Pack boating, essentially backpacking with a special type of canoe called a Pack Boat, is a great way to explore backcountry destinations that are only reachable by water. Pack boats, which blend canoe and kayak features, are designed for paddling on flatwater ponds and lakes, unlike inflatable pack rafts, which are more frequently used on rivers and streams.

A pack boat is a lightweight, open-topped watercraft featuring an open canoe hull paired with a low, kayak-style seat designed for use with a double-bladed kayak paddle. They're ideal for wilderness travel and camping in regions with numerous lakes and ponds such as New York's two-million-acre Adirondack Park, river tripping in the wilds of Maine, cruising the Boundary Waters of the Midwest, or the swamplands of the southern United States.

Pack boats range in length from 10 to 14 feet and usually weigh between 18 and 30 lbs, making them easy to portage between bodies of water separated by short stretches of land. Their low weight also makes them easy for individuals to carry, and they're very popular with female paddlers for this reason. Many users report paddling more frequently because boats are so easy to load, unload, and transport on top of cars. They're lightweight because they're made with Kevlar, Carbon Fiber, or other composites.

Like canoes, pack boats have an open layout, making it easy to pack camping gear, dogs, or fishing equipment. The seats sit close to the bottom of the hull, offering high initial stability and enabling the use of a kayak paddle. They have adjustable foot pedals to brace your feet and legs in the boat. Their freeboard, the distance from the waterline to the upper edge of the side (gunwale), is kept to a minimum to reduce wind resistance. However, they're ill-suited to waves in larger lakes or those with large motorboat wakes.

The 12 foot (18 lb) Hornbeck Classic is very easy to transport on a car.

In addition to a boat, you need a double-bladed kayak paddle or a single-bladed canoe paddle, a PDF, a bailer or pump, a sponge, a whistle, and dry bags to keep camping gear and clothing dry. A roof rack and webbing straps are also essential for transporting your boat.

Popular pack boat brands include Hornbeck Boats made in New York's Adirondacks, Swift Canoe and Kayak from Ontario, and Placid Boat Works, in Western New York. The cost of these boats ranges from about $2,000 on the low end to $4,500, depending on length and whether they are solo or tandem.

I recently bought a 12′ Hornbeck Classic (above), which is a really nice pack boat that tracks well and has a load capacity of 275 lbs. I plan to use it in Vermont and the nearby Adirondacks together with my backpacking/camping gear to get deep into wilderness areas that are hard to reach by vehicle or even on foot. The challenge isn't the paddling per se, but learning how to plan trips through very wet terrain far from civilization. I'm in the process of networking into the VT/NY Pack boating community to find mentors or like-minded adventurers that I can partner with for these types of trips. The Adirondacks have over 3,000 ponds and lakes and 20,000 miles of rivers and streams, so there's more than enough adventure to go around,