---
title: "Crusoe on the float"
url: https://bikefriday.com/crusoe-on-the-float/
type: post
date: 2011-07-06
modified: 2019-09-12
markdown_url: https://bikefriday.com/crusoe-on-the-float.md
author: "BF Admin"
---

# Crusoe on the float

Gary Cziko embarking on his rafting adventure with his Pocket Crusoe, 2011.

***By Gary Cziko***

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* *My first pedal-paddle-pedal trip using my Bike Friday Pocket Crusoe folding bike and Alpacka Denali Llama packraft.* *

* *On a delightfully cool and cloudy early summer morning, I pedaled about 14 miles from my home in Urbana, IL to the Salt Fork River at 2400 E in Champaign County at Lynch Hill Road bridge.* *

* *Along the way, I stopped to get the approval of the curious alpaca for my Alpacka Packraft adventure. I then paddled about 7 miles downstream, and then pedaled 17 miles back home. There was one log jam on the river that required a very short portage.* *

* *I saw many great blue herons along the way and a large owl as well a various other birds and ducks. I also saw some small animal that I could not identify jump from a log into the river as a I approached.* *

* *While a non-folding bike can be carried on the packraft, you have to remove the wheels and it protrudes more on each side interfering a bit with the paddling.* *

* *The Bike Friday fits very nicely into the packraft as you can see. I love the way each "vehicle" transforms and is able to carry the other. The packraft inflates and deflates as needed. The Bike Friday folds and unfolds as needed.* *

* *This will be the first of many more adventures exploring the streams of East Central Illinois and beyond.* *

* *Note: The river flow at the time of my paddle was measured as 68 cubic feet/second and 3.5 feet deep at St. Joseph.

[View the rest of Gary's photos.](http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvhMyAj)

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Gary Cziko's raft loaded with Pocket Crusoe, 2011.

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