By Richard Harpham FRGS

Photos:
Richard Harpham FRGS
& Ashley Kenlock

Richard Harpham bio
Richard has become a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. 

Richard is a human powered adventurer and inspirational speaker who has completed over 10,000 miles of expeditions by kayak, canoe, bike and on foot including exploring the Yukon, cycling the Sahara and Canada’s Inside Passage.

At home he runs www.canoetrail.co.uk, a watersports and adventure business with his wife Ashley in Bedfordshire providing qualifications, canoe camping, coaching and paddling trips to some of the UK’s and world’s best locations. He is the former editor of Bushcraft and Survival Magazine and writes for Outdoor Adventure Guide, MoD’s Resettlement magazine and the Paddler magazine.

His adventures are supported by: Flint Group, Paramo Clothing, Olympus Cameras, Valley Sea Kayaks, Silverbirch Canoes, Bamboo Clothing, MSR, Canadian Affair, Osprey Rucksacks, Extreme Adventure Foods, Air North, Reed Chillcheater and Exposure Lights. You can follow his adventures through social media & @ www.richadventure.com

Breaking trail the packraft way

The loosely articulated adventure plan was to sea kayak from Juneau further along the Inside Passage just over 100 miles to Skagway, hike over the mountain range following the infamous and historic Chilkoot Trail down to Lake Bennett and then paddle in packrafts down to Whitehorse. I could hear those immortal words, “How hard could it be?” ringing in my ears.

We headed up to Mendenhall Glacier, just outside of Juneau, for a test paddle and to capture marketing shots for the expedition. A few blows of the inflation bags later, and we had rafts good to go. Undeterred by the frigid waters, we launched and paddled over the freezing surface to capture shots of our intrepid travels. Our haste to float the boats had led to my brother omitting the all-important ‘doughnut’ shaped seat in the raft, meaning his ‘posterior enlarges’ were sitting on the water’s surface, separated only by a barrier of thin rubber.

Fast but effective
The packrafts proved successful with minimum pack weight, solid paddling action and room for kit. The ones we used weren’t fast but effective as a water-borne travel model with good stability and manoeuvrability. Of course, weaving in and out of the glacier wall and iceberg bits could not have been more fun. Game on. We paddled around different channels in the rafts and were satisfied with their all-around performance for the mission.

We packed them away, collected kayaks in the rain from the local outfitters, and wondered how we would fit the raft, tents, food and other kit into the sea kayaks for the 100-mile initial paddle. The 100-mile paddle past Berner Bay to Skagway promised stunning wildlife, remote wilderness and vistas beyond compare. It also played in the mind game of paddling all day to a mountain or ridge in the distance.

Launching in torrential rain did little to lighten the spirits from a dampened soggy start to an adventure. Certainly, the weather differed from stuff that would make any holiday brochure. The Inside Passage, covered in previous articles in this magazine by myself and others, offers world-class sea kayaking, and this trip was no different with orcas, humpback whales and bears, to name a few. Our camp spots included a cabin in Berners Bay, an old lighthouse and even a rocky outcrop.

Arriving at Skagway was a culture shock, from the brilliance of the wilderness to the hustle and bustle of the Dyea and Skagway area. The town’s tiny population would swell from just over a thousand or so each day with the arrival of a cruise ship carrying up to 10,000 visitors. We parked our kayaks for collection by the rental company and switched to travel on foot. The aim to scale the Golden Staircase and the Scales of the Chilkoot Trail traversing over the pass into the Yukon from Alaska.

Lung-busting work
Despite our trepidation and serious pack weights with all kit stowed, we departed on phase 2 of the adventure hiking over the trail. It is hard to describe the effect of the combined packs with different camera systems, paddles, buoyancy aids, food and other equipment for the next two expedition legs. Despite the lightweight nature of the rafts, the combined weight of all kit was back-breaking and lung-busting work combined with a 43-mile trek over the mountains at about 1200m elevation. We gritted our teeth and put one foot in front of the other. Our toils were tinged with frustration that the 43-mile hike also required an eight-mile hike to the head of the trail. Rarely have I looked so exhausted and haunted by the exertion.

Eventually, we escape the burbs of Skagway and join the trail. Given the one tonne (one year) of supplies required by stampeders during the gold rush to gain access to the Yukon, we had little to complain about. It required an estimated 25-30 times up the treacherous pass with continual threat of avalanche, injury and general bad luck. The initial section was boardwalks through the forests, rain and mist before snow as the elevation increased.

Heading up to the summit pass was one of the toughest challenges we had tackled, as the snow was soft, and we would continually sink up to our waists, limiting movement up the slope. We then had to dig ourselves out, step up the slope, move the bags upwards, and restart our ascent. This process repeated itself as we sunk through the snow again. It was exhausting and frustrating with slow progress.

Eventually, we reached the summit, downhill from there, into the Yukon through the avalanche zones and past lakes. It took several days to make our way to the trailhead, passing historic stampeder camps along the way. We could only imagine how tough it was for our ancestors to make this trek along the trail. They would have covered the 43 miles many times to hump their kit down to the trailhead at Lake Bennett. We followed suit over 100 years later.

Phase 3
Standing on the shores of Lake Bennett, getting ready for phase 3, packrafting, we were excited to change the mode of transport. It would just be a matter of 100 miles of paddling in a small inflatable raft through the lake systems, Bennett Lake, Carcross, Marsh Lake, Miles Canyon and then to Whitehorse. There was a noticeable headwind and medium-sized waves off the nose, not ideal, but a good night’s sleep offered some respite from our expedition toils.

Launching the next day was exciting, although we were a little anxious as this was the first time we had paddled the rafts fully laden with our equipment and kit. They handled the extra payload well, although not built for speed. We started down the first lake, building a rhythm with the Whitehorse Pass train passing on the nearby shore. It was a true feeling of exhilaration, sharing our journey and joy with the passing train who could have only wondered at the two small craft passing in the opposite direction.

Our journey passed through Carcross and under the metal framed bridge, spanning the waters like a giant Meccano set before returning us to lake paddling and 30-mile days, which had become a slog in the pack rafts as expected. Halfway down Marsh Lake, we saw a motorboat approaching us in the opposite direction. They hailed us with, “Wow, you guys are crazy; where are you going?” “Whitehorse”, was our gritted teeth reply. “Brits, huh, you should chat to Richard Harpham; he does these expeditions.” “That’s me!” It was Mark from Up North Adventures, one of our Yukon Friends. A small world that we wouldn’t want to paint.

Eventually, we reached the narrows of Marsh Lake, where it channels into the infamous Miles Canyon, made famous during the Gold Rush. It was a double bonus as we paddled under the white trail bridge past the rugged canyon walls and experienced our first river flow in almost 100 miles. After Miles Canyon, we traversed the last lake section to the Whitehorse Dam, knowing we were close to our destination of 250 miles of the most challenging expedition miles in the bank to date.

Finishing at Whitehorse
We had joined up my 1,000-mile Inside Passage sea kayak from Vancouver Island to Glacier Bay and our 700-mile Yukon canoe expedition from Whitehorse to Circle, Alaska. It was so close you could taste it. We portaged the dam and launched back onto the Yukon River, finishing at Whitehorse by the Mcbride Museum, and despite most things being closed, we found an eating and watering hole in the land of the midnight sun.

Packrafts have proved a versatile and rugged tool for longer unsupported expeditions with water and land sections. Since then, we have continued to play with them at different river and lake locations. We have formed a new partnership with Paqualife Pack Rafts to offer a joined-up approach to packrafting in the UK. We organised for them to join us at this year’s Bushcraft Show at Stamford House with ‘come and try it’ demo sessions and retail, and I completed several talks on the main stage featuring packrafts.

What is a packraft?
Packrafts were originally pioneered in Alaska, offering a light and durable watercraft combining kayaking and rafting technologies and design. They are high quality, light, compact and durable, allowing joined-up adventures per mare per Terram, by land and sea, as the Royal Marines would say, MRS Packrafts are much lighter and more transportable than other inflatable kayaks and craft. MRS Packrafts are the true go-anywhere craft; roll them up, carry them in a standard rucksack or on your bike handlebars, unroll, and inflate using the light inflator bag, and you are good to go. The designs and technology have evolved significantly since Rich first used them on expeditions with self-bailers, thigh straps for following and full white water adventures.

We want to open the bushcraft and paddling communities to the world of packrafts to broaden the appeal of wilderness paddling, journeys in remote locations and lightweight micro-adventures. We recently used them on our Best of Wales trip on the sea and paddling the Pontecyllate Aqueduct. As part of the partnership, we are offering two new courses to allow members of the bushcraft community to experience packrafting:

Packrafting Training and Demo Weekend: £199 per person
A weekend of pack raft activity with a demo and training weekend in Bedford, based from Kempston Outdoor Centre, where you can experience the following:

• Demo and try different pack raft models.
• Complete a British Canoeing safety course. (Paddle Safe) and a certificated paddling course, British Canoeing Discover.
• Wild camp in our private riverside woodland for one night.
• Expert tuition from the Canoe Trail team.
• Opportunity to try and rafts in moving water at our training centre.

Packrafting Moving Water Day: £99 per person
Join us at Matlock to paddle the stunning Derwent River in the Peak District National Park. Enjoy a day of coaching on simple moving and white water using Packrafts to enjoy this lovely river.

Packraft Demo Day: £99 per person
Join us in Bedford at Kempston Outdoor Centre for a day of packraft coaching and a demo day with coaching from our professional instructor team. Meet the Paqualife Team and try different crafts during the day.

To book them, contact Canoe Trail via our website, www.canoetrail.co.uk. To learn more about retail and the different packraft Models offered by Paqualife, visit https://paqualife.co.uk.