Packrafting in Wyoming | Our First River Paddle Trip

Now that the dream team has been assembled, it's time to go on an adventure. It may look like we're packing for one of our usual backpacking trips. However, this is the start of something new. Over the last year, we've literally and figuratively been dipping our toes into the world of packrafting. Having recently done our first ever backpacking and packrafting trip on Lake Powell, we were feeling ready to graduate from a lake to a river. We'd come to the Green River, a good place for budding packrafters, such as ourselves, to learn the ropes of river travel. We planned to hike out as far as the river was navigable, or our legs would carry us. Then we'd take to the water. This is about when I realized that there's no such thing as ultralight backpacking when paired with a packraft. Undoubtedly, these were the heaviest packs we've ever had the pleasure of hoisting onto our backs. Not a quarter mile into our 10 plus mile hike, we noticed the wind on the lake was in our favor. As if the lake had a gravitational pull, we made our way to the water's edge, unable to pass up the golden opportunity to exchange a few miles on trail for wind-supported paddling. Our efforts to unpack our recently stuffed packs were instantly rewarded. Having successfully removed a few miles from our hike, it was finally time to commit the rest of our day to traveling on land. Or so we thought. Not a stone's throw from where we had exited the lake, we came to a deepwater crossing. Not wanting to spend the entire day hiking in soaked pants, we decided to collectively strip down to our underwear and shuttle our gear across. It felt nice to finally get into a rhythm on trail, giving everyone the opportunity to drift into their own thoughts as we marched further upriver. When the trail had views of the Green River, we kept an eye out for possible obstacles, hazards, and other dangers that could be on the river for our return journey. Being able to have a fire in the backcountry is a rare treat. So rare in fact, I was setting up our first ever. Often there are burn bans in place, but since it was early in the season, we were in luck. It was a luxury to be able to combat the voracious mosquitoes with a source of warmth as the daylight took its leave of absence. It was Owen's birthday and I couldn't let it go uncelebrated. Oh my god, I can't believe you hiked to that end. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Owen. I'm afraid the candle's gonna fall over. Happy birthday to you. Thank you. You're welcome. Yay. Owen and I actually don't exchange gifts. Instead, we opt for giving each other experiences. How is it? Very good. Good. That crunch. Yeah, there's nothing like it. Even though this pack rafting trip wasn't planned with Owen's birthday in mind, this kind of trip is exactly how we would have celebrated. Get out of my face mosquito, I'm busy. Something tells me that Owen got exactly what he wanted for his birthday, just by being here, doing this with the people he loves. Oh, I like this part of it. we woke up feeling sore. Later, we learned our packs had been just shy of 50 pounds. Feeling motivated by our impending day on the water, we hit the trail to find a put-in. On our way upriver the day before, we found some sections of the river to be unrunnable for our skill level due to heavy flows through an impressive number of strainers. We're all pretty new to pack rafting, so we wanted to be overly cautious and sure that we weren't getting into anything that we couldn't handle. After surveying this section, we collectively decided that it wasn't a good place to start, so we pressed on to find calmer waters. Owen! Finally, we found the perfect place for us to transition into the river. The feeling of excitement as we got ready is a little hard to explain. As much as we love backpacking, there is something so liberating about being able to travel less encumbered by your gear. It's a joy to be able to move our gaze from the forest floor, which is always on guard for tripping hazards, up to our surroundings as the river assists our forward progress. We were all giddy to finally be seeing this area from the meandering green river, which cut and shaped this entire valley over a millennia. Get a load of that view! If you haven't gathered by now, we are head over heels for our new mode of backcountry transportation and the access it gives us to the rivers that we'd otherwise have no way of exploring. Every second on the water felt like a treat. Incoming! Eventually, the storm passed enough for us to continue on our journey. While out on the river, we hoped to get some fishing in. However, the still bottom of the river wasn't conducive for spawning and we didn't see any evidence of fish. We devised a plan to find camp near an adjacent valley so we could explore it the following day with hopes of turning our luck around. How good is this? This lake was a sign that our takeout was fast approaching. Stalling, not wanting it to end, we paddled as little as humanly possible to savor our remaining time on the water. Much to our dismay, the mosquitoes had an impromptu welcome we decided to spend our last day hiking to an alpine lake where we suspected we'd be able to freshwater spring that we stumbled on that happened to have some small brook trout in it. Owen and I sat back and let the professionals show us how it's done. This is the lake we came here for. It didn't take us long to realize there wasn't much going on here either in the fishing department. But with a view like this, we felt like our efforts to get here were sufficiently rewarded. Now for the long hike back to the trailhead. Careful, careful! Our first river trip was under our belt and it gave us a small taste of the world that was previously completely inaccessible. Pack rafting, as we suspected, was an intimate way to experience the backcountry by both land and water. It was a treat to give our backs and legs a break and our arms a chance to pick up the slack. This trip was just the first of what we know will be many involving a pack raft. Before we even made it back to the truck, we were already scheming for what's next. Oh my gosh, we gotta get out of here. It is everywhere. Very well. How are your legs feeling, Chase? Yeah, you've been standing on them for a long time. Not bad, actually. How would a dryer underwear in the back of you? Well on your body. Flawless! I love recording video with my chest, it's great. My chest mount footage is like 50% Oh my god, we got the epic shot. Not laughing at the GoPro now, are we? Well, I was filming Mac, but she just... Oh, I'm trying to clean the jeans off this minute, I probably look psycho. They call her the human gimbal.