River shuttle!

[Squatchout]

Ever notice how the folks you boat with often aren't set up to shuttle. They can get their boat to the put in but you end up with a lot of double driving. Some time back I developed a system. My Trooper has a roof rack that can accommodate several canoes or yaks or both if needed. I also have a small jetski trailer I bought cheap years ago for a jon boat I no longer own. I added a longer tongue on it for canoes.

So anyway I load the boat or boats on my trailer and meet my bud at the take out.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w3/squatchout/PTB%208-1-08%20red%20beans/P7250006Small.jpg

He has a mini truck with a hitch. I swing the trailer from my truck to his and head to the put in in his truck leaving mine at the take out.
We put in, float and fish all day and hit the take out. There we load the boats on my roof rack and head back up to his truck.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w3/squatchout/PTB%208-1-08%20red%20beans/P7260012Small.jpg

Then grab my trailer and head home. Of course this works the other way too. Leaving the empty easy to load trailer on his truck at the take out with my racks already loaded. Actually this can be preferable as you don't have to lift the boats at the end of a long day. Hope this helps some one work out there own shuttle system.

[refried]

One of the reasons I enjoy boating with the people I do is how painless running shuttles and loading/trailering boats is with them. Here's a couple pictures from the Tieton a few years ago.
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff294/tomrefried/Tieton/tietonrally2008023.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff294/tomrefried/Tieton/shuttle.jpg
Over 6 boats on each trailer, 21 people in the pick up and 6 in the SUV. the State Patrol came flying up behind us with lights and sirens, then flew past us going to a call. You should have seen the look on his face when he passed us.:Wow1:

[35thAV]

One of the reasons I enjoy boating with the people I do is how painless running shuttles and loading/trailering boats is with them. Here's a couple pictures from the Tieton a few years ago.
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff294/tomrefried/Tieton/shuttle.jpg
Over 6 boats on each trailer, 21 people in the pick up and 6 in the SUV. the State Patrol came flying up behind us with lights and sirens, then flew past us going to a call. You should have seen the look on his face when he passed us.:Wow1:



Now that looks like a good North-west shuttle! (I think I actually talked to you guys last year at the Wenatchee take-out in Cashmere)

After running with the same folks for years you get pretty darn good at making the shuttle run well.

And the trailers can be priceless!

[grahamfitter]

To save fuel costs my kayak buddies and I usually travel together. If we don't find people to paddle with and help run the shuttle one of us simply thumbs a ride which is usually surprisingly efficient.

Most of the time, anyway. Today we paddled a river that follows part of the Kancamangus Highway in New Hampshire and I got a ride pretty quickly. A couple of years ago we paddled the same river during the Christmas week with plenty of traffic on the road and I had to run the whole way. My buddy got worried and eventually asked somebody who stopped at the ranger station where we put in if he'd seen anybody hitching a ride. "Oh yes, he's several miles back down the road." Maybe they would have stopped if it wasn't snowing?

[grahamfitter]

61667

61668

To balance this overt display of exuberance, some rivers require one to earn every boof by carrying one's kayak uphill for two hours!

[Van_Homan]

There's a six mile section of the Harpeth River here close to Nashville that makes a huge circle.
You can actually put in, run the river, and then walk about a mile back to your vehicle. No shuttle required.
As you can imagine it's a very popular run.

[Frankspinz]

I'm reading a book on hiking the Apalachian Trail. There is mention of a guy walking solo, biking and driving... His method could be applied to paddling. Here's how it goes: drive to expected destination, leave the bike. Drive (back) to departure, leave the car and hike to destination. Bike back to car, repeat as necessary !

It'd be fairly simple to tie a bike in a canoe ...

[Squatchout]

I've used a bike to shuttle many times in my canoe. The Potomac river has a 185 mile long gravel trail running beside it from one end of the state to the other. It's the mule trail from an old canal that ran parrallel to the river. Like most canals it was ultimately a failed project. It's a national park now. It's a bit harder to carry a bike in a yak!

[35thAV]

Here are a couple pics from last year's Memorial Day Weekend trip to Idaho. We shuttled 9-boats with 2-trucks to 2-rivers over 3-days

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JyQBseOg-ik/TeZLCoEEzsI/AAAAAAAAAs4/qGSyOYdi0f8/s400/IMGP0073.JPG

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aiFg40RF5QA/TeZKXNstjSI/AAAAAAAAAso/m6Wr7_kCgWM/s400/IMGP0070.JPG

[constructeur]

35th- nice boats you have there! I'm keen to get a raft next to fish and camp out of, but am also considering a cataraft with 2 different frames; one for small water/day floats, and one for multi day/big water trips.

Here's a pic from Sundays float on the Skykomish, Big eddy to the mouth of the Sultan. No fish, but it was nice to get out after such a long spring.

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/gallery/data/18057/medium/P6040037.JPG