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Canoe camper popping in. Doesn't seem paddle oriented camping has it's own thread so I thought I'd drop my conundrum here. I've been experimenting with a number of different apps recently because doing it on paper is annoying, especially in incliment weather, but everything I try seems to have some shortcomings. I use Jeff's maps to plan my route. I mark portages, campsites, etc, transcribe it all into Google Earth and export that trip as a kmz. It opens in all of my apps and everything is great. Until I lose data.. which is usually long before I hit water. Some apps won't open at all, some will display my track on a blank map, etc. My current #1 is "GPX Viewer" which piggy backs off Google maps. As long as I have the area saved as an offline area in maps, it works. However, being maps based, all of my beautiful multicolored appropriately iconed points of interest, paths, etc are reduced to google maps pins, and red lines. It looks busy and bad, but is otherwise functional. Anyhow, I'm curious if anyone here has a better/simpler method. Thanks for reading. Here's a picture from my last trip! 
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Aug 9, 2019 04:12
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 12:42 |
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Morbus posted:Any reason the usual CalTopo + a geoPDF reader (Avenza), or just the CalTopo beta mobile app wouldn't work? I'm not 100% clear on what features you are looking for, but that will get you a customizable offline map with various topo and satelite/aero tilesets to choose from and mix, plus GPX and other annotations. Thanks for the recommendation. I create my maps on a desktop, just looking for a way to display them on my phone without losing all of my formatting. I do not need to be able to edit them on the fly. My big sticking point is that I am able to track myself along the route with GPS (as I can with the app in the second screenshot) For reference, this is what my map looks like when opened with earth  This is what it ends up looking like when I'm using the application that works offline  Edit: I guess worst case if I need a PDF copy of my detailed map in addition to the offline GPS + route map, it's not the end of the world. Double edit: simply converting the file to a GPX caused GPX Viewer to display a lot better. Who would have thought? Math You fucked around with this message at 13:52 on Aug 9, 2019 |
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Aug 9, 2019 11:39
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Ok well after converting to GPX and dicking with the settings in the app a bit I'm pretty jazzed with the result. App status: fantastic
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Aug 9, 2019 14:25
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ogarza posted:Don't see a canoeing thread. drat. Great videos and that's one heck of a trip. Most I've ever done on a canoe trip was 5 nights! May I ask what you ate and the volume of your packs? Been wanting to visit quetico for a few years now but it's like a 15hr drive for me.
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Aug 11, 2019 04:34
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Wow thanks a lot for the write up. We eat a lot of the same stuff. We'll typically bring two fresh meals, and freeze some PBR as an ice pack, but it's easy to cut one of the two. Having that steak dinner to start the trip is heavenly. I guess the big difference is we all have 70ishL frame packs and like to single trip portages. Good to know we could expand our trips with just a healthy dose of HTFU I couldn't imagine relying on days of food from fishing though. We typically get one good fry on a trip, but we've been on some pretty good fishing lakes and just had the bite turn off after a cold front comes in. What sort of bait did you use? Ps. Very jealous of that walleye.. been quite a few years since I've caught a good one. Bass are ok but not the same 
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Aug 11, 2019 13:49
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Last page of discussion makes me very happy to canoe camp. My 75L pack is generally pretty full even with my tent clipped to the outside, AND we bring a separate barrel for food /cooking implements.* I've actually been eyeing a 115L dry pack since we're considering starting on whitewater trips. *We do 3-5 night trips so we're not actually over packing that much
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Sep 5, 2019 22:30
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PhantomOfTheCopier posted:Anyone get sick during multi-day trips and successfully just deal with it? Me, minus the dealing with it. It convinced me I'll never do multi day trips solo.. We had a 3 night trip planned.. I got to enjoy a 6 hour drive, followed by a 3 hour paddle, and setting up most of the camp myself while other people fished because that's the one thing in life I hate procrastinating on. I decide to reward myself with a beer and go for a swim. About 10 min in, I'm short of breath and just feel loving terrible. Maybe the old wives tales are true? Pain gets worse and worse. Try puking it out, try making GBS threads it out and get my taint and rear end destroyed by mosquitos, but I don't even feel it. An hour later I'm face down on the beach and I'm fairly certain that I'm dying. Took about 5 hours to get to a hospital with the help of two other people. Could have been a lot longer had it not happened the first day. I now always carry percocets and prescription grade NSAIDs, and we've started renting sat phones for our 4+ day trips. It was a kidney stone Math You fucked around with this message at 12:12 on Oct 20, 2019 |
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Oct 20, 2019 12:03
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I bought a chair one over a chair zero because there are people I camp with approaching the max weight of the zero (240lbs). The extra capacity is very significant especially since you're not always using it on perfectly flat ground where all four legs are sharing the load evenly. Something to keep in mind. I'm really happy with the thing. I'm an early riser and it changed my morning routine quite a bit. I used to just shuffle around camp being productive because I was bored. Now I enjoy lounging at the shoreline to watch the sunrise and the fog burning off the lake. I'm sure my pals miss waking up to fire and a coffee but fuckem I also canoe camp so I'm only carrying my poo poo for 500m-3km at a time. I'm not sure if I'd carry it backpacking, especially on a more ambitious route.
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Feb 14, 2020 16:48
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We dehydrate all of our meals save the first night special where we'll have something like steaks. It's loving awesome and we eat so much better since we've started on it. Nothing like a bowl of chili after a long, bitter cold day. If you do ground beef make sure to let it get a good soaking. We'll usually fill the containers with water at lunch to help it along. They call it gravel for a reason and the first time we tried it, it came out that way too! Out of our butts, if that's not clear Math You fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Feb 23, 2020 |
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Feb 23, 2020 06:14
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If I were in your position I'd hit up some crown land in northern Ontario with my canoe and as many supplies as I could carry. See how long I could stretch the trip fishing. Whenever I'm on a trip and the bite is on, I always wonder how long I could keep it going. If the bite weren't on it might be just a normal camping trip though
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Mar 22, 2020 22:37
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The problem is people gently caress off to well known, easily accessible areas where they are coming into close contact with people. Huffing and puffing as you squeeze past someone on a trail is not social distancing no matter how brief the interaction. Half the idiots you will see there think they are invincible and have been running along a sea wall or beach in the last week. Don't loving go to any trail network. If you do, make sure it's not so dense or technical that you can't avoid the assholes. You should also be prepared to leave if it's too crowded When I was talking about, it I meant the type of camping where you park on the side of a dirt road, bushwack a few hundred meters to a lake and throw your canoe/kayak in the water. Even then you might see some people but you should be able to clear the portage and wait Math You fucked around with this message at 12:42 on Mar 24, 2020 |
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Mar 24, 2020 12:37
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Um I'm a bit taken aback here.. I absolutely need to wake up an hour before I leave the house to drink a coffee and take a dump. I can't imagine leaving for a pre-dawn bike ride or day hike without taking a good poo poo first. MONSTERS!
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Jul 24, 2020 21:03
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I had the distinct pleasure of having a kidney stone out in the back country so I now carry prescription grade NSAIDs and percocets because never again. I don't intend to ever use them but they are there if one of us gets exceptionally hosed up again
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Jul 29, 2020 13:02
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For the sake of reducing waste a touch I'll note I use Kirkland vanilla bottles for olive oil or any other liquid I want to bring with me. Never experienced any seepage and they've held up well over the years. They come with a poo poo load of vanilla in them so they don't make themselves available to me super often.. but hey, might inspire a couple people to look in their cabinets before buying more plastic.
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Sep 8, 2020 17:34
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Bic National Park, Quebec
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Dec 11, 2020 05:32
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My new faves are Columbia Silver Ridge II long sleeve. Shirt is really light, packs well, comes out of stuff sacks close to wrinkle free, and has great ventilation. Best of all it's very adaptable to changing conditions. I can roll up the sleeves and open some buttons if I'm working up a sweat in the woods, or flip up the collar to protect the back of my neck when I'm out in the sun. I spend a lot of time out on the water so I've gone full on old man with my outdoor research Tilley style hat and long sleeved, collared shirts. Really has reduced the instances of heat exhaustion and sunburn in the last couple of years.
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Mar 15, 2021 20:00
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Ontario is absolutely crazy this year. Every smaller park I have checked has been straight booked as far out as the reservation system allows (5 months), including some pretty obscure ones that were always a given for availability. Funny enough, I usually look to those parks for high season when Algonquin is too busy for my tastes, yet I was able to book in Algonquin. Targetted the most remote access points and lakes that require significant travel. There's 8 portages between me and my first campsite and I still had to get a bit creative with dates and my route get on the lakes I wanted. Feel like there's gonna be a lot of noobs suffering through bug season and biting off more than they can chew when it comes to distance.
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Mar 20, 2021 03:53
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I had some adidas boxer briefs I thought were pretty great until I picked up a set of Calvin Klein ones that are nice and tight on the thighs but have a dick and balls pouch.. now my standard for comfort has shifted and I won't wear anything else. Bet my sperm counts are up too. I guess I should thank saxx for this? Any other brands incorporate the ol' ball pouch into their designs?
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Mar 27, 2021 15:04
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As a paddler I'm very familiar with wading. In warm climates just get something that drains well and is quick drying. If it's cold enough that you can't just be wet comfortably (or safely!), proper dry pants are a necessity. Somehow I don't see that being an issue in FL though! Bring light weight camp shoes and a pair of wool socks. Keep them dry at all costs. You'll feel heavenly when you slip those on at the end of the day.
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Apr 20, 2021 15:39
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I feel like car camping solo would be super boring, and the drawbacks of a campground experience would be exponentially annoying. If your limitation is the weight or bulk of your gear, load up your kayak or rent a canoe. A big part of the "zen" of solo camping for me is the mundane work and the isolation. Paddling along, finding a campsite, setting up your shelter and preparing your bear hang, locating and processing firewood, cooking a nice dinner.. it's a very slow, deliberate pace that fills at least a big chunk of your first day with necessary tasks. Trying to fill that time with random poo poo, surrounded by people would drive me insane. On a group trip I'd move like that every day, but solo I lack the motivation and spend more time taking day trips, swimming, fishing, reading, etc.
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Apr 22, 2021 18:39
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There's guided tours where you're doing some pretty legit camping with the safety net of a guide who's gonna keep you from getting lost, take care of feeding you, etc. They are expensive but I think they are a pretty good way to leap into things if you don't have anyone experienced to lean on. Otherwise in your position I would look for parks with established campsites that you can hike to and otherwise pretend like you're in the middle of nowhere to build experience and confidence. I'm also a big fan of camping on the water. In my area there's a few parks with island camp sites and rental canoes. You park your car, get a boat, paddle, lifejacket, and a map, and go on your way. Both of these scenarios give you a little taste of back country camping while not requiring much planning, and leave you with an easy exit if you need it.
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Apr 22, 2021 23:13
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One thing that helped me a lot was finding a few guys on YouTube who have done trips that appealed to me. Many have videos where they explain what resources they use to plan trips. The regulations and authorities that manage camping are going to be wildly different state to state (and country to country), so look for local guys. The most important pieces I picked up were: 1. Land use resources. Ontario for example has a crown use atlas where the entire province is colour coded to indicate whether land is private, parkland, or public. If you find an area of interest you are able to pin it and pull the zoning information for that plot which will tell you what recreational activities are allowed there. If your state has a resource like this you need to find out how to access it. 2. Trip reports are your friend. Find a state park with back country camping and Google trip reports of it. You'll probably find forums where people share all sorts of useful information and it's probably going to include a lot of areas outside of the park. 3. Get maps. Another often regional thing, I'd imagine anyway. There's some guys around here who make giant planning maps for popular park and public camping areas that include insane amounts of information. Including all access points, trails, campsites, points of interest, hazards, etc. Everything is colour coded to indicate the quality of a trail or campsite and there are helpful notes scrawled everywhere pointing out anything from storm jammed trails to spring water. 4. Google Earth Pro. Download it. If you're planning your own thing it's absolutely indispensable
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Apr 23, 2021 12:24
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FogHelmut posted:That's where it gets weird. How do you know where the existing sites are if they're dispersed? As others have mentioned you get an eye for it. First, not a lot of bush is naturally convenient to camp on. Thick underbrush or wet spongy moss isn't super nice to deal with so people will gravitate to better areas. Next, you're likely going to have some sort of a desire path going. Once you investigate you should see tent pads. A nice flat surface where you can put a tent that's fairly clear of undergrowth.. likely the area will have less deadfall around from people burning it too.
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Apr 23, 2021 16:06
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I'd just stay in your tent. Shelters like that attract mice and poo poo, and you can kick up their droppings and breath it in. Some people have actually gotten the plague in Yosemite from just that. Not that I think you'll catch the plague (and it's now easily treatable with anti-biotics), but its just gross.
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Apr 23, 2021 20:44
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What everyone has said so far is accurate. They are mostly big babies who will avoid you if they hear you coming or run away if you shout at them. But you can't trivialize them. They can kill you very easily and while super super rare and abnormal, deaths do occasionally happen. Know how to minimize risk of contact and how to react if you see one. You'll be fine. I live in black bear country and don't have any concerns about them at all when I am with someone. It's an entirely different game when you are alone at night and then every noise is a bear and every shape is a mountain lion and oh my oh my oh my. I just go to bed early because then I only have one source of stimuli telling me I'm about to die. I think I need to do it more often. Math You fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Jun 4, 2021 |
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Jun 4, 2021 19:04
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To the Lake Superior Goon, I say go for it. I mean, absolutely underscoring the fact that Lake Superior is one of the most dangerous inland bodies of water on earth, but you aren't looking to circumnavigate it or anything. I'd just say that you need to be cognizant of air and water temps. You can get hypothermia in that water any time of year, but I wouldn't say it's very risky in the summer when you are close to shore. I'd wager those inland lakes are a lot warmer, too. If you're doing this in the fall or something though? Not unless you are experienced and equipped (dry suit). I say all of this as someone a little familiar with superior but with no knowledge whatsoever of that park.
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Jun 30, 2021 14:08
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Crossposting from the Kayak thread because I'm a needy bitch and wasn't getting the affirmation I desire. Finally got to do my first proper trip of the year. Day trips are nice and all but there's nothing like slipping out of cell service for a week to help you forget about life's troubles  Obligatory photo showing I did some hiking on my trip, for the hiking thread  Navigated some pretty cool marsh featuring floating mud piles of some sort. Not peat, actual mud.   
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Jul 9, 2021 14:31
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Casu Marzu posted:Where's this at? It looks p gorgeous for paddling. Just shy of Northern Ontario, near Georgian Bay. We used cottage access to a river (first pic), navigated to the creek in the 2nd and 3rd pics, which take you to a system of lakes with no road access. incogneato posted:I've never really done any boat or water stuff, but I'd love to some day. During covid I ended up finding some youtube channels of people who do that sort of thing, and I could chill and zone out to it for hours. I would recommend the channel "Northern Scavengers" on YouTube. They do some pretty awesome trips, and film/edit/narrate them really well. Their Labrador and Flow to James Bay series are incredible watches. I think it's something everyone should try if they have the opportunity. Especially if you live in an area suitable for it. Here in Ontario it is simply the pre-eminent way to explore wilderness, and to see wildlife*. If you're a history buff, there are countless routes of cultural significance to indigenous people, as well as routes used in the fur trade. It's a pretty humbling experience to navigate these largely untouched historical waterways using the same craft as they were explored with hundreds, or even thousands of years ago. *this trip we saw a moose, a bear, some lizards I didn't even know existed, 4 beavers, a bunch of turtles (painted and snapping), had a great blue heron fly over one of our boats, and shared a campsite with a giant water snake who liked to sun in a juniper bush near our tarp.
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Jul 9, 2021 19:00
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Did what will likely be my final canoe camping trip of the year, unless I do something very spontaneously in October. Twas a beaut.    Scorch Lake, Algonquin Park
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Sep 22, 2021 22:09
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Gatorade has enough sugar and sodium that it won't freeze very easily. Could try other less gross electrolyte drinks too but I know Gatorade works from experience. Also try to drink a little bit frequently as you go instead of pausing for longer infrequent drinks. I also like the other suggestion about using your body warmth.
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Dec 30, 2021 04:49
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Related to the little algae chat, it might be worth noting that water filters also do not filter viruses. I believe in some locales with high enough water temps that can be a concern.
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Apr 26, 2022 00:50
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Bottom Liner posted:Another trick for fighting dehydration is to breathe mostly through your nose, as apparently breathing through your mouth can increase water loss (anecdotally it seems to help). It will also force you to pace yourself, because if you are breathing so heavily that you can't breathe through your nose you're probably exerting too much effort. I've always used this method to pace myself while running and cycling long distances and it works well. Sup fellow nose breather. I have been doing this while cycling for a while. I can vouch for its efficacy.
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Jun 1, 2022 19:25
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Planning for my first proper solo trip at the end of the month.. I've spent a few nights alone at access points before, but I'll be (un)lucky to see a soul for 4 days on this trip. Both excited and nervous.. mostly for nights. Bought a can of bear spray which I hope will be a confidence booster for me. Considered doing a more popular route, but having occupied campsites nearby isn't going to make me feel any more at ease when things go bump in the night, and I may as well maximize my solitude.
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Sep 4, 2022 17:54
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Can't speak for all of Canada, and most parks I visit are provincial anyway, but Ontario is really mixed bag. The parks Ontario stuff is passable at best. It works but there's not much contextual info, and the maps are trash. Are the sites I'm booking a reasonable days travel from one another? Better do your research! Used to be you had to pick up your permit and the ranger could modify your booking if you were dumb or they knew of some blowdowns or whatever on your planned route. Now that it's all online and you print your own permit you lose that. I mean, I guess I could just walk into the office anyway but I'm usually starting my trips earlier since I don't have to wait for it to open. Then we've got some really cool poo poo like 50gb of bathymetry files you can download that often include the hand drawn chart and notes of the surveyor who created the map for that lake, often including poo poo like what baits they were successful with while fishing. Or Fish ONline where when you scroll down far enough in sat view, it switches to plane survey imagery that's incredibly detailed. Or crown land use atlas where you can find all public land and what activities are allowed on it. I mean, the cool poo poo is all produced by MNR and not Ontario Parks but it's frustrating seeing how cool it could be if they had the resources to collaborate. Also frustrating knowing it's no longer possible to have a career flying bushplanes and making maps of lakes 
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Sep 14, 2022 21:58
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evilpicard posted:Ontario also blocks you from booking backcountry sites more than like 15km apart That must be new. I have done 30km+ days in Algonquin before. I do know that they've had a lot of issues with COVID noobs biting off more they can chew and camping off permit, which can cascade into complete chaos if people are being bumped off their permits because their zone has no available campsites. "Coincidentally", 15km is a solid day for canoe tripping amateurs and what I'd recommend to someone new. Have you tried calling in your reservation?
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Sep 15, 2022 03:46
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My first solo trip is 3 days out and the forecast just gets better every time I look. Might even be warm enough for an October swim, and the crown jewel.. Two days with 0% chance of precipitation. It's been years since I have been able to go a night fly free.
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Sep 26, 2022 20:31
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Newfoundland is an incredibly rugged beautiful place. I'd just caution that when you're that far North you can have really unpredictable weather and very very bad bugs. It's also very remote. Triply so on every count if it's Labrador. Edit: you should absolutely do it though. Just have some bug shirts or hoods and never be surprised by a snowy morning no matter the time of year. Math You fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Jan 14, 2023 |
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Jan 14, 2023 18:55
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WoodrowSkillson posted:Newfoundland/Labrador was one of the only times survivorman had to abort mission as well due to the ice melting at the wrong time. It's no joke of an environment. Yeah I've seen a guy have to be choppered out of a 100+ day canoe expedition because a blizzard rolled through and froze everything over in October a good solid month ahead of schedule. Guy was obviously super prepared and his planned emergency exit was by float plane but suddenly there was nowhere for hundreds of miles that a plane could land. This was in Northern Quebec just west of Labrador. Shoulder seasons are super unpredictable, but going in early July you're mostly going to need to contend with unpredictable weather around freezing, lots of rain and fog.. oh, and you'll get to know the black fly very intimately.
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Jan 14, 2023 20:56
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God Hole posted:this guy? That's the guy, yeah. Had to watch the video, now I'm wanting to get out there.. only 4 more months
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Jan 16, 2023 04:38
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Maybe everyone has fires but I'll keep my relatively flat (and uncrowded) trails in the east and leave you all the brown bears thank you very much. Although it seems more of a CAN/AK problem on account of you having killed them all in the lower 48
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Jan 21, 2024 19:19
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