1. Helinox Chair
2. NoBugZone Bug Shelter from mid-May to early August
3. Whiskey to sip on in the bug shelter
2. NoBugZone Bug Shelter from mid-May to early August
3. Whiskey to sip on in the bug shelter
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Happy Golden Retriever Day! 🐕🦺👅💛
Your three favorite pieces of comfort or luxury canoe camping gear
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
- Start date
I thought about writing down Whiskey (or Whisky, depending if it is Irish or Scotch) as a luxury, but it feels more like a necessity
Crocks, huh? That one surprised me. I find a lot of those floating in eddies on my local river. Never a matching pair. I never gave them a thought for my use. But - antimicrobial? Maybe I'll take a closer look.
My current three favorite luxuries....
1) Was my Helinox chair, but a couple years ago I found a high back knockoff like the on ykpdlr showed. Can't think of the brand and it's packed away right now, but yeah, that's luxury.
2) Sea to Summit large Ether Light sleeping pad. I can still get by with a thinner pad, but why? I sleep as good on this as I do at home. Sometimes better.
3) Ultralight canoes. Still a luxury for me. Maybe not for long.
3a) (for when (3) becomes a necessity) Klymit inflatable pillow.
My current three favorite luxuries....
1) Was my Helinox chair, but a couple years ago I found a high back knockoff like the on ykpdlr showed. Can't think of the brand and it's packed away right now, but yeah, that's luxury.
2) Sea to Summit large Ether Light sleeping pad. I can still get by with a thinner pad, but why? I sleep as good on this as I do at home. Sometimes better.
3) Ultralight canoes. Still a luxury for me. Maybe not for long.
3a) (for when (3) becomes a necessity) Klymit inflatable pillow.
Planning trips for next year for this ol boy involves old man "pipes" and eyes throwing darts at a map. Don't mind the misses.
My sons and I are Irish/Scots tipplers. Our chosen malts are a luxury I'd forgotten to include in this. Paired with stories and memories.
My wife's fruitcake didn't turn out this year. You could say it's history, but she's taking it personally. So I didn't joke about it in her company. It is broken up and soaking in yet more Irish as an ode to our distant past, and an effort to salvage what will probably go into my favourite Christmas dessert...trifle. Too bad that can't handle a canoe trip. Now that would be luxury. Ordinarily the fruitcake gets paired with our tipple around the campfire under a blanket of stars. But like all plans, sometimes the misses turn out to be bull's eyes.
My sons and I are Irish/Scots tipplers. Our chosen malts are a luxury I'd forgotten to include in this. Paired with stories and memories.
My wife's fruitcake didn't turn out this year. You could say it's history, but she's taking it personally. So I didn't joke about it in her company. It is broken up and soaking in yet more Irish as an ode to our distant past, and an effort to salvage what will probably go into my favourite Christmas dessert...trifle. Too bad that can't handle a canoe trip. Now that would be luxury. Ordinarily the fruitcake gets paired with our tipple around the campfire under a blanket of stars. But like all plans, sometimes the misses turn out to be bull's eyes.
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My wife gave up on fruitcake decades ago because there's no way an English/ Irish lass can compete with out almost 500 year old Scottish recipe, so I've been forced to buy commercially made ones- I find some of the local bakeries do an adequate job, especially if you wrap it in cheesecloth, give it a drink of some nice 18yr old Glenfiddich and Lambs Navy rum and let it hibernate for a year or so...
I'll play. On the cusp of 70, I don't consider a folding chair a luxury item. I have tried a bunch including multiple Helinox and I agree with the Helinox Chair One in its latest incarnation. Good paddling shoes, a high quality tent and good sleeping pad are necessities for me.
Luxuries would include my little rechargeable fan/light that I hang from a loop in the tent. Certainly not necessary, but I just returned from 13 days paddling in the Everglades and I used that fan every evening but one. A little breeze on your face makes all the difference when it's hot.
My Thermacell. It really helps create a little zone of "the bugs aren't so horrible" when I'm cooking in the evening. I sit in my necessary chair with the Thermacell on the ground between my feet. I'll also slip it into my tent for 15 minutes before I get in when the bugs are really thick. It generally prevents the fog of bugs from following me in before I can get the mosquito netting zipped back up.
Potty chair. Yep, I take a folding potty chair for the excursions into the woods. The sit to stand and squatting muscles aren't what they used to be and the folding chair takes away all of the issues of trying to find a suitable perch.
Honorable mention goes to the Original Bug Shirt. Seldom necessary, but when it is, it can prevent insanity.
Luxuries would include my little rechargeable fan/light that I hang from a loop in the tent. Certainly not necessary, but I just returned from 13 days paddling in the Everglades and I used that fan every evening but one. A little breeze on your face makes all the difference when it's hot.
My Thermacell. It really helps create a little zone of "the bugs aren't so horrible" when I'm cooking in the evening. I sit in my necessary chair with the Thermacell on the ground between my feet. I'll also slip it into my tent for 15 minutes before I get in when the bugs are really thick. It generally prevents the fog of bugs from following me in before I can get the mosquito netting zipped back up.
Potty chair. Yep, I take a folding potty chair for the excursions into the woods. The sit to stand and squatting muscles aren't what they used to be and the folding chair takes away all of the issues of trying to find a suitable perch.
Honorable mention goes to the Original Bug Shirt. Seldom necessary, but when it is, it can prevent insanity.
I agree with the Original Bug Shirt - I’ve had mine for 10-12 years and it is very well traveled but unused so far. In over 20 years of padding in Canada I can think of just one trip before I bought it where I wished I had had it.
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Unlesss I am in a relaxed campsite situation, I cannot wear a bug shirt during heavy exercise activity. it is just too hot to wear. Contantly moving is my best bug defense. Other than its lack of ventilation,, it is just too annoying to bushwhack without it getting caught in every branch I pass by.
I HAD a good bug shirt- one trip down an alder choked creek turned out to be a great help in improving ventilation, didn't help so much with the bugs after though- blackflies still have an "eliminate with extreme predjudice" order... My prefered defense these days is to use "zen" repellant- day one, slather on the bug juice, pull down the sleeves, tuck in my pant legs and cap it off with a literal application of the slimy stuff to my hat brim,
Day 2, leave everything open or rolled up, apply bug juice when I remember to...
day 3 bugs??? what bugs???
Although I DO admit I bought a thermacell a couple of years ago for car camping at 70% off, mainly because the whine of the mossies was interfering with my sanity and I hate picking kamikaze bugs out of my oatmeal ...
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