Though my definite preference is to conduct expeditions solo (and these days, with a packraft!), on my 2011 Guyana journey I had an indigenous companion, who helped me find drinkable water vines in the jungle (of course I had done this a lot myself, both in Borneo and West Africa on previous trips). This helps a lot, since you then don’t have to carry a ton of water with you on long walks through such forests. By the way, these new Guyana vids are also viewable on the video page of www.remoteriverman.com and also on the Remote River Man fan page on Facebook. I hope to have the DVD “Rewa: Guyana’s Primeval River” edited and out by March 2012.
Have finally managed to put together a movie from one of our recent packrafting adventures. Hope to get more out soon. Have now moved to Vimeo rather than YouTube.
This HD video is of a 5 day packrafting and canyoning trip in January down the upper Mersey River close to the Overland Track in Tasmania.
Bosnia’s rugged Dinaric Alps create a colossal karst landscape populated by snow clad mountains, gushing springs, steep crystal clear creeks, emerald green rivers, lush valleys, primeval forests, wolves, bear, ancient architecture, and a complex culture and history. The origin of the name Bosnia dates back to the Roman Empire and the term bosana meaning water – the regions most plentiful resource. On route to ether the Adriatic Sea or Black Sea Bosnia’s many rivers have carved dramatic canyons and exciting passageways ripe for exploration by intrepid paddlers.
Fed from melting snow in the Jarbridge Mountains in Northern Nevada, the Bruneau River System has cut a magnificent labyrinth of deep canyons through ancient lava and sagebrush-steppe. The basalt canyons are up to 1,200 feet deep and often so narrow rivers run wall to wall. In 2009 the primitive and wild character of the Bruneua and Jarbridge Rivers was honored and protected by the establishment of the 89,996 acre Bruneau-Jarbridge Rivers Wilderness.
On Memorial Day weekend 2012, Amy McCarthy, Andy Tyson, and I walked in three miles from a graded BLM Road near Grasmere to the Frank Triguero Homestead on the West Fork of the Bruneau. Three fantastic days were spent descending sixty miles to the take out 10 miles above the town of Bruneau.
The Bruneau River was running between 300 and 350 cfs at the USGS Gage near Hot Springs, Idaho. This was an exceptionally fun level for packrafting. The water was sufficiently deep for our nimble packrafts and we handedly navigated the many steep and rocky Class 3/4 rapids.
Over several million years the Yellowstone Supervolcano blanketed eastern Idaho in hundreds of feet of volcanic ash or tuff. Nearby, the Teton River and Bitch Creek drain the snowy western flank of the mighty Teton Range. The rivers have carved their way through the Yellowstone ash creating wild, turbulent and beautiful canyons.
On June 16 Andy Tyson, Wyatt Roscoe, and I descended Bitch Creek from the confluence of the North and South Forks to the confluence with the Teton River. Starting in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness we covered 22 miles of Class 3 to 4+ whitewater in packrafts. With exception of several mandatory portages around river wide logs we ran everything, including Driscoll’s Drop. The Teton River Gage reported 750cfs.
