Portage
Also: portage, portage spot
Portaging means carrying the boat over land around an obstacle or an unrunnable section. With packrafts it's especially easy.
This is one of the big advantages of packrafts: a few kilos of boat are quickly shouldered. Portaging isn't a defeat but a good decision, at weirs, trees, siphons or when your gut says no. On long stretches the boat is deflated and carried in the backpack.
In Scandinavia and Canada, carrying the boat between lakes is everyday life on wilderness trips.
Matching trips of ours
Sources and further reading
Research as of 13 Nov 2026. We have marked manufacturer information as such.