The best part of a packraft overnight happens after you pull out. Tent up, stove on, the river sliding past a few metres below. Where you put that tent decides how the night goes. Pick the spot well and you sleep deep and wake to a calm launch. Pick it badly and you spend the night listening to the water and the branches overhead. Here is how to read a bank before you commit to it.
Look up before you look down
Most people choose a campsite by the ground: flat, soft, clear of rocks. Start with the sky instead. Stand where the tent would go and look straight up.
Dead trees and dead limbs are the first thing to rule out. A dead branch hung up in a live canopy can come down in a gust, in the middle of a still night, or for no reason you will ever see. River red gums and other eucalypts are known for dropping big limbs without warning, and riverbanks are where they grow. Give any large gum a margin of at least its own height if you can, and never pitch directly under a limb that overhangs the tent.
Check the trunks too. A tree leaning over the water with its roots undercut by the last flood is on its way into the river. So is anything standing on a crumbling bank edge.
Find the flood line and camp above it
A river tells you where it has been. Read the bank from the water up and look for the highest sign of recent flow.
- Debris lines: sticks, leaf litter and grass caught in a band along the bank or wrapped around trunks.
- Flattened vegetation all leaning downstream.
- Silt or mud coating on rocks, logs and the lower trunks of trees.
- Rubbish and flood wrack lodged in branches well above the current water.
- A clean, scoured look to rocks and sand with nothing growing on them.
Camp clearly above the highest of those marks, not level with it. The marks show a flood that has already happened, not the biggest one possible. If the only flat ground is below them, keep paddling or walk up the bank to a higher bench.
Rising water overnight
The weather where you sleep is only half the story. Rain in the hills upstream can lift a river overnight under a clear sky. In steep catchments and narrow gorges the rise can be fast, and it can arrive hours after the storm that caused it.
Check the Bureau of Meteorology forecast for the whole catchment before you go, and look for any flood watch or warning covering the river. On the trip, notice the weather upstream as well as overhead. Thunder in the ranges on a hot afternoon is a reason to camp higher.
Set a marker when you arrive. A stick pushed into the sand right at the waterline takes two seconds and gives you a clear answer at bedtime and again at first light. Water creeping up the stick means you move camp while it is still easy.
Secure the packraft for the night
A packraft left on a gravel bar is a packraft that can float away. Carry it up to camp, clip it to a tree or a heavy pack, and turn it upside down so wind cannot get under the tubes. Paddle and PFD go beside it, not on the beach. If the river does rise, your whole way home is in one safe place.
Gravel bars, sand and the pull of the beach
A sand or gravel bar in the middle of a river looks perfect. Flat, soft, no scrub. It is also the first ground to go under when the water comes up, and on an island bar your exit is across the rising river. Use bars for lunch and for landing. Sleep on the bank above them.
The rest of the checklist
| Feature | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Overhead | Dead trees, hung-up limbs, big gums | Falling timber is the most serious camp hazard on a riverbank |
| Height | Above debris lines and silt marks | Rivers rise overnight after upstream rain |
| Escape | A way up the bank on foot | You want a dry route out if the water comes up |
| Ground | Durable surface, gentle slope, no drainage line | Rain runs through low hollows and gullies |
| Wind | Shelter from the prevailing breeze | A sheltered launch makes the morning easier |
| Permission | Land manager rules and private land | Some areas limit camping to set sites or need a permit |
Avoid pitching in a gully or dry side creek, even if it looks bone dry. It is a drainage line, and a storm fills it first. Keep a sensible distance from the water for the river's sake as well as yours, and follow any minimum the land manager sets.
When nothing fits
Sometimes the only flat ground left at the end of the day is low, under old trees, or on a bar. That is the moment to keep going. Paddle another bend, walk up the bank, or go back to the last good spot you passed. Finishing camp a little later is a small price for a site you trust.
Wear your PFD on the water and leave your trip intentions with someone at home, including where you plan to camp.
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