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

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.

While I learned this lesson in a very practical way in the woods, the concept applies in life, business, and in the backcountry.

My recent trip to the Queen Elizabeth Wildlands really brought home a concept taught early on in any formal survival or wilderness education program. When you find yourself lost. S.T.O.P!

• Literally Stop!
• Think about your situation
• Observe your surroundings
• Make a Plan!

When something doesn’t look right and doesn’t feel right, it’s probably a good time to pause, level set, and figure out what the hell you’re doing. There’s no use aimlessly heading in a direction you’re totally unsure of especially when there is a true risk of becoming lost.

Saturday was rainy so we decided to take a hike and try to circumnavigate the “T” shaped lake in the middle of the image below. The QEW is mostly a wetland, so we invariably encountered obstacles that required us to push the waterproofing of our gear to the max or find a way around. The hike started at base came (the northernmost point of the path below) and we almost made it to the far east end of the lake before we hit an impassable obstacle and decided to turn around.

Now, we’d encountered some mighty unpleasant terrain getting to the east side, so we decided to take an easier path to get back. But, being a wetland, the easier path presented additional challenges which forced us to make a number of corrections. For one, our map did not shot the small lake just south of the “T” lake which we quickly encountered, and it did not show in detail how much marsh we would encounter.

We knew for a good bit of time that we were not completely certain where we were going but we were completely confident that we were heading in the direction of camp (all while traveling south west to our camp in the north!). This continued until we hit a 50-75 foot stretch of swamp that was easily knee deep right at the southernmost point of the trail in the image.

We were certain that camp was straight across this marsh and that crossing it was the right thing to do. It was rainy, cold, and going down to near freezing at night. There was little chance we’d be drying out all our gear if we got soaked and for me personally i would have been hiking back to the truck after making a river crossing.

So we stopped, figured out where on the map we were. determined we needed to travel north, stared straight at the marsh, pointed the compass right at it. Then something strange happened, the compass needle pointed straight back at us. Despite our confidence, we were traveling in the opposite direction we needed to, about to get soaked crossing a marsh that would only take us further away from camp.

A quick 180 and we were back in no time. But our day (mine for sure) was saved by Stopping, Thinking, Observing and making a Plan.

Gear review for my spring trip to the Queen Elizabeth Wildlands.

Summary:

• 2 nights – 3 days
  • Day 1 – (15 degrees C – clear) Hike in 2-3 KM, setup, enjoy evening
  • Day 2 – (5-10 degrees C – Rain) Keep things dry, attempt to hike around lake
  • Day 3 – (-1 degrees C – Snow) Pack up, stay warm, hike out 2-3 KM
• 40 lbs including 1.5L of water, 2 days of food, and 2.25L of mostly delicious wine
  • Pack was 30 lbs on the way out … Maybe I brought too much food or need to switch to lighter whiskey on the next trip.
• Used my standard old  MEC bag, I’m getting better at packing it but it’s still loaded to the brim with plenty of stuff strapped outside.
• Trip was excellent, though getting proper lost could have turned out really bad. Maybe maps are a good idea?
• Sleep was good overall … lots of wine + swinging hammock was not awesome on the stomach.

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

Future Additions

• Time to finally buy a hammock – Explorer UL with Sil Hex Tarp
• More dry bags
• Need a BFK, i’m more comfortable with that than the hatchet.
• Maybe lighter rain gear? Probably not
• Sleeping bag and mat needs to be replaced.

Shared gear:

No gear brought to share for this trip, no one wanted to borrow my crappy gear. I did borrow the hammock though

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!
• Various dry bags for organization – (3)
  • Would be better if there were more bags and a smaller bag for snacks

Sleep system:

• Coleman 0 degree Bag – (3)
  • Much better than my shit summer bag. Too big though, needed to jam it into my bag. Also way too heavy (4.5lbs)
• MEC inflatable pillow – (5)
  • Excellent in the hammock.
• Base layer, fleece pants, Fleece pants, Toque, neck warmer, sweater, Wool socks (3)
  • I feel like i’m wearing a lot of clothes at night. Was very happy to have the toque and neck warmer on the second night. Balaclava would be a lot nicer
• Ear plugs – (2)
  • Need to re-upgrade to the orange plugs, the bulk brown ones really suck. Also, need to keep a spare in the hammock. Pukey puke made one plug fall out and hit soiled ground, was too drunk to go to bag and get my spares. Balaclava would have also solved this problem.
• 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 Expedition Zip – (3)
  • Excellent, need to upgrade to the larger unit.
• Atlas straps – (5)
  • 10 x better than the Hennessy straps.
• Hex tarp – (4)
  • Excellent, would love the sil tarp to reduce weight!

Clothing:

• Dry fit shirt – (5)
  • Was great, no complaints
• MEC Mochilero convertible hiking pants – (3)
  • I 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.
• Fox River hiking socks – (5)
  • Love these things. Happy feet and quick dry.
• 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. Not warm at all, but almost no loss of dexterity. They didn’t need to come off even once during setup or tear down.
• Columbia compressible down jacket – (5)
  • No comment
• Wet Skins rain gear – (4)
  • Not super light, but sure happy I had it and stayed dry!

Tools:

Ok, so by the time I wrote this review I may have forgotten one or two things I packed, but I’ll get better at this … maybe?

• Fiskars hatchet – (3)
  • Ok, lets be honest this thing is great and light for a hatchet. Personally I still find I feel naked without a BFK. Will give the hatchet one more try before I upgrade to the BK7 as planned.
• Wallet and Keys – (5)
  • Why leave this in the car, people break into cars.
• Toilet paper – (5)
  • 5 Star
• 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.
• 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.

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.
• Empty Gatorade bottle – (5)
  • Worked great for collecting rain. Maybe I should think of a plastic bag solution to hold more rain water, would have been nicer than having to treat and drink pond water.
• 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.

Food:

• Backpackers Pantry Pad Thai – (5)
  • Vegan and delicious
• Soy TVP – (5)
  • Perfect addition of calories into any meal
• Alpineaire Cinnamon Apple Crisp – (1)
  • As the rating suggests … Absolute garbage, must replace.
• Mary Jane’s Farm Outpost Lentil Soup – (3)
  • This meal was somewhat disappointing. Probably because it’s not a full meal and I followed it up with the garbage Apple Crisp.
• Starbucks Peppermint Tea – (5)
  • Excellent for the caffeine free life
• Instant oatmeal – (4)
  • Excellent, 2 packages per day … I’m still a growing boy! But I do wish there was a more delicious breakfast option that was just as easy.
• 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

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.
• Cell Phone – (4)
  • How else would i take pictures or check the time? Watch … what’s a watch?
• Stormproof matches – (5)
  • Never leave on a trip without them
• 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.

This post was written as part of the Humber College Weather Forecasting course. Students were asked to answer the two questions below.

Why is weather forecasting important on a camp trip?

Weather has the ability to turn a trip from great to disastrous. Understanding the weather you may encounter on a trip can help you improve your overall trip experience.

On my most recent trip out, the weekend started off a beautiful 15 degrees C with the sun out. Day 2 turned to a rain that made me very thankful for packing my full rain gear. Day 3 I was quite happy to have my winter coat when we woke up to snow. Anticipating the conditions by understanding the weather forecast allowed me to be better prepared and have a great time despite chancing conditions.

Maybe it looks like rain on your next trip. Packing an extra tarp and some rain gear might make the difference between spending the day in your tent or actually being able to get outside. Maybe the temperature is rising on your winter trip. Better plan for wet gear if it goes above freezing.

Weather can also create very dangerous situations. Staying off open water at mid-day at the peak of summer heat might just save you from an unplanned dip in the lake with your gear. Knowing when to get off the lake during a rainstorm or take cover during a thunderstorm might just save your life.

It would probably take years to become truly in tune with the weather, but knowing just a few simple things can certainly make a big difference in your tripping experience.

What are some tools you can bring with you on a trip?

Some items you may consider bringing on your next trip:

A radio capable of receiving Weatheradio Canada or NOAA Weather Radio frequencies (162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525, or 162.550 MHz).

These radio’s can often receive traditional AM and FM frequencies as well but can be set to receive the weather band as well which is used uniformly across Canada and the United States. Because of the high frequency of the band, the signal can carry additional alerting data allowing some radios to filter out unwanted weather reports or play an additional audible tone to ensure reports that meet your filter are heard.

A barometric altimeter

This device measures the atmospheric pressure. While a single reading of the atmospheric pressure may not be particularly useful, a change in pressure can indicate an incoming weather system allowing you to prepare in advance. Not sure if those clouds are bringing a storm? Keep an eye on that barometric altimeter!

A thermometer

Although you can probably judge for yourself whether you’re hot or cold, a thermometer can provide useful information. Knowing what the actual temperatures were on your trip may help you plan better for your next trip. It may also help you identify the subtle differences between what you read in the forecast and the specific temperature patterns of your favourite place to set up basecamp.This could also be potentially important for food preservation if you’ve brought temperature sensitive items with you on your trip.

A hydrometer

Humidity can greatly impact our bodies perception of the temperature and overall comfort. It can also give you clues to incoming weather systems. A hydrometer allows you to know the current humidity levels and watch for changes

Stormproof matches

While not specifically a “weather tool” I’d argue that these are a pretty solid “weatherproofing” strategy. Since they’ll light in almost any conditions and even stay lit after being fully submerged in water they’re a piece of gear I always carry to know I’m prepared for whatever weather comes my way.

Image – “Dry Campground” – Ed Dunens – CC BY-NC 2.0