Any suggestions on a 3-4 night packrafting route?

[Avid B]

Hi all! Brand new member here and excited to have joined the community. I wanted to get your collective thoughts on a great packrafting route given my group’s level of experience.

In the past we’ve packrafted the Susitna River in Alaska (3 nights) and the Flathead River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness (5 nights). Both were perfect routes since they were class 2-3, deep in the backcountry wilderness, and offered a good combination of backpacking and rafting to get to our starting point.

I’m looking to take a group of 2-3 other people on a packrafting trip at the end of April and most routes I know about have snow cover. Are there any lower elevation routes the forum would recommend for us to check out? I’m also not sure how the deluge of rain / snow on the west coast of the U.S. will affect this season of packrafting but hopefully can only benefit with proper planning!

Thanks again all.

[Owen M]

Forrest McCarthy has a good guide to some trips in Utah that would all be possible in April.  Here’s the link: http://forrestmccarthy.blogspot.com/2014/04/packrafting-guide-to-southern-utah.html

[Avid B]

Thanks! Have visited his site in the past and appreciate the reminder to check it out. Any routes come to mind that I should dive deep in to based on your experience?

[Owen M]

I actually haven’t been out there to packraft.  If I were to go, I would try to float the Escalante from Neon Canyon to Coyote Gulch.  That’ll be more than 3-4 nights though.  Most of the trips that interested me the most (Canyonlands 8, San Juan R., Escalante) seemed to be in the 6-8 days range.  The San Juan would be something to look into, as you can float shorter sections in a few days.  Dave C has a blog post about his trip here: https://bedrockandparadox.com/2016/04/16/little-bear-gets-real-part-1/

[Avid B]

Thanks Owen. Do you know if there’s an up-to-date guide on sections of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon that are floatable in class 2-3? Maybe we can research a route through the Grand Canyon that contemplates starting at one point on the south rim, hiking to the river, and getting out at another trail to hike back up the south rim.

Or would we need a permit in that case? Not sure if they require permits for short 40 mi sections  :)

[Owen M]

It’s a good thought, but you would certainly need a permit to float any section of the GC. The lottery was held a couple weeks ago for this season.  It’s an amazing experience though, so it’s definitely worth applying in the lottery or joining an existing trip if possible.  One of those once-in-a-lifetime sort of things.

[John S.]

Buffalo River, Arkansas.

[Avid B]

Thanks so much John! Looking in to it now. Looks beautiful.

[nunatak]

I have done many combined packraft-backpacking trips, especially in Utah.

This is a good primer to that sort of outing. We did it just a few weeks ago. It’s a shallow river with low flow, historically a poor choice in April, but who knows with the excellent snow pack this year.

This is a solid 2 day trip, not dependent on water levels, and also a fine beginner intro to desert travel and navigation.

The so-called Canyonlands 8 can be done in 3 days without too much dilly-dally, but should probably occupy at least four. Low quota numbers for the permits makes this a difficult spontaneous suggestion.

 

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