Hello all,
I posted my trip report My trip report "Brotherhood" and decided to post all of the things I learned on my trip here plus some added tips which may come in handy. I hope it helps.
Davionics

Good Decisions
inReach Explorer worked great. I didn’t sign up to track my movements, only to send a single message each day to family. This will become more important as I start taking solo trips because you just never know…

CC Pocket weather radio will be with me from here on. After hearing the weather alert for BWCA we were at least a little prepared. Afterward it was something we turned on twice a day.

Binoculars; this was a tough decision strictly due to the weight vs the potential use of them. I took Nikon Trail Blazer binoculars as a test to see if it was worth it and I found I used them more than anticipated either for eagle watching or searching for camp sites.

Collapsible tub; I used this to wash dishes, clothes and myself. For dishes I used filtered water since it was easy to do. I emptied one 32oz water bottle into the bucket and would wash one item and then rinse it off with water from the second water bottle. I would then wipe off the standing water with a towel and let it air dry before I packed it away. When I start going solo I plan to use lake water for washing and rinse off with filtered or boiled water. I think it would be perfectly fine to rinse with lake water but if you’ve ever had problems from drinking bad water before, you’ll agree that filtering water is an easy thing to do. When the water becomes really dirty and you can’t see the bottom, remember to do a good search in the bottom of the tub. This will prevent you from having to back into the woods looking for your missing spatula. For washing clothes and myself I used lake water for the tub and also filled up my cooking pot with it. The soap went into the tub, washed in the tub and used the pot water for rinsing. Everything was dumped back in the woods.

60L food barrel cover from CCS; I bought the cover because I figured I could use it for more than a carrying harness and I was right. We used the extra top pouch to store our map during portages plus we used the bag when collecting fire wood for the smaller pieces. It worked great for this. I think for summer months keeping the cover wet will aid in keeping everything inside at a cooler temperature as well.


Net anchor; I used a small net which comes with many of the camping items purchased throughout the years and filled it with rocks, attached a small carabiner between it and some paracord and it worked great as a lightweight anchor system while fishing. When done wind up the paracord and stuff it into the net.


Pillows; I tried the Sea to Summit Aeros pillow but it never was comfortable enough for me. It always seem like I was resting on a balloon which was resting on another balloon (sleeping pad). No matter how I adjusted the air pressure it wasn’t the answer for me. If you do like them, just deflate it and leave it in your sleeping bag; no need to pack it up separately. The pillow ended up using was the Thermarest compressible pillow. The very first night I slept like a rock and it continued to give me a great night’s sleep every time. It does take up more space than a baseball but it’s now my traveling pillow.

Peanut Butter & Jelly; I didn’t want to take a plastic bottle of jelly and end up with extra so I purchased the small jelly packs you see in hotels and restaurants from minimus.biz. These were cheap and it worked out great because we had each day’s meals in a separate ziplock bag and it made distributing the meals easier. I did bring a plastic jar of peanut butter and used most of it.

Fry bake pans; these are heavier than other pans out there but they’re pretty much indestructible and putting hot coals on the lid worked great for baking pizza etc. The biggest trick I learned was to not to cook while the fire is blazing, use the 6/6 rule. Put your hand about 6” above the grate and if you can hold it there for about 6 seconds it’s time to cook/bake. This prevents burning your foods. The pans are not non-stick so the 6/6 rule doesn’t burn your oils and then your food. You actually clean them using a metal spatula or sand and it’s better to put some water in the pan after cooking, heat it up and then clean it. The only issue is the weight but I will use the 10 ½”pan when traveling with others and the 8” pan for solo trips. The only issue I see with the small pan is getting pizza bread this small. I’ll tackle this issue later on.

Weight of food; for two people we filled up our 60L food barrel with a mix of Mountain House meals and ready to eat foods and other cooking foods such as rice, mashed potatoes, stuffing etc. The food barrel weighted about 50lbs and was a heavy beast starting out on our 10 day trip. I’m going to do some research into dehydrating foods and possibly barrow a food dehydrator before I put out the money buy one and find out it wasn’t worth it.

Footwear; this should be in a non-decision category because I still haven’t come to a conclusion. I have a pair of Chota Hippes and boots which I use when fishing in my kayak. I liked that I could pull down the top to stay cooler while canoeing and then pull them back up before stepped into deep water. I never had any traction problems while in the water or actually on portages. They were very comfortable humping the packs and canoes but I did have to remove the boot insert because it would start to fold under my feet as I walked. But here are the things why I didn’t like them…
Once they were saturated with water they weighted as much if not more than mountaineering boots. Granted this is only a concern during portages but none the less from a backpacker’s perspective it’s a concern.
I’m used to having damp feet when backpacking and having to keep my feet dry to prevent blisters but the neoprene socks made my feet sweet even more than hiking boots. I had hoped they would not to be so hot since it was wet on the outside of my foot but it didn’t work out that way.
You have to turn them inside out so the inside dries.
To prevent my pants from getting soaked when it rained I would have to wear rain pants over the Hippies so water didn’t flow underneath. To try and lower the heat I rolled down the Hippies before putting on the rain pants but then when stepping out of the canoe I couldn’t be sure if the rain pants would hold back the water long enough while unloading or loading the canoe so I had to swap them and have the Hippies outside the rain pants.
On days with no rain, when you reach camp you replace the Hippies and wet socks with camp shoes and dry socks. But on days like we had on this trip, two hours later it would rain again so I was back in my tent putting on the wet socks and Hippies so my camp shoes/socks didn’t end up soaked. This kept happening several times throughout the day.
This swapping of boots would be the same if I had wet footed it with regular boots/pants so I think I may look into a lighter pair of waterproof boots for camp. They will not have to be heavy enough for backpacking but just enough support for around camp…and be waterproof.
Reflective Oven; I practiced here at home using the reflective oven and when I used it on this trip it worked great. I had a chance to do some pizza and some blueberry mix but here was the dilemma. It’s useless when you can’t get a fire going and this trip it happened more days than not. Some days we were able to get a fire going but only enough to warm up some water; it wasn’t enough heat to use the oven. So for my next trip I’ll be leaving this home and refining my baking using the fry/bake pan.

Maps; as a backpacker I always bring topo maps with me so I ordered maps for the area we were going to plus also Fisher maps with the camp sites. The differences between these maps seemed to create some confusion. Great land details with the topo maps but obviously no camp sites were marked and the portages were hard to see. Next time I will only buy the topo maps and before I go I’ll mark the camp locations and the portages so they’re easy to see.

Camp chair; being older I felt it was a good idea to bring along some comfortable chairs and I was right. We used the Helinox chairs with the tall back and they were very comfortable. Throughout the trip we would sit on logs or rocks but it wasn’t long before we were uncomfortable and went back to the chairs.. I may go to a smaller chair to shave some weight but this is a luxury I probably won’t do without.

Sleeping pad; I bought the large size Nemo Cosmo sleeping pad and it was nice not having my feet hang over the edge. This was definitely more comfortable to sleep on and it packs in less than half the space as the regular Thermarest. It’s a keeper for sure.

Knots; if you’re like me and don’t always use knots in your everyday life, bring some knot instructions with you. I printed up some but forgot to pack them. Luckily the outfitter had a pack of plastic cards with instructions on them and they were really handy to have. It’s small enough I just stuffed them into the bag with all the extra guys lines. It’s called Pro-Knot. I haven’t been to the site but the web page is proknot.com. I’m glad I had this with me.

Bad Decisions
Stove; I bought a Snow Peak Gigapower stove to shed some weight instead of carrying actual fuel bottles but this didn’t last long considering it was brand new. I’m going back to my MSR stove which I’ve used for 20+ years with no issues. It was replaced by MSR Whisper Lite and it appears it’s quality is still as good as before.

Pie pans; I bought two pie pans at the dollar store to use as plates. Perfect size, cleaned easy and they are light. These worked great up until I started packing them for the next trip. All of the knife marks left from cutting meals rusted up pretty bad.

Axe; we didn’t bring an axe with us and we could have used one for splitting logs. We used some of the local rocks (shale?) as wedges and split them this way to try and get some dryer wood so I’ll look into making a light weight wedge or getting a small axe before my next trip. I did bring a Sven Saw and it worked great.

Tips
Insulated reusable grocery bag; I wet a dish towel and wrapped a steak in it and stuck it in the freezer the night before day 1 of the trip. The next morning, I put this into the grocery bag along with a 6” sub for lunch and a package of mozzarella cheese. The sub was still cool for lunch and the steak was ready for cooking that same night. We had pizza two nights and the cheese stayed cool even on day 7. We had two days of mid 70’s temperatures but the rest of the trip stayed around the 60’s so it wasn’t a test for hot days but I think insulated grocery bag worked out better than just wrapping it all in a wet cloth.

Tying line; Something I learned via the internet was when winding the small guys lines used for your tarps and tents, don’t just wind then around your hand because they always end up in a knot when you try to use them. Instead wrap it in a figure 8 pattern between your thumb and small finger and then tightly wrap the bundle 5-6 times before you tie off the end. This simple method is something I’ll use for the rest of my life. I tried to find the youtube video but I can’t, sorry.

Para cord; stick with para cord. I used another type of rope for tying up the tarp and the other roped stretched a lot when it was wet and the para cord stayed tight.

Water Filter Clamp; if you get tired of your outlet filter hose pulling out of the water bottle, try this. I've done this for years and it works great.


Build a better key for your food barrel; I made a good key and key holder to ensure I don’t lose the key and also have a better than average chance a bear can’t open the lid without ripping it apart. I don’t have time to make a video but I a picture of the parts required which can all be purchased at your local home center. Just cut the length you need and then ensure the hole is low enough so you can lock it. Then bend it 90 degrees, use the cable and ferrules (crimp sleeves) to attach it all. It works great and you never have to worry about losing the key.

Lots of great information in here. Thanks for taking the time to post it. I'm sure it will be referenced it often.

-RW

Thanks for all the trip info and reviews, I'm sure people will benefit from these tips.

Definitely going to make the barrel Lock. I use an old shower curtain ring right now. This will be more beefy. I use 30 L barrels.
I can't imagine what problems you had with the Gigapower stove. I have had mine for more than 10 years with no problems.

Two suggestions which may improve your tripping.........

Ditch the binoculars and go with a monocular. You can get a very lightweight monocular which comes with a case you can wear on your hip. I find it helpful in higher travelled areas for searching empty campsites.

Personally I don't believe a full size ax is a good idea for the vast majority of paddlers. To many serious negatives, its heavy and the potential for a disastrous injury inducing swing is to great. If your tripping in the winter that is a different story but for summer tripping you need bring only 2 implements. First is a saw, and the second is a quality hatchet.

The safest way to process firewood that I have seen is in Cliff Jacobsons DVD, Forgotten skills. Cut your dried 3" wood into 10" lengths. Cut one piece perhaps a bit longer say 12" in which you will use as a hammer of sorts. Stand the 10" pieces upright on a solid surface such as a flat rock. Place the hatchet on top and use the "hammer" to split the wood. Safe and efficient. Again it is helpful to purchase a quality light hatchet. I have a Gransforth and it comes in at 1lb. Add in a folding silky saw and you can make short safe work of processing firewood.

Liked your trip report, sounds like you had a fine time. I to share a backpacking history and have largely moved over to the paddling scene. Indeed you found out that if your camera is not readily available it probably won't get used. I carry a Lumix waterproof camera (after destroying a pricey Cannon SLR) and wear it on my hip. Its ALWAYS ready for use and does an acceptable job overall. A spare battery is helpful in case you put it away while its still on.

Thanks for all the additional information. I'd also be interested to know what problems you had with the stove. Canister stoves are pretty simple and usually pretty reliable.

Thanks for the info.

T

Good info, thanks

Davionics
I adhere to many of your tips !
Enjoyed, and may try others !
Ever thought about an umbrella ? ! Works great in the middle of the night, when you need to go in a rain storm. Fast and easy ! You can move around camp, during a down pore, and stay dry. I've even cooked breakfast in the rain, using one. I take one every time !

Food barrels ? I still use 4 and 5 gallon buckets with snap lids, and a GI duffel bag (nylon). Buckets were free, and the Duffel bag $5 at a garage sale. Plenty of room in the bag to add padding if you need ! I don't.
Thanks !

Jim

BTW, Davionics, for camp shoes I finally settled on a pair of waterproof hiking/running shoes with really good grippy soles (Treksta brand). They are lighter than boots and good enough for around camp. I prefer a lace up shoe to a slip on type for around camp since I often explore around and the extra security is good. I bring 3 pairs of socks - wet, camp, and sleep.

quote OldFingers57: I can't imagine what problems you had with the Gigapower st "

We initially thought it was grease from manufacturing or something because we would take the stove apart, blow it out and it would work but only for a few minutes then go from full burn to almost nothing on it's own. There was plenty of fuel when it started acting up so i doubt it was canister. I didn't want to buy a new can just to test this out so once I start looking into what I'll carry for solo tripping I'll make the decision to relook at this or stick with my MSR. My current concern with the Giga stove is how it will perform in the cold?

1JimD

I decided not to go with the 5 gal buckets mostly because I don't plan to hang my food but here are my thoughts as I decided what to do. I have my original bear proof can which I've had for 20+ years but it's too small. I bought two bear vaults and they're great but they didn't have enough room for what we needed plus I was happy to return them to get my money back...very pricey. I then looked at the 5 gal buckets and even with the heavier gauge buckets used for painting etc. I had almost no confidence they would hold up to a bear encounter plus they would be too easily carried away and also I don't plan to hang my food because I know my future journeys will probably take me places where there's no place to hang it. So for me the best bet is the food barrel with a secure latch system. It's not 100% bear proof but when everything is in zip lock bags or vacuum sealed and the barrel is away from the actual camp, I'm comfortable with it.

Here are my thoughts on bears encounters. Everybody has to continue to do their part in removing the relationship between the bears and our food whether it be from hanging it from trees or using food barrels and keeping them away from the camp sites. Once a bear gets a taste, they'll most likely return to the same location to find more. This was evident after our trip we never saw any bears or even scat until we returned to the outfitter cabins. That evening, walking between the cabins was a large mother bear and 4 cubs who was obviously teaching them where to look for food.

After researching literally hundreds of comments regarding protecting food in the wilderness, I'm concerned overall we're becoming less and less vigilant about this subject. More trippers are not taking precautions these days because so many have never seen a bear and everyone they know has never seen one. What is forgotten is the lack of bear encounters is due to all of the trippers in the past 20+ years who took proper precautions and we're now enjoying their success. It's up to us to ensure we don't build a new relationship between the bears and our food on behalf of all the future trippers.

mastertangler

Definitely good ideas, thanks. I never thought of a monocular for some reason. I'll probably go with a cheaper hatchet than what you have mostly due to the price. We were able to split wood with a sharp ended rock and log as a hammer and I think a small hatchet is safer than me making up some sort of wedge.

quote boonie: "BTW, Davionics, for camp shoes I finally settled on a pair of waterproof hiking/running shoes with really good grippy soles (Treksta brand). They are lighter than boots and good enough for around camp. I prefer a lace up shoe to a slip on type for around camp since I often explore around and the extra security is good. I bring 3 pairs of socks - wet, camp, and sleep. "

I employ a similar sock system.

Awesome trip report and gear review.

I like the little single/2 serving peanut butter pucks you can get by Jif. They do create more trash to deal with, but also keeps your PB from being exposed to the elements. I like your idea with the jelly. We do the same with mayo and mustard. Chik Fil A has the best mayo. There are a couple stores in MSP, we usually just go in for lunch the day before the trip and pick up a handful of mayo packets each.

My canoe trip partner and I both have stoves of the style that you brought. He has the Snow Peak, and I have the MSR Pocket Rocket. We've never the slightest problem with either of them and wouldn't consider going back to our old MRS Whisperlites. The Whisperlites were great reliable stoves, but they (and the liquid fuel bottles) were more hassle than they were worth compared to the canister stoves, and the weight/space saved is considerable. That's a shame that you had trouble with your Giga. I've never heard of a canister stove doing that unless the temperatures were well below freezing. We always carry two stoves for that reason, though. If you want to do more "cooking" as opposed to boiling water, you'll probably want to keep using your Whisperlite, though. The pocket rocket type stoves have a little bit of flame control, but not much. If you live near an REI, take your Giga in there. They will have a bunch of partially used cans of fuel that you can attach it to, and they'd probably be happy to help you diagnose the issue. Take the can you used as well... then you can trouble-shoot it. Was it the stove? The fuel brand? The fuel type? That particular can of fuel? In fact, any outdoor store worth its salt would help you in the same way.

Sounds like your footwear needs echo my own. While many people here don't like the idea of waterproof boots, they've suited me very well, especially since I bit the bullet and decided on the nice 10" Bean Boots during the day, and Crocs in camp (Only once camp has been set... the boots stay on until the "work" is done.) The Crocs are the "offroad" model, which have a somewhat reinforced toe, and slightly more sturdy soles. They're still crocs, but they're just a bit more suited to walking around rocky, stumpy campsites. Still no laces or ankle support, but if I'm just cooking dinner or chilling out relaxing in the evening, they're perfect. And nothing beats a pair of squishy, bouncy, comfy shoes at the end of the day. In fact, I love them so much, I take them backpacking too, and you know how space/weight are a premium while backpacking.

I like the Bean Boot by LL Bean. I get the tall ones that go up just below my knee. They can be a bit toasty in warmer weather, but it's better than soaking wet feet all day, which I hate. Most people here swear by wetfooting it all day which I do on river trips or local lake paddling, but I can't deal with those kinds of shoes on portages in the BWCA considering all the hiking that takes place with the paddling. When I was young and first going on hikes in the Rocky Mountain National Park, I am pretty sure I rolled my ankle about 40 times that first summer I spent with my grandparents in Estes Park. Years of soccer, basketball, and baseball also took their toll on my ankles and if I am going to be walking anywhere that isn't a level sidewalk, I MUST have ankle support, and I'm not about to wear a soaking wet 8 pound hiking boot all day, so tall waterproof rubber boots are my solution. I love Salomon's Techamphibians for river canoeing. I wish they (or someone else) would make something like that with a high ankle. I take a pair of crocs to wear around camp.

The thought of wearing neoprene socks is making my feet sweat right now... not sure I could handle that either.

we just got back from a wet weather kind of trip, 15 days... we used hippies and wading boots for portaging and canoeing, and for camp shoes you can use crocs so they don't really get wet, even if its raining.

at camp I would wear goretex gear and my camp shoes were waterproof teva's and socks were dry all day even when it rained 24 hours straight and I was out fishing.

also wearing rain pants over the hippies is a rookie mistake, buy the cheapest waterproof pants you can find, and cut them into shorts that fall a few inches below the hippies, then just wear them normally: pants, hippies, shorts. this way no water goes in, and you are still comfortable and dry.

Thanks for sharing!

BTW, speaking of MSR stoves.

We ended up shooting ourselves in the foot, we wanted to save weight on stove + gas, so we though a slightly heavier stove, which was more fuel efficient would allow us to carry less fuel.

We were right, we took the MSR reactor and by the 8th day we were still on our first tank of isobutane. So whoa, the stove is REALLY efficient, the problem was we just ended up carrying all that gas and tanks that we never used... oops.

We started using it for everything... too cold? warm your fingers over the stove. hippies not dry enough? hold them over the stove. too lazy to tend a fire for half an hour for hash browns? use the stove. and still we only went through slightly less than two tanks of gas in 15 days.

quote boonie: " I'd also be interested to know what problems you had with the stove. Canister stoves are pretty simple and usually pretty reliable. "

I went to REI this past weekend as someone suggested and troubleshot the problem to a bad canister valve. I've heard nothing but good reports on the stove I bought another canister to try on the next trip.

quote OldFingers57: "I can't imagine what problems you had with the Gigapower stove. I have had mine for more than 10 years with no problems. "

I went to REI this past weekend as someone suggested and troubleshot the problem to a bad canister valve. I've heard nothing but good reports on the stove I bought another canister to try on the next trip.

quote davionics: "

quote OldFingers57: "I can't imagine what problems you had with the Gigapower stove. I have had mine for more than 10 years with no problems. "

I went to REI this past weekend as someone suggested and troubleshot the problem to a bad canister valve. I've heard nothing but good reports on the stove I bought another canister to try on the next trip."

Glad to hear you resolved the problem with the Gigapower stove. I know someone on Facebook was having a problem with their ignitor the other day and I advised them to bend the rod a little as it may have gotten bent at some time. Sure enough that was the problem.

quote davionics: "

quote boonie: " I'd also be interested to know what problems you had with the stove. Canister stoves are pretty simple and usually pretty reliable. "

I went to REI this past weekend as someone suggested and troubleshot the problem to a bad canister valve. I've heard nothing but good reports on the stove I bought another canister to try on the next trip."

I've never had that problem with one, but I always test light my stove and each canister I'm taking before a trip.

quote davionics: "

quote OldFingers57: "I can't imagine what problems you had with the Gigapower stove. I have had mine for more than 10 years with no problems. "

I went to REI this past weekend as someone suggested and troubleshot the problem to a bad canister valve. I've heard nothing but good reports on the stove I bought another canister to try on the next trip."

Big fan of canister stoves...but test that thing before, not during, that next trip!

Cheers

boonie

I've never had that problem with one, but I always test light my stove and each canister I'm taking before a trip. "

SNS

Big fan of canister stoves...but test that thing before, not during, that next trip!

Just so you know I did test the stove prior to leaving, twice actually, and it continued to work for the first few days of the trip before it started having issues. I do plan on taking it for my next trip.