I gave my husband an Alpacka raft that he uses mostly for lake fishing. I've been wanting to try it on whitewater - It doesn't have a spraydeck, which probably limits its WW capabilities, but class II-III should be really fun.

I dont have a packraft (yet) but the idea of some long-distance self-supported hike/raft or bike/raft trips has been on my mind for a long time. Although I dont have a boat yet, I do have my first trip planned out:

1. Hike up the Dosewallips Trail, crossing over at Hayden Pass;
2. Continue over to Low Divide and then up the Elwah Snow Finger to Dodwell-Rixon Pass;
3. Cross over the Queets Basin to the Humes Glacier;
4. Go up over the summit of Mt. Olympus and down the north side to the Hoh river;
5. Packraft the Hoh all the way to the coast;

Maybe this summer will finally be the time I get to do it, but until then I will have to tide myself over watching these videos.

Brian V and Brian D--

I have a pack raft, and bought with the soul intention (see shat I did there?) of getting into the Olympics with it. I bought before ever going Kayaking, so my skills in that area are not great, but I am learning via the UW kayak club. My backcountry experience is extensive, however, and I came to packrafting because I have an obsession with exploring the Olympics and this seemed an ideal way to do it! (Before that, it was Southern Utah, and I am hoping to get the raft down there, too  ... ). So I would really like to get out with people on this thing! And I can't seem to convince anyone to buy one, yet.


I have already done a couple trips, up the Queets and the Hoh, and I really want to do more. So far, I have only been in class II, though that has been fairly easy so I can see kicking it up a notch (I have not swam yet, which I kinda wanna do, ya know?). So it'd be great to get out with people as I think my natural tendency is to go it alone which, after a few trips with UKC, i realize is not smart ... maybe.

Brian D

 I have done a trip very similar to what you described. I started on the Dosi, went up over Hayden pass and up the Elwha snow finger (after an unsuccessful attempt to go up Dodger point into the Baily Range). I then went up the Baily Range, dropped to Cream Lake and bush wacked for an epic 1.5 days above Ice River falls and down to the Hoh. I am very interested in what you are describing, though I do need to get more mountaineering (specifically, roped glacier travel) experience for that one. It would be tricky to have the kind of weather necessary for summiting Olympus and rafting the Hoh. When i was on the Hoh in March, it was barley raftable between the Olympus ranger station (the one ten miles for the trailhead, I think it's Olympus) at 2000 cfs. But this is partly due to the fact that the road goes in so far on the Hoh. On the Queets, however, this is not the case. The Queets is a bigger drainage, and the road only goes about 10 miles up it from the coast. i'd like to hike for the north end of the Baily Range and down the Queets, though getting around Service Falls may be nigh impossible without staying very high ... but still doable. You could also go the other way and come out the Bogachiel.

Anyway. Hit me up for packrafting! I have a lot of ideas ...

Nat