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34-473: The rules are simple: start to finish with no outside support, requiring that participants carry all food and equipment; human-powered; leave no trace; and rescue is up to the individual to resolve. The most common form of transportation is by foot and packraft , although bicycles, skis, and paragliders have been used by intrepid participants. Beginning in 2004, participants have been required to carry satellite phones or Satellite emergency notification device like

68-493: A Halkett boat provided by the government, to search for the lost expedition. The party was unable to locate Franklin, but found the Halkett boat invaluable, on one occasion using the single boat to ferry their entire party across a river in 14 trips. Rae noted that although the rubber of the boat became stiff from the cold, there was no difficulty in warming it to soften the material when necessary. Halkett boats were likewise taken on

102-483: A boat that would be small and light enough to transport easily on foot through wilderness, but robust enough to carry people in safety across wide bodies of water. His solution was to design a boat in which all components would double as items of clothing, or accessories that Halkett assumed the user would be carrying in any event. Halkett designed a waterproof cloak made from an early form of Macintosh cloth , cotton impregnated with India rubber by using naphtha as

136-407: A cheap alternative. These vinyl substitutes are not designed for anything more challenging than boating on still water no further than an easy swim to shore; they puncture easily, and they do not inflate to high pressures. For these reasons they have been described as 'slackrafts'; they do, however, offer some advantages over the even cheaper option of Liloing . Halkett boat A Halkett boat

170-475: A larger version that folded into a knapsack. When inflated, it could carry two men, operating a paddle on each side, and when deflated served as a waterproof blanket to allow the users to camp on wet ground. The Admiralty was sceptical about potential uses for Halkett's designs; on 8 May 1845 Lord Herbert , First Secretary to the Admiralty wrote to Halkett that "My Lords are of an opinion that your invention

204-547: A sitting position, although kneeling can be advantageous in some situations. Pioneering use of packrafts is difficult to trace, as float tubes, inner tubes, and other small boats can in some of their uses be considered equivalent to packrafts, and have been used around the world for over a century, beginning with the Halkett boat . However, Dick Griffith is documented to have used a packraft to descend Copper Canyon's Urique River (Chihuahua, Mexico) in 1952 before introducing them to

238-456: A small, portable inflatable boat designed for use in all bodies of water, including technical whitewater and ocean bays and fjords . A packraft is designed to be light enough to be carried for extended distances. Along with its propulsion system (collapsible paddles or lightweight oars) and safety equipment ( PFD , clothing) the entire package is designed to be light and compact enough for an individual to negotiate rough terrain while carrying

272-519: A solvent. The lining of the cloak contained an airtight and watertight inflatable ovoid, split into four separate airtight compartments in case of puncture, and a pocket containing a paddle blade and a small bellows . The wearer of the cloak would carry a walking stick, which would double as the shaft of the paddle, and a large umbrella to serve as a sail. The cloak weighed around 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 pounds (3.4 kg) in total, and took three to four minutes to inflate; once inflated, it could support

306-409: A storm; John Richardson had attempted to swim to safety and suffered severe hypothermia . A single member of the party had fashioned a small canoe from canvas and willow, and the survivors had been obliged to cross the river one at a time using the makeshift canoe. Halkett was an amateur inventor, and during his spare time whilst serving in the navy he worked on solving the problem of how to design

340-432: A swimming pool. A packraft/trail boat is intended for use in open bodies of water. Distinction from "man-portable" A packraft is distinguished from a strictly man-portable raft insofar as it is designed to be light enough to represent only a fraction of the total weight an individual can reasonably carry. A packraft can be carried for extended periods, along with food, water, shelter, and other supplies that would enable

374-519: Is a type of lightweight inflatable boat designed by Lt Peter Halkett (1820–1885) during the 1840s. Halkett had long been interested in the difficulties of travelling in the Canadian Arctic , and the problems involved in designing boats light enough to be carried over arduous terrain, but robust enough to be used in extreme weather conditions. Halkett's first design was a collapsible and inflatable boat made of rubber-impregnated cloth. When deflated,

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408-512: Is extremely clever and ingenious, and that it might be useful in Exploring and Surveying Expeditions, but they do not consider that it would be made applicable for general purposes in the Naval Service". Although the Admiralty saw no use to which Halkett's designs could be put in general naval service, this larger design was extremely well received by explorers. John Franklin bought one to take on

442-693: Is significant. In addition to the summer challenge, there is an even more low-key unaffiliated winter event, the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Ski Classic , which has taken place annually since 1987 with travel through the Chugach Mountains, Alaska Range , Brooks Range , and Wrangell-St. Elias . Hope to Homer ( Kenai Peninsula ), 150 miles (240 km) Mentasta to Denali National Park ( Alaska Range ), 235 miles (378 km) Nabesna to McCarthy ( Wrangell – Saint Elias Wilderness ), 150 miles (240 km) Gates of

476-606: The Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic adventure race in 1982. Packrafts are now common equipment in that race. A variety of companies have made durable packrafts in the past including Sherpa, Curtis, and American Safety. Furthermore, aviator emergency rafts have been used for packrafting purposes in a variety of applications. Pioneering use of packrafts generally consisted of using boats intended as pool toys or lake craft in moving water while carrying gear or passengers. The discomfort of these non-durable boats led to

510-452: The Garmin inReach to facilitate emergency rescues. The organization of the challenge is grass-roots , having no affiliation to any organization or group, while generally fewer than 30 people enter in any one year. The Classic is often perceived as a race, but most certainly not a race. It has had an influence on American adventure racing , backcountry use of the packraft, and ultralight hiking

544-552: The Inuit as ᐊᒡᓘᑲ ( Aglooka , "He who takes long strides"), was a Hudson's Bay Company surgeon who became a surveyor of the Canadian Arctic. Unlike most Europeans of the period, Rae believed that the local inhabitants knew best how to cope with extreme weather conditions. He travelled Inuit-style, using sledges and snowshoes and sleeping in snow igloos . Rae took a Halkett boat on his first expedition in 1846, reporting that it

578-1174: The Arctic Wilderness ( Brooks Range ), 130 miles (210 km) Donnelly to McKinley Village (Alaska Range), 140 miles (230 km) Hope to Homer (Kenai Peninsula), 150 miles (240 km) Nabesna to McCarthy (Wrangell – Saint Elias Wilderness), 150 miles (240 km) Eureka to Talkeetna ( Talkeetna Mountains ), 160 miles (260 km) Chicken to Central ( Tanana - Yukon Uplands), 180 miles (290 km) Gerstle River/Donnelly to McKinley Village (Alaska Range), 180 miles (290 km) Thompson Pass to Lakina River Bridge ( Chugach Mountains , Wrangell – Saint Elias Wilderness ), 120 miles (190 km) - 180 miles (290 km) Peters Hills to Red Shirt Lake via Rohn (Western Alaska Range, Susitna Valley), 280 miles (450 km) Galbraith Lake to Wiseman ( Brooks Range ), 115 miles (185 km) Cantwell to Sheep Mountain ( Talkeetna Mountains ), 160 miles (260 km) Little Tok River to McCarthy, Alaska ( Wrangell–St. Elias ), 190 miles (310 km) Packraft Packraft and trail boat are colloquial terms for

612-834: The Hudson's Bay Company Museum Collection at the Manitoba Museum , are known to survive today. Peter Halkett was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy in the 1840s. The son of John Halkett, a director of the Hudson's Bay Company who for many years had lived in Canada before returning to England, Peter Halkett had long held an interest in the exploration of the Canadian Arctic . He had a particular interest in John Franklin 's disastrous Coppermine Expedition of 1819–1822 . Franklin's three-year exploration of

646-559: The River". Buoyed by this success, he took the prototype boat-cloak with him while on naval service, using it whenever the opportunity arose to test it under various sea conditions. In November 1844, Halkett hoped to test the boat-cloak in bad weather conditions, in the rough seas of the Bay of Biscay , but the weather was unusually calm. He was forced to take down his umbrella, and paddle, recalling later that "the winds that day were too civil by half, and

680-603: The U.S. outside Alaska, Forrest McCarthy, Nathan Shoutis, and Ryan Jordan have advanced backcountry packrafting in Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Utah, and Arizona. Packrafting has become popular in Nordic countries and elsewhere in Europe. Packrafts have also been used in Mexico, Southeast Asia, Australia (including its Franklin River ), New Zealand, Patagonia, and tropical South America. Typically

714-1078: The boats are carried to cross and float rivers, streams and lakes while carried between watersheds. Packrafts have historically been used as portable boats for long distance wilderness travel, usage that reached its apogee in the Higman-McKittrick 7,200 km (4,500 mile) expedition along the Pacific Coast from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands. This classical use has been modified by most packraft owners to shorter day trips that mix trail hiking and river and creek floats or lake paddles. In Europe packrafts are used together with train travel. Most of these hike and paddle applications are in gentler water of Class II or less. However, low-flow steep creeks rated to Class V and other whitewater runs that were previously considered suitable only for kayaks and bigger rafts, are now run frequently by packrafters. The addition of spray decks and thigh straps allow more precise control of

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748-731: The craft. Eskimo rolling in packrafts is now done routinely. Packrafts are increasingly popular among fishers and hunters as well as travelers who wish to carry a lightweight craft on airplanes. A typical cold water set-up including packraft with thigh straps and spray deck, safety lines, paddle, suitable clothing (such as a dry suit), inflation bag, helmet, backpack, dry bag weigh 7 kg (15 pounds). While they can be inflated by mouth or electric pumps, most contemporary users carry light weight inflation bags. Distinction from "pool toy" In this article, packrafts/trail boats are differentiated from pool toys or flotation devices, which are intended for use in an enclosed and controlled body of water, such as

782-640: The hull of the boat could be worn as a cloak, the oar used as a walking stick, and the sail as an umbrella. This was followed by a two-man craft that was small enough to fit into a knapsack , and when deflated served as a waterproof blanket. Although widely praised by Canadian explorers, Halkett's designs had a limited market, and he was unable to persuade the Royal Navy that they would serve any useful purpose in general naval service. Efforts to market them as platforms for fishing and duck shooting failed, and they were commercially unsuccessful. Only two Halkett boats, that of Orcadian explorer John Rae and one held in

816-499: The ill-fated 1845 expedition in which the entire expedition party of 129 men and two ships vanished. Franklin saw Halkett boats as so essential to travel in Canada that he gave the boat intended for his expedition to Sir George Simpson , Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land , for use in his travels in the region. He ordered a replacement boat from Halkett, who delivered it in time for him to take possession before setting out on his last expedition. Orkneyman John Rae , known by

850-401: The individual to traverse long distances through difficult terrain. All rafts listed in this article weigh less than five pounds without paddles or spray decks. Packrafts are used in a variety of applications. These include: The expense of high quality packrafts costing $ US500 – $ US1000 has led to interest in using PVC inflatable boats and even pool toys costing $ US15 – $ US100 as

884-687: The invention and marketing of the modern packraft. Alaska is generally considered the birthplace of packrafting as long distance, non-motorized, landscape travel across untracked wilderness necessitates a small, portable boat for water crossings. Dick Griffith, Roman Dial (author of Packrafting! An Introduction and How-to Guide ), the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic , Sheri Tingey (founder of Alpacka Rafts), and Erin McKittrick (author of A Long Trek Home: 4,000 Miles by Boot, Raft and Ski ), and her husband Bretwood Higman all are, or have been, based in Alaska. In

918-532: The northern coast of Canada in search of the Northwest Passage had ended in disaster amid accusations of murder and cannibalism, with 11 of the 20 members of the group killed and the survivors reduced to eating lichen, their own boots, and the remains of rotten carcasses abandoned by wolves. The party had become stranded on the wrong side of the Coppermine River after their boats had been destroyed in

952-425: The rafting equipment together with supplies, shelter, and other survival or backcountry equipment. Modern packrafts vary from inexpensive vinyl boats lacking durability to sturdy craft costing over US $ 1,000. Most weigh less than 4 kg (9 lbs) and usually carry a single passenger. The most popular propulsion systems involve a kayak paddle that breaks down into two to five pieces. Most often they are paddled from

986-403: The sleepless bay almost quite dormant". The boat-cloak was positively received by explorers; John Richardson (who had almost died during the 1819–1822 Coppermine expedition) wrote that "Had we been possessed of such a contrivance in our first expedition, I have little doubt of our having brought the whole party in safely". Spurred on by the successful testing of the boat-cloak, Halkett designed

1020-505: The specialised field of Canadian exploration. Later promoted to captain , Halkett died on 23 March 1885, aged 65, and the manufacture of his boat designs was abandoned. John Rae gave his boat from the 1853 expedition to a Miss Peace of Kirkwall , and it lay forgotten on the rafters of a Kirkwall woodyard. It was identified and recovered many years later, and is now displayed in the Stromness Museum at Orkney. A second surviving example

1054-471: The subsequent HMS  Enterprise expedition that was sent to search for Franklin, during which they were successfully used for fishing. In 1851 French explorer Joseph René Bellot mounted another expedition to find Franklin, sponsored by Franklin's wife. Bellot took a Halkett boat-cloak on the journey, noting in his journal that it was "of immense value in a country where the want of wood renders it impossible to form any sort of raft". Bellot's expedition

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1088-454: The weight of six to eight people. In early 1844, Halkett successfully tested a prototype boat-cloak on the River Thames , paddling it 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) without taking on any water, despite, in his words, being "met by—passed by—and almost run down by—various Metropolitan Steamers plying to and fro in their several vocations, and causing no little commotion in the troubled waters of

1122-488: Was "most useful in crossing and recrossing the river at Repulse Bay ", and that "although in constant use for upwards of six weeks on a rocky coast it never required the slightest repair" and "ought to form part of the equipment of every expedition". Keen to find out what had become of the ships and men of Franklin's expedition, in 1848 the Royal Navy sent a search party led by John Richardson and John Rae , and equipped with

1156-531: Was unable to locate Franklin, and it was not until 1853 that an expedition led by Rae (equipped with "two beautiful Halkett boats") located a group of Inuit who recounted seeing men dragging a boat four years earlier, and later finding their bodies. Despite being promoted as ideal for lake-fishing and duck-shooting, and being exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851, Halkett's boat designs were not commercially successful and never entered general use outside

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