Click to View the Full Thread

Author	Message Text
TravisC	04/13/2018 07:13PM   Hey all, We're planning an 11 day trip in Quetico in early August with a 40 lb dog in a 17' RX Penobscot. I've done plenty of river trips using Cabela's dry bags, but this trip is going to require more portaging than what I've typically done and our first trip to the area. It's also our first trip with a dog who can at times get restless. So, we're considering upgrading our gear and wondering whether to get barrels or packs. Any recommendations?
awbrown	04/13/2018 07:27PM   I use both. Packs for most. Barrels for food.
BlueBarrel	04/13/2018 07:57PM   +1 We too use barrels for food and Duluth style packs for the rest.
boonie	04/13/2018 09:06PM   I just use packs, but my food (even for a longer solo trip) is not enough to require a separate pack of its own. How do you plan to protect your food in camp - bear canisters/Ursacks, hanging, stashing?
GraniteCliffs	04/13/2018 09:24PM   Travis, I am a little confused by your question. Are you simply asking how to pack your gear including your food---in big blue barrel or in a pack of some sort, or are you asking how to pack your food - bear vaults or a Ursack type of pack? Or, perhaps, both?
TravisC	04/13/2018 09:24PM   In terms of protection from bears, that's one of the factors we're still considering and which led me to consider getting barrels. Open to recommendations. We are hoping to camp on smaller islands, but will likely be connected to larger expanses of land at various points as well.
TravisC	04/13/2018 09:28PM   GraniteCliffs: "Travis, I am a little confused by your question. Are you simply asking how to pack your gear including your food---in big blue barrel or in a pack of some sort. Or, are you asking how to pack your food--Bearvaluts or a Ursack type of pack? Or, perhaps, both?" Fair enough. Tbh, I'm trying to figure out how to best pack for this trip period. My experiences are river tripping 7-12 days, including lake travel, in northern Ontario and Manitoba and Texas. We probably should have taken more precautions for bears than we did in the north, but never ran into trouble. Portages were minimal and we were on a tight budget, so we did with dry bags we had. I'm new to the Boundary Waters/Quetico region and to purely lake travel with so many portages, so trying to get a better sense of what more experienced trippers do so I can make some informed decisions about the gear I should upgrade to, or even if I need to upgrade (though the portages seems to indicate a pretty strong "yes")
Bannock	04/14/2018 12:55AM   BlueBarrel: "+1 We too use barrels for food and Duluth style packs for the rest." +2
Birdknowsbest	04/14/2018 12:43AM   Get a Cooke Custom Sewing food pack. Way more comfortable to portage than a barrel. Your back will thank you. Yes, you should be wary of bears, but I assume your dog will let you know one is near before you know its there.
billconner	04/14/2018 06:45AM   Barrels or packs - stash or hang - is a classic issue for debate. I love my CCS Deluxe food pack, and a hanger, but seems there is at least a slight majority that prefers barrels and stashing. I find the food pack more comfortable to carry and we look forward to the hanging ritual. Others seem to detest it.
Carpy	04/14/2018 11:12AM   I use white plastic buckets, I use the 7 1/2 gallon size combined with Gama lids for all the food. Dry bags and 55 gal heavy trash bag lined GI duffel bags for everything else. You can twist and knot the bags so they will float if you swamp.
thlipsis29	04/14/2018 12:14PM   I use both. Bought CCS barrel packs for both 30 liter and 60 liter barrels and they work great. I also used 1/2 closed cell foam to insulate the barrels and that makes a huge difference in keeping things cold throughout the trip (you can find a template for them on this site somewhere). The one thing that has been pointed out on this site multiple times is that the blue barrels are NOT bear-proof. They do substantially reduce the likelihood of a bear finding somthing if sealed properly, but any foodstuff or residue on the outside can still attract a bear. I just got tired of bring all the gear to hang the packs and discovered that squirrels and chipmunks are a greater nuisance and I don't have to worry about them at all with the barrels.
Birdknowsbest	04/14/2018 12:19PM   In all of my trips bears have never been an issue. It is squirrels and other small critters I am worried about getting into my food more than bears.
unshavenman	04/14/2018 02:18PM   Stephmed: "The blue barrels you guys are talking about are they the Harmony Waterproof barrels? " Yep.
yellowcanoe	04/14/2018 08:03AM   I think it depends on what you fall into and how your tripping style evolves I started with packs and then had all sorts of troubles with Algonquin red squirrels. There are plenty of places to buy barrels in Canada and they were cheap back then.. so barrel it was Now sometimes on river trips its a York Box.
unshavenman	04/14/2018 08:21AM   I personally trip with CCS Pioneer Packs and either a 30L (for two people) or 60L (for four people) blue barrel that is stored in a CCS deluxe food pack which also contains my kitchen. Once in camp the blue barrel gets tied to a tree away from camp.
mc2mens	04/14/2018 09:17AM   I use a combination of CCS and Granite Gear portage packs with additional waterproof stuff sacks and liners inside the portage packs to carry and store gear and clothing. And I use 30L blue barrels to carry food, wine, etc. 1 barrel for 2-3 people, 2 barrels for 4 or more. We cable lock the blue barrels to a tree in camp and they remain there for the week. At night we place pots and pans on top of the barrels. In the event a bear wants to get into the barrels, we're likely to hear the pots and pans rattle. After 12 years of doing this, haven't heard the pots and pans rattle yet. I keep a clean camp.
Stephmed	04/14/2018 10:11AM   The blue barrels you guys are talking about are they the Harmony Waterproof barrels?
Jackfish	04/14/2018 11:00AM   We simply use CCS Pioneer packs with clear contractor bag liners. We bring very little fresh food - maybe some lettuce, shredded cheese, etc. for fish tacos, but that gets eaten early in the trip. Our meals are packaged by meal in Ziploc bags and packed on top of each of our packs. When we get to camp, one of the packs gets used as the food pack and is hung in a tree. No bear vaults for us.
bobbernumber3	04/14/2018 11:12AM   You may want to spend a little more time thinking about taking a dog to the Q and Canada... not sure of the regulations. There are several threads that have discussed the issue. dogs
dentondoc	04/14/2018 11:33AM   I've used packs, blue barrels and bear vaults for food storage. However, in the past half-dozen or so years, I've switched to Gamma(2) Vittles Vault storage. They come in a variety of sizes and have gamma seals embedded in screw-down lids. I place these in a pack, and having a square shape, they pack and stack reasonably well. In camp, they are generally just parked around the food prep area. I might add that I typically paddle in areas where bears are not habituated to the extent that there is a strong human-food association (once I'm away from the put-in area) and I do make an effort to keep a clean camp (and either burn or bury food scraps well away from my campsite). Clearly this is not a bear "proof" arrangement, but over the years my main adversary has always been the smaller critters. dd
butthead	04/14/2018 11:22AM   "I'm new to the Boundary Waters/Quetico region and to purely lake travel with so many portages, so trying to get a better sense of what more experienced trippers do so I can make some informed decisions about the gear I should upgrade to, or even if I need to upgrade (though the portages seems to indicate a pretty strong "yes")" Bear problems generally increase with the amount of visitor traffic. Quetico get 1/10 what BWCA does. I've traveled both regularly and have only seen 3 bears across lakes. Bags hung from trees, barrel or bear container (the difference is barrels are not bear proof) stashed in bush, are most commonly used. Most folks on this site recommend portage packs. I'm not one, preferring to use hiking backpacks, REI Traverse Ptarmigan, CampTrails Torrid2, currently a Granite Gear Nimbus Trace. Really any backpack will work well to get you by the first few trips, so if you have backpacks I'd suggest use them, decide on need to upgrade latter. You will wind up taking/using less/lighter/more pack friendly gear. How much depends on how you want to travel. Some go heavy planning on basecamps, some light for travelling all trip, and many in between. Packing is a regular topic, comes up very often. A search or 2 on this site will result in tons of options and opinions. butthead
HighnDry	04/14/2018 04:28PM   You can also find them online if you key in "food storage barrels". They can be cheaper.
OldFingers57	04/14/2018 06:16PM   Stephmed: "The blue barrels you guys are talking about are they the Harmony Waterproof barrels? " There is also this site that sells them. Recreational Barrel Works
boonie	04/14/2018 10:45AM   TravisC: "In terms of protection from bears, that's one of the factors we're still considering and which led me to consider getting barrels. Open to recommendations. We are hoping to camp on smaller islands, but will likely be connected to larger expanses of land at various points as well. " I asked because there are lots of options; people do it different ways. Which one will suit you best will depend. The methods for bear protection are generally hanging or stashing, although various alternatives are employed. Islands are no safer than the mainland - bears are good swimmers. Half the bears I've seen in the BW (1 of 2) was swimming. Just as important, keep a clean camp and don't camp where there are know bear problems or signs of bears. I used a dry bag when I first started and hung it. I rented a "bear canister" once in the ADK's, then bought a Garcia because I found not having to hang the dry bag much simpler, as well as more protective. I later bought a BearVault bear canister so I have two. They are not large, but I only take dehydrated meals and calorie dense foods that aren't too bulky, so it works for me. I eventually learned how to get 7-9 days (1 person) of food in one with different types/packaging, but YMMV. A few years ago, I got two Ursacks to replace those because they are lighter. They hold about the same. For comparison, the canisters/Ursacks hold about 11-12 liters. I just put them in my pack. I stash them a short distance outside of camp, generally following the instructions for their use. I can get my food (1 person solo) for a 12-day trip in two of them pretty easily, but you'll have 22 "person days" of food, plus dog food. I don't know how much bulk or weight your food will come to, but maybe you have some idea from the dry bag sizes you have used in the past. The food I take averages about 1.25 lbs. per day that provides 2,300 +/- calories for comparison. I have no experience with the blue barrels, but they do come in 30L and 60L sizes. They are not as protective as the canisters or Ursacks, i.e., are not "approved" bear resistant containers for any place such as Yosemite that requires them. If you get blue barrels, you'll need to either put them in a pack or get a harness to carry it, so you're going to need packs (or harnesses) either way. You may want to look around for used packs. As far as portaging, I "double portage" since I cannot carry my canoe and all my gear and food one trip. It also means I walk each portage 3x, but only 2 with a load. I don't know whether you'll single, double, triple, 1 1/2 portage, but whatever you do, your gear and food, must be packed in the proper number of loads, which for me is two, so I have a very small pack and canoe one load and a heavy one the other trip. A search here will find lots of threads on hanging, stashing, barrels, canisters, Ursacks, and various kinds of foods/meals, etc. Good luck! And keep asking questions as you go.
Grandma L	04/14/2018 08:38PM   Like the guys said - blue barrels for food - Duluth style packs for the rest. Blue barrels are VERY comfortable if you do it right and have a harness or pack with appropriate padding. And yes, they are water proof.