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04/07/2018 10:37AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
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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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?




04/07/2018 08:09PM  
I remember way back when I first started going to deer camp with my Dad and Brother. We would go for 10-14 days at a time.
Camp was about 4 miles down a two-track and about 20 miles from the nearest gas station. Dad was always fond of saying that, "We don't leave camp unless something bad happens."
Everything we needed for two weeks was hauled in. Very seldom did we ever come out of the bush.
Those were my fondest memories. Of course as we all got older things changed. I began to take over the planning and I had the camper and the tools.
I then learned how much effort Dad had put into deer camp. It was tough those first few years, I was always forgetting things. It didn't take long for me to figure out how to plan everything to a tee.
a few weeks before departure date I would set up the entire camp in my backyard. I would then run scenarios and discover what was missing. Countless hours was spent formulating plans and sitting in my makeshift camp sipping hot coffee or a cold beer as I visualized each and every scenario from weather to water to firewood.

It paid off in the end and we had some awesome camps.

For this years BWCA trip we are running an overnight canoe trip on a river here near home to test all of our equipment and make sure we are ready.
It will also give my son and I a chance to work the bugs out of our paddling.

I can't begin to express how excited I am for this trip.
04/07/2018 08:44PM  
Yeah, I can tell you're excited :) Just you and your son? Where you going?

Your experience planning those deer camps will be very helpful in planning this trip. It's hard to appreciate how much effort goes into planning something like this until you do it.

I'll send you an email with some experiences, thoughts, and information that you'll find interesting and hopefully useful. No sense in clogging up the thread with it though.

Hope you have a good trip!
cyclones30
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04/07/2018 09:37PM  
I'm a planner along with my wife. We like figuring out which EP to go to next then. Then figuring out routes and marking campsite ratings on a map.

We also have a large wall map of the entire park in our kitchen. Easy to glance over anytime
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.
pswith5
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04/08/2018 07:51PM  
I draw the line at spread sheets. But, I do like to plan much more than my trip-mates. I pack and UNpack many times before I go.
 
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