Packrafting

I'm getting better at packing gear but this picture is one of the worst jobs I've done. I was in a hurry to use 3 hours between getting out of work and meeting some guys for a drain ride. Although it's ugly with gear poking out the top, the 29L pack has everything, Boat, paddle, suit, and a dry bag of clothes if I get soaked. Swiss Army and First Aid kit if I break myself or gear.

I didn't spend a lot of time doing any actual adventure. It was another gear test to get acquainted with how the boat behaves and if I can trust my dry gear. It's winter and if I get soaked I will not have a lot of usable time to get dry. Mostly my fingers stop working and you can't even pull a zipper. So I need to know if I go swimming I will not get too wet.

The blue vest is a CO2 inflating PFD. It's my favorite vest if I don't need one. Most of the time I like being in the water so I expect to go in at some point and traditional PFDs work best.

I don't find a place to portage. Shortly after the video I see hunters and I don't want to be walking around. Also, the islands that look firm enough to walk on have heavy brush and walls of dead logs.

When I finally removed the dry suit the only thing that is wet is the cuff of my pants. I put the dry seal over the neoprene sock and that let water up the inside of the sock when it leaked. I will glue the sock or put the seal right on my skin and I know that seals well like the wrists.

To save time and experiment with the gear, I carry out. This saves about 10 minutes packing and 5 unpacking if I needed to portage a short distance.

In total I spend about an hour on the water looking around and get much needed experience for the next trip that was suppose to happen today but I was delayed and by the time I was packed and ready to leave I realized I don't have 5 hours of daylight to compete my trip and if anything takes longer I'd be in the dark and that meant more gear.