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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Listening Point - General Discussion :: Can't live without despite weight
 
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fitgers1
07/10/2017 12:18AM
 
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.

 
QueticoMike
07/10/2017 07:56AM
 
My tackle box :)
 
A1t2o
07/10/2017 08:27AM
 
quote QueticoMike: "My tackle box :)"


That doesn't count.
 
Stimpy
07/08/2017 02:17PM
 
Ha! We can't seem to live without them either. They go on every trip. Must be a southern Iowa boy thing.
 
WHendrix
07/09/2017 01:56PM
 
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
 
Frenchy19
07/09/2017 02:51PM
 
Myself.
 
offroadjeeper
07/08/2017 01:14PM
 
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.
 
shock
07/08/2017 03:24PM
 
i would add bacon to that list ,
 
Savage Voyageur
07/08/2017 05:04PM
 
Lots of fishing tackle, my fish finder, a cast iron fry pan, and a 2-Nalgenes of whiskey.
 
mutz
07/08/2017 05:59PM
 
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.
 
mr.barley
07/08/2017 06:23PM
 
Whiskey.
 
2rivers
07/08/2017 07:45PM
 
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

 
VoyageurNorth
07/09/2017 03:18AM
 
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 , "
 
Spartan2
07/09/2017 06:36AM
 
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.



 
TominMpls
07/16/2017 11:10PM
 
Nobody has yet said their spouse :-P
 
carmike
07/16/2017 11:15PM
 
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.
 
Spartan2
07/17/2017 07:46AM
 
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. ;-)
 
riverrunner
07/17/2017 09:06AM
 
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.
 
Thwarted
07/16/2017 04:26PM
 
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.
 
Frenchy19
07/16/2017 08:23PM
 
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!!!
 
Arcola
07/14/2017 09:06PM
 
The Gransfors small splitter; sharp enough to chop with in a pinch and splits better than an #8lb. traditional maul.
 
4keys
07/14/2017 09:47AM
 
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.
 
nctry
07/13/2017 07:13AM
 
quote A1t2o: "quote QueticoMike: "My tackle box :)"



That doesn't count."





Have you seen his tackle box?
 
QueticoMike
07/13/2017 08:51AM
 
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.
 
QueticoMike
07/12/2017 08:39AM
 
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?
 
Papinator
08/07/2017 09:36AM
 
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!!
 
BasecampMom
07/18/2017 06:37PM
 
Our REI Flexlite Chairs, and a box of wine.
 
Great Melinko
07/11/2017 07:19PM
 
Beer.
 
Duckman
07/11/2017 08:28PM
 
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.
 
Northwoodsman
07/10/2017 10:01PM
 
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.
 
QueticoMike
07/11/2017 07:54AM
 
quote A1t2o: "quote QueticoMike: "My tackle box :)"



That doesn't count."



OK, vodka then......
 
john 800
07/10/2017 06:59PM
 
Tang and vodka
Two fishing poles
A deapth finder
 
ozarkpaddler
07/10/2017 08:01PM
 
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."




 
SaganagaJoe
07/11/2017 12:01AM
 
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.



 
bhouse46
07/10/2017 09:11AM
 
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.
 
2rivers
07/10/2017 09:52AM
 
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.
 
Jaywalker
07/09/2017 08:57PM
 
Olive oil and whiskey. Not necessarily in that order.
 
GreyOwl
07/10/2017 07:33AM
 
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.
 
A1t2o
07/10/2017 08:06AM
 
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.
 
SammyN
07/10/2017 02:25PM
 
quote shock: "i would add bacon to that list , "


Shock:
What is the recipe of that concoction?


Thanks!
 
Jeriatric
07/10/2017 02:44PM
 
At my age, a roomy tent and a comfortable camp chair are not luxuries, they are necessities.
 
nakor
07/09/2017 10:10AM
 
Inflatable twin mattress. Worth every ounce.

 
BigTim
07/09/2017 10:16AM
 
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.
 
HansSolo
07/09/2017 11:50AM
 

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