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So it really depends on the individual and how creative you want to be. We were out there surfing waves and snorkeling in packrafts. Recently I went to Panama and flew down with two packrafts and breakdown paddles. I talked to a gentleman at a college in Pennsylvania recently, and kids up there are getting on the subway with packrafts, taking the train north, and floating back to campus. Packrafts are just so light and easy to deal with. Some people are doing it instead of whitewater kayaking to get to rivers you wouldn’t want to carry a kayak into. In the Brooks Range in Alaska, we used rafts right off the road because it was the easiest way to get access. For me, this weekend it’s a desert loop with water in the middle that we need a packraft to complete. That’s open to your imagination and creativity. What is the ideal type of terrain to access with a packraft? The whole process can take less than 2 minutes. Once you put the valve cover back on, there are a couple of bite valves to finish the job off. The Russians in the 1970s had similar inflation systems that they used to blow up their homemade rafts. All you have to do in capture the air in the stuff sack and squeeze it into the packraft. Think of a stuff sack or big nylon sack that has a valve that screws into the packraft. You could never swim out there because of the cold water.
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I recently saw at Island Lake near Silverton, for example, people hiked up, paddled out on the lake to a remote island, and camped out all by themselves. People are using packrafts for all kinds of things like hiking to remote alpine lakes, paddling across them, fishing, and whatever else. This coming weekend we are backpacking to the Colorado River, floating it on packrafts, and backpacking out. It’s like carrying another two-person tent except you can’t partner out the fly or stakes or anything like that. Most packrafts are in the 5 to 10-pound range and about the size of a two-person tent.
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How big and heavy is a packraft? Can you do it concurrently with backpacking? We utilize packrafts as vessels to paddle across rivers and lakes and to access terrain for all types of adventures. Since then, it’s developed and evolved into a whole activity in itself.
SNOW ON THE BLUFF INTRO PORTABLE
Now packrafts are super portable and small with inflation systems that require no pump. Then they started using very basic Walmart-type rafts and people started innovating. They were coming across streams and big water and utilizing typical wading techniques. Guys like Roman Dial were doing adventure races and exploring the backwoods, and there is tons of water up there. Packrafting originated in Alaska and has its roots there. Can you give us an overview of packrafting?