Wind is a common factor in open water incidents. Backpacking Light helps hikers and other backcountry enthusiasts overcome their barriers to living a life outside in Wild Places. South Bay Board Co. - SUP Paddleboard Paddles - 4 Piece & 2 Piece Kayak/Paddle Board Paddle Options. I know the others would concur in my praise. Wind River Canyon Whitewater and Fly Fishing offers rafting excursions as well (see here for a detailed trip report). Our water! It is a harsh environment with very short summers, 24-hour daylight, strong winds, unrelenting terrain, grizzly bears, wolves, hazardous rivers, and no help for as far as you can imagine. I like your approach of considering the drysuit as part of the initial kit & cost. May 1st: A Russian man, Yalil Kuvandykov, was seen to overturn in his boat on the Inzer River, Russia. Rescuers found his packraft in a log jam. In the summer of 2015 a German paddler disappeared in the Sndre Strmfjord near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. Check Price at Amazon. Become a member today! Three packrafters capsized in the Delicsky rapids ( ) section of Levaya Mama River (Baikal region of Russia). Select a suitable river (class 1 -2 ) by picking one, close to your home, from the book, "California White Water A Guide to the Rivers". . I cancelled a river trip the next day on that note and went day hiking instead. Popular Activities Hiking & Backpacking Hunting & Shooting Higher, Longer, Deeper: Wyoming's Largest Range! 3 miles of this was really fun class II+ starting just before Moose Creek Rd junction. Trip Highlights The Brooks Range, packrafting, mountain scenery and true wilderness.. Trip Options We can sort up near the headwaters for a longer journey or midway down river for a shorter option. Nizina River (CL II+) Medium to Hard 1-3 days $$$ A classic Alaskan river . Sounds like a good decision! 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. Ben Kilbourne hikes and packrafts along the Green River in Wyoming. Hi Jay, yeah, a $50 PFD and $600 drysuit might have saved three of these lives. What follows is a general flow of events. Google Earth, GaiaGPS, topo maps and more. Close calls are abundant within the packrafting community, serious injuries and fatalities have been rare. For our summer vacation in 2015 we decided to spend a week in August backpacking the Wind River Range in Wyoming. 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 rapids consist of steep drops and boulder gardens, as described in this link: river description (go to [4]). Ran this section another time then drove home. But, at 0.9lbs it would almost be worth adding two external front pockets. On July 15, 2017 river level was slightly higher than Martys highest run (number not recorded). All boaters had dry suits, helmets and PFDs. Or you could take a few sandwiches, a case of bubbly water and a sun hat and spend the day fishing out of a canoe on Boysen Reservoir or on the outlet of Worthen Reservoir. Make sure you have your biggest net ready to go. A post shared by Tom Mckendrick (@thomas.mckendrick). He was paddling down the fjord during a multi-day trip. Lions Head, Class IV, is known for its big hydraulics and difficulty distinguishing rocks from water due to both being the same gray color. Two packrafters were paddling the Class I+ section of the Tama River (western Tokyo) when one paddler snagged on submerged or partly-submerged river debrismetal wire or a loop. I went to a couple of paddling shops and weighed all of the L/XL PFDs they had on display. This run is indeed a packrafting classic. This feature requires an active Backpacking Light Membership. August 17, 2015 Backpacking Trips, Featured Trip Reports, Trip Reports. 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. Titcomb Basin. They are a truly wild and rugged wilderness, protected by two National Forests and the Wind River Reservation. Some may question whether it was worth lugging a 6lb boat, ~2lb paddle, ~1lb life jacket in addition to my backpacking gear up 3,000 feet of rugged mountains to 11,000 feet to float out the green river for half a day, but I believe it was. Richard, I *normally* use an SOS inflatable BUT I forgot it in the car, so I wasn't wearing a PFD. Is the Aug 24-25 class still a go? Many of the creeks, like the Dinwoody, have wonderful floatable sections. Come to Wind River Country, and enjoy the magic of our mountain water. An Englishman was separated from his packraft while attempting a two kilometer lake crossing in Argentina. No, it was a swiftwater river between lakes at the Jokullsarlon Lagoon. And, you dont paddle with someone who doesnt have one on. Even here in the Southeast, the rule is dress for the swim. The team had helmets, but not drysuits. Do your part to help! 6hrs round trip. Joe Hutto, The Light in High . The river primarily has boatable flows in the spring, and during summer monsoons. The highest point on this loop is Texas Pass at 11,500 feet above sea level. 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. Thanks to Shimon Saito for collecting and sharing this information. We found his foot tracks in a gravel bar where we believe he had pulled in and looked downriver, Tim said. I appreciate the swiss-cheese model of incident causation to visualize this incidents occur when a bunch of small holes line up perfectly wrong. You're currently viewing a free preview of a member exclusive premium article. Backpacking in the Wind River Range. What sort of construction keeps it dry? With at risk kids we took 6-9 days but you could do it faster. I appreciated the time he spent teaching me to read the map, which is not easy without trails. They are known for their affordable entry-level produtcs with a solid quality.They offer inflatable kayak for a pretty long time and extended the product range to packrafts recently as well. The Wind River Range exists in a NW to SE layout and consumes around 100 miles in terms of length, and consuming an area of 2.25 MILLION acres! Mosquito season should be overbut bring a small bottle of DEET repellent just in case. This is the third open water packraft fatality on record, highlighting the danger of open water crossings. I underestimated the river and capsized in a river-wide ledge. The second boater attempting to land river left flipped and lost his boat. A Membership is required to post in the forums. It's risky. There was a rafting death on the Landsborough River recentlya really popular wilderness packrafting trip. Rental equipment is available through Arctic Wild. Jeffrey DeRonde was trapped in river debris (I assume wood) and fully submerged. It's identifying what risk level they need it at and there are many kinds of packrafting from just crossing rivers and streams that people would otherwise wade to hucking waterfalls. The common themes in these > accidents are cold, surprisingly swift water, and insufficie >. Reminds me of Sarahs IG post today fantastic example of role modelling open sharing! This was home water for him. Snake River Lollipop Loop - Yellowstone National Park - August 8, 2021, Jemez River, Las Conchas Trail and Beyond, Pine River, Lake Creek, Flint Creek Loop San Juan. My chest is 45" and so this is the size I weighed. It can be found at the south end of Beaver Park. Then carry on, this time using your arms not your legs. Fishing can be for everyonewhether you want to spend an afternoon hanging out on a riverbank or go on a multi-day expedition. We've been wanting to packraft the Crooked River through the popular climbing area, Smith Rock, for some time. Definitely a near miss that couldve been avoided by better route planning and scouting blind corners. Temperatures vary dramatically in the Arctic. Experience the grandeur of wilderness and the excitement of river travel on this clear and beautiful river. https://www.gifu-np.co.jp/news/20200120/20200120-208121.html (Japanese)Shimon Saito, personal communication. Lodging, non-camp meals, personal clothing and gear, waterproof river bag, fishing gear, and fishing license. Online trip and emergency planning course, My wife Sarahs awesome fitness programs: Ski Babes and Summer Strong. Ben Kilbourne has been backpacking since his days in the womb. He was always willing and ready to teach, to talk, to listen, to do another hike, or to lie low in camp if we were beat. A small amount of each fee goes into (very) slowly building up PRANZ funds: For future projects which could involve training subsidies, maybe legal fees for the court battle to prevent a company damming a fantastic packrafting river The future is uncertain, and PRANZ wants to be in a position to help defend our packrafting opportunities. Perfect conditions. Visit www.WindRiver.org for license information, outfitters and guides. A huge boat probably won't go, but some people do take smaller paddle rafts down the whitewater section when it's above 800 CFS or so. I assume that you've looked at "squirt vests" that pull on over the head no zipper weight? In my opinion, this would be the best place to list near misses since the AW site is already so mature. TRIP DETAILS I had a close call with a buddy getting pinned to a log jam (inexperience and poor trip planning), he ended up climbing out of his boat onto the jam and I went downstream after his raft. It is not marked, nor obvious, with lots of deadfall obscuring the start of the trail. How can we prevent holes from lining up? Our premium articles include in depth journalism and insights from the Backpacking Light editorial team. It is located in the beautiful Peel Watershed, a collection of 6 rivers that flow north into the Peel River and later into the Mackenzie River that flows into the Beaufort Sea. River had dropped foot to ~1500 cfs. The lyrics seem more real after seeing that video of you bombing through the reeds. Summary is it was fantastic and my favorite packaraft adventure of 2016 for sure. They also have a one week class called Rapid Immersion they conduct on either the Trinity River or the South Fork of the American River. Nisutlin River Family Tour Ruby Range Adventure. Temperatures range from the 20s to 70s. It appears to have been windy on the fjord on the day he disappeared.