Category: Packrafting
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2016 Bob Open video and lessons
Executive summary: I did more miles faster and had more fun than any previous year, even though my 2015 route is still tops when it comes to scenery. I hope the exuberance is captured in the video. As you’d hope on my sixth consecutive year, I had the equipment pretty well nailed. The weather, far…
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2016 Bob Open gearlist
No video this year. The array of stuff is so familiar that writing it out seems redundant, but folks have consistently expressed value in the video versions, and I like them for future reference. We had a mild winter and early spring in northwest Montana, but the last week has brought record precip, which fell…
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wilderness in Wilderness
The Bob is awesome. Video by Michael Reavis. Anyone who’s been out in the woods a lot and has been paying attention should be aware of this problem; that even the quietest, most fleeting and “natural” of human travel in the wild has a significant impact on the plants and animals who live there full…
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Seek Outside pack buying guide
Seek Outside doesn’t actually make that many packs, but for those who’ve never seen one getting acquainted with the options and choosing well can be daunting. I’ve put serious miles on a Unaweep, Evolution, and Revolution, and am accumulating miles on the new Divide 4500, so I like to think I have something to offer…
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The old West Lakes trail
If you look at old maps of Glacier National Park you see that 80 years ago there were many more miles of trail than the ~700 the park currently maintains. Particularly in the North Fork, all the trails which used to run north-south midway between the river and the mountains have been unmaintained for half…
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First Lite Aerowool
As I’ve written before, the task of baselayers fabrics made from merino-polyester blends is to unite the moisture management and funk resistance of wool with the quick wicking/drying and durability of polyester. Numerous variations have made good strides towards this end, but all have come up short in one way or another. Kuiu’s ultra merino…
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Sierra Designs Elite Cagoule snap judgment
It’s uncommon that so few specifics are available about so interesting a product, and downright rare that I spend money* on something about which I have both substantial interest and major trepidation. So here they are; details, warts, good things, as well as home I assume it will work once I get it into the…
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Camas Creek bike-hike-packraft
A spring hike in Christensen Meadows, together with a float on Camas Creek, will never be a popular trip in Glacier National Park, but it’s one of my favorite outings. The meadows face south, and the creek has its origin up a big and very snowy valley. Once spring truly warms up the lower Camas…
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The float to hike transition
Transitions are an easy way to loose time while packrafting. Having a predictable system whose way of doing things is as similar as possible from trip type to trip type not only makes you faster, but makes it less likely you’ll pack your rain gear at the bottom of the main packbag, or leave something…
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near flood
There’s a level for every river of any size, when water is getting close to filling the banks but is not yet in flood, when things get weird. Too much water tries to get downstream too fast, all at the same time, resulting in substantial and unpredictable vertical and horizontal movement within the current. Whirlpools…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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