Recent content by MichaelMerry

As a long distance runner and wilderness traveler, I often end up with some skunked gear. These are a few things that have worked for me. -vinegar soak. As I understand it, the odor is created by a living organism in the fabric. This method (and some of the others) is meant to kill that...

Satellite enabled GPS on a smartphone via Gaia is certainly useful in the wilderness. I’m adept with map and compass, but Gaia saves time, eliminates any doubt when bushwhacking or worrying about choosing the correct bay based on manual navigation. It’s a fantastic tool. I used to be an anti...

I’ve taken trips with groups of 4-5 the last three years over the first 10 days in September. We’ve had no issue with permits or crowds. We do go deep into the park. Over 20 days, we typically portage about 40 times; none longer than 1/2 mile.

Other people here have mentioned dehydrators. Nearly all of our backcountry meals are made at home and dehydrated. In fact, we eat many of the same meals in the backcountry that we eat at home. Often, we dehydrate our leftovers. We double ziplock, label and throw them in the freezer. When we...

I like to read books that are pertinent to wilderness travel while wilderness traveling. Currently, that book is beaverland by Leila Philip. It is a fascinating read about the history, biology and cultural and ecological impact of beavers in North America.

I see it’s below 7 and dropping fast. Should be excellent floating. Not much paddling!

When we were on the river a few weeks ago, it got up to 7.5 on the cooksburg gauge. State park launches were closed. We did not use any state launches. Landings were tricky. Standing haystacks threw water into our boats that required some baling. However, we never felt we were in danger.

I don’t know that they would; but perhaps the straps! They’re rodents, so they might chew on anything. I recently participated in a shelter rehab in NW PA. Porkies had eaten much of the floor and chewed through the plastic mailbox that had the shelter log. Destructive (but cute) little dudes.

Been a minute since I’ve been up there. Seeing and reading this is really making me want to get back. I might make it happen next week. How were the bugs on your trip?

There are lots of porcupines out there and they’ll reportedly chew their way into food sources.

We hang everywhere we camp; mostly against mini bears. Actual bears are probably the least of your worries.

If water levels are above 3 on the cooksburg gauge for your trip, you will not have to worry about out interacting with the river bottom. You will be paddling (not hard) rather than poling.

Right on. That is our philosophy. We tend to move every day and enjoy covering ground. Camping is certainly, for us, secondary to the travel. We travel fast, far and light. We’re entering our 50’s, so this may change. But we’re going to keep it going for as long as we’re able:

We are avid backpackers spending many more nights on trail than we do in our canoes. Therefore, we tend to treat our extended paddling trips very much like backpacking trips. We pack light and use much of the same gear. We portage with the same expedition size backpacks we use for our long...

That sounds like an adventure! Memories made and lessons learned. Rest assured, the clarion was not flat last weekend. The standing haystacks don’t lend themselves to action photography. Photos were taken where phones could safely come out of their stashes and all hands weren’t required to be...