Welcome to the Packrafting Forum

I wanted to create an easy place to share information, stories, reviews, routes, gear for sale and build community for all the people who love tiny inflatable boats.

I discovered packrafting a few years ago looking for a way to have deeper experiences with water in the American Southwest. My born-and-raised coastal Californian partner loves the water above all else, but I moved us to the desert in Arizona because I just couldn't take city life any longer. I realized that I needed to do something that would still allow my wife to access the thing she loves while I get to live out my dream of a more peaceful life and packrafting has done just that for us.

We live on Yavapai land in Wipuk/Sedona, which for the desert has an impressive amount of water. We are only a few minutes from Oak Creek Canyon with perennial water and a short drive to the much larger Verde River, so I decided I would buy a couple affordable LWD packrafts and make a weekly date of spending time in the water. The fact that my wife and I are both independently employed allows us to make almost every Wednesday "Water Wednesday" where we spend the day paddling some body of water. This middle of the week outing has grown to multi-day river trips and continues to grow in length as our love and appreciation for the flexibility of packrafts grows.