Fall Packraft Season...its on

Pictures of packrafting don't do the sport justice...that's why you see all the video's posted.  And still the videos don't do the rivers and creeks any justice...that's why you just need to get out there and do it, and maybe swim a little, and throw your buddy a rope once in a while.

I've had some firsts this year, to include the South and Fork of Eagle River, what I would call "Middle" Bird Creek, and hopefully Canyon Creek to Six Mile before freeze up, and I should prolly mention - thigh straps!  Others have been hitting some huge lines (CL V) to include the Magic Mile on Kings River (check out Timmy J's boof at 2:23) and the Upper Willow.  Be sure to check out these videos, as they are the pioneers of packrafting.

Marc and I toured up Echo Bend at higher water (600 cfs) and found this to be very pushy, yet enjoyable.  View Marc's first hand video of what it's like to swim the best beafy part of Echo Bend.


I recently had the opportunity to boat with the Roman Dial's, as the old man gave us a run at a good stretch of Bird Creek.  His video shows some good carnage on Center Falls, much like mine does.  I took some newbs back on Columbus Day for the goods.  Here is an account of how things went down.

I suppose "The Birdcage" is my first named rapid.  The "Birdcage" was my nickname after my last trip to the desert.  Frank "Rage" Palestini nicknamed me the "Birdcage" after our hellacious upper body workouts.  Seeing that I suffered from lagging chest development, he deemed it appropriate to give me some birdseed for the parakeets.

So i'm anxiously awaiting my new paddle purchase, a Werner Powerhouse, 4 piece, 197cm, 30 deg feather.  Thank you PFD.  Lets go paddling...

I'll leave you with a quote that I saw on Forrest McCarthy's 2010 video compilation:


"Ironically as they paddle more and more whitewater, their reward circuitry (for dopamine) dulls, which makes the easier runs less satisfying and drives them to still harder runs and bigger drops to compensate. They are essentially chasing the high of earlier, heavenly thrills on easier water. This is precisely what we see with chronic alcohol or substance abuse." 


This explains it all.

Pete's North and Glacier Creek

Another year older...

I celebrated my 32nd birthday this past week.  What a better way to ring it in than with an outdoor backcountry adventure.  I got this hairy idea to ski-raft-bike all in one day.  What the heck...lets do it!!

I convinced my buddy Marc to join me.  He just returned from 6 weeks in the lower 48, and was jones'ing for an outing.  The plan was to ski this couloir in TPass off of Pete's North, packraft Glacier Creek, and mountain bike back to the truck.

Phase I: Backcountry Skiing

We headed down to the pass with a truck full of gear to find dismal weather.  Typical Western Prince William Sound weather - windy, rainy, and snowy.

Marc making the best out of a difficult situation - skiing in a ping pong ball...

We never reached our destination.  We lived to ski another day, and skied the mellower aspect down to Pete's Creek.  The pass received about 6-8" of fresh heavy snow, so we saw a lot of wet snow slides.

Marc workin' it.

Marc hucking his meat.

Marc enjoying the heavy wet stuff.  But its fresh, so that's why he's in the back seat...

This is what May skiing is all about.

Instead of going back the way we came (good idea), we headed down Pete's Creek (not so good idea, but interesting and fun).

We made it back to the 'Delta Tango', and were headed to the next destination.  Damn that's a lot of gear.

The finer things in life.  Utica Club and Dynafit's.  Phase I complete.

Phase II: Packraft

We headed back to Girdwood and dropped our bikes at the bridge near Chair 5 and headed to the Crow Creek Mine.  Our objective was to float Glacier Creek, but the lack of a recon would prove to be a terrain mistake.

I did see a pretty neat vehicle though.  This is a vintage 'Deuce and a half' with the US Army Alaska shoulder sleeve insignia.  We call it the "Binky Bear".

We rapped down to Crow Creek and inflated the boats.  Marc making his way to the put-in.

And the parting shot.

At this juncture, I am unable to give details about the final leg (ie. Phase III) of our trip.  You'll have to ask Marc or I for further details.  All I can say is that it involved a situation that would require problem solving and both of us swimming.  Nuff said.

We were successful in our triple header, finally navigating lower Crow Creek to Glacier Creek.  We made it back to the bikes in wet gear, and pedaled the ~4 miles back to the trailhead.

As one of my skiing buddies say, "Backcountry adventures make you late for dinner."