I am glad the thread was so well received.
I actually do not think, except for a very few first "rules", that there is any real order to the list or that there needs to be any priority order to the list.
I thought to call it "suggestions" for fail-safe camping, but that just didn't have the same punch.
 

Well, actually, SOME of us are decaffeinated!   

Great list.  You don't have to agree with every single item to still appreciate the total effort.  This has been a good thread, and the result is very thought-provoking.

First ... FANTASTIC JOB!    As soon as this drifts off the first page, its being added to the "HOT SPOT."  It should be a "first read" by anyone becoming interested in canoe camping and a "refresher course" for those who have been doing it for a while.  I was even wondering if Stu might be interested in publishing the list in an upcoming BWJ issue.

intrepid_camper wrote on Mar 1^st, 2007 at 5:13pm:


I was thinking the same thing ... "comfort food."  

Also, I've been taking my "pee bottle" into the tent for about the last 10 years.  My version is more like two zip lock baggies (one inside the other) that are "air tested" before I crawl in each evening.  It doesn't always get used, but as you get older the urge to go in the middle of the night is more pronounced.  And it almost never fails ... the urge will hit in the middle of an overnight rain storm ... maybe its the sound of the rain drops hitting the tent's rain fly.

And yes, the container get's sent outside the tent after use.  (My long time traveling partner DIDN'T do that once to disasterous consequences.  The line by Alan Shepard from the "Apollo 13" movie comes to mind.)  Its dumped in deep in the woods the next AM, rinsed and placed over a small bushy branch to dry (if a layover day) ... and I've yet to loose one, even on a windy day.

dd

Re: Fish guts

Personally, I like to leave the fish guts near my campsite along the shore.  I always put them in a position where I can watch the gulls and eagles come in and fight over them, while I am frying up dinner.  Not once in my memory can I recall fish guts lasting longer than 30 minutes from when I put them there.

Now I do understand that QP is telling folks to dump the guts into deep water.  The reason being that they feel that leaving the guts out creates an unnatural population of gulls in the park.  I'm sort of torn on this.  I like watching them eat the guts, and really enjoy the game of seeing how long it takes from when I pull out the fillet knife and I spot one flying in.  But if it is bad for the system, I guess I'll learn to dump them.

solotripper,

I'm not sure where I saw or heard that about the guts in the water.  I remember a ranger telling it to me, and it may have been in the '06 park guide.

I'm not sure if there is any science behind it, or if it is just someone's theory.