I’ve owned an Alpaca packraft for about two years now, but am ashamed to admit that I have hardly used it to anywhere near its potential. Packrafts roll up to about the size of a small two person tent, yet when inflated they can easily carry heavy loads, bikes, packs, etc.. To maximize their fun potential, you need to find, or since it is still a young sport, create, a route that involves some logical mixture of biking, hiking, canyoneering, paragliding, etc, and rafting. There seems to be an unlimited supply of these types of adventures in Alaska, but you have to work a bit harder to figure them out in Utah. Continue reading ‘Candy-Hearted Rustler’
Tag Archive for 'packraft'
After seeing an inflated PackRaft in Alaska Mountaineering & Hiking last year, it was love at first sight and I ended up buying one. PackRafts are burly little personal rafts that are capable of carrying things like skis, bikes, packs or bloody chunks of moose on them. Deflated and folded up, they weigh in at about four pounds and are about the size of a small two-person tent. There are a variety of paddles available, but I went with the four-part carbon model which is light and compact.
When getting into a new sport, I usually over-estimate my abilities and under-estimate how difficult it will be, which has led to lots of exciting times, especially with kite-skiing. But, Rick Angell came up with the novel idea of trying a mellow float & bike on the lower Provo river, which turned out to be an excellent idea. Continue reading ‘PackRaft Practice Outing’
I’d heard about PackRafts from a few adventurously inclined people, but didn’t really get the full picture until I was up in Alaska last spring and had a chance to see a real, live version at the AMH store. In short, PackRafts are very compact, high quality, lightweight personal rafts made out of durable raft fabric (Hypalon?). When collapsed, they are about the size of a single wall, two person tent, weigh 4.5 pounds, and when inflated, they can carry all sorts of stuff, including skis, bikes, or if you are a real Alaskan, a meat bag.
The "Miracle" on her maiden voyage.
