Routes. Rob was wearing rain gear and a PFD. What sort of construction keeps it dry? And yup there are some big creeks flowing from those hills. Thank you for posting the pictures on your blog. The paddlers were two weeks into a bikepacking trip. He was wearing a life vest but not a dry suit. Didnt bring an axe or crampons. Colin had considerable experience, including Class IV paddling and actively training to become an ANG Pararescue Jumper (PJ). The rest of this is conjecture. For longer adventures, you can get wild with multi-day expeditions. But its only a matter of time. Wyoming Rivers Cooperative is strategically located just 2 hours from Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole Wyoming, nestled in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains. My old NRS drysuit is heavy. Packrafting Escalante River. So the takeaway is that glacial rivers tend to be more continuous. Alpacka is one of the top brands for packrafts, and Back Country is where you can find their packrafts in the UK. Its perhaps one of the best ways to practice presence and to learn to notice. 2 packrafts and 2 paddles were lost, one paddle and 1 packraft remained. Come to Wind River Country, and enjoy the magic of our mountain water. John & Roman et al that 14 oz vest is a Stearns Class III, you can buy them at Wal-Mart. I'm wanting a real whitewater PFD. Video 2: Rigging Your Packraft Run time: 1 minute 41 seconds Rigging and aftermarket additions can make your packraft more functional and maneuverable, but you need to do a bit of research to maximize strength and stability while minimizing entrapment hazard. Separation has been due to rapids, inexperience, or high winds. Bjrns empty raft and pack were found on the southern shore of the lake, ~12 km away from where he camped the night before (northern shore). Martys was custom extended approx. Even the low point along this trip (Big Sandy Trailhead) is at 9,100 feet, so you'll be at high elevation for the duration of the trip. The Wind River Range is home to 228 named mountains, highest and most prominent of which is Gannet Peak (13,802ft/4207m) - the tallest peak in Wyoming. I know BAD! Finding Meaning on the Green River" target="_blank">, This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated. It's not an ideal solution, and I try to use it only in a pinch in Class 2 water. As your data shows, a drysuit is also an important piece of safety gear especially for packrafting because rolling up is unlikely and swims are more likely. While the second highest peak in Wyoming - the Grand Teton - is located in the Teton Range, the next 19 tallest mountains in the state are also in the Wind River Range. I like your approach of considering the drysuit as part of the initial kit & cost. No intent to chide. We do some river canoeing and sea kayaking, now I have to add desert paddling to the to-do list. All recordings are now online! I ran in from Beaver Park about 10 days ago at 420 CFS, https://waterdata.usgs.gov/wy/nwis/uv?site_no=09188500. The MTI Livery PFD seems to be the best standard option for rough water packrafting at .9 lbs. The Wind River Range is one of the best backpacking + climbing wildernesses in the lower 48. We spend the next week enjoying this little river, as well as exploring our surroundings on layover days. Far East Alaska Range Luc Mehl. Officials at Grand Canyon National Park have recently approved up to 8 miles of Raft Assisted Backcountry Travel (RABT) on a backcountry permit. Since then, they have thrived in the most remote high mountain lakes that beckon anglers from all over the world. I did not get hot or sweaty until I got off the water. You can expect to learn about local fauna, see magical sights and catch some really big fish! If you already have some fly fishing skills, you could enjoy a day trip by the water. Never Summer Wilderness, Colorado. For most whitewater and river packrafters a paddle between 200-210cm is the ideal, if you are doing more touring you can increase the length by 5-10cm. Backpacking Light helps hikers and other backcountry enthusiasts overcome their barriers to living a life outside in Wild Places. Thanks for posting. Thanks to the drysuit and thermal layer, my core was 100% normal the whole time. Starting on the open tundra, it flows beneath limestone spires, past glacial lakes, and through the boreal forests of northern Alaska. I dont know for certain which section Peter was paddling, but I see a 6-km stretch of Class II/III water that could be scouted from the road. Choosing one trip out of the nearly endless options within a five-hour drive from Salt Lake City has been feeling like a daunting task lately. Enjoy short, easy day hikes or more intense backpacking trips, depending on what wets your whistle. The water temperature was not cold. Check Price at Amazon. You're currently viewing a free preview of a member exclusive premium article. Joe Hutto, The Light in High . The Wilderness Classic participants generally do not use drysuits. An alpine valley at over 10,500 feet deep in the Wind River Range, Titcomb Basin lies below peaks on the Continental Divide that soar 3,000 feet above the Titcomb Lakes, the highest of which is 13,745-foot Fremont Peak. Autumn on the Wind offers clear cold nights, aurora viewing, fall colors, and excellent hiking. 02:45. She was hypothermic when she reached help. Intro to Packrafting Embark on a journey to one of Fiordland's hidden gems. Im planning a fishing/packrafting trip for July of 2017. Very speculative, but a nearby airport reported SE wind gusts of 44 km/h (27 mph) on the 25th. Earthwalk Press: Hiking Map and Guide: Northern Wind River Range, WY. Winner Creek to 20 Mile Packraft. Home Forums Campfire Photo Gallery Packrafting Wind Rivers 4/15/07. TRAIL DAYS ONLINE! See full equipment list. South Bay Board Co. - SUP Paddleboard Paddles - 4 Piece & 2 Piece Kayak/Paddle Board Paddle Options. Astral and Norge are the two primary manufacturers of this PFD type. Wind River Range. He road scouted a section of the Bugaboo and determined that it was below his skill level. We did this on the first weekend in December. Jaymes H. Schoenberg (22) and a partner used packrafts to cross the swollen Sagavanirktok River en route to Arctic Village. 1. Who knows it could be helpful context for someone reading this to shape their own decisions. Moments later he went through another hole and was separated from his boat. Nova Alaska Guides extricated Marty and boater #3. I will soon own one of those Kokatats. Definitely a near miss that couldve been avoided by better route planning and scouting blind corners. I wonder if we should compile a few near miss case studies too. I need survival and misc gear in my PFD firestarting kit, knife, whistle, camera, and a snack. Kathryn Montana Perkinson is a writer living in Lander, Wyoming. Continuing to encourage drysuit use in the packrafting community is important. However, as the water makes its way out of the mountains it negotiates deep granite gorges. http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/15/index.html. Obviously this river is not suitable for our 16 footer, though! Body Glove mens 3t Cinch-m Water Shoe, Black/Yellow, 11 US. was last seen about 15 miles into his trip on June 22nd, and was reported to have had sufficient food for only five more days. . The river, which holds more water than . As always, thank you for doing this. I noticed a swim in one of his videos where he holds onto the boat by looping an arm through the deck combing, so that might have played a factor in his fatal swim as well. Details are not public, but there was a fatality in the Brooks Range at high water. Experience the grandeur of wilderness and the excitement of river travel on this clear and beautiful river. It appears to have been windy on the fjord on the day he disappeared. This feature requires an active Backpacking Light Membership. A Membership is required to post in the forums. Rescuers responded to a PLB (personal location beacon) SOS call. WIND RIVER, YUKON. Join. From Mild to Wild, Exploring Wind River Countrys Waterways. The analogy that comes to mind is going back to using cloths line to "protect" climbing routes becaues of it's handling characteristics while in your pack. I am sure that a custom PFD could be created that weighs less than the MTI Livery but, the safety tolerance would probably be lower. May 1st: A Russian man, Yalil Kuvandykov, was seen to overturn in his boat on the Inzer River, Russia. Another Wind River Trip Planning! Hanmer to Put-in - 30km (allow 45 minutes by car) Clarence to Hanmer - 234 km. You mentioned to me in an email that you have terrific guides - you do indeed. The river primarily has boatable flows in the spring, and during summer monsoons. Online trip-planning course: Jan-March 2022! The first two gorges feature Class III/IV drops and frequent wood hazards. Backcountry access Bettles, AK. The Sondre Stromfjord is an almost linear, 170km fjord which can funnel foehn winds fjord the Ice Sheet. The Bull River is a delightful paddle in the foothills of the Alaska Range. Hiked in ~12miles on the Highline trail from the Green River Lakes trailhead to Beaver Park on Friday, set up camp, ran ~3miles of the river to the one class III drop to get a feel for the river. Is there a publication that lays out the basics? Sarah Kilbourne What is clear is that Yalil had a leash attaching himself to the boat and was trapped by the leash (not the black rope in the photo below that is part of the coaming). The Wind River lies in the northern half of the Yukon Territory, Canada just south of the Arctic Circle. #3 boat was lost when it was released to pull Marty from the water. Please post more pics if you have time or put them on your blog. It has a great range of sections from lovely flat stretches to challenging grade IV and everything in between. 5. I think packrafting is particularly tricky because we are trying to cover ground on foot as well. The team had helmets, but not drysuits. All boats were Alpacka Llamas. Were going to be down in Pinedale over Labor Day weekend and wanted to get a gage to see if folks had ever checked out the Green River Lakes area this late in the year. Youll sleep with the relaxing sound of the water and learn how to leave the places you travel through better than you found them. Hoping to find something under the 2 pound mark.. Ryan mentioned a 14 oz pfd here, but never said what brand it was. A Premium or Unlimited Membership* is required to view the rest of this article. For someone not at all familiar with this region- when specifically? Jeffrey DeRonde was trapped in river debris (I assume wood) and fully submerged. Once born, his explorations have taken him all over the west, but especially the canyon country of the Colorado Plateau. Become a member today! Richard, Kapok? These creeks are punctuated by class 6 drops, commiting gorges and other excitement. The browns, rainbows, cutthroat, cutt-bows, walleye and famous golden trout do not disappoint. Backpacking in the Wind River Range. For another place to enjoy a quiet romp around the water, head up the Loop Road above Bruces Bridge in Sinks Canyon into the Shoshone National Forest. Anybody out there find the lightest foam-filled PFD? One of my favorite musicians has a great song about the Verde River (he lives in Jerome). I started looking at a Wind River high route and felt more excited with the prospect of an ambitious thru-hike, but there wasnt time to plan that as I would be leaving the very next day. Sounds like a good decision! There has been some discussion about how they were able to rent boats without safety equipment. Additional details from a Washington Post article mention that Peter had limited experience rafting in cold water and was not wearing a PFD. Thanks to Shimon Saito for collecting and sharing this information. Martin had considerable experience. There are some beautiful campsites nestled into the shores of the lakeslike the sandy campsites youll find when you kayak or canoe across Worthen Reservoir from the boat ramp. The Wind is probably the most popular river . Thanks for your post. If you havent fly fished before and are looking for a little bit more of a wild day, you could enjoy a day of guided fly fishing. We were able to nail them down for a video chat Skip to content Close menu SHOP Kayak Paddles High-Angle Low-Angle 2022 Dates July 17-21 (1 space left) Any late season info you could provide would be helpful! Once past the confluence with the East Fork of the Chandalar River, we enjoy a day of floating this broad clear river and then pull over at the appointed gravel bar, where our pilot will meet us. My route started and ended at Green river lakes area, went up lakeside trail to porcupine trail, lost trail for a mile then re-found it in a sound of music like meadow (saw some nice trout in the pools of this meadow stream), camped just short of intersection between south gypsum trail and porcupine pass, had a moose visitation just after sunset, next morning hiked straight up porcupine pass into beautiful mountain meadow with small stream (from melting snow spots) and what appeared to be cranberry bushes, stoutly in bloom, continued to new fork porcupine trail, then turned left to clark creek trail, did some tenkara fly fishing at Kenny lake (lake full of small trout, seemed like brown and brook trout, a bite on nearly every cast even with 10-15mph winds) set up camp at said lake; morning continued on down clark creek trail, (took a dip in Clark lake, that really woke me up) eventually joined highline trail and as soon as could see river walked through meadow, inflated boat and weaved through the river meadow after some time river became clogged with non-runnable wood jammed sieved out boulder gardens, very beautiful; I began to exhaustively portage around these obstacles eventually deflating and rejoining highline trail, setup camp approximately directly across from square top mountain. I tried to synthesize a decision matrix, if interested, you can find it on the Alpacka Raft blog (https://www.alpackaraft.com/rafting/should-it-stay-or-should-it-go/). Reach the edge of the water and make your transition: inflate your packraft, assemble your paddle and stash your kit in the raft. I have swum rapids with it. The paddler was in their 70s, and it is suspected that their paddle leash snagged the debris. The Wind River Range runs along the Continental Divide and boasts some high elevations. Hi all, this is a very old thread but thought Id see if anyone out there has any current info. The common themes in these > accidents are cold, surprisingly swift water, and insufficie >. Thanks to Konstantin Gridnevskiy and Taras Popov for sharing this information. Nothing better connects you to this place and its waterways. Get our free Handbook and Receive our weekly newsletter to see what's new at Backpacking Light! New TRAIL DAYS ONLINE! Home Forums Campfire Photo Gallery Packrafting - Wind Rivers - 4/15/07. Grant Gunderson | September 24, 2014. The combination of a free-flowing, undammed waterway, whitewater that is fun and challenging but (with one exception) in the easy Class III range, and a huge trail network adjacent to and along the river should be like catnip for packrafters, but there's a surprising paucity of information. Et al that 14 oz vest is a very old thread but thought Id see anyone! At Wal-Mart trip by the water from Beaver Park about 10 days ago at 420 CFS,:. We are trying to cover ground on foot as well song about the Verde River ( lives. To this place and its Waterways Konstantin Gridnevskiy and Taras Popov for sharing this information Livery PFD to. Cutt-Bows, walleye and famous golden trout do not disappoint cutt-bows, walleye famous. Helps hikers and other backcountry enthusiasts overcome their barriers to living a life vest but not a dry.! 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