Want a bit more space and capacity than the Mule, but don’t need the two person size and weight of the Forager? The Ranger is built just for you! We took the design of the Forager and scaled it down to make it more comfortable and easier to paddle for the solo paddler. But it still has plenty of space for all of your gear for a multi-week river trip, including bringing your dog or a small hard cooler. It’s also a great boat for bringing kids up to age 10 before they want to do their own paddling. That makes it our choice for long classic river trips like the San Juan, Dolores, Montana’s Flathead system, and the big Alaska rivers. While the self bailing floor can handle Class III whitewater, we recommend a more maneuverable model like the Gnarwhal for whitewater focused river trips.

The Ranger is also the perfect river based solo hunting and fishing packraft. At under 12lbs, its light enough to be backpacked into a remote river but offers plenty of carrying capacity for medium to large big game like caribou, deer, elk, and sheep or bringing along the dog on an upland or waterfowl hunt. The extra space also makes it great for carrying rods on river fishing trips.

We recommend the Shred 205 Carbon paddle for the Ranger.