Lifting Canoe Packs Safely

[Black_Fly]

Any secrets to getting a canoe pack on your back without hurting yourself? I’d be interested in knowing your technique after the barn door is off the hinges. 10 days post trip and I’m still messed up. I think it was the blue barrel, but not sure. It was difficult to get on my back with my traditional approach.

 

[lowangle al]

That's too bad Tony, I always hope to feel better after a trip then before it.

I try to not make any one bag/pack too heavy. For example, if I have 60 lbs. of gear I put it in two bags, a forty and a twenty pounder or something like that. I can then carry both across the trail by stacking one on top of the other. Lifting anything over about forty lbs out of the
canoe is too much for me, thirty would be even better.

 

[Mason]

What's your traditional method? For me, I've found that even with heavy packs, if I balance it on both thighs, and then slip into it works the best. It's critical to grab the straps about midway up to provide enough space for your arm to slip through, and balance it on your thighs for a brief moment before slipping your arm through. It's more a balance move than brute strength, just like flipping canoes for portage. It works for me up to about 70-80# (e.g. packing out deer).

 

[Alan Gage]

I use the @Mason method. Or, if there is a suitable height stump or rock I will set the pack on it before trying to put an arm through. With the right height rock you can just back right into it.

Alan

 

[lowangle al]

That works well as long as you have a healthy back. It's also not too bad lifting a bag off the ground and onto your back. The problem is loading and unloading the boat, especially when the landing isn't the best.

 

[Sedges]

For me as I aged, the only way to safely lift packs was to make them smaller and lighter. I can still carry 50 lbs once it is on my back, but getting it up there is when I hurt myself. Like the photo in lowangles post I divide my load into two parcels each weighing 25lbs or less. For a 10 day tour I have a #2 Duluth pack that holds 2 bear vaults plus tent and tarp and crazy creek chair. That is easy to get up and settled. Then I have an old canvas military duffle that swings up to rest on the top of the pack. It stays there without having a hand on it resting against the back of my neck and head. I do not use a tumpline, my neck doesn't agree with that anymore.

My other load is the 30 lb canoe and a 15 lb day pack.

The only drawback I have found is that it doesn't work well with packer hat with an all around brim. I easily gave that up for portaging comfort. Using a cap with a bandana skirt to protect the back of my neck and ears from sun.

One plus with the smaller parcels is ease of getting them in and out of the canoe. Also the duffle fits nicely into the end of the canoe moving weight forward so I can move my seat further back for more steering leverage.

 

[Black_Fly]

I abandoned the double portage idea early, instead of two front loads I moved weight into the daypack and carried it on my back with the canoe (triple portaging). I think grabbing lower on the strap is a good idea, as I was having trouble finding the straps. My partner for this trip was never there when I needed a boost up, busy with his own loads/pain. Maybe if we go together again, I’ll suggest a more collaborative portage process. Water being low didn’t help getting stuff out at rocky landings, especially when wind got going.

It was a fun trip and worth the pain, if for no other reason than I know my limits better. I also got to see the lower Kawishiwi before copper mining gets a foothold in the watershed.

 

[Black_Fly]

That works well as long as you have a healthy back. It's also not too bad lifting a bag off the ground and onto your back. The problem is loading and unloading the boat, especially when the landing isn't the best.

Absolutely! Then dashing through the ankle breakers to put loads ashore while the boat is bashing rocks or drifting away. Carrying heavy packs with my hands. That could be what got me - loading and unloading in crotch-deep water.

I always try to have a pack on my back when I lift the canoe out of the water so I can head straight over the portage. That means getting the other loads to an acceptable, out of the way place on shore, securing my paddle and backrest with my daypack already on my back. My partner had a rental, which he beached stern first and dragged ashore between and over rocks. Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.

 

[Gamma1214]

No suggestions about lifting the packs but...

My partner had a rental, which he beached stern first and dragged ashore between and over rocks. Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.

Could be. Mine aren't rentals (but they don't cost thousands of dollars either) and I beach 'em regardless of conditions (I prefer sand but it ain't a deal-breaker). I think it would take a liquid lava shoreline to wet foot in waist deep water.

Just bear in mind that, as I've said, I'm the reason I can't have nice things.

 

[Black_Fly]

“Beaching” is a broad term. The spectrum of
landings can get pretty hairy with adverse wind and water levels. Do you crash your stem over ledges and try to lock your bow between rocks? Thats why god invented plastic.

 

[scoutergriz]

No suggestions about lifting the packs but...


Could be. Mine aren't rentals (but they don't cost thousands of dollars either) and I beach 'em regardless of conditions (I prefer sand but it ain't a deal-breaker). I think it would take a liquid lava shoreline to wet foot in waist deep water.

Just bear in mind that, as I've said, I'm the reason I can't have nice things.

just remember- if it ain't scratched you ain't a "real' tripper...
I generally avoid wetfooting ever since I jumped out in what looked like knee deep, tannin darkened water only to find I picked the one spot along the shore that was over 6' deep...

 

[Mason]

Absolutely! Then dashing through the ankle breakers to put loads ashore while the boat is bashing rocks or drifting away. Carrying heavy packs with my hands. That could be what got me - loading and unloading in crotch-deep water.

I always try to have a pack on my back when I lift the canoe out of the water so I can head straight over the portage. That means getting the other loads to an acceptable, out of the way place on shore, securing my paddle and backrest with my daypack already on my back. My partner had a rental, which he beached stern first and dragged ashore between and over rocks. Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.

I don't wet foot. My kevlar Voyager has scratches. I don't baby it, but I don't abuse it either. I either come ashore abeam with care on nice landings, or beach very gently bow first and step out to the side if there are rocks to step on. Sometimes I'll scoot forward in the canoe if the water is deep amidships. Then, keeping the bow very low and not scraping the boat, I'll bring it up on shore until it's stable--I don't drag it. Unload my day pack, then lift it ashore again until I can get to my big pack. I'm almost always stable when pulling out a pack. When I'm up north with my PakBoat and the "beach" is made up of slick boulders, all bets are off.

 

[Alan Gage]

My boats are strip or composite. I'll wetfoot much of the time but won't hesitate to side saddle up to a rocky shore so I can step onto the rocks. I sometimes load/unload with the hull perpendicular to the water. I lift the bow and drag it into shore/ rocks as far as I can before the belly or stern starts making hard contact. Then I'll set it down to unload. Reverse procedure for loading. I've loaded my canoe with it intentionally wedged between rocks or sitting on shallow rocks. Just be very mindful and don't drop a pack into the hull. I've also fully loaded the canoe on a rocky shoreline above the water line and then pushed it if the rocks and into the water to launch.

I'm careful with the boat whenever possible but if one of us is likely to be hurt or damaged i'd prefer it was the boat.

Alan

 

[Gamma1214]

Do you crash your stem over ledges and try to lock your bow between rocks?

I pretty much do it like Alan states above. I'll land however I can, grab one end (lifting it out of the water) and pull it onto shore. I don't (usually) beat the crap out of the boat intentionally but I have been known to drag it through a portage that's particularly long or swampy. The port between Stone Lake & Ara, for example, on my last trip North... I'm pretty sure I dragged the boat further than I carried it on that one, rocks be danged.

 

[BWCA66]

My last 2 trips to the BWCA worked out fantastic, I take the heavy pack and let the 18/19 year old grandson carry it. Cost me plane tickets from CA but I loved every minute of it and would do it again in a heartbeat - or in 3 weeks if we can make schedules work.