2016 Bob Marshall Wilderness Open

After years of searching I finally found a Denali Llama I could afford.

Since this thread has built up a little steam I'll post a question that has been bugging me since Dave posted the start/finish. The general "rule" of the Open is that the path of travel needs to be on public lands. What does this mean for the start of the event? In the screen shot below pink is the direct line from start to finish and orange is the general boundary of the public lands in the area. Given that traversing directly into the public lands following the pink line would require crossing over private land will participants essentially be forced to walk up Dearborn Canyon Rd (the purple line) as a start?

Are the (dirt/gravel?) roads that go through the private land areas private as well?

most private roads are private as in no access, most likely a county road and county maintained. I'm out of town at the moment, if no one answers before I get back I can look it up

Upon further research I see that KRONE RANCH & CATTLE INC owns most of that land in the area in question which effectively funnels participants into Dearborn.

Sam, There are trailheads north of Dearborn (Smith Creek, Elk Creek) that can be accessed by going on authorized routes through private land, therefore, I imagine those routes would be considered public. Please correct me if I'm wrong. http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/lcnf/recarea/?recid=61676 (look at the Recreation Map and zoom out) I'm thoroughly enjoying this packrafting stuff, by the way. I have been running the "world's longest urban whitewater course" 2-3 times a week.

The avoid private "rule" exists for obvious reasons, but insofar as this whole mess is only organized as far as absolutely necessary, do what you want if it won't cause issues for others in the future. Case in point; in 2012 Greg got permission to cross a ranch or two east of the front headed south from the Teton drainage down to Deep Creek. Totally fine, and even better as it was a route that never occurred to me, and the last thing I want to do is occlude folks' creativity.

I have not researched whether public access was allowed between Dearborn and the trailheads adjacent or not but thanks for the reply, Derek. Elk and Smith wouldn't necessarily provide better access or quicker movement toward the end goal but there is something about the elegance of sticking to the most direct line between two points. As for doing your homework and writing to landowners for permission I bet decent luck can be hand at the time of year this takes place since you're not going to be using the access permission to head out and kill the good elk. Once you start asking for that kind of permission it tends to get a bit harder ; )

This year was the first year in at least 5 that I did not make a trip to the Bob in early summer. I guess I got side tracked with all the fun things you can do in Utah and ended up spending over a month there instead. With that obsession indulged, I am now really missing the mountains especially at that time of year. Kate, I, and Zola (our adventure dog) are looking forward and training for this one. I am pretty sure it will be a pack rafting route for us. Waiting for the next six months to pass is going to be harder than anything the wilderness can throw my way…

good deal :)

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May 28th can’t come fast enough.

Easy now.  Ski season has only just begun!

I finally broke down and bought a used yak, so it looks like I will be packrafting come May.  I just spent a few days packrafting the upper canyons of the Rio Grande in Big Bend, and it was one of the coolest trips yet. If you happen to be in Texas, there are some sweet overnights (and longer) trips with serious desert/canyon bushwacking and class I-II paddling in huge, remote canyons.  I’m hooked!

Anyway, I need to get my rain gear sorted for the Open.  My current thinking is something along the lines of OR Helium II jacket tucked into high-waisted rain pants.  My biggest complaints after the Rio Grande trip are cold hands and water running down my arms and getting my base layers wet.  I may try some MYOG neoprene “wrist sleeves” that would slip over the jacket to create a seal at the wrist. What are you packrafters using and how does it work for paddling?

There is a lengthy Southfork of the Flathead option this year.

I noticed that too; I’m hoping it won’t be too much of an inconvenience for a few of the rafters to pack in two person rafts :)

A rain coat with thumb loops is quite effective for rafting.  Not too many of those, unfortunately.  Having a decent overlap between rain coat and pants, either via high waisted pants, a longer than usual coat, or both helps keep the inevitable raft butt at bay.

For hands, shell mittens with long cuffs are also effective.   I’ve thought about playing with neo cuffs on a rain coat for rafting, but haven’t yet bothered.

Extra torso insulation and a hot water bottle can help keep your temp up while rafting and keep you on the water longer.  But count on being cold and miserable eventually.  That happens even with a drysuit.

Seth: I’m just a novice packrafter (but when did lack of experience ever get in the way of offering advice?); you might want to check out the Kokatat gore-tex anorak splash jacket. It’s pricey (I scored a used one on gearswap), but bomber two-layer construction (warm), hooded, neoprene cuffs with velcro closure, long length (covers my bum when standing) and has one cinch at the waist and another at the bottom hem. On another thread, Dave C. mentioned stashing emergency items in whatever outer layer he was wearing and this has tons of waterproof zippered pockets for that. At 17 oz., it is a bit heavy, but if you consider a typically fragile 6-8 oz. raincoat, plus a possible fleece layer, plus some myog method of closing the cuffs, you might come pretty close to that weight anyway.

Just an option. No affiliation with Kokatat.

Are followers of this thread taking planning for this seriously yet?  The partner I was going to do this with had to bail but I am still feeling like this is the year to have a go at it.

Dave’s choice of start and finish allow for half of the packraft tour of the Bob that I have wanted to do for years. My choice route for this traverse is working out to 64% walking and 36% floating and includes only a short section of intentional off-trail travel.

Most definitely :). No floating, 100% hiking (hopefully 0% swimming!)

I haven’t looked at a map yet. Maybe over the holidays coming up.  Spending time staring at maps and satellite images probably wont change my opinion that the best route is usually the most direct, or the fact that i will wish I had taken a different route at some point during the trip.

Planning for the BMWO started the day (hour?) Dave announced the start/finish locations. The most difficult planning seems to involve getting to-and-from the event, so for next year I decided to eliminate that part of the equation by adjusting my start point to GTF with a finish at FCA, passing through Bean Lake & Cedar Creek Campgrounds. Just me, my packraft and my …. . .-.. .. -..-

Note: Slight chance I might not make the event though. It all hinges on being able to get a Mexican car permit in my name in the next 10 days. Long story.

I have not made up my mind with regards to route, and probably won’t until a few weeks to go.  There are a few different creeks I want to investigate, and can only do one.  Depending on how the snowpack and weather shaped up there might also be a fun ski option.

So I did find time this weekend to perform some maintenance on my Raft, drysuit, and paddle.  In that process I got to thinking about a lighter pfd for this year… Dave, Have you settled on a good lightweight pfd?  Anything you would or would not recommend?

I’m still using the same basic Kokatat I’ve had for over a decade.  It’s light enough that I haven’t bought an MTI to save a few ounces, and fits well enough I haven’t bought an Astral to have something that’s a bit less obtrusive.  Those are the two things I point new packrafters to, the YTV if they’ll be doing a lot of whitewater and sidecountry, or the Journey if saving weight and $ are a priority.

Maybe this winter I’ll revisit the MYOG foam PFD project.  I’ve used inflatables but just don’t get the warm fuzzy feeling with them.