Packraft Foundations: A Paddling Skills Course for LGBTQ+ Adventurers ⼮ The Armida Huerta Adventure Fund
A packrafting course for queer & trans adventurers!
Introduction
At Four Corners Guides, we are committed to supporting our fellow queer and trans adventurers and the greater LGBTQ+ community through these tough times in the United States. Our goals with this Armida Huerta Adventure Fund course are to create a safe space for you with our female and/or queer instructors and to teach you new skills so you can more safely enjoy the outdoors with like-minded queer and trans adventurers. To get an application to apply for this course, please email us. Your $100 deposit will be refunded upon completion of the course.
the armida huerta adventure Fund
We are running this course as part of the Armida Huerta Adventure Fund. For more information on this fund and on Armida, please click here.
We recognize this is a drop in the bucket when confronting systemic racism, homophobia and entrenched inequality. But we feel the freedom, exhilaration and self-realization discovered on wild rivers and trails should be accessible to everyone.
We also recognize there are many barriers to backcountry adventuring. As such, with this fund we seek to provide instruction, loaner and/or equipment gifts, financial support, food, and other necessities to these communities.
We created this fund in honor of our dear friend, partner, sister, Armida huerta, who passed on March 20th, 2024.
This fund will be administered by Four Corners Guides, with the goal of expanding offerings through other bikepacking and packrafting guide services 2025 and beyond. Our fiscal sponsor TBA soon!
Course Overview
We are still developing this course, so stay tuned for additional details. But, in short, you will spend two days learning the ins and outs of packrafting, from how to blow up your boat to how to paddle down a river.
Price: $100
Your $100 deposit will be refunded upon completion of the course.
What's Included
This course includes instruction, an open packraft, PFD, paddle and helmet. You will need a drysuit or wetsuit for this course. We do not provide them at this time, but hope to soon.
Instructors
Primary Guide, Lizzy Scully: Lizzy is co-owner of Four Corners Guides. She has been packrafting seven years, is certified in Swiftwater Rescue and as a Wilderness First Responder and is a Level 2 American Canoe Association Packraft Instructor. She’s packrafted the Grand Canyon twice, along with a dozen other rivers around the Southwest. And in 2024 she’ll be acquiring her Level 3 Packraft Instructor Certification.
Mentor, Tami Graham: A fifth generation Coloradoan, Tami has spent her entire life adventuring in the mountains, deserts and rivers of Colorado. She moved to Durango in 1984 to attend Fort Lewis College, with a keen eye on the amazing access to all that the Four Corners has to offer. Having climbed most of Colorado 14ers), she turned her passion to river rafting in her 20’s. She began packrafting when armida started working for Alpacka Raft and hasn’t looked back since. Tami is the Executive Director of KSUT Public Radio and has spent her career working with non-profit organizations. She moved to Mancos in 2004, where she is highly involved in numerous community organizations.
What You will learn
Level 1 Packraft Foundations–Basic Paddling Skills: This 2-day beginner course is for aspiring packrafters with little to no experience who want an introduction to their equipment and basic on-the-water skills. We learn many of the following skills in a kayak play park setting in Durango, Colorado. This course is meant to introduce you to these skills, not to get you to master them. You’ll do more drills and hone these skills in our Level 2-4 courses.
Paddling & River Running Skills
- ✔Equipment (use and care + boat rigging, fit, and release of thigh straps)
- ✔Posture, safety, comfort, rocking and balance
- ✔Swimming and general water confidence
- ✔Self-rescue & buddy assistance
- ✔Dealing with currents
- ✔Aggressive & defensive swimming position
- ✔River hydrology/dynamics, features & hazards
- ✔Basic paddle strokes (forward, back, draw, sculling)
- ✔Using eddies
- ✔River communication: Paddle, hand, and whistle signals
- ✔Spacing on the river
- ✔The “River Safety Talk”
- ✔Field repair-tips & tricks
About the animas & Dolores Rivers
The day of this basic beginner course will take place on up to Class II+ rapids on the Animas River. We spend a lot of time spent in the Animas City Kayak Play Park. Days 2 and 3 we will be on the San Miguel and Dolores Rivers, paddling from Naturita to the “Hanging Flume” section on the Dolores.
Animas River
Length of Play Park: 1.25 miles
Length of Daily Adventures: 5 to 8 miles
Gradient: 30ft/mile
Difficulty: Class II III at 500-2000 CFS
Class III to IV 2,000 CFS and up.
High Water Flows: May-July
Flow: below 500cfs is low; 1,000-2,000cfs ideal for this course. Water Flow please see water levels
Dolores River
Length of Adventure: 22
Difficulty: Class II+
High Water Flows: April-July
Flow: below 400cfs is low; 400-2,000cfs ideal for this course. Water Flow please see water levels (does not include the Hanging Flume section, but the river levels are the same as reported via the link).
