Tongariro Raft packing

Raft packing is rapidly increasing in popularity amongst many anglers seeking “virgin” waters. The dream of so many is to be able to access and fish in water on remote backcountry wilderness rivers and streams where other anglers cannot gain access overland. The new “breed” of back-pack rafts are so light and packable that they are ideal for exploring previously inaccessible rivers.

The star in the photos is Rodney Carr – a local rafter who floated down from the Blue Pool to emerge at Judges Pool. TRM delivered him up to the Blue Pool where he “self inflated” the raft in beautiful sunny summer conditions. The float took him just under an hour.

I have to tell you I also warned Rodney of one tricky pressure wave just below Waddells Pool as that is where I capsized and almost drowned about three years ago. I was piloting one of TRM’s sturdy “water-strider” inflatable rafts – see photos below – their more bulky raft shape limits the ability to accurately steer (it could never have been “pilot error”?) and the strong current carried the raft into the wave which gently rolled me over. I eventually surfaced again about 30-40 m down from the rapid.

Several tourists standing on the Red Hut Bridge were almost panicking when I failed to bob to the surface immediately but the current was too strong for me to swim through.

So guess who “canned out” and went swimming in exactly the same spot! As we had warned him we can now tell everyone…

The other photos below are of another regular fishy TRM inmate, Jason Klivington from Oregon, who paddled his backpack raft down the Tongariro to check out some of those more remote spots that are otherwise inaccessible, on the same trip four years ago.

He has warned me “I’ll have yet another new water craft with me this year. Would be a good Lake O if not for the February closure! And it may even work for the lower Tongariro, though that’s maybe ambitious, we’ll see. I may need a shuttle from Tokaanu ramp.”