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When it’s just my wife and I, we always single carry. We tend to travel far, fast and light when it’s just the two of us. We pack for our paddling trips nearly identically to the way we pack for extended backpacking with the addition of the canoe, paddles, PFD and fishing gear. We both carry...

I’ve calculated that I’ve spent about 5 years of my life in the backcountry and really can’t recall losing or leaving anything of significance behind… until last September. If you’re paddling lake insula in the boundary waters, check your campsite for a fairly new steripen with a fresh set of...

Saturday, November 9, 2024 on the Allegheny river in Pennsylvania.

Count me as one who hates campfire smoke. I rarely have fires. We backpacked 10 nights in glacier last summer before the fire ban and didn’t have a fire once. Same over 8 nights paddling superior national forest. Not a single fire. However, we just returned from 2 nights on the Allegheny river...

Agreed about sleeping on lean to floors! I also like to be able to look outside. And the feel of the fresh air.

When traveling in the wilderness, I always hang food, toiletries and cooking gear or, if required, store in a bear canister. Our packs are always outside the tent. I’ve never had a problem with just leaving all the zippers open. As long as critters can get in and see there’s nothing there for...

This trip will mirror the trip we did here: https://www.canoetripping.net/threads/november-on-the-allegheny-river-in-pennsylvania.128781/

Hello. My wife (47), father in law (76) and I (51) are planning a trip on the Allegheny river on a suitable weekend in November. Currently, the most likely weekend is November 8-10, but we reserve the right to change the dates based on weather forecast. Water levels are very rarely an issue on...

We use freeze dried butter, rather than oil. Just add a tiny bit of water.

I’m not a hammock guy, but not because of any trepidation. I just can’t get comfortable. I tend to toss and turn at night and the hammock changes that not at all. Otherwise, I’m more comfortable and sleep better outside than I ever do at home or, especially, any hotel. For me, I find nothing to...

Watching this as we’re planning our own wabikimi trip (perhaps not until 2025z

Truly spectacular night cowboy camping here.

My wife waking up in the morning after a night cowboy camping in quehanna wild area, Pennsylvania

Every chance I get, I cowboy camp. I actually feel more comfortable when I can see the sky. I love waking up to roll over and seeing stars or the dark woods. And, for me, it removes the mystery of the nighttime forest. Most cowboy camping weather seems to occur for me in the winter or the edge...

Lake Erie is our home lake. We paddle it frequently and actually watched an array of municipal fireworks displays last night from the lake and our sea kayaks. I know the lake very well. I don’t think I’d enjoy paddling a canoe on it. But fantastic scenery, vastly improved water quality and...

We live in the path of totality and are staying put. We watched the 2017 eclipse from boats in a lake in Kentucky. Amazing experience. However the drive home was terrible!

I have paddled multiple trips in boundary waters and the Adirondacks. Love them both! We paddled through St. Regis as part of a longer trip. Lovely. It was the portions of our trip outside of the Regis area that wasn’t necessarily wilderness. Still excellent paddling and camping. However, I...

I have broken a paddle while pulling upstream in shallow water. That experience scared me into always having a spare along.

We packed last night for a weekend of winter backpacking in Pennsylvania. There are two items that get added to the winter pack that are super luxurious. The first is down booties for camp time. These include soft soles and work well for padding around a frozen camp and escaping frozen or wet...

Our winter has been disappointing. We’ve shoveled twice and only have three ski days locally. We really pushed the conditions two of those days. We’ve chased some snow around the Great Lakes region, but it’s been excessively warm.