What do you all carry on your person when you are on a canoe trip?  Assume the lifejacket, of course.

I have my wallet with fishing license and park permit in one rear pocket, sealed in a ziplock and that pocket stays buttoned closed.

In one front pocket, on a lanyard attached to my belt loop is a swiss army knife and fingernail clippers.  My SAK *is* my multitool/leatherman substitute...smaller and lighter weight but still does everything I need it to including busting jig eyes with the awl and cutting up cheese/sausage for lunch with the knife.  Clippers are for cutting line and fingernail maintainence in case of a torn nail or somesuch.

In one cargo pocket is a bic lighter, chapstick, hand sanitizer, water treatment tablets and a bandanna.  In the other is my can of chew (guilty canoeing/fishing pleasure).

I keep a big needlenose and a long forceps for hook removal in my underseat bag so no need to carry them on me unless I'm shore fishing.

And that's about it for me.

When I start my trip it's usually just a lighter and small pocket knife. By the end of the trip I have just about everything...flashlight, lighter, knife, twister tails, hanky, TP, sunscreen, insect repellent, hand sanitizer,left over snacks, dirt and pine needles, assorted bits of trash, a map, compass, pieces of para cord...etc, etc. and that is still after I purge mid-trip.

On the water - lip balm, a granola bar if I haven't eaten it already, and possibly a bandana.  That's it.  Knife is on my belt.  PFD with whistle is on me.  Everything else is stowed in packs, with the exception of my map case which has IDs, permits, papers.

On a portage - same as above minus the PFD but with the possible addition of bug spray if it's a long, buggy portage and someone else doesn't want it.

In my pants pocket, nothing.

In my map case which is attached to the canoe.

Permit, License, Rabc, lighter, camera if I have one, sunglasses, plus I usually have packet of detailed information for our route (ie portage and campsite descriptions etc.).Suncreen is on carabiner on my pack.

A compass, whistle and nail clipper on a lanyard around my neck.  A lighter, buck knife and maybe some bug dope in my pants pocket.  A little digital camera in my shirt pocket.  If I'm hiking somewhere away from camp or the canoe, I'll usually have my small ditch kit.

On my person?

I carry a small waist pack, so I am like a woman with a purse.   ;D

Chap stick, small tube of sunscreen, small bottle of sanitizer, my little spiral-bound journal and pen in a Ziplock bag), little waterproof Pentax Camera (unless it is on the lanyard around my neck), extra card and battery for the Pentax camera, tiny pocket thermometer, mini-space blanket, tiny bag with matches, and usually another tiny container with tylenol and/or Vicodin.  Up until last year I also carried Spartan1's blood glucose meter, but last year he had his own waist pack and carried it himself.

In my shirt pocket:  bandana, some TP (I'm a woman, I must have my TP with me), sometimes a little snack, like fruit chews or a bag of almonds.  In pants pocket:  headnet (again depending upon the time of year and if there have been bugs much.  Often it doesn't get used the entire trip but I like to have it in reserve.)

Car keys

In my pants pockets? A single 2" blade knife in one, a lighter in the other and a handkerchief to clean up after "free blows" in the back. Wallet? Keys? They get buried in my biggest, most floatable pack. I have to laugh sometimes the first night or two, as head to the tent, I pat my pocket to make sure my keys are handy. It always cracks me up. I've even done the same thing approaching the canoe in the morning.

Only 2 things I have on my person (in my pocketses) at all times - fire starter and folding knife (oh, and my ring of invisibility, natch.)  That's it.  Other necessary things are handy and/or safe but not on me.

"Wallet? Keys? They get buried in my biggest, most floatable pack."

that's probably the best place for them - not in the food pack for sure

one year, portaging along the border - might have been going around basswood falls, as it was a long portage on US side almost lost all that - wallet, money, keys, permits - the whole works.  with 4 people in two tandems, we carried one boat and its load over on the first tirp, putting the boat back in the water and loading the gear so it was ready to go.  went back for the second boat and load, and when we returned to the first boat, found my daypack with all our wallets and paperwork and keys laying in the water next to the boat.  we'd gotten back just in time to scare a bear off, even though we didn't see it.  it had daintily lifted that daypack out of the boat and must have dropped it in surprise as it heard us coming - darn good think it didn't take the pack with it when it ran off!

in my pockets ? - always a compass, pocket knife (what else!) a small bottle of bug dope, waterproof matches double bagged in two ziplocks, and a bandana.  Usually keep the bandana stuffed down in the pocket with the knife, so the knife can't fall out if I wind up upside down.

on river trips here, I do always have my car keys tied to a cord to my belt, and wrapped up in the bandana - if I get stuck, anybody riding with me is gonna have to come and save me if they want a ride home!

Great topic!

On me or within reach at practially all times:
- Fire + smokes, yes the addict puts this first
- Knife
- Cord
- Whistle
- Compass
- Some first aid, band-aids & meds & such
- Spectacles + shades
- Tissues
- Bug dope
- Preacher dope  ;D
- A song in my heart
- A twinkle in my eye

Mad_Mat wrote on May 9^th, 2012 at 6:59pm:

"Wallet? Keys? They get buried in my biggest, most floatable pack." that's probably the best place for them - not in the food pack for sure

Same here.  If Smokey wants to see my permits they can accompany me back to camp.  Keys, money, ID are far too important to be on me.

That last day I am sometimes back at the car digging through my pack to find these things.  There they are, dry, safe.

Quote:

Keys? They get buried in my biggest, most floatable pack. ...  I pat my pocket to make sure my keys are handy. It always cracks me up. I've even done the same thing approaching the canoe in the morning.

Without your keys, how do you start your canoe in the morning? :D

azalea wrote on May 9^th, 2012 at 8:37pm:

Without your keys, how do you start your canoe in the morning? :D

I snuggle up and whisper sweet nothings.  ;D

I keep keys/permits/wallet in day pack in waterproof first aid kit. Pack holds my rain suit as well.
Pack will float (I checked) and I keep it a long way from food pack.
Ran into a couple at the start of a trip into Beaverhouse. They were frantically tearing thru their gear looking for car keys ;D

At the point it was getting nasty until the man remembered he had put them from pack into pocket before leaving camp that morning.

You don't want to be looking for car keys at end of trip. I also keep spare set in magnetic case hidden on vehicle. Not a bad idea just in case.

U can take my pack, my food, my gear, my tent, my boat.  But u ain't getting my keys, unless u get me!

Nothing goes into pockets except a handkerchief, or maybe a compass for very short term storage. Things fall out of pockets, even buttoned/zippered/velcroed ones.

My wallet, car keys, and passport (if needed) go into a dedicated dry sac (sealed & waterproof) which is not opened from the time the car is locked until the end of the trip. The dry sac goes into a day pack which is treated as if it contained the crown jewels. (I also keep my camera equipment in that pack, in another, larger dry sac).

I leave the keys with the outfitter where the truck is parked. Wallet in back pocket in zip lock and the pocket itself zips shut. If my wallet is not in physical contact with my body I get panicky. It is a carryover from life in the civilized world that I cannot shake. Pocket knife, lighter and chap stick in front pockets.
Jon

What's in my pockets? 

A famous question, for Lord of the Ring geeks.

Gollum hated this question!   

"Not fair! not fair!" he hissed. "It isn't fair, my precious, is it, not fair, is it? to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?"

"He thought of all the things he kept in his own pockets: fishbones, goblins' teeth, wet shells, a bit of bat-wing, a sharp stone to sharpen his fangs on, and other nasty things. He tried to think what other people kept in their pockets."

As for me, I keep my trusty pocket knife, and my ring is kept on my finger.   :D

prouboy

A lighter, preferably Djeep brand.
hate having stuff in my pockets.

Joe_Schmeaux wrote on May 10^th, 2012 at 1:45am:

handkerchief

Yep that too!  Bandanas are awesome multi-use items from snot-rag to dish-rag to silt filter to gumby hat.
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Great reference Prouboy!

I once saw someone put their keys under a rock at the parking lot.  I hollered out, "Free car!"

In my pockets are usually a bit of granola or power bar until I finish eating it, MAYBE some chapstick, and usually as the trip goes on, bits of fishing line, assorted plastics, maybe a weight or two and some duff. Keys stay at the outfitter with the vehicle (if I enter else where they go in a dry bag and get buried in my gear pack). Actual wallet stays behind as well and ID, credit card, permit, RABC, etc go into zip lock bag in a dry bag that gets tossed in the gear bag after the entry point. My knife is a skeletool that stays on a lanyard around my neck, and everything else I'd need such as bug dope, sundope, chapstick, camera goes in the day bag which is waterproof.

I keep a whistle, space blanket, lighter and cigarets in my PFD. It's my ditch kit.

In my camera case is another lighter, headlamp and drugs (wallet and keys first day). Then there's the thwart bag for sunglasses, sunscreen, deet, carmex beyond the usual bailer, throw rope, anchor... Then there's the day pack with rain gear, jacket, FA kit, filter, TP & trowel.... Then there's the dayfood pack...... Plus a powerbar or two in my juice cozy.

As my pants get exponentially baggier each day, I don't want excess weight flapping around. Plus then I'd carry it back and forth over my triple portages. ;)

I remember keeping track of all that little stuff you may want - handy - was such a pain the first dozen or so years. Do it long enough and you know where everything is  - especially if you put it where it doesn't belong. Nothing's worse than digging down to the bottom of a bag and not finding what you were looking for.

I have a SAK, like Snowdog, a Gerber fisherman's mulitool on my belt (replaces cell phone), a few drink mixes, a bandanna, lighter, chapstick, (the chapstick keeps SD happy when he forgets his  ;D) and little else. Around my neck on a lanyard, I keep a compass, whistle, clippers.

Anything else I need to keep handy goes in daypack. I also bury my wallet & keys in bottom of personal pack. I just dig them out on morning of last day and carabiner the keys and put wallet in back pocket.