A few years ago I was wandering with my children with a backpack on my back through the countryside around the Orllík dam. It was after the rains and down at the confluence of Skalice and Lomnice it looked like Canada. Water was pouring down the rocky embankments of the dropped Orlík towards Svatá Anna, boys were throwing sticks into the raging river and letting boats downstream from the bark. To have a boat like that with you, that would be something...

Later, we camped in the bay at Stvořidla rapids on another trip. The boys from the Beaver River book may have come here on a raft. Children were throwing wooden boats to the river. It would have been something to have a boat with us.

At the time I didn't even know there was such a thing as packraft, but after a few days of internet research I was sitting on a plane with a destination in Ivalo, Lapland, packraft in place of my carry-on luggage, and a world ahead of me that I didn't know existed, but had always wanted to be in. I experienced endless freedom in places you wouldn't otherwise get to without a boat. Freedom that anyone can experience.

And I thought it was a pity that packrafting is either basically unknown in our country, or it is perceived as fun for adrenaline freaks throwing themselves into class V rapids. Packrafts can handle adrenaline, of course, but their greatest asset is the journey to freedom. And this can be brought not only by the Lapland wilderness and five-foot rapids, but also by a simple cove on a pond somewhere, or the slowly flowing Vltava River in the autumn sun, when you have it all to yourself. And that's what it's all about.

Together with my Finnish friend Alpo, who has ridden a lot of packrafts, we started researching and testing packrafts of all kinds with the aim of creating a custom fleet that anyone can ride to freedom.

The result is Ultima Packrafts. Packrafts we trust. Rafts that set sail for freedom not only for us, but now also for our children.

Nowadays, no boat and paddles are missing from any of our backpacking trips. Hope to see you soon.

Stay Wild, Be Free

#ultimapackrafts