this all sounds about right!

i like the sound of the elastic for paddle holders. i have velcro on the blade and handle that stick to the side of the canoe and thwart respectively. i also have some pretty neat blaze orange rubber coated wire tie dealy bobs. they are the diameter of a pencil and 1 foot long. they wrap around the paddles for a just in case kinda thing.

i have to replace my yoke for this next trip and maybe i will try to incorporate some elastic straps for even quicker paddle securing.

my paddle partner (we do duo canoes and im in back) usually stops paddling around 100 yards from shore, secures his paddle/rod, unlashes the gear and puts on his pack. i have 1 inch nylon straps with buckles that snap through shoulder straps and around a thwart. upon hitting ground i secure my paddle and hop into the water and up goes the canoe and off we go.

All right, all right.  I'll offer something constructive regarding portaging for those that may have difficulty with the concept of carrying your shit through the woods from one lake to another.  If you are one that finds yourself mentally paralyzed for fear of inefficiency or developing a "bad" portage habit (that results in a lifetime of regret) at one end of a trail, this is for you.

I basically have 3 suggestions/practices with portaging.

#1)  Don't run my canoe up on shore.  The extra 6 inches you gain does not get you to the other end any quicker. If you're in the bow - you get wet - if you're in the stern - you get wet.  (If you have a rental canoe, you can skip this step - everyone beats the piss out of those things.  Don't lie - yes you do!!)

#2)  Take what you can carry and I really don't care how much you do or do not take.  I don't count trips and I don't keep time.  Hell, I'll even carry you if you need it.  I typically prefer to carry my personal pack and the canoe on the first trip.  I then waste about 3 seconds clipping a whisky jug to my sternum strap, but that's just me.  (I've even been known to set everything down 1/2 way through, take a pull and rest but don't tell MT)

#3)  Hand carrying items is a b**ch.  If you can pack it, strap it or lash it to something, it is much easier to carry.  (Us bagpipers have sensitive hands.)

Essentially, if you are a newbie to canoe camping, portage how you want to - I might laugh at you but I won't judge you (except those guys who had the clear storage bin filled with 18 loaves of white bread at Quetico Falls a few years back - that's just crazy)  But don't worry guys;  God's Grace even covers bad portaging.

Everybody in my Quetico entourage knows I can field-dress a deer in very few minutes. If somebody were to snark at me for taking three seconds as we arrived at each portage to unclip/clip a carabiner, I'd just pull out a knife and twirl it in my hands a bit.

That would be the end of THAT nonsense.



OK, here's how we portage, and we don't care if others can do it more efficiently or less efficiently, it's just how we do it and it works for us.

Each canoe has three packs: A big rubberized dry bag with 2 sleeping bags, 2 sleeping mats, clothes for 2 and a tent, and toiletries/books/journals etc. (that canoe's stuff) A Duluth bag with food and gear (dishes/ax/stove/saw/trap) used by the whole group. And that canoe's day pack (raingear/water bottle/snack/camera/binoculars).

Any given year, we have 4-8 people, so 2-4 canoes.

Canoes come in and clear the landing soon as they can.

First guy grabs paddles, life jackets, fishing poles and puts to the side, then grabs a big pack and puts to the side. He then grabs the second big pack and some hand gear and goes. Second guy puts on day pack, grabs canoe (from in the water) and goes.

They're out of the way of the second canoe pretty quickly. 

Second canoe comes in and repeats the process etc. etc.

As each "party" leaves, they take everything but a big pack and a little hand gear from their canoe, which means theoretically one guy comes back for a second portage and the second guy in the canoe doesn't have to.

But the way we work it is both guys from the lead canoe(s) come back and double portage, and the guys in the last canoe(s) at the landing only single portage.

Saves time. And typically the lead canoe(s) are the younger (haha, relatively speaking) guys in better shape, so they're better able to double portage.

The first guys over the portage with canoes set them partly in the water on the other end, but off to the side so as not to block the landing for anyone coming in on that end. Obviously, if there are waves or it's not a sheltered landing, we don't do that.

Keys: Don't block other parties. Don't linger in the water too long. Don't run canoes up on the rocks. Wet feet saves canoes, also saves your back from injury as you load/unload bigger packs.

We don't mind hand gear. We also don't necessarily rush. Heck, if you want to take the time to get a drink of water, grab a handful of gorp or take a shot of single-barrel Kentucky bourbon, no one's going to yell at you. Especially if you share.

And we help each other out. If someone's exhausted or limping or in a bad mood, we let them single-portage. We just came back from nine days in Quetico, and our best paddler had a 72-year-old with very little canoe experience (but Mr. 72 IS a former 2:50 marathoner, and a tough bird) in the bow of his canoe. We knew the Captain was having to put out more effort than usual in crossing the big lakes with the less experienced older newbie, so we let him single-portage every time and told him to leave his heaviest pack for us. We also gave Mr. 72 a lighter pack each time. Take care of our people, you know.

But Mr. 72 DID buy us all a beer at the Chocolate Moose when the trip was over, and I heard him telling his wife how cool the trip was and how we all looked out for him, so you know, karma's a good thing.

Oh, and if another party does come in the other end when our double-portagers are walking back emptyhanded for another load, we offer to take one of their packs over with us. Can't say anybody's ever done that for us, but I know dang well that the older couple whose bear-proof food barrel I carried over on one of the Twin Agonies this trip (I think it had concrete blocks in it) will eternally think fondly of men from Kentucky.

-- kypaddler   

 

PhantomJug wrote on Sep 26^th, 2013 at 5:27pm:


OK, look.......
I start a series of threads about what I learned on my trip with someone who has far more experience than I......... I'm sharing those thoughts in a transparent way. I'm not instructing or telling anyone how they should do things and for the trouble I'm getting the stuffing kicked out of me. Really? And by a moderator no less........sheesh!

I can understand how some folk might be reluctant to express their views when we have other folk always waiting to pounce and twist what they have to say and relish in mocking and degrading them. You don't like me.....I get it, but its not my problem and I'm not going to make it my problem. If you want some satisfaction allow me to make a suggestion>> if your ever in the Detroit area stop by and we can go to the gym with some gloves and footpads. One of us will feel better. Then we can go out and have dinner together. 

I'm not going to win the "whose the bigger prick" game PJ because frankly I don't have a lot of practice......its not my nature.

mastertangler wrote on Sep 26^th, 2013 at 5:51pm:

Ahem.  Gentlemen, please!  (Its not even winter yet.)

dd