Stuff you don't need or hardly ever use, but you bring anyway

Paddle partners. I'd rather go solo but my wife insists I bring others along for safety. Small price to pay, I suppose.

Tend to bring too much fishing tackle. I have a little soft sided tackle box that fits 4 trays…so naturally I’d fill all 4 trays. This year I took two out and now have room for my binoculars in there.

That’s something else that’s kind of frivolous but always bring. It’s nice to watch wildlife or the scenery when chillin at a campsite. I just know the first time I leave it home I’ll really wish I had it.

Always bring twice as many clothes as I need. That’s a hard one. You always want to pack sweatshirt just in case. Or extra socks even through experience has taught me I end up just wearing sandals the whole time.

Canoe camping offers the luxury of bringing extra comforts. Backpacking is even more critical to pack light.

MrPoling said:

I bring the first aid kit and try hard not to use it.

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Same here. However last year I was on a father/son trip., and one of the boys brought swords made from PVC pipe wrapped in foam. Safe right? Well, I was standing on the sandbar talking to one of the dads. The boys had dug a deep hole in the sand. I watched as the boy in the hole threw a sword like a spear, handle first, straight at my son's forehead. I immediately thought, "that didn't look good." In a few seconds I hear my older son scream, "DADDY!" I ran over and blood is pouring out of his forehead. Thankfully, I had butterfly strips in the first aid kit. We were 10 miles down river with 30 miles to go. There are no other takeout points. The butterfly strips worked pretty good. He wasn't able to swim, but he was ok.

Something I always bring and never use, and never hope to use, is an extra meal. Not for me, but in case I find someone who is lost. I always bring a little extra for myself too, but I always bring and save one more serving of food for someone else.

When I'm on the water I always bring an extra life jacket for the same reason.

TXRiverRunner said:

Same here. However last year I was on a father/son trip., and one of the boys brought swords made from PVC pipe wrapped in foam. Safe right? Well, I was standing on the sandbar talking to one of the dads. The boys had dug a deep hole in the sand. I watched as the boy in the hole threw a sword like a spear, handle first, straight at my son's forehead. I immediately thought, "that didn't look good." In a few seconds I hear my older son scream, "DADDY!" I ran over and blood is pouring out of his forehead. Thankfully, I had butterfly strips in the first aid kit. We were 10 miles down river with 30 miles to go. There are no other takeout points. The butterfly strips worked pretty good. He wasn't able to swim, but he was ok.

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And that's why, when I was leading youth on trips, I also carried a large pkg of steri-strips, a tube of surgical glue (basically medical grade superglue), and a skin stapler. the first 2 got used fairly often, usually when some kid used a ubersharp pocket or sheath knife to cut salami..
The surgical stapler has only been needed once, and not for my group- a student from another group used a hatchet while standing up with the predicted result, Yup, he stuck it in his calf. That stapler turned a full blown "drop everything, call for evac" medical emergency into a case for being tended to while the group took the time to pack up and self evacuate thanks to saline irrigation, 9 staples, and some wound dressing. Apparently I did a good job as when the head teacher called me after he said the hospital elected to leave my staples in and just cleaned and re-bandaged it
I'll bet the story about that accident grew into a harrowing attack by a bear or a crazed wildman when told to the girls later...