Packrafting 102: Beg./Intm. Whitewater Packrafting – no frills – 1 Spot Left
From Paddle Strokes to Multi-Day Adventures
Packrafting 101: Learn Basic Packrafting Skills
Turn the blue lines on maps into trails and acquire the packrafting skills you need to embark on your own exciting adventures! Through this Packrafting 101 course, we seek to offer opportunities that, “get you on the edge of your own reality to feel things you’ve never experienced,” as FCG co-founder Steve “Doom” Fassbinder says. And we work hard to enhance your existing backcountry skills so you can do bigger and more exciting bike and packraft adventures, while at the same time pushing you just a bit further so you can, “find out what you’re really made of.”
We feel certain you’ll walk away from this course with a deeper sense of enjoyment for both living in and utilizing human-powered tools to pass through remote landscapes. We want your experience to be the milestone in your life that you measure everything else up to.
Course Overview
On your first day of this Basic Packrafting Skills course you’ll meet at a TBA put in for the Dolores River and spend three full days on the river.
This no-frills Learn to Packraft course is for the budget-minded adventurer wanting to learn basic packrafting skills, from paddling and reading rivers to overnight adventuring. Scroll to the bottom of the page to book this course.
Price: $975
A 50% deposit is required to secure your space. The remaining balance will need to be received through 30 days prior to your course. The full balance is due immediately if you are registering inside of the 30 day window.
Please review our cancellation policy, which you will find on our Terms, Conditions & Cancellation Policy Page.
What's Included
This course includes instruction, an open packraft, PFD, paddle, helmet, permits and camping fees.
What's Not Included
Lodging before and after the course. All food for the duration of the course, though you may add a backcountry meal package when you book.
You must be able to get yourself to the river put ins. We’ll work together on the shuttle.
We do not provide whitewater boats, drysuits, river knives, whistles or throw bags. And you will need a drysuit for at least the first day of this trip. Rent drysuits locally at 4CornersRiversports.com (they only have four), or get a 15% discount if you order them online at BackcountryPackraft.com (we will give you the discount code once you pay your deposit).
Instructor
Thad Ferrell: Thad is a Level 3 American Canoe Association Packraft Instructor. An early adopter of packrafting and life-long cyclist and bikepacker, Thad has accomplished some ground-breaking, multi-week climb-bike-packraft adventures in the desert Southwest. He is also an expert fly fishing guide.
What You will learn
Packrafting 101: Learn Basic Skills
We base this beginner/intermediate instructional courses on confidence and skill progression. The course starts with checking in with your basic skills. And then we push you a little harder as the days progress, tailoring the experience to your own personal abilities.
You will learn basics paddling skills and river reading techniques such as:
- ✓Equipment (use and care)
- ✓Swimming and general water confidence
- ✓Self-rescue & buddy assistance
- ✓Dealing with currents
- ✓Aggressive & defensive swimming position
- ✓Decision making
- ✓Hazards & river dynamics
- ✓Basic paddle strokes
- ✓Using eddies
- ✓River commands
- ✓Spacing on the river
- ✓Other TBD based on the skill level of participants
The Dolores Rivers
Dolores River
Length of Adventures: 36+ miles
Gradient: 30ft/mile
Difficulty: Class II+
High Water Flows: April-June
Flow: below 300cfs is low; 400-3,000cfs ideal for this course. Water Flow please see water levels
Prerequisites
This is a beginner/intermediate course. It is more strenuous than our standard 2- and 3-day courses because you’ll have three big days on the river. You will paddle fast moving water and in rapids up to Class II+. If you are an absolute beginner who is afraid of water and has not spent much time on rivers, this is not the ideal course for you. You should have some experience in a single-person craft in whitewater or experience rowing your own boat or paddling a canoe in whitewater. As well, you need to know how to set up your own camp and cook your own food in the backcountry.
