Introduction
After completing the Colorado Trail in 2012, I was looking for the next “Big Thing” in hiking. I found two “Big Things;” a packraft, and leaving the established trails. I quickly learned that hiking without a trail or running an unknown river could give you lots of surprises. That’s why my Teton Wilderness Packrafting trip was perfect!
I planned my trip along Pacific Creek as an easy one or two-night practice run before a more challenging longer trip. As it turned out, an overnight on Pacific Creek was quite an adventure. Both the paddling and the hiking were harder than expected, affording me the opportunity to practice decision making under frustrating circumstances.
Details:
- I hiked up Pacific Creek with a plan to go all the way up to Two Ocean Pass. Because Upper Pacific Creek looked low (and full of wood), I turned around a bit early and finished the trip by packrafting back down most of Pacific Creek.
- I went for an off trail bushwacking/canyoneering hike to avoid some rapids that looked just a bit too much to attempt solo with rusty whitewater skills.
- On the way, I scared off a grizzly bear.
I love packrafting and exploring remote wilderness areas for one big reason: unpredictability. Rain or snow melt can change a river from easy to terrifying, a tree falling into a river can make a safe rapid a deadly trap and a bad decision can quickly put you in a precarious situation.
Teton Wilderness Packrafting Photo Essay
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Discussion
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Companion forum thread to: Packrafting Pacific Creek in the Teton Wilderness
Luke Schmidt, shares photos from his solo Teton Wilderness Packrafting trip and discusses the gear that made it possible.
Nice write up, Luke. You have a knack for adventure, as in Yvon Chouinard’s formulation – adventure is when everything goes wrong. I’m half joking but your piece got me thinking about my recent trip to Teton Wilderness, which also did not end up as “planned.” The thing was, I let others do the planning and they did not do it as I would have. That frustrated me at the time, but the more I think about it, my kind of planning can suck the adventure right out of trip. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t know. It’s just not as interesting, I guess.
Luke,
Thanks for the great trip report!
Regarding packrafting shoes, what will you use for your next trip and what rank order selection criteria do you use to select your packrafting shoes?
My criteria in rank order are: backpacking comfort, sticky rubber soles for wet river rock traction, partial mesh uppers to allow my feet to dry quickly, and minimal weight.
Richard my criteria is the same for shoes. I have wide feet so options are limited.
At this point the best shoe I can find is the new Altra Lone Peak 3.0. Merrell doesn’t seem to make a rugged minimalist shoe anymore. I miss their old Bare Access shoes. I bought a pair after the Pacific Creek trip and used them a ton. The uppers held up surprisingly well and the outsole was good. They survived all the bushwhacking on the Wood River plus several other trips.
Looks like you got a new boat there Luke. Â Nice write up, stoked to see more from you in that zone now that you are a lot closer.
The souls for the new Lone Peak 3.0 are competly changed over the older versions. They are suppose to do much better on wet rocks. I really like mine so far but have not used them on wet rocks yet.
Dan that is my old raft actually.
Jeff I ran the Snake this past weekend in the Lone Peak 3.0.They aren’t a water shoe but the traction is okay on wet rocks. No trail shoes are great but they are okay.
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