A Bikepacking Adventure In South-East Alaska

Posted on by Darren Alff
31
May

Some cycling adventures require a completely different arsenal of travel equipment – as can be seen in this video of five friends traveling by both bike and pack-raft along the coastline of south-east Alaska.

This video was found by BicycleTouringPro.com reader, Nathan Ross, who wrote to be and said:

I found this video on Vimeo and thought it was well made and shows a unique form of touring with bikes and pack rafts. I would really like to do this kind of adventure someday.

The bike you see the people riding in this video is called the Surly Pugsley. The bike’s extra wide tires allow it to travel through snow, mud, and (in this case) soft beach sand.

What do you think about this type of bicycle travel? Is it something that interests you? Or does sticking to paved roads and bike paths seem more appealing? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

Darren Alff

My goal as the "Bicycle Touring Pro" is to give you the confidence and inspiration you need to travel by bicycle anywhere in the world. I'm here to help you plan, prepare for, and execute your first bike tour and remove all the guesswork, wasted time and frustration that plagues so many first-time bicycle travelers.

4 thoughts on “A Bikepacking Adventure In South-East Alaska”

  1. ha1ku says:

    What a fascinating video! I’ve been curious about bike packing. I’ve been anxiously waiting for the release of “Reveal the Path” (@goodlifecyclist on Twitter).

  3. Ed Catt says:

    I think if I was in my twenties, or thirties (or even maybe in my early forties) I would have tried that. Admirable job they did. Bravo. Great effort. (I just hate mosquitos, though! I really hate ’em!) If not for those wee beasties, I think a trip like that looks fun. Thanks for posting this interesting video! The Surly’s seem a very interesting vehicle for a lot of applications.

  4. Michael says:

    Hello! Thank you for posting this video – looks like it was a great trip.

    I just wanted to point out they are not riding Big Dummies. A Surly Big Dummy is a longtail frameset.

    As noted at the beginning of the video, they are riding Surly Pugsley bicycles, from their Omniterra line.

    I’m only making the distinction because Google brought me here hoping to find a post and/or video on using a Surly Big Dummy (longtail bike) for bikepacking and don’t want anyone else suffering the same bitter pangs of disappointment. 😉

    Thanks again for this site – looks like I have lots of reading to do!

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