Packraft Trip Planning

I seem to range between 3 and 6 km/hr as a general rule on the Class II and III rivers I float here in NZ. I would not plan on 35 km in a day if the river was pool and drop, as the pools slow you down significantly (to 3km/hr and lower) and of course scouting, fishing, eating slows you down too. Speeds are higher for braided rivers where you are continuously moving, even though these are usually lower gradient than pool and drop.

Guide books/websites can be useful for planning speeds. But I'd count on being a bit slower than rafts, and much slower than kayaks since they have so much more forward speed that packrafts, especially in slower water.

I realise you have probably bneen on your trip by now but thought I would chime in anyway!

Cheers

35 Km turned out to be a little optimistic! Despite all the rain that the UK received last year, that part of Scotland (according to some locals) had one of the driest Octobers that they had seen in a long time. As a result the water levels were very low, and I spent a lot more time walking the River Spey vice paddling it! Despite my cold, wet feet over the 4 days, I had a great time. Mountain bike came in handy making up some of the distance.

I don’t know how many times that I grounded my Alpacka on gravel bars. I was expecting a shredded bottom to the boat by the time I got back to London, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the bottom undamaged by the end of my trip. It taught me a lot about the quality of those boats.

I plan on averaging 2.5 mph on flat water, and add that to the anticipated speed of moving water.

A few weeks ago my wife and I did 33 miles in a day on the Little Missouri. That was with bathroom breaks, lunch stop, and 3 portages of electric fences that spanned the river. I estimate the river was moving between 3-6mph.

It's really hard to create general rules for river speed. A given flow as a percentage of flood stage and base flow can help, as can gradient, but there are always exceptions. On one local river the lower section is 1 mph faster than the upper stretch, just because the channel becomes straighter and more constrained.

i have gps'd the speed of rivers, and it seems to me that a full 3mph is moving along just fine (i'm mostly just a floater). a 3mph landing is moving pretty good too.

the cool thing about flat rivers is that even at 2mph, you can raft all day and into the night with sore feet, and worry about nothing more than afterdrop when you stop for a pee break. river days are almost rest days. and you get to keep moving ! is very cool .. like having somebody else drive on the way to work.

the way that winds come up in the afternoon seems to have a large effect on how many days it takes to make distance on the water.