civilized ku # 2250 / ku # 1152 • civilized ku # 2251 / ku # 1153 • civilized ku 2253 • ku # 1154 ~ roughing it
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 01:40PM ;)
After the portage ~ Bog River Flow - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Canoes ~ Bog River Flow / Low's Lake - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Our campsite ~ Bog River Flow / Low's Lake - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenWhen many people think of wilderness camping, they think of "roughing it". However, except for a few hardcore purists, a multi-day trek into the wilderness isn't so roughing it anymore.
Modern lightweight back-country gear really takes the roughing it out the experience. Yes, you still sleep on the ground, but a lightweight inflatable sleeping pad and a feathery soft sleeping bag make it comfortable, well beyond the "tolerable". A compact lightweight tent keeps its occupant(s) sleeping snug and, during a downpour, dry. And very efficient cooking gear makes food prep a snap.
Canoe camping allows an additional layer of anti-roughing it stuff. For example, bringing a cooler full of fresh food (beats freeze dried, hands down) and a 2-burner stove to cook it on is no problem and a decent boxed wine fits right into the kit. We have also added a really neat set of collapsible wood / canvas sling chairs and a matching small collapsible low wood table - all made of some kind of lightweight Indonesian wood - to our gear set, and let me tell you, my 65 year old back and butt take great comfort (literally) in these pieces of gear.
Needless to state, hauling this stuff around in canoes is considerably easier on the body than is hauling a much lesser amount of gear around on your back. And, once again, modern lightweight kevlar canoes - our smallest (12ft) / lightest canoe weights in at 20lbs, our largest (16ft) / heaviest at 32lbs - makes portaging the boats much easier. Add to that fact, the incredible hull design / guide aspect of these canoes and wilderness canoeing takes on a whole new paddling pleasure.
Of course, there is a price to be paid, literally, for all of this anti-roughing it stuff. In addition to the $8,000USD worth of canoes pictured here, there is at least another couple grand tied up in the other gear. However, that said, factoring in the number of trips made in these canoes and with this gear, the cost per trip is low and getting lower with every use.
For me and mine, it's the only way to go.
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