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R00kie
member (33)member
  
03/21/2021 12:00AM  
Okay soloists there has been a lot on here about what kind of gear and what type of bags so here is a question about how you pack.

Let's say you have two packs CCS Pioneer Pack size and a small day pack/ fanny pack. What goes where? Food and clothes together? You get the idea. Please let us know what works best for you and why.

Thanks!!
 
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TipsyPaddler
distinguished member (315)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/21/2021 06:47AM  
On my 4-5 day solo trips everything fits into a CCS Pioneer pack with room to spare.

Meals are simple boil and/or rehydrate dishes. I don’t like cooking fancy meals and, even more so, doing the clean up/dishes they tend to generate. I don’t fish. I bring a few creature comforts...Helinox chair, saw and/or hatchet, a liter of good whiskey, a few cigars, an Amazon Kindle. Food goes in an Ursack at the top of the pack outside the pack liner.

On longer trips, when I retire and the kids are older, the only thing I would add is more food, fuel and whiskey. If I needed a 2nd Ursack to hold it that would probably get tossed into my CCS Rucksack but that would be a last resort if I couldn’t get it into the Pioneer. I like to single portage or at least the option of it.
 
03/21/2021 07:34AM  
I double portage and carry a smaller pack with the canoe. I try to keep the smaller pack light, but with no particular format other than keeping things I want more accessible during the day in the smaller pack since it sits right in front of me. Otherwise things that are lighter and bulkier in it. A lot of small things I want accessible are in PFD or clothing pockets.

Like tipsy, my meals are very simple add water meals and I carry it in Ursacks with OPsacks. Packs are waterproof/lined. Clothes are in waterproof compression stuff sack. I usually go for 2 weeks+ though and take no cigars/whiskey nor chair/hatchet. I usually go in mid-to-late Sept. so carry gear and clothing appropriate to that.
 
Minnesotian
distinguished member(2309)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/21/2021 09:47AM  

Two packs.

70 liter Sea-to-Summit dry bag. Gets loaded up right behind my seat in the canoe. Contains sleeping bag, tent, cooking gear, clothing, tarp, book/whiskey, gravity water filter, cooking grate (Quetico), hatchet (late September/October trips) and other various small things all in their own separate dry bags, especially the clothes and sleeping bag.

35 liter Jansport backpack from about 20 years ago. Gets loaded directly in front of me, and I can slide it forward or backward in the canoe, depending on the wind conditions. Contains either my food in an Ursack or a Bearvault, depending on what I have heard. I also only do heat water meals, also known as Freezer Bag Cooking. Both can hold two weeks of food. The Jansport also contains my headlamps, binoculars, navigation tools (maps, compass, GPS), traveling water filter and a spare knife.

I always am wearing my PDF with has another knife as well as my ditch kit and a spare headlamp. I keep my InReach on my PDF as well.

I double portage, taking the 70 liter and 2 paddles over first. Next trip I take the 35 liter and canoe. The fishing rod is strapped into the canoe. If it is a short portage, then I can single portage it by carrying the 35 liter in front.
 
03/21/2021 10:08PM  
I double portage with a CCS Pioneer and I carry the paddles, carabiner my pfd and map to the pack. I wrap 2 paddles in those big flexible gear ties on longer portages. Then I have a mid sized Grade VI rucksack that has first aid, lunch, rain gear etc. I try to keep the weight low her as I carry with the canoe.

This September I'm changing it up and will carry a CCS Wanderer pack with canoe and use 2 other packs with reasonable weight to them. I will be triple portaging a 13 night trip at least until my food is low and I can fold up an ursack and possibly double portage the last 4-5 days. This way I can take some luxuries and not kill my hips with heavy loads.

One tip is to load the pack with lighter things in the bottom and I put the food (bear vault and ursack) towards the top against my back. It makes for a more comfortable carry.
 
03/22/2021 01:18AM  
I don't use two packs but if I did the food and items I needed access to for the day would go in the day pack.
 
straighthairedcurly
distinguished member(1921)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/22/2021 09:31AM  
Everything goes in my bigger pack except the following items for the small daypack:
sunscreen
camera
raincoat
water bottle
small water filter
lunch for the day
sunglasses
reading glasses
map/compass

The goal is to never have to open the bigger pack during the day.
 
03/22/2021 11:55AM  
straighthairedcurly: "
The goal is to never have to open the bigger pack during the day."


That’s a perfect analysis.
 
03/22/2021 12:31PM  
I have about the same amount of pack as you, but a different style.

I have one # 2 Duluth Pack. Probably about the same volume as your Pioneer. It hold 2 bear cannisters side by side with room on top for tent and tarp w/ropes in a long stuff sac. maybe some misc. gear since I got my 28 OZ tent.

My other pack is a simple military-style duffel. It has handle, but no straps. When portaging it rides comfortably on top of the #2 and resting against my neck and head. I don't have to have a hand on it for it to stay put so my hands are free. It has two stuff sacs, one with pad and sleeping bag and one with clothes plus some miscellaneous gear. What is nice about the duffel is that it fits up in the bow allowing me to have all my packs in front of me. I have my seat on rails, so I can move it quite a ways toward the stern for easier paddling and boat control.

Day pack has all the stuff I use while traveling

As my food cannisters empty out I transfer stuff from the duffel to a cannister.

This has worked fine for a 10 day tour. I imagine I could squeeze in a couple more days of food with adding any packs.
 
Wayouttroy
distinguished member (150)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/22/2021 06:52PM  
Badlands Pursuit pack , 1,500 ci, for my cooking gear, rope, dealee bobs, snacks, ect. CCS Bushcrafter pack for hammock,tarp,top, bottom quilts, clothes, rain gear , freeze dried food, alcohol fuel . I bought a Pack Back from Dutchware that will attach to Bushcrafter, I can put shoes, tarp, chair, odds and ends into. I bought an under canoe seat storage for fishing tackle, first aid, water filter. Spare paddle, fishing rod get lashed to canoe. Plan to double portage canoe (Northwind solo) Badlands pack 1st, Bushcrafter pack 2nd. EP 14, June 22 to 29. Hope to have a meal or two of fish.
 
03/23/2021 06:35PM  
No help here. Everything for a week fits into 1 CCS Explorer pack.
 
03/23/2021 11:04PM  
I get everything in one GG Quetico pack. I have a small food barrel (3 gallon pail with gamma seal lid), and everything fits inside except my tackle bag, fishing rods and the usual stuff. Sometimes I will pulk the food barrel out and use it in the bow as ballast of the conditions warrant it. I single portage most of the time so the rods, paddles, map case and PFD are stowed in the canoe, the tackle bag is a GG waist (Fanny) pack that I wear along with the Quetico pack. Here’s the items in the pack:

Food barrel
Red bag: med kit, fire items, rope, tape, patch kits, weather radio, etc.
White bag: clothing, hats, gloves
Blue bag: Mess kit: pots/pans, bowl, mug utensils, fillet knife, stove (isobutane or twig stove), fuel if necessary
Saw
Gravity water filter
Solo tent
Sleeping bag/pad
Rain gear
Video cameras (2) and mounts, spare batteries
Nalgene bottle 1

Not in pack:
Map case( clipped to outside of pack or thwart bar): maps, compass, pens, permit
Yak paddle
Straight shaft paddle
Two fishing rods
Tackle bag
PFD w/ ditch kit in pocket, BDB’s, whistle, energy bar in other pocket
Nalgene bottle 2 (clipped to pack)
Optional: small bait container
Optional: small fish finder (1 lb) with suction cup transducer

I can comfortably handle this load and still single portage. Sometimes I’ll bring a camp chair, tarp or some other luxury items if I plan on covering less distance. Getting a new 2 lb tent this year, which should really cut weight and space!

Tony

 
DanCooke
distinguished member(1271)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/24/2021 07:36PM  
Last Summer 10 days from International Falls to Gunflint Lake Paddling a Northstar Pheonix.
2 Packs- One CCS Pioneer , One rucksack,

Pioneer Pack contents.
Exped downmat, Down sleeping bag with silk Liner
Homemade Tent, Helinox chair, clothes, 1 extra pair of shoes for camp, Rainjacket and pants, first aid kit. Spare Maps and maps not needed for the day. Headlamp, Spare batteries.

Rucksack contents
My food for 11 Days in BV500 Bear Vault, MSR reactor stovekit 3 (Three 8 oz iso propane canisters.), MSR water purifier, 1 nalgene water bottle, CCS kitchen mesh bag with Squishy bowl, spoon,matches. Dish soap, scrubby.

Camera in PFD pocket, Nalgene rested in saddle bag of seat pad along with glasses, sunscreen and lip balm. 2 paddles one spoon blade whitewater, one bent shaft. One paddle attached to the top of canoe cover along with the current maps in map case.

Typically carried the canoe and Rucksack across first then came pack for the Pioneer pack and paddles. Then helped with carrying another load and or watched the toddler of my tripping partners.

 
03/26/2021 12:22PM  
I tend to bring more gear and more food than a lot of other solo paddlers for several reasons, so tend to have an extra pack, but one practice I adopted years ago is to have one pack with my tent and everything that goes in the tent (sleeping bag, pad, clothes, Luci lamp, books, etc.) and one bag that has my tarp and everything that goes under my tarp (saw, axe, cook stuff, chair, etc). When I get to camp, I drop one pack by the fire pit and the other on my chosen tent pad. Minimizes walking around and confusion of what’s where.
 
PineKnot
distinguished member(2021)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/28/2021 06:15PM  
Jaywalker: "I tend to bring more gear and more food than a lot of other solo paddlers for several reasons, so tend to have an extra pack, but one practice I adopted years ago is to have one pack with my tent and everything that goes in the tent (sleeping bag, pad, clothes, Luci lamp, books, etc.) and one bag that has my tarp and everything that goes under my tarp (saw, axe, cook stuff, chair, etc). When I get to camp, I drop one pack by the fire pit and the other on my chosen tent pad. Minimizes walking around and confusion of what’s where. "


Similar strategy. Most of my trips range from 12-16 days. Smaller pack contains all my clothing, bag, pad, personal items, books, slippers-everything that goes in the tent, minus the tent. My large pack has everything else. The lid on my large pack has two zippered pockets and can detach--the lid contains my fishing gear, sunscreen, bug dope, snack food/gorp which is easy to access so no need to get into main pack till at camp....
 
03/28/2021 07:46PM  
Food and cook kit (minus fuel) in 30L blue barrel/harness carried with canoe. Rest of gear in Kondos Outfitter Special. Small under seat bag with small tackle box, rain gear and camera.
 
03/28/2021 09:30PM  
Blatz: "No help here. Everything for a week fits into 1 CCS Explorer pack."


More or less similar...my pack has a little less volume than the CCS Explorer, but regardless, I'm in one pack. Dog for balance in the front.
 
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