-It really pays to have your own packs. You can load them up at home and save lots of work at the outfitters. CCS totally rocks! This was the maiden voyage for my #4 Canoeist and my Pathfinder Thwart Bag. 5 stars for both. Don’t rule Duluth Pack out either, my #270 worked great for Grandpa and Jon’s personal gear and was comfortable to portage. It doesn’t have leather straps. I’m not sure what the material is.

-I was pleasantly surprised at my $30, 2 person, 7x7 Ozark Trail tent. My budget would not allow for a Timberline, my first choice, but I could not pass on this tent at this price. It is actually a fantastic little tent especially for the price and had plenty of room for two people. It was more crowded for us because I had a lot of my gear inside between us. I used a cheap blue tarp as a ground cloth inside the tent. It packed up really small too. As funny as it sounds I highly recommend it. I can’t wait to see how many years I get out of it. If it goes, hey, I’ll probably just buy another one. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on gear if you don’t want to.

-Hockey duffels actually work quite well for the portages. We used one to store our folding chairs (an essential for the seniors on our trip) and tents. If you don’t load it too heavy it actually is rather straightforward to portage. I have yet to test it on a sizable portage as our portages were 35 and 20 rods respectively on this trip.

-Bisquick pancakes and Tang will be main staples on all future trips. I continue to believe in summer sausage lunches, hot dogs for the first night (hardly any cleanup), and peanut butter bagels for the last morning.

-Another shout out for our stoves that screw on top of a can of Coleman propane gas. We never had a issue with our reliable, sturdy and efficient stoves.

-The Ace contractor bucket was wonderful for dish washing, well worth the extra hassle of bringing it along. On the fourth day of the trip I had a life changing idea for packing the supply pack. I will test it next year and let you know how it goes. It will involve among other things a better way to pack the bucket.

-Don’t be scared of the motors on Saganaga, there’s not as many as you expect. Saganaga is a great lake for camping and paddling, just know it may be some work in a strong headwind.

-My faithful Ozark Trail sturdy sandals, three trips old, let me down this trip. Although they were good for fishing and portaging, the bugs ate my feet up and gave me a lot of discomfort on this trip. I need to look into a new footwear option.