Fremont Canyon packraft trip @Capital Reef, March 29-30th...

#1

round about that time/flexible.

I wont have a shuttle vehicle as I am bikepacking from Provo, UT, but give me a call if interested. This is an overnight trip. Requires some class IV climbing to get all the way through. I hiked it before after a failed packrafting attempt at 300 cfs. Too high and ended up loosing my paddle and hiking through. It is normally a V+ run. The gorge is very beautiful, one of the best in Utah, but I havent seen any panoramic pictures online of the inside of it, so I hope to post some on my facebook page when I am done. The river is at its base flow of 70 cfs, but I’ll try and raft what I can. This is a very strenuous trip.

http://www.eddyflower.com/run-51-FremontCanyon/

Scott Tennis England 385-201-0181

#2

Did you get a chance to do this?

#3

Mason, are you in Utah now?

#4

No, not until late April

#5

I’m not available then, but would be interested in doing a packraft trip out west about that same time in April. I’ve done a lot of class III in my alpacka, but never been in class IV but am confident I’d pick it up quickly. Let me know if you’d like to do something.

#6

Yes, I paddled it at very low water, 60 cfs. It is a very beautiful run, but dangerous. Normal flow is class V for both falls and sweepers in a steep gorge.

#7

So I assume you portaged a lot? Did you have to rappel anything?

#8

there was a couple of portages around sweepers, and walking over a shallow drop. At 60 cfs, you wont need to do any climbing, just a lot of bush wacking and talus scrambling. On another misadventure of canyoneering through Fremont Gorge when the creek was flowing at 300 cfs in mid march, there was one class IV scramble on a cliff above some rapids, and lots of swimming across the river in class III between class IV and V drops, but I made it all the way through the Gorge. Definitely a very low water trip for packrafters. Informing the national park rangers before your trip would be helpful. A few years ago two rangers tried kayaking down the river, and both were seriously injured and had to be rescued by helicopter.