Aspiring Packrafter

Day Trip - The Aspiring Packrafter

We access the Mt Aspiring National Park from the Wanaka side, hike towards Mt Aspiring itself, have a hearty lunch, packraft the Matukituki River.

Overview

Total hiking duration: 9km (or 1hr 45mins which ever comes first)

Total elevation gain: 250m

Total Paddle distance: 7km (with Grade 2 rapids)

Minimum age: 14

2 people minimum needed to run the trip

NB. This is a Wanaka based trip, expect longer drives if departing from Queenstown. If you're specifically looking for more adventurous paddling, we suggest you look at at whitewater trip.

This trip is one of our more physically demanding trips! Whilst the hike is still pretty cruisy, it does involve some hills to climb and is the longest hike for any of our day trips. The Matukituki River is punctuated by fun bouncy rapids that keep you on your toes. The rapids are challenging enough to be exciting, but not so hard that you'll end up swimming....perfect for an aspiring packrafter! It's worth noting that, on occasions where the river is high, the chance are you'll spend longer hiking than paddling on this trip.

We'll start the trip off by driving toward towards the Mt Apsiring national park, parking up, buy some loos, at the trail head an hour down the road from Wanaka.

The hike will take us up the impressive Matukituki valley towards the Mt Aspiring Hut, our lunch spot. After a well deserved lunch we'll head to the river. Your guide will run you through inflating the boat (which is easier and cleverer than most people imagine) before walking you through your first strokes.

You'll get the hang of it in no time and will spend the afternoon grinning like a Cheshire Cat and soaking in the beautiful alpine scenes. We'll guarantee you'll never want to walk home again