Canyonlands Four Districts Backpacking and Packrafting Trip

Stats: 

• 3 days, 2 nights out
• 63 miles hiking
• 5 miles packrafting
• You can find my pack list below

“What’s the maximum number of miles you think you can hike in a day?” I knew Eszter was brewing up some kind of a crazy trip that I’d no doubt say yes to because, as our friend Johnny says, I’m “just stupid enough.” Cautiously I told her I could probably do 20 miles of desert hiking in a day. 

I could see her wheels turning, then she pitched a trip, inspired by her friend Melissa, that included all four districts of Canyonlands National Park: Island in the Sky, the Maze, the Needles, and the Rivers. It would require long days of hiking, big water carries, and of course, packrafts. The idea of seeing so much of Canyonlands in a three-day trip intrigued me, and I love a long romp in the desert, so I agreed to Eszter’s ambitious idea. 

It was spring of 2023, and we headed down into Canyonlands with three days of food, enough water for the day of hiking down to the river, and optimism in our hearts. We navigated the cliffs of Island in the Sky down to the river (with a couple bonus miles when we missed a turn). By the time we got into our boats, my feet were already talking to me. When we arrived at camp and I took off my shoes, things did not look good. I had some nasty blisters and was in quite a bit of pain. 

Walking through the Maze district the next morning, I thought, “this is so beautiful, but I’m completely miserable.” My feet were so unhappy in those shoes. Eszter knew before I did that our trip would come to an end when we got to the Needles. We called Andrew for a bailout and I shed some tears over letting my friend down. Eszter was understanding and knew it was best to bail where we could get an easy ride home and let my feet heal.

The next year, Eszter asked if I wanted to try again, but I wasn’t ready mentally and didn’t think I’d be ready physically either. When spring of 2025 rolled around, I’d forgotten how badly the blisters hurt and decided I could try again. We made some changes, I was in different shoes that I felt more confident about and we started from the Needles instead of Island in the Sky. At the end of our 26-mile first day, my feet were again in less than ideal shape. Waking up the next morning, we knew the smartest thing to do was shorten the trip, substituting a long float for a long day of hiking and taking a more direct route back to our vehicle to save my feet. 

I was fairly dejected this time and unsure whether I wanted to, or should, try again. After two failures, maybe this big of a trip just wasn’t doable for my feet. But the passage of time brought with it endurance amnesia, and I started thinking of how I could make changes to successfully complete the four districts route. 

I knew I had to get serious about training, figuring out shoes, and lightening my pack. For training, my normal bike routine with hikes sprinkled in wasn’t cutting it. During the fall and winter I started getting on-foot time each week and doing a long hike at least monthly. As spring arrived, I increased the frequency of my long hikes, carried extra weight, and got out on my packraft.

In order to drop weight from my pack, I invested in Supai Adventure Gear’s 1.5 pound Canyon Flatwater Boat. I also purchased a lightweight children’s paddle lighter than my more efficient, but heavier Aquabound paddle. It’s a hilariously compact setup, bordering on stupid light, but for the short river sections required for this trip, I figured it would be adequate. My pack weighed 34 pounds fully loaded with three days of food and four liters of water.

The final thing I needed to figure out was how to not get blisters. I really hate wearing shoes in my daily life, so I decided to try sandals for hiking. Andrew had been trying to sell me on Bedrocks for a while, so I bought a pair at GearTrader in Moab and started wearing them for my training hikes. Once I had the straps dialed in the way I wanted, my feet were so happy. They could breathe! 

I was still nervous about how my feet would do on three back-to-back long days. I planned to wear the Bedrocks, but threw a pair of trail runners in my pack just in case. I didn’t want to let my feet stop me from completing this trip again, even if it meant carrying a little extra weight. 

On the eve of our trip, I was so nervous. This time I knew what to expect and the hike from the Big Springs trailhead to the Colorado River really wrecked me last time. Was I in good enough shape to have a better time? 

We got an early start driving out to Needles and were hiking by 7. Keeping a motivated pace and limiting stop time was important since this would be our biggest hiking day and the most challenging navigation of the route. We hiked this portion a year ago, so we made great time with knowledge of the tricky navigational bits. We passed each memorable landmark ahead of schedule and ended up at the river, 24 miles on our feet, with close to two hours until dark. 

The beach at the mouth of the canyon was fairly calm, but the wind pushed us around at the rim of the canyon with big gusts. We looked down river weighing our options. The trees and tamerisk looked like they were really blowing just around the corner, but the forecasted temperature was in the low 30s tonight. Do we paddle this evening, fighting the wind? Or do we wait until the morning when the wind dies down, but deal with the cold? Ultimately we decided the wise thing to do was wait till morning. The gusty wind would likely make the 2.5-mile paddle miserable, if not impossible.

We prepared our dinners and set up camp in the daylight (a rarity for the two of us!) and were horizontal by 7:45 with alarms set for 6:15am. When the pitter patter of rain started, I knocked on Eszter’s tent and slept the rest of the night in her cozy shelter. 

Morning came and fortunately the temperature seemed warmer than the forecast. We still paddled in all our clothes to our take out canyon. I was glad to have a foam pad as a seat for my little boat to keep me insulated from the frigid Colorado River water. 

Now between the Colorado and Green rivers in the Island in the Sky district, we packed our boats and headed up canyon. The last time we were in this canyon, water was plentiful and flowing. It’s been so dry lately and the lack of water was alarming. We stopped and scooped water from several small potholes, worried that it would be our only opportunity. As we moved up canyon, better and deeper potholes appeared, but in the desert you gotta get it where you can!

We emerged from the canyon onto the White Rim layer and walked the famous White Rim road for several miles. Before long, mountain bikers and jeeps started passing us. We took a photo of a couple from Tulsa. The woman in her 60s gave us some parting advice, “do something every day that scares your parents.” 

The driver of a Rim Tours support truck asked if we needed anything, to which Eszter replied, “do you have any extra Cokes?” Jeff pulled over and got Cokes out from the cooler, “be careful, they’re ice cold!” We were stoked to have scored cold drinks in the middle of the desert and chatted with Jeff and a couple mountain bikers before we all headed on our way. The sugar and caffeine kept our energy and spirits up on the rest of the road walk. 

Before we started our next descent, we stopped for lunch and a shoe off break. The ravens watched us, waiting for us to leave so they could scavenge crumbs. A family of three from France started down the canyon at the same time as us. The daughter, probably about five years old, was carrying a bighorn sheep backpack. They were starting a three day trip too. 

The more technical descent was a welcome change from the monotonous and thigh-chafey road walk. We hiked this section in 2023 on our first attempt at the loop and made a navigational error, continuing to walk down canyon to the river right to a huge pour off. This time we paid more attention and remembered the critical up-canyon turn leading to a viable route to the river. The beauty of the landscape and our conversations made the time go fast and before I knew it, we started the steep final descent to the Green River. 

The next paddle was a couple of miles, less than an hour. Our permit required us to camp within half a mile of the river, so once we got to our take-out, we’d be done for the day. We paddled with intention through patches of shade and leisurely through sections of sun. It was incredibly quiet and we were surprised to see no boaters. 

Again, we made it to camp at 6:30 with plenty of daylight to collect river water, cook dinner, and set up camp. We called it an early night after the long day on our feet. My brain was still wired thinking about how we were actually going to do it this time. My body felt strong, my feet felt tired, but I had no blisters or pain. I listened to an audiobook and watched the stars until I finally fell asleep. 

My alarm went off mid-dream and I could hear Eszter gathering her things to make coffee and oatmeal. When I got up, I was surprisingly less sore than the day before. I was excited to take on the last day of our trip. Once fed and caffeinated, we started up another canyon, this time in the Maze District. The canyon was unlike the others we’d hiked because it had flowing water. It was so beautiful after hiking through such dry terrain the previous two days. We had a steep climb followed by undulating terrain leading toward the Dollhouse. The landscape was just mind blowing. As we neared the trailhead, we met two older men who had been adventuring together for 25 years. Hopefully we’ll keep coming back for 25 years too!

From the top, we stared down the final descent to the river where we had to cross the Colorado once more at Spanish Bottom. My stabilizer muscles were starting to get tired, so I took it slow. The river crossing was straightforward and it was the last time we’d need our packrafts. We felt so pleased that these tiny boats worked so well. 

We collected water from the river to settle with Water Wizard while we ate lunch. We topped off our water stores and treated it with Aquamira drops, expecting a warm hike back up from the river. Eszter dipped her shirt and hat in the river and I decided to dunk my whole body. The cold water refreshed by body and brain. Fueled by lunch and an afternoon cup of coffee, we motored up Red Lake Canyon Trail. It was still 11 miles to get back to the car, but it felt like we were almost there. The excitement about finally reaching this goal (and plenty of candy) kept me going strong. 

When we got to the trailhead, we were ecstatic. I felt incredibly grateful that Eszter asked me that silly question, “what’s the maximum number of miles you think you can hike in a day?” (which we exceeded by 4 on the first day!) and that Eszter was patient with me as I took years to figure out how to keep my feet healthy on a trip like this. Her support gave me an example of what it means to be a teammate in these backcountry adventures and it makes me excited for adventures to come!

We saw so much of Canyonlands over those three days, but I left feeling like there’s a lifetime of canyons to explore out there. 

Highlights: 

• Claret cups were in bloom
• Hummingbird flying right up to me on our last morning at camp
• Watching the stars as I fell asleep
• The novelty of using the ultralight packrafts we were *pretty sure* would work
• Jeff from Rim Tours giving us a Coke on the White Rim
• Having no foot issues!!!
• Completing a special route I’ve been working toward with one of my favorite adventure buddies!

The part everybody likes to nerd out about. Here’s everything I brought on this three day backpacking and packrafting trip:

Pack List:

• Permit from the Parks Service

Gear:

• Backpack – v3 ultralight pack made by Andrew
• Packraft – Supai Adventure Gear – Canyon Flat Water Boat
• Paddle – lightweight children’s paddle

*for longer paddles, bikerafting, or anything with more than flat water, I typically bring an Alpacka Caribou and Aquabound paddle*

• PFD
• Repair kit – patches and aquaseal 
• Trekking poles 

Sleep kit: 

• Bivy 
• Inflatable sleeping pad – still brought this in addition to cut down Zlite that is integrated into my backpack due to cold forecast 
• Sleeping bag 

Clothing:

• Bedrock Sandals – Cairn Evo 3D PRO
• Trail running shoes – threw these in my pack just in case, didn’t use them
• Hat
• Sunglasses
• Sun hoodie
• Zip off pants
• Puffy jacket
• Rain jacket
• Rain mitts 
• 2x toe socks
• 2x buffs

Toiletries/Hygiene: 

• WAG bags 
• Heavy duty dry bag labeled POOP!
• Wet wipes
• Pee rag
• Sunscreen
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste 
• First aid kit

Cooking/Water: 

• Lightweight titanium cook pot
• Stove (shared)
• Fuel (shared)
• Collapsible bucket (shared) – for settling water
• Water Wizard (shared) – for faster settling
• Aquamira (shared) – water purification, the silty Colorado and Green Rivers will kill regular filters, so chemical treatment is the best bet 
• 3L water bladder 
• 2 rigid bottles – one for scooping, one for filling at potholes!

Electronics: 

• Garmin inReach
• Phone – Gaia for navigation
• Headlamp
• Airpods
• Garmin watch
• Cache battery 

Food: 3 days of food – 15,000 calories 

• Dehydrated dinners
• Oatmeal
• Protein powder
• Skratch high carb drink mix
• Maple syrup
• Cookies
• Brownies
• Skratch rice cakes (homemade) 
• Sweet Tart Ropes
• Starburst Unwrapped
• Potato Chips
• Pumpkin seeds mixed with chocolate chips 

Here are more Canyonlands adventures we’ve done by bike!

• Beef Basin Bikepacking on Fat Bikes
• Bikepacking the White Rim with our Parents
• Beef Basin Day Ride
• A week in Moab from back when we were living van life!