An Overnight "Lightwater" trip in Colorado
Photos by: Braden Gunem
We took a fun fall overnight trip in the Central West Slope of Colorado with a bunch of friends who had never been packrafting before. Everyone on the trip were adventurers who have done some pretty impressive trips in the past, and always wanted to try packrafting, but hadn't had a chance yet. So we took them on a beautiful river trip, mostly on flat water with a few class II sections and a couple wave trains allowing us all to get into splashy, fun water (the paddling category is considered "lightwater").
We took the new 2025 Expedition and Caribou models, as well as a few Rangers (perfect for cruisy overnight trips), a Tango, and a Mage just to play around with.
Prior to launching
Our initial plan was to paddle the Ruby Horsetheif section of the Colorado river, but due to high winds and a storm coming in, we wanted everyone to enjoy the trip. We went for a new route that none of us had ever paddled and just went for it. Luckily everyone loved it and we were not only in awe of the beauty, we found amazing camping, hiking, petroglyphs, and so much more.
Fun times and photos of the packrafting trip
Here are a few photos of the fun, keep your eye out for a few 2025 colors and models in the photos.
The Ranger may have been the best packraft on this trip. It was spacious is a completely overlooked packraft, but is 100% perfect for a trip like this! And just in case you wondered, the Tango was the fastest packraft on the trip.
Packing an Expedition packraft via the Cargo Fly zipper.
Boat Launch walking down to the river with the Expedition.
Paddling the Expedition, Caribou, Tango and Ranger on the river.
Paddling the first class II section of the trip.
Paddling the Tango a Class II section of the river.
One short swim on the trip, but friends were there to help her get back in the packraft.
Stopping to grab lunch and regroup after the first section.
Getting ready to launch again. Approximately 8 miles in on the trip.
And off we go again.
Darwin paddling around the awesome rocks of the canyon.
Kristin and Stashia paddling and chatting with Darwin.
We got to camp and found the best and completely unexpected spot. Tons of hiking and beautiful camping on the river bank.
Chris taking advantage of the features at the campsite.
Hiking brought us to an awesome petroglyph site that Chris Carter was looking at up close. Don't worry, there was no touching of this amazing artistry.
The campfire setup with a fire pan. Leave no trace!
Gastro Gnome meals are delicious and fed us dinner and breakfast on this trip!
Oh and of course we had the "Flipwich" over-the-fire sandwich maker that we used to make sausages, brownies and fruit pies.
Dustin comfy in his tent.
Breakfast! Heather's Choice has some awesome oatmeal that held us over for a while.
Braden himself, no longer behind the camera.
Back at it getting ready to get back on the river. We went approximately 15 river miles the first day and had roughly 14 more miles to go.
Topping off packrafts before hopping back on the water.
Bridge over the river after take off.
Right off the bat was a little class II feature. Super fun.
And really fun in the Tango, which was by far the fastest packraft on the river. We kept having to wait for everyone to catch up. Such an awesome packraft and perfect for this type of trip.
Desert big horn sheep! Pretty pretty.
A few more turns and almost finished.
And just like that, 29 miles down and we were at the takeout and the trip was over.
Hope you enjoyed photos of this awesome little trip and a quick glimpse into a few of the new color combos and packraft models that will be available in 2025.