Inside Outdoor Magazine

new concept for people who are used to having a rigid divide between land and water transportation. According to a benchmark APA study, packrafting is popular throughout the lower 48 states as well as Alaska. It’s also an especially male-dominated sport right now at a ratio of 81 percent to 19 percent. The APA also found that 93 per- cent of respondents had hiking or back- packing experience before they tried packrafting, while 55 percent had boat- ing experience. In other words, more than four in 10 participants may have come to packrafting as new to paddle- sports. As for the newness in popularity of the sport, 76 percent reported having been packrafting for less than five years. Packrafting Activities Multi-day river trips 73% Multi-day cross country trips 60% Roadside runs 57% Solo trips 45% Bikerafting 29% Fishing 28% Marine/Open water 21% Game hauling 9% Ski-raftaneering 8% Other 6% Source: American Packrafting Association The study gave some great insight as to how people are using packrafts, too. About three-quarters of people use packrafts for multi-day river trips, while 60 percent use them for multi- day cross country trips. More than half use packrafts on roadside runs, while 45 percent use them for solo trips into the wilderness. About one Alpacka’s Caribou withstands the January cold. Photo by Steve Fassbinder courtesy Alpacka Raft 888-237-3668 | www.powerstep.com Orthotic sandals with Powerstep® trusted support ©2018 Stable Step, LLC. Powerstep® and Fusion® are registered trademarks of Stable Step, LLC. Inside Outdoor | SPRING 2018 22