So I have my portage pack and a hiking pack we will use.

Certainly I can pack this and be fine, but there are so many small pieces, how do you section off the insides of the bags to always know where things are?

Rope, tools, touletries, glasses... do you have a smaller bag for fire starting + tools, another for clothes, another for tent gear, another for....

I think the answer is yes but any good tips or strategies are welcome!

Within my Grand Portage Pack, I have four Sealline dry bags, two are roll-top (one for sleeping bag which is compressed in a CCS ridge line stuffsack & one for less compressible clothing) & two are compression style (one for tent/tarps & the other for compressible clothing). In addition to these, I have loose my sleeping pad, pillow, chair, lantern, a drawstring bag containing cordage & stakes, in addition to other stuff I may put in the bag loose as space allows. This pack is also lined with a Piragis roll-top liner.

My ‘backpack’ has a roll top sealline bag & within this I have gear organized in drawstring bags/other pouches.

My Kitchen Pack has a Piragis liner & then I organize my food within by use of gallon sized freezer bags. I tried out using stiff cardboard to organize this pack though I found that it inhibits the food pack from shrinking over time & it just made for excess bulk.

My CCS bag has a fishing bag at the bottom holding fishing + camera gear & on top of this goes a roll top sealline duffle style bag which holds my battery bank (used to hold camera gear).

The Piragis liners are pretty awesome & durable. Drawstring silnylon bags are lightweight & if the seams are sealed they will only allow water in through one opening, making them fairly watertight. I take care to not place my dry bags on the ground to prevent wear, opting instead to put beneath them my sleeping pad or ground cloth/a pack when loading/unloading them. I’m a fan of the ridge line stuff sack from CCS for tent/tarps though it also works well for sleeping bag which I feel like I’m less likely to damage with the ‘two-step stuff’ of the CCS sack vs the included stuff sack.

I also have the Duluth Pack all day hip pack & this holds my first aid kit in the outer pouch & I keep dry shoes + clothes in the main compartment (I put these in a dry bag & the shoes in an internal bag to keep stuff clean).

I group things by purpose, with each "group" getting their own dry bag. Clothes in one, toiletries in another, cookware in another, etc. The only exception to this are the biggest items like sleeping bag, hammock, sleeping pad, etc. Those get packed individually. This method means I only need to dig through a small bag when I need something instead of my whole pack.

I do this with food too. Each meal gets packed in its own quart ziploc bag, but then those get put into three 1 or 2 gallon ziplocs - breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I have some different color stuff sacks (easy ID) for small stuff - kitchen, personal items/toiletries/etc, gear repair/etc, first aid. The tent, tarp are in their bags, the sleeping bag/sleep clothes in an Sea-to-Summit eVent compression stuff sack, and clothes in another, ditch kit in PDF, daily odds and ends in pockets. Food is in Ursacks, camp shoes in plastic bag. Butt/kneeling pad slid down the back of pack. Mapcase attached to pack, water bottle carabinered to pack. My food is pretty much layered by day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

I think most everybody has some variation of this theme.

My gear is arranged in the following kits, labeled and contained within the smallest dry bag that'll accommodate:

Fire - backup stove, fuel, ferro rod, lighter, backup fire starters
Clean - TP, Basic H, scrubber
Towel / toiletries - Pack Towel, microfibers, toiletries
Bug - ThermaCELL, bug dope, backup headnets
Eat - Fancy Feast alcohol stove, fuel, Toaks, Fosters mug, sports, OveGlove
H2O - MSR gravity, MSR Drom, extra filter and caps
Gear - knives, headlamp, Gerber multi, battery pack, little ditties (this is an old Ducks unlimited toiletry bag with zippered pockets)

ONE small multi-zippered eagle creek bag for ALL the totally unrelated little stuff. Otherwise I'm just hunting down and losing little ditty bags everywhere. Nice to keep it all in ONE SPOT - to the extent that is reasonable.

NotLight: "ONE small multi-zippered eagle creek bag for ALL the totally unrelated little stuff. Otherwise I'm just hunting down and losing little ditty bags everywhere. Nice to keep it all in ONE SPOT - to the extent that is reasonable.

I'm a fan of the Crown Royal felt drawstring bags to separate items, keeping the most used items handy and packing them at the top of the pack. And they come in different colors depending on the size/flavor you get. I really enjoy collecting them!

"

NotLight: "ONE small multi-zippered eagle creek bag for ALL the totally unrelated little stuff. Otherwise I'm just hunting down and losing little ditty bags everywhere. Nice to keep it all in ONE SPOT - to the extent that is reasonable.

I'm a fan of the Crown Royal felt drawstring bags to separate items, keeping the most used items handy and packing them at the top of the pack. And they come in different colors depending on the size/flavor you get. I really enjoy collecting them!

"

We use dry sacks but we also use Ziploc bags so we can easily see the items. We write on the outside of the dry packs exactly what’s on the inside and that helps with organization too.

When I pack, everything goes into one pack. Large items go in and the smaller extra's are used to fill in the gaps. I don't know where everything is and haven't ever really needed to. Key items that I may need during travel (i.e. - TP or rain gear) are packed in accessible spots.

Once in camp, everything comes out of the pack. Tent is set up, kitchen is set up and fishing gear assembled. There's a few odd items, bug dope or TP comes to mind, but that's usually just set under a tarp or someplace accessible.

After that I don't really have anything else? Everything I bring gets used.

What items are folks keeping in the pack - once camp is set up?

Speckled: "When I pack, everything goes into one pack. Large items go in and the smaller extra's are used to fill in the gaps. I don't know where everything is and haven't ever really needed to. Key items that I may need during travel (i.e. - TP or rain gear) are packed in accessible spots.


Once in camp, everything comes out of the pack. Tent is set up, kitchen is set up and fishing gear assembled. There's a few odd items, bug dope or TP comes to mind, but that's usually just set under a tarp or someplace accessible.


After that I don't really have anything else? Everything I bring gets used.


What items are folks keeping in the pack - once camp is set up?


"

How long do you stay at camp? Would you do this full unpack even for 2 nights?

rlstoner2004: "

Speckled: "When I pack, everything goes into one pack. Large items go in and the smaller extra's are used to fill in the gaps. I don't know where everything is and haven't ever really needed to. Key items that I may need during travel (i.e. - TP or rain gear) are packed in accessible spots.



Once in camp, everything comes out of the pack. Tent is set up, kitchen is set up and fishing gear assembled. There's a few odd items, bug dope or TP comes to mind, but that's usually just set under a tarp or someplace accessible.



After that I don't really have anything else? Everything I bring gets used.



What items are folks keeping in the pack - once camp is set up?



"

How long do you stay at camp? Would you do this full unpack even for 2 nights?"

Yes - it's done for single nights as well. We've done basecamp trips where it's 2 - 3+ nights and also travel trips where we move every night.

Everything I bring is needed/used. If it stays in the pack i'd figure I didn't need to bring it, with maybe one or two exceptions like rain gear. Below is my list for shoulder season trips.

Our strategy is for two people. Pack 1 is everything that goes inside the tent: clothes, sleeping bags, pads, and some miscellaneous stuff such as books and cards. The advantage of this is that this pack can be completely assembled in the rain with the tent up. And by separating this pack from anything that is wet (such as the tent) the clothes are well protected. We each have a compression dry bag for our clothes and inside of those are stuff sacks to keep our clothes organized.

Pack 2 is the tent, tarp, food, kitchen gear, saw.... The key to this pack are stuff sacks and sometimes stuff sacks inside stuff sacks (e.g. one big stuff sack with all kitchen gear contains smaller sacks with utensils and fire starter stuff).

How the other people on trips pack is generally up to them. I say generally because when taking nieces and nephews we will make suggestions. With a large group of our nephews we did find that 2 people's personal items worked well in a pack. That left plenty of people to carry food and gear.

Hey Speckled! Can't help but notice in that list, do you say that you put the tarp partially overlapping the tent, so you can use it as a sort of "covered porch"? That's a cool idea - never thought of it! Does it work well? I'd worry that rain may run off the tarp and cause extra water to pour onto the tent. Any other tips on that technique?

chiefagikamik: "Hey Speckled! Can't help but notice in that list, do you say that you put the tarp partially overlapping the tent, so you can use it as a sort of "covered porch"? That's a cool idea - never thought of it! Does it work well? I'd worry that rain may run off the tarp and cause extra water to pour onto the tent. Any other tips on that technique?"

Depending on the available trees and tent pad locations, it'll typically cover the full tent. Sometimes the feet area or one side will be partially left exposed, but it's minimal exposure. The tent has a great rainfly and fortunately I have had any issues with water. Just make sure you're not funneling the water uphill from your tent and you'll be fine. Selecting a good tent pad area helps for sure.

Just speaking to my group trips here...my soloes are much, much simpler. I have a GSI zipper pouch of kitchen gear that holds all eating and cooking utensils, fire starting, salt/pepper and clean up materials. Our pot kit holds our stove inside as well. Food is in color coded bags. Each person has a stuff sack for their sleeping bag/pad and clothing. First aid kit bag also houses repair kit items. If we are hanging food instead of using Ursacks, we have a bear hanging kit. The bag for the tarp houses spare stakes and paracord line. The water filter kit is housed in a small case/bag. Personal items needed during the day are either hung from the outside of my husband's pack basket or kept in PFD pockets.

Packs: Pack basket holds cooking pots, saw, 1st aid kit and my husbands spare clothes (he gets cold easily). Our food bags get packed in a 55L Earthpak, and everything else gets packed in a Sealline 115L. Dry shoes are kept separate from the clothing bags and used to stuff into empty gaps as the other gear fills the pack.

I have a friend that likes the zippered CCS organizer bags...I'd like to get a few of those too. I have a set of smaller stuff sacks that I got from REI and in my day pack the small one is first aid, medium is snacks/food, and large is extra clothes that I may need while paddling. I've also got a small bag for anything electronic like GPS, extra battery, headlight.

Our trips are two people, single portage. I carry the canoe (with PFDs) while also carrying a 60-liter Sea to Summit drybag pack that contains our sleeping bags, air mattresses, two puffy-jackets/pillows, and a small drybag pouch containing passports, permits, ID, money,car keys, etc. Tia carries a Kelty Super Tioga pack with dry bags of food (color coded for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinks, etc), and drybags with first aid kit and clothes. She's also carrying the tent, dining fly, bear bag rig, cook set (which holds the stove, pot grip, cleaning supplies, lighters, etc), fuel cannisters, water filter, repair kit, 2 water bottles, and toilet kit. On our recent trip she started with ~55 pounds and I started with ~65 pounds of portage weight.

TZ

For a two person trip we take one portage pack and one 60L barrel in a barrel pack.
In portage pack: 2 sleeping bags, 2 sleep pads, tent, tarp, one medium to small stuff sack for each person containing extra clothes, head lamp, & misc. stuff, 2 small camp chairs. Rain gear, TP double bagged with lighter & hand sanitizer, & filled water bottles are stored on the top, under the flap of the pack.
In the barrel: Food (in three stuff sacks each a different color for the three meals); cook pot filled with stove (canister type), utensils, soap, cups, & other small items which can fit inside the pot; fry pan at very bottom of barrel, wind screen for stove, dry shoes, head nets (rarely if ever where headsets during the day, once in camp there accessible; cozies (boil in a bag cooking), bowl for whipping up desserts, folding saw, gloves (for use with saw), & reading material. Except for the food, most of the items are stored loose in the barrel
On top of barrel lid, under pack zippered pocket: filter system (easily accessible to fill as we approach our campsite), fishing tackle & trowel (where it can't poke other items.
In top pocket of barrel pack: first aid kit, sunscreen, sunglasses, camera, bug juice, more TP, & a plastic container holding the day's lunch items.
I've found the barrel pack to be quite useful with the extra space under the top pocket and the pocket itself. As usual CCS products are well designed and well constructed.
As you can visualize there are no loose items in the canoe other than the pfds and map case.

A lot of good ideas from the posts above so I will limit what I say. I consider Portage North Cook Kit Bags essential. They make them in S, M and L. I bought one of each. Last trip we had good sized group and I brought two dragonfly stoves and several pots. I used the large and medium cook kit bags. In the large I put plates at bottom, 3.3L pot, put what I could fit in pot, dish soap, dish rag, drying rag, lighters, silverware, pot holders, dragonfly stove, maintenance kit for stove, matches, net bag for drying dishes, many serving utensils, bowls & etc. Just pull the drawstring and you have everything you need to cook and clean dishes all in one bag. The medium bag had 2.5 L pot, dragonfly stove and other misc. items.

I also like CCS toiletry bag for items such as floss, toothpaste, toothbrush, medicine & etc.

I also bring Seal Line dry bag in either 5L or 10L to roll up and snap around canoe thwart. I put eyeglass cleaner, bug juice, sunscreen, bear spray, Inreach & etc in it.

At end of last trip I walked into Piragis store and bought an Air Zipp Sack 5L by Granite Gear. I will use it to put headlamps, weather radio, phone, earbuds, charging cables, Anker power bank & small misc items in it. It could also replace the CCS toiletry bag if I got another one.

NEIowapaddler: "I group things by purpose, with each "group" getting their own dry bag. Clothes in one, toiletries in another, cookware in another, etc. The only exception to this are the biggest items like sleeping bag, hammock, sleeping pad, etc. Those get packed individually. This method means I only need to dig through a small bag when I need something instead of my whole pack.

I do this with food too. Each meal gets packed in its own quart ziploc bag, but then those get put into three 1 or 2 gallon ziplocs - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. "

Similar methodology.
SealLine Boundary Pak 115 gets most of the gear.
Gear is combination of free floating, wax canvas bags, dirty sacks and dry bags.
I have a dirty sack for all my cordage, ridgelines, carabineers and stakes.
I have another dirty sack with all my repair items

Duck tape, tenacious tape, AquaSeal FD+, super glue, etc

Small first aid kit. Big first aid Tupperware when I am in groups.

Lantern, Fuel, hatchet, chair, cutting board, cook kit, bowls, cups, tarps, etc.


Then a frameless backpacking pack with all my sleeping gear.
Sleeping bag, hammock and blanket all individual compression dry bags.
Also holds misc items: ThermaCELL, micro lantern, fuel canister
Most of the time, here's what's left...

5 gal bucket with Gamma Lid for dry food... all ziplock inside
IceMule soft cooler for meat and dairy
Dry bag with clothes

Dry bag 20L Go bag with all my jazz like knives, bug dope, toilet paper, snack, extra lighter, binoculars, VHF radios, bath kit in micro dry bag, head net, sunscreen, flare gun, etc.

Folding Agawa 21 saw

Fishing rods and tackle crate

Anchor

The stuff I will use first gets packed on top.
In the backpack, the tarp will be the first up, then hammock, and then sleeping bag and blanket under.

In the portage pack, the cordage and tarps are on the top.
Ditty bags are color coded and easy to find.

The SealLine Boundary Bags are rubberized and completely bombproof. I have been using 2 since 1990 or so.
I really like the Sea2Summit Big River dry bags. Very robust and yet lightweight and very fabric-like.