[KarlK]

My lovely wife got me a new packraft for Christmas, an Alpacka Denali Llama all dressed up in a sexy camo color (the Llama, not the wife). The Llama provides about 4" more legroom than my trusty Yukon Yak and will carry bigger loads and can handle two people in a pinch, though a pinch it would be. The whole kit consisting of raft, PFD, paddle and rigging goes 8 lbs for the Llama vs. 7 lbs for the Yak. My main motivation for dropping packraft hints to Santa Wife was that with two rafts I might be able to talk somebody into going packrafting with me. Which reminds me that Brushbuffalo is getting (or may already have gotten) a bright yellow Yukon Yak, so pretty soon there could be a small armada of packrafters on Ross Lake. I drove to the Ross Dam parking area fairly early Saturday morning. It was crowded with trucks with snomobile trailers attached. I don't know what appeals about snomobiling. Maybe when I'm 90 or 100 and can't hike or ski or packraft anymore snomobiling will seem more appealing. They probably make models with adult diaper storage so that might work out pretty good. The snowy slog down the trail to the Ross Lake put-in site took about 35 minutes. It was cold and a fairly brisk NE wind was coming down the lake. Oh well, fun of the kind I like does not happen without some annoyances. I figured the headwind (which averaged ~10 mph on Saturday with frequent gusts to ~15 mph) would make for slow paddling uplake. In fact, it knocked only about 0.6 mph off my zero-wind pace of ~3mph (in the Yak - the Llama seems of similar efficiency). Accordingly, it took ~2.25h to go the 5.5 miles to Rainbow Point. Oh, and let's not forget about the pig-pack full of warm winter gear. So, all in all, I'm happy with how that all worked out. Upon arriving at Rainbow Point, a fair amount of ice festooned my McHale pack since the splash coming off the lake tended to freeze rather promptly. Fortunately, Dan uses really beefy zippers which work pretty good even when iced up a fair bit. Also appreciated is the Pack's large volume, which makes getting all that darned winter stuff easily stuffed. I had a pleasant evening sipping bourbon, tending to my fire torch, and listening to Rush L. on the only station I could get on my little radio. I feel like my I.Q. suffered a drop of only a point or two, although without the bourbon it likely would have gone down a good deal more. Normally I dislike tents, but for winter camping when it's below freezing I like my Integral Designs Bibler-type tent a lot. Good grief, I've had the thing since the mid-90s, and it's almost as good as new, since I've used it so infrequently. A nice tailwind helped push me along on Sunday, making for an easy 1h 50min jaunt back to the haul road portage site.

Winter camping at Rainbow Point. Listened to Rush explain why Trump would be an ideal president.

New Denali Llama (L) and trusty Yukon Yak.

New packraft. Big pack-o-winter gear.

Swedish - Finnish - Russian Fire Torch (AKA Canadian Candle)

Not much snow at Rainbow Point

Jack Mtn.

Big Beaver valley; Pumpkin Mtn. to the right

Cougar Island

[Magellan]

Niiice. I wonder how many people camp or even boat up there in the winter.

[KarlK]

[Brushbuffalo]

[seawallrunner]

What kind of paddle do you use? A kayak paddle? An outrigger paddle? Canoe paddle? Would love a picture of it. Interesting adventure! I had a packraft long ago, but didn't use it, so I sold it to a fellow nwhiker. I would still like to paddle Ross Lake in the off season. Did you see anyone at the Ross Lake Resort? There is usually a caretaker posted there year-round, to move the cabins and keep them out of trouble as the waters levels rise and fall. Now that would be a cool job.

[KarlK]

[JVesquire]

Nice pictures and TR. I've been up there in January before and seen a handful of people up in the Big Beaver valley. I have not encountered people on the east bank in winter, perhaps due to the more difficult access.

[seawallrunner]

>I drove to the Ross Dam parking area fairly early Saturday morning. It was crowded with trucks with snomobile trailers attached. I don't know what appeals about snomobiling. Question about the gate on SR20 at Ross Dam. Do people park their cars at the lot and then XC ski or BC ski or snowmobile on the closed portion when there is snow? Is this quite common? I must admit that I have not been on that stretch of road, much, when the road is closed. Certainly not in December - February. And if they go snowmobiling, where do they go? It's not like there are open hiking trails that lend themselves well to snowmobiling before reaching the alpine. Do they head out to Jack? Or into the Thunder Basin area? Would be curious to find out their routes. Also, would like to avoid the snowmobilers if I am to bring my skis out there.

[KarlK]

JVesquire - yeah, the East Bank trail involves a lot of added milage if accessed on foot. It's about 4 miles from the gate closure near the Ross parking area to the East Bank trailhead. From there, it's about 3 miles back down Ruby creek to the start of the East Bank trail proper. A good strategy (when the road is clear of snow) is to bike to the East Bank trailhead. I've done that many times.

[KarlK]

[puzzlr]

I admire your ability to get out like that. Since I don't know anything about pack rafting it scares me to think of being so close to all that cold water that would kill me in a few minutes if I fell into it.

[Distel32]

[KarlK]

[seawallrunner]

Yes, very expensive!!

[cartman]