Who has oddball ideas for gear that works? Stuff that serves multiple purposes? I was down Hog Creek on 6/16 and back up on 6/21 and got to try some goofy stuff. (BTW, no beaver dams totally blocked going down stream, but had to get out and push over a couple going back up.) Perent was very quiet and lots of 12-inch walleye were hitting on silver Shadraps with colors. We practiced catch and release. And hammer handles...

So: I have placed into my Duluth Pack Deluxe Camp Kitchen, two small soft-sided coolers. I insulated the bottom half of the pack with a cheap Coleman closed cell pad cut to size. Then some flat items including a cast aluminum griddle and a thermal tarp ala' Osthoff. Everything that could be frozen rock hard was, and cooler #2 never got opened until day 4. The rib-eyes from Zups were still at 40 degrees on Friday night - but it was cool that week. On top of the coolers I added an 18" Granite Wear covered oval broiler...

The broiler gave the top of the pack some structure. Also, I packed all the crushable stuff in it. Apples, Cuties, bread and buns and farm eggs in a keeper. Best of all, if you are carrying a two burner Coleman stove? You can fill this pan with water and heat it covered, for killer dish washing. The pan and its lid also make great places to put stuff while cooking.

A couple other tries I liked were four 12" pieces of pool noodle. They grip the gunwale of the canoe right where your knees hit. They also make swell structure marker buoys with a small lead weight and a little fish line added and finally, you can tuck 'em in the underside of your sleeping pad to fight roll off on un-level ground.

Last? I brought a 6-24 foot telescoping painter's pole. Not my idea originally but some folks just go short. I have never had a quicker, easier time getting the bear ropes set. I use a 2-sided double pulley system and was able to get a heavy pack with mucho fresh food, hung 12 feet up and 8 feet out from two fairly marginal Cedar trees in record time. That pole is light and I ball-bungee tied it to the spare paddle. It also held up the middle of the hunker tarp and I used it once to follow a line down and retrieve a snagged lure.

What works for you? Some stuff might not be single-portage ready, but I go to Perent to base camp and my partner was a canoewbie. It was a great trip and the sand swimming beach on the South Shore just East of the Perent River was in good shape!

One of the best ideas I've ever gotten off this site (and I got it years ago) is using basketball nets for an anchor sack.

Tie off the bottom and put a decent sized rock inside the net. Grab all the top loops (the loops that would normally attach to the hoop) and thread your anchor rope through the loops and tie a good knot. I usually use a bowline, but other knots can work. You could also use a carabiner to hold all the loops, then tie your anchor rope to that.

Just like that - you have an anchor. We use two when we're fishing.

Jackfish: "One of the best ideas I've ever gotten off this site (and I got it years ago) is using basketball nets for an anchor sack. "

Bonus tip for this:

Buy some parachute cord and tie a loop knot in the ends. One end you connect to the carabiner clip on the basketball net anchor. Then tie a knot every five feet in the parachute cord. Now you have a make shift rope that will give you an idea how deep you are based on how many loops you count going into the water. Then take the loop on the other end of the rope not connected to anchor, loop it around the thwart and clip it (using another carabiner) to the nearest 5 ft loop you have on the rope. I usually have about 30 ft of anchor cord after the knots, I figure I won't be anchoring in anything really deeper than that.

Yep, mesh bag or net anchor is a good one. I put a few wraps or duct tape on our food barrel in a single strip. Doesn't weigh anything and not in the way. If I ever need some I pull off a short length.

Been reading about them since Boys' Life 45+ years ago and never tried them 'till a couple years ago - the fibrous egg carton/paraffin/cotton ball fire starters. I'm pretty sure you could set fire to a pile of wet sponges with one. I pop 5-6 of them in a small zip lock and we're golden!

ParkerMag: "Been reading about them since Boys' Life 45+ years ago and never tried them 'till a couple years ago - the fibrous egg carton/paraffin/cotton ball fire starters. I'm pretty sure you could set fire to a pile of wet sponges with one. I pop 5-6 of them in a small zip lock and we're golden!"

As long as I can remember we've made and used those. Today we save dryer lint and then make them that way. Wood shavings from woodworking work very well, too.

I kneel while canoeing and use the cheap foam knee pads rather than a pad. They cost about $5 and weight nothing. They also saved my knees after falling on a wet portage, Bonus.

Threading cord through the thwarts allows me to quickly stow paddles for portages and to temporarily stow loose items such as rain jacket or head net while paddling without worrying about them blowing away or laying in the bottom of the canoe.

Well, I put a few tie downs on my canoes wherever there's already a hole drilled. And I found many years ago that putting my dish soap in contact case makes it leak proof and small.