2, 2012 at 7:16 pm #1926080

Tom Clark
BPL Member

@tomclark
Locale: East Coast

Whoa…how many years have I been following BPL, and I just now hear of this story? Someone has been holding out on us!

Great 24 hr trip report and video.

Tom

Nov 3, 2012 at 2:36 pm #1926182

Ryan Jordan
Admin

@ryan
Locale: Central Rockies

@Richard Nisley – my initial impression of the dry suit is that it's well done. I have questions about long term durability. I waded up to my chest in it and really enjoyed the one-piece sealed suit for cold weather floating comfort – much better than raingear or splash gear when you're spending most of your time wet.

@Paul Mountford – my footwear system kept my feet warm and wet. I would long for waterproof booties with dry socks in them if the water temperature was in the 30s or the air temperature was in the 30s or lower; the neck gasket is stretch neoprene, not latex (yay!) and I left it loose – of course, not ideal if a swim is a reality…!

@Greg Mihalik – My rod is a Daiwa Liberty Club 62SR.

@David W – yes, but only small fish, in the 4 to 6 lb range, and even those had to be chased downstream pretty aggressively. I've caught quite a few trout that have been much larger. Steelhead are a different animal.

@Jeff Gerke – Expedition.

@Roger B – yes, the 0.5 oz Cuben. I'm about to retire this tarp, and I'm moving up in weight to 0.7 on my next one, perhaps; the bivy is the MLD eVENT bivy, but in regular size, it's too narrow and constricts loft when I'm down quilting with a Neo-Air.

To everyone – thanks a ton for the encouraging comments. Very inspiring, working on my next vid story already!
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