7 Canoe Camping Tips

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Efficient canoe camping comes with experience and seat time. By using these seven tips for canoe camping, you will have a solid head start.

Packing and Portaging

two Cooke Custom Sewing portage packs in the Boundary Waters

Use a portage pack (if you don’t own, then rent) instead of daypack or backpacking pack. Portage packs fit into the spacing between the thwarts and a yoke in a canoe. In a tandem you can put up to two in front of the yoke and up to two behind. Cooke Custom Sewing’s Pioneer Packs work perfectly for tandem trips.
Line your portage packs with compactor or contractor bags. Twist the top of the lining bag closed and double it over. Then wrap it closed with a heavy duty rubber band. This helps keep everything dry in the event of a capsize or rain. Don’t stuff your gear inside garbage bags and try to carry everything in a garbage bag. And for heavens sake, don’t put your backpack into a garbage bag thinking it will keep everything dry. You end up looking silly and have a nonfunctional setup.
If paddling with a partner, bring two portage packs. Pack one lighter than the other. The person portaging the canoe carries the lighter portage pack while hauling the canoe across the portage. The other person carries the heavy pack and the paddles (fishing rods, etc…) across the portage. This way you can carry everything in a single carry. If you have to double carry, you’ll end up walking across the portage three times. That turns a 100 rod portage, which is about 1/3 of a mile, into a full mile portage.
Pick up a bunch of Bungee Dealee Bobs to help attach spare paddles, fishing rods and other loose items into the canoe. Bungee Dealee Bobs will hold them in place across portages or just when you want something secured to prevent it from falling out of the canoe. We always use a set to keep our spare paddle secured in the canoe until we need it.

Cooking and Water Treatment

Platypus QuickDraw water filter on a rock

While some paddlers drink directly from the lakes without treatment, I wouldn’t recommend it. Instead use a water filter. If each person brings their own personal water filter, you won’t have to worry about sharing or digging a filter out of a pack. My personal favorite water filter for canoeing is the Platypus QuickDraw. It weighs 3.4 ounces, comes with a flexible water bottle that keeps your hands dry when you fill it, and filters quickly. It’s easy to field maintain, and has built-in caps for those below freezing nights during the shoulder season when you need to sleep with your filter to prevent it from freezing. It stays attached to the bottle when on the move, so you can filter instantly. You can also use a small carabiner, such as the Nite Ize SlideLocks, to attach it to the shoulder strap of your portage pack when portaging.
Unless you really enjoy cooking, bring freeze-dried meals for dinner. All you have to do is boil a couple of cups of water, add it to the meal, and wait ten minutes. After ten minutes, it’s ready to eat. One of my all-time favorite meals is the Bent Paddle Beer Braised Chicken Stew by Trailtopia. Minnesota-based Trailtopia teamed up with Bent Paddle Brewing Co. from Duluth, Minnesota to create a tasty stew full of chicken, elbow noodles, tomatoes, potatoes and more.

Canoe Camping

If the weather even looks somewhat iffy, set up a lightweight tarp. Do this right after you arrive in your camp. With a tarp up, throw all your gear under it. This prevents it from getting soaked in a rainstorm. During a rainstorm, set up your tent under the tarp and then move it to a better location without getting the inside of the tent wet. After camp is up, the tarp becomes a gather place out of the rain, and it becomes a place where you can cook while keeping dry.