Packrafting without a Good Map

This is a preview of a member exclusive premium article.

Sometimes little mistakes have a big impact on your happiness and quality of life. Sometimes they just add spice to an adventure. I wouldn't have thought that carelessly shoving a map in my cargo pocket would totally change my second big packrafting trip, but it did.

Here’s video overview of our hiking and packrafting trip.

Bob Marshell with Morgan Vimeo from Luke S on Vimeo.

ARTICLE OUTLINE

Introduction
The Beginnings of a Fiasco
Day 1 A Slow Start
My Big Mistake
Day 2 Navigation Fun
Day 3 River Fun
Day 4 Big Water
Epilogue
Gear List
- Raft
- Packing
- Shoes
- Socks
- Cameras
- Batteries

# WORDS: 2260
# PHOTOS: 27

--- End of free preview ---

Member Exclusive

A Premium or Unlimited Membership* is required to view the rest of this article.

Membership Login

* A Basic Membership is required to view Member Q&A events

This topic is empty.

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

Author

Posts
Nov 4, 2014 at 4:41 pm #1322423

Stephanie Jordan
Spectator

@maia
Locale: Rocky Mountains

Companion forum thread to:

Packrafting without a Good Map

Nov 4, 2014 at 6:02 pm #2146951

David Chenault
BPL Member

@davec
Locale: Queen City, MT

Luke, I'm so psyched for you guys I can't even express it. I was bummed I couldn't come along with you two, but if I had I would have robbed you of an even better adventure. Getting lost is a lot harder than most people think (though getting a might confused is less so), and judging from the pics you guys did an A job on navigation. Only improvement would be to stay high and left dropping to the upper White to avoid most of the thick timber.

Thanks for the article and vid.

Nov 4, 2014 at 7:13 pm #2146974

Luke Schmidt
BPL Member

@cameron
Locale: Alaska

Dave – You are so right on that. I went back later (with a good map) and stayed higher on the ridge, it worked well. That didn't show up on Morgan's map however. I think our logic was that heading south would make it harder to miss the White. If I recall I was a bit worried if we went east too much we might accidentally cross into the wrong drainage which would have been a mess.
It was definitely a confidence boaster to figure it out with a map like that.

My video making has improved a bit since I uploaded the current video, I'll be posting a link to the updated version later.

A huge thanks to Dave for his help getting me started as a packrafter and to Dave and all the other folks who organized the APA roundup. Having that as a background made this trip a lot more fun.

Nov 4, 2014 at 8:11 pm #2146985

Nick Gatel
BPL Member

@ngatel
Locale: Southern California

Enjoyed the article. Good job on working with a Forest Service map. I like that people can still do that.

Nov 4, 2014 at 9:05 pm #2146998

Luke Schmidt
BPL Member

@cameron
Locale: Alaska

Well I tried uploading a newer version of that video but it didn't work for some reason. Its not really that different from the one actually published so I probably won't bother trying again.

Nick I'm glad you enjoyed it. Your comment makes me think FS maps used to be the standard. Is that what it was like in your younger days? Maybe its confident hindsight but I don't think we could have got "lost" in the classic sense of having no idea where were. I don't think we could have been that bad. The real concern was taking a wrong turn and getting out too late for Morgan too fly home. Also packrafing the wrong river might have been interesting.

Nov 4, 2014 at 10:57 pm #2147006

Dan @ Durston Gear
BPL Member

@dandydan
Locale: Canadian Rockies

Awesome trip report. Looks like my kind of trip. The White River rocks.

I took a wrong turn into the upper reaches of the NF White River during the 2012 BMWO, so I feel your pain with the tough travel in there.

Nov 5, 2014 at 1:51 am #2147016

Kevin Buggie
BPL Member

@kbug
Locale: NW New Mexico

Nice trip!

"My packrafts got a hole in it…..ain't got no beer" Soon to be a classic anthem!

Nov 5, 2014 at 9:36 am #2147075

Adam Klags
BPL Member

@klags
Locale: Northeast USA

Great trip report dude. If you're ever up in the northeast US hit me up I'd love to team up for an adventure next season!

Nov 5, 2014 at 12:57 pm #2147109

Tad Englund
BPL Member

@bestbuilder
Locale: Pacific Northwest

Luke, great trip.
My favorite part of the read- " We were feeling pretty cocky about our navigation at that point", The trip always gets better after that point.

Nov 5, 2014 at 1:29 pm #2147111

Sam Haraldson
BPL Member

@sharalds
Locale: Gallatin Range

Yee haw! Those USFS "maps" are pretty laughable – good on ya'll for persevering.

Nov 5, 2014 at 9:02 pm #2147208

Nick Gatel
BPL Member

@ngatel
Locale: Southern California

Luke asked,

"Your comment makes me think FS maps used to be the standard. Is that what it was like in your younger days?"

Instead of hijacking this thread, I responded and expanded it in this new thread Hiking with USFS Maps

Nov 5, 2014 at 11:17 pm #2147223

Paul Magnanti
BPL Member

@paulmags
Locale: Colorado Plateau

Sounds like fun. Seriously.

I've had my share of "OH crap! I lost the good map" :) Somehow I am still here.

A little common sense, some good hunches and keeping a level head did the job for you two.

The smiles say it all (thought a cute ranger to flirt with is never bad..is it? ;) )

Nov 6, 2014 at 8:37 pm #2147427

Anonymous
Inactive

Great work, Luke. You nailed it when the chips were down. I really enjoyed this one.

Thanks for posting.
Author

Posts