Packrafting the AT?

[Steve Meier]

I've done some googling but can't find any information or trip reports on how much of the AT could be packrafted? Would it be enough to justify carrying the weight?

[Gerry Volpe]

If you are talking about carrying one on a thru-hike I personally don't think it would be worth carrying the whole way. Search white blaze for aqua blazing. I know there is at least one section (shenandoahs?) where some folks paddle the river instead of walking the mountains. If you have your heart set on packrafting it I would have it mailed for specific sections. You could potentially paddle Flagstaff lake from Stratton Maine around the Bigelows which is a pretty paddle but on a sometimes very windy lake and you would pass up some amazing peaks. You might want to research the Northern Forest Canoe Trail as you could set up a long paddle in Maine, though with many lakes, portages, upstream paddling, and missing arguably the best hiking on the AT. I am no pack rafter but from reading trip reports it seems there are many other trips where the weight of a packraft is much better utilized. If you are not talking thru-hike but want to do a packraft trip incorporating the AT then Maine is definately the place. It would be cool to do a loop incorporating the NFCT and Maine AT. I heard talk at an outfitter in Rangley ME about at least one guy who thru-paddled the NFCT then hiked the AT SOBO.

[Nick G]

The part of the AT I'm familiar with is the NH/VT segment, and I can say for sure it'd be dead weight for pretty much all 300ish miles of that segment. A trail designed to climb all the best mountains is not generally conducive to following the course of rivers.

Others will have better information on the rest of the trail. Cool idea–it'd be sweet to packraft all the less popular sections of the trail, to get off your feet and float to break up the "green tunnel".

[Greg Mihalik]

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