Bushman |
04/08/2018 05:33AM
boonie: "Yeah, I can tell you're excited :) Just you and your son? Where you going?
Yes just us two. We have another trip scheduled in 2019 with my brother and best friend as well but we wanted to do an "experience" trip this year to learn and get a feel for what it entails. We are starting at #23 Mudro and doing the loop through Crooked. Plan is to come down through Moosecamp Lake and river if the water is high enough and out through Fourtown. We are also looking at securing a permit for the PMA and doing an overnight on Jackfish Lake and if we are really feeling it a bushwhack following the creek to the northwest out of Jackfish up into Thursday Bay. I can't find any web history of anyone running the creek out. I think it would be great and it's been a long time since I've had to use a map and compass. I'm waiting for the Ranger Station to open in May to secure a permit if I'm quick enough. Also have our outfitter looking into securing it for us as well, if possible. We are using Voyaguer North for a Canoe rental. Everything else we will bring form home. I don't want to lug a heavy canoe around so the ones I have access to here are staying put. Plus I won't have to haul them from Michigan on a 12-14 hour truck ride.
We will see once we get there. So many things will come into play. Weather, water levels, bugs, exhaustion levels, the list goes on.
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boonie |
04/07/2018 12:53PM
I'm a planner, too. Some people just like to wing it, but I enjoy the planning (and dreaming). It goes on continuously in my head, but by the end of the year I'll have chosen an entry and be ready to get my permit. I don't have a white board like you (nor your artistic abilities), but I have a file.
I've done quite a few trips and now know a lot of things -my travel speed and preferences, foods and amounts, and various other things. I also have a long drive (1,200 miles 1 way) to get there, so I have to plan for that, but it's mostly just a matter of making reservations these days, although sometimes I'll take a side trip on the way back, which changes things and requires a little more. I actually do that shortly after getting my permit and get it out of the way. It's easier to cancel a reservation I have than it is to get one that's not available. I also get any maps I need.
I'll map out a route based on my average travel speed and time, the number of travel days and layover/weather days, and usually some options. I'll work up a travel plan just to know the possibilities and options, but it is subject to the whims of the moment when I'm out there. I'll gather information about the route - mostly portage information, but some vague info about campsites and other things and add to the file.
I have a bunch of worksheets in excel too, mostly an extensive gear list, including one for the road trip. The gear checklist has kept me from forgetting anything; I check off each item as I pack it and then each pack, bag, etc. as it goes in the car. I find that the checklist actually makes it simpler and faster for me to pack.
Two to three months before the trip I'll make a menu and check the first aid kit and repair kit for replacements, as well as the gear, clothing, and equipment. I'll get whatever I need, then later I'll check to make sure everything (stove, etc.) works. The checklist, btw, is fairly detailed - not just first aid kit, but a list of each item. The same for repair kit, food, tent, etc. - not just tent, but tent body, fly, poles, # of stakes, guylines. Number of sheets of TP, X number of ounces of nuts per day, etc. :).
So, for example, I've secured my permit for Sept., made reservation for the trip up and back, developed a route summary and travel plan, and begun gathering portage information. In a couple of months I'll start getting food and gear replacements/additions. After that comes the equipment checks, then the week before I leave, I'll start packing and checking things off.
Happy planning! Questions, comments?
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Bushman |
04/07/2018 10:37AM
Perhaps I'm a little too OCD when it comes to trip planning but to me it is all part of the fun. I want to make sure I have everything I need and make sure it is all packed correctly. I read these threads on an almost daily basis. Searching and reading about all of your trips and how things are done and different ideas from tarps and tents to lures and coffee. Here is my current setup in my "war room". I am an amateur writer and I like to use this board for my ideas, story lines, character descriptions etc. I don't have any stories that are hot right now, so I have transformed the board into my trip planning board. I like to draw the rough sketch of the area and use dotted lines for daily routes and identify sought after campsites. The dry erase makes it nice for changing and adjusting routes and camp sites. My McKenzie msp just showed up the other day so I taped it up next to it. As with anything it is all subject to change. I will be adding a proposed menu to it shortly as we plan on making and dehydrating almost all of our meals. In conjunction with the visual display I have several excel spread sheets with trip costs, gear, mileage, portaging, etc. If you look close you can see a set of wooden dice. I made these form a 2x4 found under the cabin on my first fly-in fishing trip. The day was scorching hot, the thermometer on the cabin wall was reading +90. The wind was howling out of the south and we couldn't fish. I had forgotten to pack a deck of cards so to keep us occupied I made these dice. I had my pack saw and I carefully cut these cubes and then I found a nail in the wall of the cabin that I removed and heated it over the stove burner and burnt the dots into the cubes. We played Yahtzee until the wind subsided and we could get back out and fish.
What do you use for trip planning? Any tips or tricks? What's the worst thing you've forgotten?
Safe Paddling and Tight Lines, -Bushman
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