The one thing I can't live without despite the extra weight is potatoes & onions. I just love a big ol mess of fried potatoes & onions with fresh fried fish. I guess it began when I was a young boy. Every week (or every other day) during summer months, I would catch fish in Southern Iowa farm ponds. Grandpa & I would do the catching & cleaning of fish. Grandma would cook em up with fried potatoes & onions every stinking time.

Fast forward, I'm almost 40 years old and this is how I make my fish. Even when tripping in the BW I bring enough potatoes & onions for at least 2 meals. Anyone else have an addiction like this. What's that one thing you can't seem to live without even though its heavy.

Ha! We can't seem to live without them either. They go on every trip. Must be a southern Iowa boy thing.

i would add bacon to that list ,

Lots of fishing tackle, my fish finder, a cast iron fry pan, and a 2-Nalgenes of whiskey.

We basecamp rarely more than five or six portages in, so comfort, fresh food and excessive fishing gear is the norm. My list would be a long one.

Whiskey.

17 BWCA trips in the books
1. 5lbs of Red Potato
2. Backpack Foldable Camp Chair
3. 2 Bags Shredded Cole Slaw (1st. time this year)
4. Bulleit Rye Whiskey (2 Nalgene)
5. 3.5 pounds Skirt Steak (1st. time this year)
6. 3 pounds Bacon

I agree, love bacon & the precooked stuff weighs less, warms up/gets ready quickly, is way less messy and you can even eat it cold!

quote shock: "i would add bacon to that list , "

Lots of heavy photo gear!

Real eggs. Wild Country (Lutsen, MN) Maple syrup on our pancakes.

We took lightweight food. But we had potatoes (Hungry Jack dehydrated hash browns were a favorite), dehydrated onions, and I became a real proponent of the precooked shelf-stable bacon as soon as it appeared.

Inflatable twin mattress. Worth every ounce.

At my age, I can no longer trip without my camp chair. Anything else can go. It's amazing how needs/wants change throughout time.

quote BigTim: "At my age, I can no longer trip without my camp chair. Anything else can go. It's amazing how needs/wants change throughout time."

As Harrison Ford proclaimed as Indiana Jones; "It's not the years, it's the mileage." :-)

I agree, a Helinox Chair and the baffled, inflatable mattresses from Therm-a-Rest, Nemo, etc. are hard to leave at home these days. For me though, the Nemo "Bug-Out Shelter" has become a must have in the spring and summer months. At the end of the day, to eat and relax in a bug free bug free environment is particularly nice, especially when black flies, stable flies and/or mosquitoes are at their peak. Also having sun and rain protection for yourself, group members, and gear is a plus.

Hans Solo

I agree with Hans on the BugOut. We had one along in June on Pipestone Bay and it was clearly the MVP (Most Valuable Piece of equip.) of the trip. We were grounded much of the trip by storms and it would have been really miserable without the Nemo. We also had two REI Flexlite chairs)

Bill

Myself.

Olive oil and whiskey. Not necessarily in that order.

Fresh food. Frozen meat is brought in using a small drink cooler. Steaks and hamburger. fresh fruit and veggies too.
Over the last few years though I have noticed the amount of it is less and less. Age and heavy packs don't seem to mix.

Being diabetic and sensitive to carbs I dispense with the potatos but love love love sautéed onions with my fish.
Being a little older, I've gotta take my helinox chair one, exped pad, and hammock for lounging in during the day.

My tackle box :)

Add carrots to the potatoes and onions and that's most our meals in the BW, plus fish of course. Other than that I bring a box of wine along to sip around the fire or to enjoy when we stop for lunch. I find that it improves our mood to have something with full flavor in the BW rather than watered down, dried, or vegetables and fish. Not much satisfies my full palate like wine. I have my brandy too but that's a small bottle with not a lot of weight, I like that watered down while fishing or smoking a cigar.

quote QueticoMike: "My tackle box :)"

That doesn't count.

As the mileage piles up the endurance seems to wain so my packs have gotten lighter each trip. Fresh food was the "can't live without", but is now pared down to a couple fresh small oranges. I carry the Helinox chair but do not consider that heavy or bulky for the comfort it provides.

I forgot another one, my Food Pack pulley system that I have developed once the years. The pulleys aren't that heavy, however they always go with me.

quote shock: "i would add bacon to that list , "

Shock:
What is the recipe of that concoction?

Thanks!

At my age, a roomy tent and a comfortable camp chair are not luxuries, they are necessities.

Tang and vodka
Two fishing poles
A deapth finder

Onions and a full bottle of oil for cooking fish and our CCS tarp. I fry up my onions and add the fish in there. Imparts a really good flavor to the fish, especially when I make them into "Fish nuggets."

A few apples and oranges. Just love the sweetness and juiciness of fruit at the end of a couple long portages. It's almost as good as a cold beer.

When Grandpa and I base camped on 2nd Bay of Saganaga for a few days we had the canoe so loaded that it actually was riding pretty low, made me a little nervous. Thank heavens for that tow boat and calm morning! We brought a lot of food (full barrel), 5 person tent (lots of room for both of us), and Grandpa brought his own inflatable twin mattress with air pump. 2 folding chairs. We were set!

By the time we left that site we had eaten enough food that we rode a little lighter. No portages with all that gear! Yet another reason to trip on Sag.

quote A1t2o: "

quote QueticoMike: "My tackle box :)"

That doesn't count."

OK, vodka then......

Beer.

I used to say Jim Beam, but I figured out how to convert an empty plastic bottle of Beam into a crawfish trap with only a knife and duct tape. So it is gear, and the weight checks out.

quote Duckman: "I used to say Jim Beam, but I figured out how to convert an empty plastic bottle of Beam into a crawfish trap with only a knife and duct tape. So it is gear, and the weight checks out."

What size bottle do you use?

quote A1t2o: "

quote QueticoMike: "My tackle box :)"

That doesn't count."

Have you seen his tackle box?

quote nctry: "

quote A1t2o: "

quote QueticoMike: "My tackle box :)"

That doesn't count."

Have you seen his tackle box?"

LOL....actually not that big.

Tackle Box

I also carry a small container for soft plastics.

When we were younger, we never took chairs, just sat on the canoe seat back rests. A couple years ago we took the Helinox chairs, and now I am in the never leave them behind camp. I also take a book and a cribbage board for those rain days.

The Gransfors small splitter; sharp enough to chop with in a pinch and splits better than an #8lb. traditional maul.

Fresh veggies. Asparagus, zucchini, coleslaw. Stuff I don't get excited about at home but are fantastic in the Q. We never miss pizza night and I am no longer ashamed to include s'mores. We bring kids to disguise cover to our addiction. I don't know how to get good fried potatoes from scratch but I am thinking fried onion with our dehydrated pat atoms will be a nice addition.

quote Thwarted: "Fresh veggies. Asparagus, zucchini, coleslaw. Stuff I don't get excited about at home but are fantastic in the Q. We never miss pizza night and I am no longer ashamed to include s'mores. We bring kids to disguise cover to our addiction. I don't know how to get good fried potatoes from scratch but I am thinking fried onion with our dehydrated pat atoms will be a nice addition."

Yum! Sans the s'mores ingredients, that list sounds wonderful!!!!

I always bring in new potatoes, onion, garlic and red peppers. Heckuva a good hash in the am with eggs and bacon-rolled up in a tortilla!!!

Nobody has yet said their spouse :-P

I do take many trips without booze, but a spring or fall trip, with lots of time around a fire, makes a liter of Macallan a must-have.

quote TominMpls: "Nobody has yet said their spouse :-P"

I suppose most people don't actually carry their spouse! LOL!

Having never been on a trip without my spouse, it didn't occur to me that he would be expendable. Perhaps he would disagree. ;-)

Having done many real back backing trips in the mountains with every thing on my back weight on a canoe trip really isn't much of a concern compared to that.

I do draw the line at coolers and ice except if base camping on Brule or sag or a like where no portages are taken.

Our REI Flexlite Chairs, and a box of wine.

A loofah. Which has also made me the butt of many jokes and my designated trail name when backpacking with my girlfriends...

The good scrubbing is so worth the milli-ounce!!