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November 20, 2018

Reynaldo Perez - Stories from Six Mile Creek, Alaska

Adventure Stories, Photo Gallery

Thanks to Reynaldo Perez for sharing his captions, stories, and photos of packrafting Six Mile Creek. Keep your customer submissions coming. We love them!

Boating Six Mile Creek in Alaska had been on my mind for years, since the first time I heard about it. But I didn't own a boat at the time. My group of friends that I packraft with are also the same friends with whom I backcountry ski. Because of our solid communication, we enjoy pushing each other, safely. When I finally got my boat, we chose Six Mile's first canyon because it was going to be the biggest thing we’ve hit to date as a group, and it looked like the flow was going to make it favorable for our experience level.

The biggest rapids (up to Class IV!) that my friends and I had boated, Six Mile trip held a few surprises and memorable moments. We all felt butterflies on our way to the put in. As far as particularly notable experiences, I’d say being the first one to drop in and also the only one in the group to not flip my boat was memorable for the day! Being the first man down meant that I was in charge of boat and swimmer recovering at the pool below the first rapid. I only ended up having to pick up one boat/swimmer that didn’t get through cleanly. Other than the predictable butterflies before dropping in, I’d say there weren’t too many tough moments. We definitely had a Type I fun trip!

Being lucky enough to get to float the Middle Fork of the Salmon for my first trip has allowed me to set the bar quite high for future trips. I think it would be really cool to be able to float the original eight Wild and Scenic rivers in the Lower 48. If that isn’t daunting enough, I dream of being able to float the 25 wild and scenic rivers in Alaska. I currently have the Aniakchak on the top of my list of Alaskan Wild and Scenic Rivers to experience. I can’t wait to see where these boats take my friends and I. Only time will tell! Needless to say this whole packrafting world fascinates me and I look forward to getting to know it better.

How did I learn to packraft? Well, I’m a very novice packrafter. Most of my risk management and general outdoors safety is drawn from my backcountry skiing/ ice climbing/ rock climbing experiences. My number one tools have been using online forums and videos on boating techniques, and getting out with people with more experience than me. I plan on taking a swift water rescue course next summer and hope to continue building my packrafting network as time goes on.