Portaging questions

[Kayak_Ken]

I am a Florida paddler whose only experience in portaging is a long walk from the parking area to the water usually on flat sandy soil. I am going going on a trip in Maine next week (Moose River Bow Trip) and had a couple of portaging questions. We will be using a shuttle to skip the long portage but will have a couple of shorter ones. Each portage will require two trips, not going to try to carry everything all at once.
1. Which do you carry first, your canoe or gear?
2. Do you hang your food while you are carrying your canoe? If you need to hang your food in the campsites I would think you probably should hang it while portaging your canoe. Just wondering if others do or not.
3. Anything else you can think to add to make the portages easier on this old Florida boy?

Kayak_Ken (in a canoe)

 

[lowangle al]

I usually carry the canoe first because I would have to move it anyway to make room in case someone pulls in behind me. It also works out sometime that when you carry the boat first you can put the packs right in it when you get them over. This is not a hard and fast rule and I often do the opposite.

I never hang the food bag on a portage and think it would be very rare to have an animal get into it on the trail.

Keep all your stuff together and get a routine on what you carry on each trip so you don't forget anything. I try to keep hand held items down to a paddle and not much else.

Have fun!

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Generally, you can't see as well, you are more unstable, and you are more likely to stumble and fall when carrying your canoe than when carrying your pack. Therefore, on an unfamiliar trail, I think it is wiser to portage the pack first. When you go back and get your canoe, you will then have traversed the trail twice and already be familiar with slippery, muddy, rocky, rutted, and other potentially dangerous places for the clumsier canoe carry.

No, I've never hung my packs on a portage. But I don't hang my food pack anyway. I now use an Ursack for my food, which I tie to a tree at night.

Before that, I just stuck my food pack away from camp in the bushes per Cliff Jacobson's recommendations.

 

[Guest]

On longer carrys and double tripping, I have found I much prefer "posing', that is making several partial length trips rather than going the whole way in one trip. packs first is good advice. I did have another trippers dog that met going the opposite way on a carry get into my food while it was on the ground and I was on another trip. do the same as Glen-hanging a ursack of ratsack at shoulder height away from my tent. I do double plastic bag the contents to reduce food smell and put a camouflage bag over the outside to make it less visible.
Turtle

 

[Alan Gage]

I agree with Glenn about carrying gear first. If the trails are obvious and maintained it's probably not that big of a deal but on trails with poor footing, stream crossings, or where route finding is necessary it's a lot easier to negotiate it first with an unobstructed view. Another reason for carrying gear first is in case any trail clearing needs to be done to make the canoe carry easier.

I've never done anything special with my food on a portage nor have I ever heard of anyone doing so. But I have read of a couple cases of bears getting into food on the portages in the BWCA so I suppose it's possible.

Alan

 

[yellowcanoe]

Carry gear first.. On the Holeb Falls portage the disembarkation point can be different in low and high water. That said it and the Attean Falls portages are so short and so well trodden it makes no difference

I haven't ever hung food for a long time. Including that trip which I have done several times.

The Holeb Falls carry is steep so its best to go first with packs to plan your descent.

http://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/docs/maps/holeb.pdf

 

[lowangle al]

It's been a long time since I've gone someplace new. The above posters are correct, it is better to carry the gear first on an unfamiliar portage.

 

[Chip]

Generally, you can't see as well, you are more unstable, and you are more likely to stumble and fall when carrying your canoe than when carrying your pack. Therefore, on an unfamiliar trail, I think it is wiser to portage the pack first. When you go back and get your canoe, you will then have traversed the trail twice and already be familiar with slippery, muddy, rocky, rutted, and other potentially dangerous places for the clumsier canoe carry.

I was on a portage in the BWCA and had already carried my gear across. I was making the second trip with the boat on my shoulders and as I trudged along head-in-hull looking mostly at the ground, I noticed I was crossing a little footbridge that wasn't there on my first lap. I'd come to a fork in the trail and unknowingly had turned off the trail and was going the wrong direction. Thank goodness for the little bridge, or who knows when I would have figured out something was wrong.

I tell that little tail to emphasize the wisdom of walking your gear first.

 

[stripperguy]

First, a disclaimer...I paddle the ADK's almost exclusively, I've never portaged, only carried!

Now, to your questions:
1. I carry pack and canoe at the same time, unless there's too much vertical for my aging hips. In that case, I do as Turtle says. I leap frog my pack then canoe, so I'm never too far away from either.
2. Hang while carrying? Even if I must leap frog my gear, no hang needed. Anyway, my food stays in the detachable top of my Osprey pack. Always hung at night.
3. Training. I have tons of cardio fitness from a lifetime of cycling, but carrying up to 40% of my body weight for several miles is not something I regularly do.
In the weeks preceding a trip with longer carries, I load up my pack and go for walks with MDB in the evenings. I didn't need to do that 30 years ago!!
Maybe it's too late to train for this trip, but there's always the next one...

 

[yellowcanoe]

I was on a portage in the BWCA and had already carried my gear across. I was making the second trip with the boat on my shoulders and as I trudged along head-in-hull looking mostly at the ground, I noticed I was crossing a little footbridge that wasn't there on my first lap. I'd come to a fork in the trail and unknowingly had turned off the trail and was going the wrong direction. Thank goodness for the little bridge, or who knows when I would have figured out something was wrong.

I tell that little tail to emphasize the wisdom of walking your gear first.

Memories of an afternoon in Killarney with a whistle trying to find a deaf guy and a canoe. We carry and a half now ( as a result).. I let him go off with the canoe.. he missed the little twig arrangement in the trail at a fork.. and I wondered why when I reached the end of the trail , where was he?

He didn't notice the sticks in the trail. New rule.. When two of us the guy with the canoe is never allowed to go alone.

 

[Iskweo]

I did a bunch of portaging this weekend...way too long for a full carry. We drop whatever we are carrying ( see how I got portage and carry intermixed there) after 500-600 meters usually. But not always. I did a 1km carry with karins boat last night. The day before we did 4 hops over that same portage which karin assures me is like 1.5km. All I know is its a lot longer than I was wanting to do twice.

So in this case it doesn matter a whole lot what you take first cuz with two packs and a boat each its a ton of walking.

On shorter ports, in my younger, pre heart disease days, karin used to walk the first leg with the canoe and then I would move packs to the midway point. She would return to the midpoint to retieve those packs and I would walk through with the last one, dropping it in the already loaded boat and off we would scoot. It was super quick.

I never worry about food security on the trail.

Christy

 

[yellowcanoe]

Holeb is 800 yards.
Attean Falls is 2 200 footers.. Optional to run the last.. it shoots you out onto the pond.

In Maine its a portage... It has to be as Jackman is three miles from the Canadian border of Quebec and money from either country is freely passed around.

 

[Mihun09]

All I know is our system has worked for us, the first trip in Friday was supposed to be 600 m to the mud but was more. However, I have done my last long portage forever (except the Marshall one with a cart and friends). Since we took solo boats each and being a shoulder season trip with cool temps, bulky Winter type gear, 3 carries each over 1.5km portage, two days in a row, black flies in my ears and eyes and I'll be crippled for a week. I need new hips at 56 years young.

Karin

 

[Odyssey]

First things first; immediately empty your canoe of gear, placing it all near but not obstructing the trail. If you're not carrying your canoe first then it can be set carefully aside also. In this way the put-in/take-out is free and clear for anyone to access both water and trail, whether they're part of your group or not.
Next choose a pack that is comfortable to take along with your canoe and leave them together. It's generally easiest to start a new or difficult trail with a pack only; as has been mentioned your vision of the trail ahead is best without several feet of canoe projecting ahead of you like a giant sun visor. Try to notice and remember for the second carry not only any trail directions and landmarks but also pitfalls and problems. ("There's some wet slippery roots right under the big pine...the clearing on the left of the boggy puddle is a false trail, keep to the right ...there's a crook in a tree limb just after the second climb, a good place for a canoe rest...") Although you're unlikely ever to need to hang or cache your food barrel/pack, be careful with it also. Don't leave open food unattended. And if it contains perishables keep it in the shade or covered.
So my first carry is heavy pack, second carry is canoe with second pack. Pauses on long portages work well, as do water breaks.
On short or hurried portages I have at times done the following; set gear aside with paddles already fitted into thwarts, throw on smaller canoe pack and hoist up canoe and portage. At put-in set canoe close to or partly in water with pack stored in place ready to leave quickly. Make sure your canoe is secure; you don't want to lose it to the wind or water!! Return for second load and then stow aboard, then push off and continue the trip. Admittedly I'm rarely in a hurry, but I have done this to avoid milling crowds and dawdling groups. I can be there and gone in minutes. My wife and I often used to do this in busy bottleneck portages, completing the carry and pushing off before others had emptied their canoe. It's not a race, but needn't be a paddling parking lot either.
Most important of all Ken, have fun. Don't let the carries be a punishment no matter how difficult they may be sometimes. Remind yourself they're part of the same experience and treat them as such.

 

[goonstroke]

Carry gear first.. On the Holeb Falls portage the disembarkation point can be different in low and high water. That said it and the Attean Falls portages are so short and so well trodden it makes no difference
...

The Holeb Falls carry is steep so its best to go first with packs to plan your descent.

This is a tangent, but I understand the NFCT folks are going to do some stone steps there in July.

https://www.northernforestcanoetrail.org/stewardship/waterway-work-trips/

 

[frozentripper]

I have had a bear rip into a pack left at a port and there was no food in it... some pretty expensive camera damage instead, I did not like the aggressive attitude of that bear and finally a rock in the head changed it's mind about photography.

This happened in Killarney where for some reason the resident bears seem to be on a mission from God to carry out their particular brand of terrorism. I think it's the fish and chips truck in town that's driving them crazy. Once they smell that, nothing will stop them from searching out treats wherever they can find them.

 

[tump_lion]

gear first, boat follows -- consider two smaller packs vs one large pack --- you can double-pack one on the other when the going is good,, but drop one off for fast maneuvers on sudden uphills or mush or narrow bits...i find it's easier and has more flow than slowing down or resting with a larger pack -- with that in mind, drop yr packs before you're pooped, walk back for the boat and use the trip as a rest rather than flopping on the ground and stopping between loads -- keeps the muscles warm and the inertia going -- starting is almost always the difficult part of a portage...

 

[Guest]

the dog that ate my food left to double trip caused me to cancel my trip.-never again.
Turtle

 

[Pook]

Very Interesting discussion.
We haven't done anything but double portage on canoe trips in the last dozen years or so- somehow 2 lighter trips seems to beat 1 HEAVIER trip every time now.
That said, I've always taken the canoe first, mostly i guess to allow others to come ashore at the portage. In retrospect, taking gear and scouting the route makes more sense. Thanks!

The best thing i've seen in backwoods camping are the "Bear boxes" installed at each portage and campsite throughout Bowron Lakes. Heavy steel latchable boxes that are big enough to hold at least 3 loaded Dry Bags- there are usually 2 at each end of portage. At the campsites they are up to 50 meters away from the actual tent pads. Not sure how common they are elsewhere- first time and only place i have seen them- but a great and practical solution. Thanks BC Parks!

Bruce

 

[yellowcanoe]

Warning.. I can completely ruin Kayak Kens trip with this write up from one of our newspapers.
TMI
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff298/littleredcanoe/BowTripAug4-62008031.jpg
http://aqsnowman.bangordailynews.co...river-loop-bow-trip-canoeing-adventure-day-2/
http://aqsnowman.bangordailynews.co...-loop-bow-trip-in-jackman-maine-day-3-part-1/
http://aqsnowman.bangordailynews.co...-loop-bow-trip-in-jackman-maine-day-3-part-2/
http://aqsnowman.bangordailynews.co...e-river-loop-bow-trip-in-jackman-maine-day-4/