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Jacob Kastrup Haagensen

@urbanpackrafter

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Packrafting blogger and adventure filmmaker from Copenhagen, Denmark. Currently living in Sweden
Ambassador of @aquabound

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#dogsofpackrafting with captain greeenblade. Well I’m in Norway visiting Halvor Westerheim in his picturesque family estate at Femundselva river together with @caide78 and @katjajohanna80 @johan_gronblad @hon_i_skogen her son and a bunch lovely Norwegians. Paddling the river, drinking beers and just enjoying the scenic Norwegian autumn weather and landscape. @geirschjoll was also coming by to paddle with us for the first day. Caj and Katja drove all the way from Finland mostly to hang out with us. It feels like I’m ready for the autumn and winter now. #thisispackrafting #boundbyadventure #norway taken in Femundselva by @urbanpackrafter

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a month ago

Last weekend I revisited the Kynne Älv river in Bohuslän together with @moramicke @institut_for_afveje @jakob_synnestvedt_hansen and Tobias. Even though the temperature was freezing on Friday night, sleeping wasn’t a problem in a hot tent with a stove, and it was great to catch up with everyone.
Last time I went to Kynne Älv I forgot my PFD and didn’t paddle, so it felt good to actually be on the water this time. We put in Saturday morning in wet autumn weather, but as soon as we were on the river everything was perfect. The paddling was fun and challenging. But Kynne Älv being Kynne Älv — with class 3–4 pool-drop rapids — and me still getting used to the fantastic @alpacka_raft Valkyrie, I ended up portaging a lot and even had a swim.
My favourite rapid was a chute (the second drop in the video). Tobias took a swim too, and his kayak got stuck on a tree, but we managed to free it without too much trouble. I paddled with my @aquabound Aerial, which was the perfect paddle for this kind of run.
For once I didn’t film or take any photos, but luckily Micke did, so we actually have some footage of me paddling for once.
#boundbyadventure #thisispackrafting #packrafting #packraftingsweden #whitewater taken in Kynnefjäll by @urbanpackrafter

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a year ago

Vistas valley hike part 2
The next day, we headed up to Njunni and crossed into Kaskavagge – a 500-meter climb followed by a 200-meter descent to the cabin. It was our toughest day, and I was so proud of how well Ib managed the long hike. We camped by the hut and the bridge over the Kaskajohka river, tired but happy.
The following morning, we continued up toward the Cievrraláhku plateau. Above 1,000 meters, snow still covered much of the ground — a reminder that it was still early in the season. We found a fantastic campsite by the river that drains the Dafalla Glacier, pitching our tent on the soft grass between the river branches. I had a vague idea that we might hike up to the Tafala Pass, but there was simply too much snow.
Instead, we headed toward the reindeer herder’s cabin, planning to cross a ravine on our way back toward Nikkaluokta. But the ravine was completely filled with snow, and with meltwater running underneath, it looked too risky. We followed it westward until it opened — and there, suddenly, we saw Kebnekaise. Ib’s eyes lit up when he realized it was Sweden’s highest mountain. We promised each other we’d climb it one day.
The next day brought our first real rain. We waited it out in the tent until early afternoon, then walked just five kilometers before finding another perfect spot — a little meadow beside a stream and a wide snowfield, with views toward the Nikkaluokta valley.
The final descent of 500 meters took us back to Nikkaluokta, where we rented a cabin and met up with old packrafting friends Kaj and Katja. Ib felt a bit queasy that evening — probably from all the leftover Marabou chocolate I’d packed.
Our third hike together — and each year, it just gets better.
#hikingwithkids #vistasvalley #hikingsweden by @urbanpackrafter

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a year ago

River Poetry #3
Filmed and edited by @urbanpackrafter
With @injuringeternity
Poem by Arthur Rimbaud
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River Poetry Manifesto

We believe that rivers are poems in motion.
Every rapid, every eddy, every quiet pool speaks in rhythms older than language. Our project, River Poetry, is born from this conviction.

Together with Jacob Kastrup Haagensen, we bring rivers and words into dialogue. We set classical and contemporary poetry—verses from the greatest voices across cultures—against images of wild water, of kayaks and packrafts, of a community that finds joy in navigating currents. At first glance, the poems and the rivers may seem unrelated. But when they meet, they create unexpected harmonies. The river becomes the page; the poem becomes the soundtrack.

River Poetry is both playful and serious. It is a way of carrying poetry into places where it is rarely expected—into the roar of a rapid, the shimmer of sunlight on water, the laughter of friends gathered at a take-out. By weaving words with rivers, we aim to release poetry from the classroom and the page, and let it drift, leap, and cascade into the wild.

Our goal is simple: to spread poetry, to see the world with fresh eyes, and to share the beauty of a growing community that lives on the water.

River Poetry is not only about literature or sport. It is about the joy of discovery, the mingling of art and nature, and the belief that every journey down a river is itself a poem waiting to be read.

Jeremie Lamart

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#packrafting #thisispackrafting #boundforadventure #aquabound #poetry by @urbanpackrafter

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a year ago

VISTAS VALLEY – EARLY JULY 2025
Together with my 8-year-old son Ib, we took a boat from Nikkaluokta 8 km up the Vistas River. It had been a long journey — two trains and a bus ride over 24 hours had brought us there. And now, a small riverboat.
The first two days were spent hiking through low alpine birch forest. Despite a well-marked trail, the path went up and down through ravines, moraine ridges, and marshes. Visibility was poor, but occasionally we were treated to stunning views up the valley or of the turquoise river below. There were some mosquitoes, but not as many as one might have feared. Somehow, though, the gnats found their way through the tiny holes in our mosquito net at our first camp. Not ideal — but my son took it as part of the experience.
On the second day, we found a beautiful campsite overlooking the marshes and the snow-covered mountains further up the valley. We built a small fire and enjoyed the endless evening where the sun never sets. There were no gnats, few mosquitoes, and a stunning view.
Vistas is one of Sweden’s most breathtaking valleys, and it truly showed at our last camp in the valley. We had crossed the Vistas River at the bridge and found a fantastic campsite in a meadow — not far from where Arvid, Adam, and I camped when we paddled the Vistas River in 2021. We could see the almost 2,000-meter-high mountains around us — Reaiddacohkka, Sielmmacohkka, and Vassacurru.
It was windy that night, with occasional rain, but aside from the tent door blowing open in the middle of the night, the tent held up well.
#hikingwithkids #vistas #sweden taken in Vistasvagge by @urbanpackrafter

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a year ago

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a year ago

Muddus Day 3: We said goodbye to our camp on the ridge in the mires and packed our gear into our packrafts. We had a long day ahead of us. Our destination was the Arvidsson cabin on Lake Muddusjaure—the next usable campsite—about 20 km down the creek.
After a kilometer or two, we entered a swampy spruce forest and occasionally encountered small rapids. Most were very shallow, and we had to get out and drag our packrafts along. Others we were able to paddle, though with the occasional scrape along the bottom. Some of the rapids were actually fun to navigate.
The wildlife also became more interesting. At one point, we saw a moose calf—just a few days old—standing deep in the water by the riverbank. Peter thought it might be stuck and paddled closer to see if it needed help. But the approaching packraft was too much for the calf, and it quickly exited the water and leapt into the forest.
After lunch, we also spotted a hawk owl perched at the top of a spruce tree beside the river, completely uninterested in the five humans paddling by.
Eventually, the river broadened and we began to approach Lake Muddusjaure—a 10 km-long lake in the middle of the national park. Fortunately, we only had to paddle about 3 km to the western end, where the Arvidsson cabin lies in a small bay.
After about an hour of paddling, we reached the cabin and got out. Named after the legendary national park officer Lennart Arvidsson, the cabin is small and cozy, located on a dry patch of land right at the edge of the lake. The rain was coming in, so our arrival was perfectly timed.
#thisispackrafting #packraftingsweden #boundbyadventure #muddusnationalpark taken in Muddus Nationalpark by @urbanpackrafter

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a year ago

The next day we woke up at our ridge camp in the middle of the mires. We hiked out, leaving our packrafts and camp behind to venture further along the sand ridge. Our goal was the hill of Stour Tjudek and the nearby lake of Tjudekjaure. We started walking the ridge and were stunned to be on a 30-meter-wide strip of dry land, surrounded by wet mires on all sides. After maybe 1.5 km of hiking, the ridge ended in old-growth forest at the base of Stour Tjudek. Sometimes we had to cross bits of swamp, jumping from tuft to tree root to keep our feet dry.
Further in, we entered the ancient pine forest. Sparse, tall pines and a lot of fallen dead wood surrounded us. This was the kind of untouched land that, along with the endless mires, makes Muddus a national park. The hike was long, and we had gone over 6 km from camp when we finally reached our goal: the lake of Tjudekjaure.
At camp the night before, Peter had told us an old story from the time when the Kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark–Norway, and the Russian Empire all claimed this part of northern Scandinavia. Each sent tax collectors to take from the Sámi. Here in Muddus, a Russian gang of 30 arrived to take reindeer and valuables. One young Sámi had camouflaged his best reindeer with mud and blood so they wouldn’t take it. When the tax collectors left with their loot, he put the fast reindeer in front of his sled, axe in hand, and chased them down. When he caught up, he killed them. Their bodies, it’s said, went through the ice into Lake Tjudekjaure.
We arrived in sunshine at the lake, tired and hungry. Peter took out his coffee pot, lit a small fire, and boiled us coffee with the same water where the tax collectors now rest. It tasted fresh and clean. We ate our lunch, drank our coffee, and took in the silence before heading back to camp.
#thisispackrafting #muddus #boundbyadventure taken in Muddus Nationalpark by @urbanpackrafter

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a year ago

After a six-hour delay of our night train, we finally arrived in Gällivare in the afternoon. We were Arvid, his teenage sons Alfons and Rasmus, and me. Peter, who had arrived by car and waited all day, had arranged a ride for us with his friend’s wife, who was commuting between Gällivare and Porjus.
We got out where Muddusjåhka creek crosses the E45, where Peter was waiting with our gear. It was around four, and we had 15 kilometers of paddling ahead before reaching our campsite. From there, the creek winds through wetlands with no dry ground to stop on, so we prepared for a long paddle into the evening. Luckily, being north of the polar circle meant light all night — even though we were a few days too early for the midnight sun.
Our plan was to traverse Muddus from north to south via the narrow creek Muddusjåhkå, which runs through mires and forest. Finally, we were on our way.
The river was shallow at first, and we had to walk the packrafts through minor rapids. After about a kilometer, we left the forest and entered wide-open wetlands. The weather was fair, the sky mostly clear, and the view was gorgeous. We saw water birds, and at one point a beaver swam just ahead of me.
After a couple of hours, we ate our evening meals in the boats since there was no dry land. Soon after, we entered the lake Stour Muddus — the halfway point to camp. On the other side, sparse spruce forest reappeared, but the ground was still too wet to land.
Around 10 PM we reached our destination — a small sand ridge left by an Ice Age glacier. Old-growth pines marked dry ground. We climbed up, set up camp, and gathered around an old fireplace. Arvid cooked dinner — self-dried chili and homemade bread. A cold wind swept the wetlands, but the hot meal warmed us. We ended the day with a cold, shaken beer under the glowing sky.
#packrafting #thisispackrafting #packraftingsweden #muddus #boundbyadventure taken in Muddus Nationalpark by @urbanpackrafter

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a year ago

Januar og februar har været meget grå her i Sverige. Men i går formiddags var det skyfrit og en fin morgensol oplyste vores frosne station. (Filmet med Lomo okc 1 35 1 sovjetisk film kende fra 1970). by @urbanpackrafter

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2 years ago

Happy New Year! Tomorrow, next year 2025, my short film “The mountain Book of Ib” will premiere at YouTube. Many of us will be slightly hangover on the first of January so I thought I would provide something nice to watch from the couch.

I also want to wish all of you a great packrafting year of 2025 with special adventures and outdoor experiences. See you all in 2025! by @urbanpackrafter

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2 years ago

In November there will be two screenings of The Luck of the Draw: In Cjud-Napoca, Romania, and in Copenhagen, Denmark. Ticket sale has started so you can secure your seat (for purchase see the homepage of the film festivals for the specific)

20th of November 5.30 PM in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in Atelier Café at @transylvania.mountain.festival

29th of November 6.45 PM in Copenhagen, Denmark, in Cinemateket at @nordicadventurefilmfestival

I will be attending the screening in Copenhagen and really hope to see some of you guys there.

A big thanks to the film’s sponsors @alpacka_raft and @aquabound

#thisispackrafting #boundbyadventure #theluckofthedraw taken in Grand Canyon National Park by @urbanpackrafter

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2 years ago