Wow, i’m finishing this post up late!! Two September trips are just around the corner!

Finally finishing this and having a complete gear list for the first time I’m realising how much stuff i carry with me. After just over 1 year of tripping I am finally self sufficient, all of my gear is my own and I’m able to trip on my own. This trip was planned last minute and on the Canada Day long weekend so the bus and the park were both busy.

Summary:

• 2 nights – 3 days
  • Day 1 – (20 degrees C – Rain) Park bus, 3-4 hour canoe
    • Canoe was planned, but fell back to the Water Taxi on Opeongo due to weather
  • Day 2 – (20-25 degrees C – Clear) Gather wood, attempt to paddle to Gull Island
  • Day 3 – (20 degrees C – Clear) Pack up, 3-4 hour canoe home, Park bus
    • Bailed onto the water taxi again due to rough waters in the North arm of the lake.
• 45 lbs  skin out
  • Pack 37.8 lbs, my lightest pack yet.
  • Forgot to weigh pack on the way out, but dropped at least 5 lbs in water, wine, and food weight
  • 5.6 lbs of gear was not used at all
    • 1.4 lbs of that was food
    • So I carried 4.2 lbs of either useless or emergency gear
    • Seems reasonable to reach a <30 lbs skin out weight in the next year
• Trip was excellent, definitely bit off more than we could chew going up to the North Arm. Aaron and the guys at Algonquin Outfitters saved our butts by getting us in and out on the water taxi.

Overall category rating

5 = Exceeded all expectations; 4 = Met all expectations; 3 = worked but could have been better; 2 = mostly sucked but still worked; 1 = absolute garbage, must replace

BAG	SLEEPING	SHELTER	CLOTHING	TOOLS	COOKING	FOOD	CARRIED
4	3.8	4.7	3.4	4.2	4	4	4

Future Additions

• Peppermint tea – Forgot it
• Long sleeve button shirt – loose fitting and light, preferable to sweaters and bug jackets in the summer.
• Peanut M&M’s
  • The best kind of M&M’s

Shared gear:

• Agawa Canyon Boreal 21 Folding Saw (5)
  • Thomas brought this one along, excellent folding saw with a seasoned wood blade. Tore through trees and ensured we had a great fire.

Bag:

• Old MEC 60L+ Bag – (3)
  • Still don’t love this bag but it’s getting better as i learn to pack it better. Can’t beat free!
• MEC Nano 3D 10L dry bag – (5)
  • This thing is nearly as light as a regular dry sack, but is sealed with a rubberized coating making it almost as waterproof as a Sealine bag. Use this one to hold my sleeping bag, i’m able to get the bag to pack down to about 5L, but the extra space in the 10L bag prevents damage to the down filling.
• Woods 20 and 8 L dry sack – (4)
  • These work pretty well, used for food only
• Columbia 20, 10, and 5 L dry sacks – (4)
  • Clothing and tolietries fitted well in here, the bags are all super narrow and long though which makes getting things in and out a challenge

Sleep system:

• MEC Talon -3 – (4)
  • Very happy with this purchase. I’m confident i’ll be able to use it in 3 seasons which fits my move towards owning minimal gear. Was probably too warm for this trip, but I just slept on top of it while it was hot and then covered up in the middle of the night.
• MEC inflatable pillow – (5)
  • Excellent in the hammock.
• Sleep Clothing – Merrino wool socks, scrubs bottoms, hot chillys base layer shirt – (4)
  • This felt like a reasonable amount of clothing, probably didn’t need the socks but they let me keep my feet out of the bag while.
• Ear plugs – (4)
  • Upgraded back to the orange plugs, much better than the cheap bulk ones I was previously using.
• Green foam pad – (2)
  • Not big enough to cover me, and yet giant on my pack. Single largest item in the pack and does not pack well as it needs to be covered in plastic. It works pretty well for sleeping on though.

Shelter:

• Hennessy Hammock Lightweight Explorer AsymZip – (4)
  • Very happy with this purchase
• Hennessy Silnylon Hex Asym Tarp – (5)
  • Totally didn’t realize that the tarp was Asym, but it worked great and is crazy light weight. I’m getting better at stringing it up as well.
• Atlas straps – (5)
  • 10 x better than the Hennessy straps

Clothing:

• Fox River Hiking Socks – (5)
  • Love these things. Happy feet and quick dry.
• Dry fit shirt – (4)
  • Was great, no complaints
• Cotton t-shirt – (2)
  • Thought I’d do everyone a favour and change into a different shirt on the way home. Got the shirt dirty 5 minutes after putting it on and it doesn’t clean as well as the dry-fit.
• Head bug net – (3)
  • Did not use
• Ultralight bug jacket – (2)
  • Did not use
• MEC Mochilero convertible hiking pants – (3)
  • Still really don’t love these pants. Bought them because Prana didn’t make a 36″ long convertible but I don’t really need the convertible pant.
• Salomon Quest 4D DGX boots – (5)
  • Best over budget purchase I’ve made. These things are solid. Never a blister, never wet inside. Perfect!
• PU coated nitrile work gloves – (5)
  • These things are great. Even better in the summer when you warmth isn’t an issue.
• Zip sweater – (3)
  • Don’t love my sweater, i’d prefer to have a long sleeve shirt instead
• MEC Snake bite glasses – (4)
  • I prefer the Polar floating glasses I was using before, but after loosing two pairs of $60 glasses the $30 model seems like a reasonable compromise
• Hat – (3)
  • Baseball cap, nothing magical. One day i’ll splurge for a full brim hat.
• Towel – (3)
  • Small beach towel packs down well and was great after swimming. Could have been smaller but it worked just fine
• Bathing Suit – (4)
  • No complaints
• Flip flop sandals – (2)
  • Flip flops are essentially useless for anything other than sitting around. Can’t go in the water with them, can’t hike with them.

Tools:

• Toilet paper – (5)
  • 5 Star, never leave home without it … or, never go to the woods without it??
• Coughlins Tissue to Go – (4)
  • Not used – Will happily carry it in future
• Baby wipes – (5)
  • Maybe I have a problem, but it sure is nice to stay fresh where it counts.
• 2 x SOL Survival blankets – (5)
  • Thomas used one of these to get a bit of extra warmth at night. I usually don’t use them but the 2 times I’ve pulled them out I’m sure glad I had them.
• Paracord 300 ft + (different sizes) – (5)
  • Always happy to have too much paracord
• Stubai Pulley – (5)
  • Cheapest pulley I could find at MEC. Always impressed with how much stuff I can get up on this thing.
• Emergency rain poncho – (5)
  • Probably the lightest possible rain gear I could carry. If it was going to rain all weekend proper gear would have been better, but for one day of rain this worked very well.
• Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight Watertight Medical Kit 7 – (4)
  • Not used – Will continue to carry
• Contractor garbage bag – (5)
  • This always gets used for something
• 2 x Plastic carabiners – (5)
  • Couldn’t believe how much weight these could hold
• 2 x metal carabiners – (5)
  • The cheap ones
• Aluminum foil – (3)
  • Mostly sucks for it’s purpose as a lid for my GSI cup, but pretty useful stuff to have around
• Muji folding toothbrush – (4)
  • I feel I could take a lesson from my lightweight friends and cut off the handle
• Lush Toothy Tabs – (5)
  • These things are great at home and in the bush and they weigh nothing.
• Bug spray – (4)
  • Not used
• Sun Screen – (4)
  • Worked great
• Fiskars hatchet – (3)
  • I’m getting better with the hatchet, but I still miss my big knife.
• GSI plastic shovel – (4)
  • Perfect for digging out fire pits and latrine holes!
• Speedo goggles – (2)
  • Not used, who actually wants to see whats swimming in the lake with you??
• Pen/Notepad – (3)
  • Not used
• Duct Tape – (4)
  • Pink of course … for visibility! Handyman’s best friend.
• Spare batteries – (3)
  • 3x AAA, 1x AA. I’d prefer to only carry one kind but I haven’t standardised my gear yet.
• 2x Mini glow sticks – (4)
  • Sure makes the thunder box easier to find at night
• Nebo CSI EDGE™90 – (4)
  • One of my favourite impulse buys, was able to strobe back and forth with other campers on the lake
• Princeton Tech Sync headlamp – (5)
  • I love it personally, mostly because it has low/high settings plus a red light to maintain your night vision.
• Stormproof matches – (5)
  • Never leave on a trip without them
• Wet fire – (5)
  • My favourite fire starter, especially when it rains.
• Trail marking tape – (3)
  • Not used, probably not very useful on lake trips
• 2x Mini lighters – (4)
  • Because, you know sometimes your lazy
• Wallet and Keys – (5)
  • Why leave this in the car, people break into cars.

Cooking:

• GSI Glacier Stainless Steel Cup – (3)
  • Not gonna lie, I don’t love it. Doesn’t have a lid and its a bit big. It does fit on the bottom oh my Nalgene though
• BRS Ultralight Camping Gas Stove – (5)
  • Loved it! $20 straight from China and it worked like a rocket.
• 220g Isobutane canister – (2)
  • Why doesn’t Canadian Tire sell the 110g canisters!?!?!?!?
• Nalgene Everyday Wide-Mouth 1.4L – (5)
  • Ya, it’s probably too big but it carries my spare clean water.
• 700ML Camelback Podium bottle – (5)
  • I like this bottle but my pack doesn’t have a bottle holder so it’s a bit awkward to have a bottle I can’t clip on
• MSR Folding Spork – (3)
  • It was cheap, there’s probably a better option out there … or I could just cut my freeze dried bags in half once they rehydrate.
• Reusable coffee filter – (4)
  • I don’t drink coffee right now, but this is great for filtering twigs our of rain water
• 10L bottled water – (5)
  • Since we took the water taxi it just seemed easier to grab a 10L bottle and not need to filter all weekend. Totally a cop out

Food:

• Instant oatmeal – (4)
  • Excellent! But I do wish there was a more delicious breakfast option that was just as easy.
• AplineAire Hash Browns Reds & Greens – (1)
  • Absolute trash, oatmeal was a massive improvement on dehydrated potatoes
• Mary Janes Farms Kettle Chili – (3)
  • The Mary Janes meals are super healthy and actually really delicious, but they almost always leave me hungry.
• Mary Jane’s Farm Outpost Lentil Soup – (3)
  • Not used
• Mountain House Mac and Cheese – (5)
  • Pretty sure I could live off this if I had to
• Backpackers Pantry Pad Thai – (5)
  • Vegan and delicious
• Soy TVP – (5)
  • Perfect addition of calories into any meal
• ProBars – (5)
  • By far my favourite bar in the field. They’re big so they can replace a meal in a pinch but they’re not too big that you don’t want to snack on them
• Moon Cheese, Pepper Jack – (5)
  • I sure enjoyed eating this in my hammock while being miserable about the rain
• Trail Mix – (3)
  • Good snack, thankfully Thomas also brought peanut M&M’s
• Nunn tablets – (4)
  • Nice kick in the morning
• 1L Banrock Station Chardonnay in tetrapack – (5)
  • I’m always surprised how good this tastes after a day in the bush.

Items carried on my person:

• SOL Survival Kit – (4)
  • Call me lame, call me silly, call me whatever, but I love this kit. I’m far too lazy to put together my own survival kit and I feel a hell of a lot more comfortable with this in my pocket.
• Paracord Bracelet – (4)
  • I’m starting to think this thing is useless, but getting lost in the QEW in May i think i would have been pretty happy to have this if we actually ended up having to spend a night away from camp.
• Pocket non-rebreather – (3)
  • Should probably add a pair of gloves to this kit. I hope I never need this, but Personal Protective Equipment is pretty darn important.
• Cell Phone – (4)
  • How else would i take pictures or check the time? Watch … what’s a watch?
• Fox 40 Shark – (5)
  • It came with a free lanyard
• Brunton TruArc 3 Baseplate Compass – (3)
  • Really don’t love this thing, but it did save us on the trip.
• Mora Companion – (5)
  • Pretty sure I’ll break this one day soon but it stood up to batoning logs for kindling.