Upstream to the left, downstream to the right.
What is portaging? Any time there's a portion of the river that's impassable for whatever reason, and you have to pull the boat out of the river to go around the obstacle, that's portaging. In the case of my boat, that takes several steps:
I don't use the same #s in the video below, but here's what that looks like (sound track=breathing heavy during the hardest part of the portage). When multiple people are around, the job can be split up. When it's just me, and when it's hilly and gravelly like this example (as opposed to paved), it's a major ordeal! This one took ~45 minutes.
The handle on the front of my boat is really small--too small to get a good grip with two hands, and so it ends up pinching my hand and being super uncomfortable. The boat is heavy, but it takes longer because I have to give my hand a rest. George Hawkins gave me a nice handle to add to the loop on the front of my boat to make portaging easier. I'll upload a picture of it soon. I've been super lucky finding people to help me with the other portages I've had because doing it this way really hurts my elbows. I'm just not strong enough to do it without injuring my ligaments.
- get out of the boat (this alone takes some time and focus)
- haul heavy bags to the next put-in place
- attach wheels to kayak
- pull
- take wheels off, re-pack
I don't use the same #s in the video below, but here's what that looks like (sound track=breathing heavy during the hardest part of the portage). When multiple people are around, the job can be split up. When it's just me, and when it's hilly and gravelly like this example (as opposed to paved), it's a major ordeal! This one took ~45 minutes.
The handle on the front of my boat is really small--too small to get a good grip with two hands, and so it ends up pinching my hand and being super uncomfortable. The boat is heavy, but it takes longer because I have to give my hand a rest. George Hawkins gave me a nice handle to add to the loop on the front of my boat to make portaging easier. I'll upload a picture of it soon. I've been super lucky finding people to help me with the other portages I've had because doing it this way really hurts my elbows. I'm just not strong enough to do it without injuring my ligaments.
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