Packrafting the Bob Marshall Wilderness: 1 partner needed
Posted: Oct 04 2011 9:25 am
I know this is a long way off, but I'm just putting it out there to see if this is any interest. I know there are some strong hikers here, some very adventurous souls, some guys who love to fish the back country, and hopefully I can find 1 interested soul who would want to join an epic trip of a lifetime 
What: Packrafting, fishing, backpacking and hiking Danaher creek, South Fork of the Flathead River, the White River, and West Fork of the Sun River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. It’s basically a large loop starting at the Benchmark TH in the Bob. We will fish the infamous South Fork and its tributaries, where people say that it is the best dry fly fishing for cutthroat trout, anywhere in the U.S. And as a bonus, fly fisherman have a chance to tangle with bull trout which average four to eight pounds and can reach double-digit weights.
When: Anytime early July to mid August 2012. You would need anywhere from 12 – 17 days off for this adventure. We will be driving from Tucson/Phoenix in my vehicle, 4 door truck with plenty of room for ppl and gear. Taking turns driving and if driving straight through we can pound it out in 2 days easily to Bozeman, MT.
What’s needed: A) A packraft – I have 2, an Alpacka alpaca and a Yukon Yak, if someone is serious in taking on this adventure they can use whichever packraft I don’t. I also have an extra paddle, and an extra life jacket if you do not have your own.
B) Strong hiking skills – overall hiking mileage is around 36 – 38 miles for loop A, and about 45 – 47 miles for loop B, may be more depending on if taking a side hike up to witness the spectacular Chinese wall.
C) Advanced beginner to intermediate paddling skills whether it be canoeing or kayaking in mild white water, or Packrafting. Overall Packrafting mileage is around 31 – 33 miles for loop A, and about 50 – 52 miles for loop B.
Details of the loops – Hiking would start from the Benchmark TH up Stadler pass to Danaher creek, roughly 16 mile hike. Beginning alt ~5350ft, gaining nearly 1600ft up Stadler pass then dropping close to 1900ft down to Danaher creek. From here there are 2 different options for the rest of the trip:
A. Danaher creek is where we would inflate the packrafts and float Danaher creek down to the confluence with Young’s creek where it then becomes the South Fork of the Flathead River. Packraft down the S.F. to the confluence with the White River ~22 miles, take out and hike about 15 miles up White River pass to the West Fork of the Sun River, beginning alt 4450ft topping out White River Pass at 7600ft, dropping down to 5500ft near the put in on the W.F. Sun River. Float W.F. Sun River around 9 miles where we take out and hike 5.5 miles back to vehicle left at Benchmark.
B. Packraft down Danaher creek to the confluence with Young’s creek, float the S.F. of Flathead close to 31 – 33 miles and take out Helen creek and hike close to 12 miles up and over Pagoda mountain to the White River. Set up camp and make a layover day and hike up and see the Chinese wall.
Packraft the White River down to the confluence with the South Fork of the White River where we take out and hike up White River pass 8.6 miles to the West Fork of the Sun River. Float W.F. Sun River around 9 miles where we take out and hike 5.5 miles back to vehicle.
ALL mileage was estimated
For videos of loop A check out the video link below
http://youtu.be/dlvkcdrF7zo
http://youtu.be/yA8ksXbVdt4
Either loop is easily doable in 6 – 7 days depending on if there are lay over days, side hiking, how much fishing, or just general laziness taking place. Not only is the packrafting and backpacking cool as hell, I mainly want to fish and fish and fish a lot, so perhaps we could stretch the trip out to 7 - 10 days? If you have kayaked, canoed or rafted before in white water, you would most likely be comfortable on this trip. This is an easy float with some mild white water rapids from class I up to class II (depending on river flow) on the sections of rivers we would be running. Portaging is always an option for scary or technical rapids, or anything you wouldn’t want to run, and is very easy to do with these light weight Alpacka packrafts. The Yukon Yak weighs 4 lbs 15 oz; and paddle weighs 34oz, a pretty lightweight combo. The Alpaca weighs 4 lbs 13 oz, paddle weighs 34oz.
For information on Alpacka packrafts visit
http://www.alpackaraft.com/index.cfm
Long trip so I assume we would consolidate gear as much as possible.
Costs for trip - shared expenses for gas up and back, food, and hotel, campground fee's and other miscellaneous expenses
- Driving from Tucson to Helena, MT is 1260 miles. I figure around $200 - $300 per person for gas, add the other stuff and I think around $500 - $600 total cost for this adventure per person.
Map with routes showing both loops of this packraft is attached. Garmin type map....
Interested? Any questions?
What: Packrafting, fishing, backpacking and hiking Danaher creek, South Fork of the Flathead River, the White River, and West Fork of the Sun River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. It’s basically a large loop starting at the Benchmark TH in the Bob. We will fish the infamous South Fork and its tributaries, where people say that it is the best dry fly fishing for cutthroat trout, anywhere in the U.S. And as a bonus, fly fisherman have a chance to tangle with bull trout which average four to eight pounds and can reach double-digit weights.
When: Anytime early July to mid August 2012. You would need anywhere from 12 – 17 days off for this adventure. We will be driving from Tucson/Phoenix in my vehicle, 4 door truck with plenty of room for ppl and gear. Taking turns driving and if driving straight through we can pound it out in 2 days easily to Bozeman, MT.
What’s needed: A) A packraft – I have 2, an Alpacka alpaca and a Yukon Yak, if someone is serious in taking on this adventure they can use whichever packraft I don’t. I also have an extra paddle, and an extra life jacket if you do not have your own.
B) Strong hiking skills – overall hiking mileage is around 36 – 38 miles for loop A, and about 45 – 47 miles for loop B, may be more depending on if taking a side hike up to witness the spectacular Chinese wall.
C) Advanced beginner to intermediate paddling skills whether it be canoeing or kayaking in mild white water, or Packrafting. Overall Packrafting mileage is around 31 – 33 miles for loop A, and about 50 – 52 miles for loop B.
Details of the loops – Hiking would start from the Benchmark TH up Stadler pass to Danaher creek, roughly 16 mile hike. Beginning alt ~5350ft, gaining nearly 1600ft up Stadler pass then dropping close to 1900ft down to Danaher creek. From here there are 2 different options for the rest of the trip:
A. Danaher creek is where we would inflate the packrafts and float Danaher creek down to the confluence with Young’s creek where it then becomes the South Fork of the Flathead River. Packraft down the S.F. to the confluence with the White River ~22 miles, take out and hike about 15 miles up White River pass to the West Fork of the Sun River, beginning alt 4450ft topping out White River Pass at 7600ft, dropping down to 5500ft near the put in on the W.F. Sun River. Float W.F. Sun River around 9 miles where we take out and hike 5.5 miles back to vehicle left at Benchmark.
B. Packraft down Danaher creek to the confluence with Young’s creek, float the S.F. of Flathead close to 31 – 33 miles and take out Helen creek and hike close to 12 miles up and over Pagoda mountain to the White River. Set up camp and make a layover day and hike up and see the Chinese wall.
Packraft the White River down to the confluence with the South Fork of the White River where we take out and hike up White River pass 8.6 miles to the West Fork of the Sun River. Float W.F. Sun River around 9 miles where we take out and hike 5.5 miles back to vehicle. ALL mileage was estimated
For videos of loop A check out the video link below
http://youtu.be/dlvkcdrF7zo
http://youtu.be/yA8ksXbVdt4
Either loop is easily doable in 6 – 7 days depending on if there are lay over days, side hiking, how much fishing, or just general laziness taking place. Not only is the packrafting and backpacking cool as hell, I mainly want to fish and fish and fish a lot, so perhaps we could stretch the trip out to 7 - 10 days? If you have kayaked, canoed or rafted before in white water, you would most likely be comfortable on this trip. This is an easy float with some mild white water rapids from class I up to class II (depending on river flow) on the sections of rivers we would be running. Portaging is always an option for scary or technical rapids, or anything you wouldn’t want to run, and is very easy to do with these light weight Alpacka packrafts. The Yukon Yak weighs 4 lbs 15 oz; and paddle weighs 34oz, a pretty lightweight combo. The Alpaca weighs 4 lbs 13 oz, paddle weighs 34oz.
For information on Alpacka packrafts visit
http://www.alpackaraft.com/index.cfm
Long trip so I assume we would consolidate gear as much as possible.
Costs for trip - shared expenses for gas up and back, food, and hotel, campground fee's and other miscellaneous expenses
- Driving from Tucson to Helena, MT is 1260 miles. I figure around $200 - $300 per person for gas, add the other stuff and I think around $500 - $600 total cost for this adventure per person.
Map with routes showing both loops of this packraft is attached. Garmin type map....
Interested? Any questions?