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PostPosted: July 27th, 2019, 7:59 am 
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Location: Manitoba
Food and menu, going from 10 days to 3 weeks, you could simply repeat or double your 10 day meal plan (2x10=20 days).
Your gear and equipment will see twice as much use. Is everything in good shape?
Electronics. Think about camera batteries, etc. Will your current 10 day stuff/system work for 3 weeks?
Clothes washing. Something I do on 3 week trips.
Pacing. Do you usually plan for weather bound days, layover days, short/half days? You may want to consider a bit of down time from paddling to allow for rest and recovery as well as for extra stuff such as cloth washing.
There is an economy of scale when doubling your trip length. All your basic canoe and camp gear remains the same. Exceptions are the likes of food and fuel.
Question your kit and quantities. A bit extra on a short trip is okay but too much extra on a long trip is just that, too much. The more dailed in your gear is the better.
Books. I’ve use an app on my iPhone.
Time of year. With longer trips you will experience a greater change in the environment, from temperatures to daylight, from bugs to no bugs, etc.

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PostPosted: July 27th, 2019, 11:18 am 
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Location: Marathon/Superior
Great thread and input here :thumbup:

Putting in the time for meal prep and dehydrating is key.

Paddle Power mentioned clothes washing. You can cut back on clothes if you turn a dry bag into a laundry machine. Add your clothes and water, soak, and then shake the bag vigorously. Drain to complete the rinse cycle. Repeat but this time with some camp suds in there. I let it soak a little to take on the lemony scent. Dump the water in deep soil well away from the water's edge so the suds can biodegrade properly. Do another rinse cycle and then hang dry.

Things to do on stormy days are nice. A tarp and mini chess set is a good one if you like chess. As well as a hammock and book as mentioned.

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PostPosted: July 27th, 2019, 12:44 pm 
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Joined: June 28th, 2001, 7:00 pm
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Location: Freeland, Maryland USA
PacketFiend wrote:
Bad weather can really slow you down, too, and that factor really snowballs after days on end, so please factor that in.

save a couple of good, sunny days for layovers to repair, dry and clean your gear, wash your clothes, and to bathe properly.


Paddle Power wrote:
Pacing. Do you usually plan for weather bound days, layover days, short/half days? You may want to consider a bit of down time from paddling to allow for rest and recovery as well as for extra stuff such as cloth washing.


Agree absolutely about the wisdom of building in some layover days. The frequency and quantity is personal style conditional. Unless I am on a shorter trip near to home with a reliable weather forecast I build in one layover day for every four or five day’s duration. That’s a lot, but I have a lot of uses for them, and I don’t mind hanging in camp and dawdling.

If I have “unspent” layover days near the end of a trip I can linger at some idyllic site another day, or move on more slowly; later start, earlier camp, making fewer miles between. Or at least do some exploring on the got-time drive home, maybe truck camp and day paddle somewhere different to help ease my reentry.

Layover days can help prevent me from making risky decisions, paddling in high winds on open water. Or when I am hurting, fatigued or simply not feeling on top my game; a condition where I am more likely to screw up on land, in camp, or portaging than while in the canoe.

Or laying over to prevent me from packing up wet gear in the morning, paddling all day in the rain and setting up a wet camp at the end of the day. Especially when the next morning dawns bright and sunny and I coulda laid over dry and comfy, read a book under the tarp, putzed around with camp and gear, taken more photos and written some trip notes.

Ah, there’s one we missed. I do not know if Henda maintains a journal or keeps trip notes. I have every trip journal since 1976 and wish I had started earlier. Those are most helpful in writing a trip report afterwards (I don’t remember the little nuance of stuff from day 6) and are fun to look through years later. For me sitting quietly, pondering, thinking and writing is part of the enjoyment of being in camp.

Or sketching. Although my artistic abilities are barely beyond the stick figure level I have a few sketches that, while crude, are more meaningful than anything I wrote. Including a 1970’s “selfie”. Very “selfie”, a self-deprecating ballpoint self-portrait, with lines and arrows and descriptions of everything that is wrong with me and my shown-festooned gear at the time. I remember there was an arrowed notation “Far away look even close up” and some NSFW stuff. Probably inspired by Davidson and Rugge.

That trip notebook also contains all paper necessities, held flat and organized in the same place. Tide charts or permit if needed. A one page meteor shower/astronomical event date/time/direction list.

A blank grid for recording the forecast if I could pick up a weather radio station (or even AM); temp, chance precip, cloud cover, wind speed/directions, with fill-in-the-blank grids for a couple days out. Looking back at the original “forecast” for 3 or 4 days out compared to what conditions actually transpired over that period becomes weather pattern educational, or at least cautionary.

And lastly, a calendar, or at least a few calendar pages, so I don’t lose track of time. Not that I myself have ever lost track of what day it was while on a trip. Hell, I was rarely off by more than two days. But the calendar has notations of important-to-me dates. Oh look, it’s (aptly dated) December 5th, I believe I will celebrate.

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/night- ... tion-1933/

Alliteratively, precious paperwork and printed pages to the point that I make a new “field desk” annually to hold it, updated all. I write and make field notes often enough that it’s worth going big and stiff, so I’m not scribbling indecipherably notes in a teenyfloppy 3x5 notebook.

I know it is thick and heavy, and worth every ounce to me. YMMV.

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums/for ... field-desk


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PostPosted: July 28th, 2019, 10:15 pm 
Sleeping Island by P. G. Downes

Chapter 1, pg. 3

NORTH, WHERE?

I suppose it is sure heresy to open an account of a few months' wandering in the sub Arctic of Canada with the statement that I was not particularly sure where I was going. Expeditions to the far North are, whether large or small, by convention prefaced with a staggering list of paraphernalia and minutiae, not to mention shy reference to weeks of painstaking plotting and planning to defeat the great empty spaces


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PostPosted: July 29th, 2019, 10:19 am 
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Joined: March 15th, 2016, 5:49 pm
Posts: 22
Location: Thunder Bay
.


Last edited by Henda on July 29th, 2019, 10:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: July 29th, 2019, 10:25 am 
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Joined: March 15th, 2016, 5:49 pm
Posts: 22
Location: Thunder Bay
PacketFiend wrote:
Make sure you are able to repair any gear you're carrying, assuming it's not completely destroyed. Those Souris River canoes are light, but somewhat fragile. One errant tree branch or weak seam poking one small hole in your tent/fly during a low pressure system can be absolute hell when you have to deal with it for days or weeks on end.


Mike McCrae wrote:
bring a bit more repair/replace stuff on a long trip. A ThermaRest repair kit, and an extra filter for the gravity filter bags if in an area hard on filtration.



Do you recommend any repair brands/kits?

I am going to Quetico (not that north!). I have done 10 day trips in Wabakimi and also Woodland Caribou, but only 5 days in Quetico, so we thought it would be fun to explore that park a bit more.

What do you do to keep morale up in bad weather? Also, what do you prepare for bad weather?


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PostPosted: July 29th, 2019, 5:56 pm 
Bring two functioning SPOTS with rescue insurance, Duct Tape, bear spray and plenty of cigarettes if you smoke. Don't go cold turkey on a 3 week trip, unless you go solo on a suicide run. We also took a satellite phone most to assuage Juanita's and a separate large bug tent for cooking and getting away from bugs so we could listen to our short wave radio in peace while we waged war! Afishing pole and 12 gauge shot gun (Mossberg Persuader 8 shot) I used Hammerheads and goose shot. Over the years we got raided quite a few times - twice severely impacting our food. Black Bears. Took a Garmin GPS as backup to my 2.99 Silva. Maps - 1/50,000 if orientating skills meager, 1/250 thousand standard, 1/500 thousand if you have been there many times and a highway map for faux wilderness areas such as the Allagash.


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PostPosted: July 30th, 2019, 11:21 am 
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Location: Freeland, Maryland USA
Henda wrote:
Do you recommend any repair brands/kits?

What do you do to keep morale up in bad weather? Also, what do you prepare for bad weather?


I just bring a commercial Therma-rest repair kit with my spares and repairs materials, which I guess would work on other air filled sleeping mats.

https://www.thermarest.com/mattresses/m ... repair-kit

And always some duct tape, a couple yards each of 1” and 2” Gorilla tape wrapped around a tongue depressor takes up little space and can field repair anything from busted shoes to a torn tent fly.

Some stranded parachute cord and a couple feet of 1” webbing with a buckle comes in handy. Fire starter. Large garbage bag. Sewing needle and thread. Couple of cable ties. Spare lighter. All those will fit in a Zip-lock bag, and can fix most problems.

For me preparation starts with a good, seam sealed tent and tarp (or screenhouse if bugdom so demands), decent raingear, clothes and footwear. I am happier if I’m at least dry and warm. One of the reasons I keep a journal is to note any gear that needs attention/repair/replacement/improvement when I get home.

Unrelenting wind eventually wears me down as much as rain, having a tarp big enough, and strong enough, to drop one side as a wind block helps.

I spend enough time in windswept places that I added a removable highback extension to my chair to protect my head and neck. I cannot begin to say how much comfort that auxiliary extension creates when the wind blows and blows and keeps blowing, and I can create my personal eddy anywhere I choose. Lots easier to turn a chair than reorient the tarp, and I can walk the chair out to a good shore vista and watch the waves crash.

ImageP7201014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Yeah, here is some portable shade available on that thing too.

When solo morale is all up to me. In bad weather I read more, write more, put on some raingear and take a day hike, bring back firewood (that spare webbing strap comes in handy as a carrier sling), process firewood, process the perfect starter pile of firewood for the next guy, throw pebbles at an empty beer can. The little day hammock helps.

With a companion a deck of cards can kill a distracting hour or two, or more depending on the games and skills. The folding tabletop for my barrels have chess/checker boards.

ImageP7203820 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Or the occasional strip poker game.

ImageP7203817 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

On family or group trips the game opportunities expand with more players. We usually bring all-terrain bocce (which doesn’t need to include heavy phenolic balls, four tennis balls and a golf ball pallino will work. The all-terrain game is challenging and different on every toss. The color commentary from partner and opponents can be hilarious.

https://www.wikihow.com/Play-Bocce-Ball

Or sillier games. We have used the golf ball, whittled putters from driftwood and played minigolf. For hours, over the course of a couple wind bound days.

Huddled together under the tarp or around the fire with four of more people we play word games, the favorite being Botticelli:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botticelli_(game)

In explanation that game sounds more “rules” complex than it is in actual play. And again, the commentary, jibes and jokes are unending. As the “chooser” (we play winner of the last round chooses the last name letter) my weak area is too well knows; pop culture, I don’t know my Katie Perry from my Madonna from my Pikachu, so even younger folks eventually figure out my “C” name was Cassius Clay.

Odd observation about that game, alliterative names come up wayyy more often in both mystery person and direct questions than you would think. Mickie Mouse. Minnie. Margret Mead. Margret Mitchel. Maggie May; once an alliterative roll gets started every starts doing it ‘til the laughter is contagious.


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PostPosted: July 30th, 2019, 1:33 pm 
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Location: Brampton
One thing I do for food is to bring a few "special" meals that require more time to cook/prepare, for days when you're wind/rainbound or laying over. A fantastic meal really does wonders for the human spirit.

For tent repair, bring something that works instantly, even when wet. Many tent repair kits require 24 hours for the repair to set fully, and you may need to repair a tent without time to lay over. As for the canoes, yours should be fine on flat water. Maybe bring a small kevlar repair kit, but I have no experience with those. The one time we used kevlar canoes, the park was busy enough that we could signal for help if needed.

Plenty of suggestions in this thread for "stuck in the tent in the pouring rain" times, all good, IMHO.

Sometimes, you'll need to be on the move in inclement weather, either because it turned quickly, or because you lack time. I like to learn a few marching songs, the kind marines sing on the march, and teach them to people. There's something about singing the same tune that really brings a group together in harsh conditions. Two of my favorites are "Blood On The Risers" and "They Say That In The Army". Blood On The Risers got us over the Pig, in good spirits on the other side. Try whatever works for you, but believe me, a shared song can work miracles.

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PostPosted: July 30th, 2019, 1:55 pm 
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spare paddles

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PostPosted: July 30th, 2019, 4:10 pm 
On a long journey we took bug jackets and something like 15/20 bottles of 95% DEET. In the morning, the black flies hovered over the tundra like a shimmering carpet and in late afternoon they were like a dark cloud. Then of course the mosquitoes and the deer flies etc. Apex predator we are not - more like a host to the bugs!


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PostPosted: July 31st, 2019, 7:13 am 
You know what would be kinky camped in the outback during bad weather down days? Watching "Survivor Man" or "Alone" with the pitter-patter of rain in the background! The atmospherics would astounding!


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PostPosted: August 1st, 2019, 7:16 am 
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Weather watching. Barometric pressure changes, wind direction changes, cloud types and their evolution. Keep notes, written at similar times each day. There are many good books out there that you can bring with you. I use the Audobon Field Guide to Weather.

Bird watching. Decent pair of binos and a bird book. Will keep you occupied for hours. Can be challenging in the fall when the brightly coloured and easily ID'd males are outnumbered by juveniles. Still a lot of fun though.

If you have the time, home dehydrated meals are the way to go.


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PostPosted: August 1st, 2019, 5:04 pm 
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Location: Winnipeg, MB
Butter: I got this tip from another myccr member (littleredcanoe?). To keep non-clarified butter longer, wet a towel every morning, place a sealed container of butter in the wet towel and put it in your pack. We keep ours in our potset along with jam. It won't last forever but it'll get you further.


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PostPosted: August 1st, 2019, 10:31 pm 
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Here’s a couple of little things we do:

Wrap your cheese in paper towel lightly soaked with vinegar, then put it into a zip lock to extend its shelf life.

Eat lots of fish! Saves weight.

Haven’t run into too many people who don’t like a game of connect 4. The dollar store sells the micro-version of this classic.

Enjoy your trip :thumbup:


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