Ketchup Plans?

[Odyssey]

Note: Some call the condiment ketchup, others catsup, but by any tomato sauce description the flavour is similar. Our family call it ketchup. I almost posted this on the food recipe section but let me explain why it's here instead.
Throughout this pandemic our family has tried our best to keep the home fires burning and maintain hope through continual communication despite being socially distanced. These video meetings, texts and emails have invariably led to planning meetings, and we've been planning ketchup parties, as in "we've got a lot of catching up (ketchup) to do". Deck dances, backyard bbqs, car camping and even canoe trips.
Canoe ketchup plans include Algonquin PP. Our kids first canoe tripped there and still have a soft spot for the park.




I myself seek to continue my travels thru Temagami. There's still much to discover.




And then there remains a return to Nakina and old friends.




These are some of my ketchup canoe destination plans for 2021.

What are yours?

 

[Alan Gage]

I've been out of action for longer than just 2020 due to a move/remodel, back injury, surgery, and recovery. I was hoping to start tripping again in 2020 but obviously that didn't happen. I'm hoping 2021 will let me get back out there again. Where exactly I'm not sure. I'd like to go back to Northern Sask. but I've decided that's not Sadie friendly so I'm thinking somewhere north of Red Lake. Perhaps driving north of Red Lake to the Berens River and then spending a few weeks following it downstream to the Family Lake area and them looping north and east to get back to the car. Been doing a lot of looking at dreaming with the Canoe Atlas of the Little North. Certainly no lack of options. At 12 years old it will likely be Sadie's last real canoe trip.

Alan

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

I am hoping for a 3-4 night ice out trip in the ADKs with friends if things settle down and a longer river (TBD) trip in Maine late summer/early fall. Ideally in one of the wood and canvas projects depending on portages, whitewater, etc. My wife and I are planning to take our small kids on their first trip somewhere local this summer. Hopefully the first of many.

It is nice to think about this time of year- especially this year. I enjoy the planning and checking out the maps in these cold evenings next to the wood stove.

Bob

 

[yellowcanoe]

I am hoping for a 3-4 night ice out trip in the ADKs with friends if things settle down and a longer river (TBD) trip in Maine late summer/early fall. Ideally in one of the wood and canvas projects depending on portages, whitewater, etc. My wife and I are planning to take our small kids on their first trip somewhere local this summer. Hopefully the first of many.

It is nice to think about this time of year- especially this year. I enjoy the planning and checking out the maps in these cold evenings next to the wood stove.

Bob

A perfect trip for kiddos would be Lobster Lake in Maine. Most all the campsites have big sandy beaches and it is a short paddle to the car( about three miles) . Lots of shallow water for safety. A very good chance for moose sightings. Almost guaranteed you will find tracks. It is all flatwater with picnic table and fire ring at each campsite.

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

A perfect trip for kiddos would be Lobster Lake in Maine. Most all the campsites have big sandy beaches and it is a short paddle to the car( about three miles) . Lots of shallow water for safety. A very good chance for moose sightings. Almost guaranteed you will find tracks. It is all flatwater with picnic table and fire ring at each campsite.

Thanks - We had Lobster Lake on the list as a possibility. I have never been there, but have heard it's a nice spot.

Bob

 

[stripperguy]

I’m in a similar situation as Alan, almost finished building our new home, so maybe life can get back to normal.
Did manage a short trip in 2020, nothing epic but nice to be out.
For 2021, planning on more solo trips in the ADK’s, and maybe finally do that Rock River-Essex Chain through trip.
A couple composite builds too, once I’m no longer homeless.

 

[Gamma1214]

I mapped out a 10 day trip through the BWCA for 2020 and am hoping to actually get it done shortly after ice-out this Spring. Having never been there, I'm not sure what to expect but I figure I'll stay flexible and add or subtract to/from the route as I go. I'm still hoping to have a home-made boat (stripper) to paddle on that trip but we shall see... seems every time I think I've got all the ducks in a row another weasel shows up!

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I'm more of a mustard than catsup guy, except sometimes on french fries, but my back and hips no longer have the mustard for long portages or even walks.

My hope is to travel to Florida this spring to see my daughter and only grandchild, as we had been doing twice a year until Covid hit. That killed our spring and fall 2020 drives to Florida.

Florida is a water wonderland and just about my favorite place to paddle since 1972. So, I have hopes of combining my spring and fall family trips in 2021 with the kind of base camp paddling all over Florida that I used to do. But in order to do that, I need to get a decent tandem and solo canoe down to reside in my daughter's houses in Tallahassee and Palm Coast. The solo will be my Lotus Caper, which was born from the hands of Mike Galt in Tampa in 1986. I am still in search of a suitable tandem.

My hope is not only to get some more quality and warm canoe time in my remaining time, but to pass on single blade open canoe skills -- and my love thereof -- to my daughter and granddaughter.

 

[Robin]

I have high hopes for this coming canoe season, and after a couple of years of nothing burgers I plan to go heavy on the ketchup.

An old tripping friend who now lives in Europe will be here for the summer and we hope to plan a trip to Canada, maybe LaVerendrye where we went a few times together. He likes wood canvas canoes, fishing and cooking over fires so it will be like old times, well more like oldtimers now.

My daughters boys are now ready for a canoe/camping/fishing trip, she mentioned Allagash but the fishing there is not kid friendly imo, better to go downeast to places like 3rd Machias lake, some nice campsites and good bass fishing. I'll introduce them to wood canvas canoes which should be fun.

I'm going to a "Bushcraft Group" gathering in February and hope to make some local downeast Maine contacts there, looks promising and I hope to learn some new backcountry areas to paddle and camp.

A long solo trip to Canada if the border opens, got my new passport card, my gear is ready too. Ready for ketchup, but not on my poutine.

Hoping for a week in the North Maine Woods for hunting out of the wall tent.
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[frozentripper]

Earliest ketchup might be to bushwhack through Algonquin while poplars are beginning to leaf out, canoeing in might not be possible if ice is still on. Maybe to Alsever and catch the view from this cliff which I haven't been to yet. Photos taken from another, lower cliff. Did not record the spring peepers peeping and woodpeckers drumming. Spending too much time looking for spots on top maps.

 

[dschult2]

I really don't think it's going to happen this year, but you never know. Once the border opens I have three canoe trips mapped out. Through Solace PP to Talking Falls, WCPP Leano Lake entry, and a crown land trip west of Wabakimi. Hope to get two of the three in.

 

[Iskweo]

I am getting to be like Glenn....day trips and base camping are more my future. I have agreed to guide some girls up to Leaf Lake if they can get their schedules to synch up. I still got in some good day trips last year, including my new favourites...the plethora of marshes around here.
Another new wrinkle is dropping a camper downstream and having it as the end of day target for a couple of days of river running.

Its not where you go,its whether you go at all.

 

[Guest]

I am hoping for a 3-4 night ice out trip in the ADKs with friends if things settle down

Bob, I’m hoping for much the same, ADKs with friends by this fall, with the same caveat, if things settle down.

The Covid business had put a big crimp in my style for almost a year now. I passed on a beloved 34 year tradition, a North Carolina gathering late last spring; a half dozen friends from NC, Ohio, Florida and Maryland. It wasn’t a good idea then, it isn’t a good idea now.

Some local places shut it down last spring and through the summer. My favorite local tripping spot, Assateague Island Nat’l Seashore, finally re-opened last fall, but decided to only issue backcountry permits good for Thursday – Sunday. That 3-night weekend L stay put the kibosh to my usual Assateague planning; look for a good weather window, wind and tide forecast to paddle/sail in, get permit for 8 or 9 days, listen to the weather radio and paddle/sail back out in favorable conditions, even if that meant breaking camp a day or two early.

Downriver day trips became Covid-complex, running a two car shuttle with someone not in my “pod” seemed unwise. Even shop work with friends has become a bit of a no no, although I’ve chanced it a couple times, masked and at opposite ends of the canoe. Hard to drink a beer or sip that fine bourbon they brought with a mask on.

I am getting to be like Glenn....day trips and base camping are more my future.

Me too, although I’ve always been partial to base camping in some form; keep moving campsite but take lots of layover days (Mini-rant: I have never much liked moving camp every single dang day, especially if on a site that deserved a longer look linger. End rant), to straight up paddle in to a single site, day paddle, hike, laze around from there for a few days and paddle back out.

To using a car camping base conveniently located amidst a variety of day paddling options and paddling somewhere different every day, returning to a glamper camp complete with showers. Mid-summer, paddling different swamps and marshes each day, yeah, you’ll want that shower.

Vaccine or not I hope to get a trip in by spring; probably an in-and-back lake or bay no-shuttle solo trip. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I do miss the laughter of paddling friends.

No greasy spoon Diner meal on the way home, I’ll miss that too.

 

[DaveO]

If nothing else, I want to do some solo ADK trips this year. I need to do.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I just got my second Covid vaccination shot today, even though I had to drive through a %#@&!!! snowstorm for 140 miles round trip to do it, so maybe that'll be a good first step towards some canoe normalcy this season.

As to base camp paddling, that's been my primary thing forever. The USA isn't Canada for watery webs of interconnected lake and river paddling and portaging, except for some focused spots in Minnesota, New York and Maine. We do have some long rivers for overnight trips, but most of them are highly built up along significant portions and/or highly regulated.

Base camp paddling is much easier when you operate out of a full size van conversion, as I have for most of the last 40 years. No tents, no tarps, no getting wet. Just pull up into a campsite or the woods or anywhere, park, and walk to the bed in the back of the van. Cook on top of the ice chest, which serves as a table. Look at the scenery through big picture windows. When ready to move on, just climb into the driver's captain chair and drive away.

I also keep all my canoe and camping gear in the van all year round, including two tents, and in the warm season used to keep at least two paddlecrafts on top for immediate trips, near or far. Sometimes, I'll do a one to three day canoe camping trip out of the base camp if the water body is large enough, such as a big lake, swamp, marsh or vly. If I drive from New York or Connecticut to Florida, as I have many times over the past 50 years, not many days will go by when I don't stop for at least a day paddle at some interesting paddle venue along the way.

 

[Guest]

As to base camp paddling, that's been my primary thing forever. The USA isn't Canada for watery webs of interconnected lake and river paddling and portaging, except for some focused spots in Minnesota, New York and Maine. We do have some long rivers for overnight trips, but most of them are highly built up along significant portions and/or highly regulated.

Base camp paddling is much easier when you operate out of a full size van conversion, as I have for most of the last 40 years. No tents, no tarps, no getting wet. Just pull up into a campsite or the woods or anywhere, park, and walk to the bed in the back of the van.

For all our jocular jousting and indifferences I like Glenn’s style. Switch Van for Tripping Truck and I’m in full agreement.

Not just for base camping out of a well appointed mobile camper, but for distant trek tripping; multi-day getting there without (ugh) motel stays, finally getting there and hanging somewhere scenic, prepping for a next-day’s start and, more anticipatory comforting, coming off a long trip knowing that everything you need for the night and next few days is dry, ready and waiting at your fingertips in a bedded abode vehicle.

EK_0024 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The vehicle vintage and 70’s camp chair dates that photo, as does the need to carry a 5-gallon Gerry can of extra gas. 24-hour gas stations were not nearly as common as today, and that’s empty desert Mexico on the far side of the river.