| Equipment » Portable Solar Charger » 6/21/2019 2:16 pm |
Well, thanks for the mention of the 18 month warranty. One of my Anker powercores died recently. I already bought a replacement but I just submitted a warranty claim for the last one, since I bought it 17 months ago!
Edit: To contribute to the topic, solar chargers are only useful if you get the right weather, and have the time and location to use them. Power packs can be used anywhere, any time, and you've got a much clearer idea of how juice you have left.
| Trip Reports » Kiosk - Nipissing: May 17-25 - Day 2 » 6/19/2019 7:57 am |
Well that looked like quite the slog. I have to admit I was also taken aback by seeing you out on the water, on an ice-out trip, without a PFD on. I hope you'll reconsider that approach on future trips.
Alder creeks are a nightmare with a kayak paddle for sure - at least you had another option! Your site on North Raven looked more well-used than I would have expected, given that it's not exactly on the beaten path. You must have been heading to Birchcliffe the following day?
| Trip Reports » Across Algonquin Park from top to bottom » 6/18/2019 3:25 pm |
Nice trip! One-way trips are amazing when you can swing that, although that must have taken you a full day to get cars at either end. It was fun watching the beginning of bug season as the days went on. I mean fun for me anyway, probably not quite so much for you.
Great video, I really enjoyed it.
| Trip Reports » Kiosk - Nipissing: May 17-25 - Day 1 » 6/13/2019 11:01 am |
Congrats on your first video - I quite enjoyed it! A couple of the portages up Maple Creek are quite nasty, aren't they? On the "solo blues" front, I can empathize. It took many years of solo tripping before that finally faded for me.
Looking forward to day 2!
| Catch-all Discussions » Backcountry helo rescue 17May2019 » 6/07/2019 8:59 am |
Many campers take a SPOT, inReach or another similar device with them. My inReach mini is always in my PFD when I'm on the water.
| Trip Reports » Kayak Camper: Ice-out 2019 (Days 1 & 2 : video) » 6/03/2019 7:54 am |
@dontgroandaddy: Yeah, I think I'm maybe in the midst of that 'transformation' myself. I think maybe I'm ready to start carving out more time for relaxation, instead of seeing how far I can push in a day.
@R2: I imagine I'll always want to rush on Day 1, as much as I'd prefer otherwise. Too many people close to the access points ;). But yes, any day in Algonquin is a good day!
@oldboyscout: Thanks! I haven't started working on the next part yet. Sometimes I'm hyper motivated to work on trip videos, other times I'll fire up the editing software and immediately close it again.
@Paddlerunner: The wide angle camera is definitely a big improvement. I'd literally never used it before this trip, so when I got in the door the absolute first thing I did was connect that camera, grab a video off it, and look at it. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I realized it was exactly what I was hoping for.
The cold mornings were definitely a big factor in my 'lazing' about the campsites. As it was the Spring opener, I had my wetsuit along for the journey. Which means at some point you have to take off your warm cozy clothes in order to put on a cold, wet, wetsuit. Suddenly a morning campfire sounded like a great idea ;). Looking forward to seeing your video!
@R2: thanks - I appreciate it!
| Trip Reports » Kayak Camper: Ice-out 2019 (Days 1 & 2 : video) » 5/31/2019 3:47 pm |
@Abe: when I started taking video it was exactly about that - documenting my trips for myself. Over time my past trips would degrade in my memory to just a few snippets - now I can re-live my trips anytime I want. Definitely worth the time (and weight!) to do so.
@Steve: I may have turned a bit of a corner on this trip when it comes to slowing down a bit, as I was consistently good about not being in a crazy rush to get going in the mornings. Okay... on my last day I was on the water as soon as it was light enough to see, but let's keep that between us. I also had morning campfires another time or two on this trip!
Arc'Teryx I have a massive weakness for. Pretty much everything they make is well designed and well built. I left my Arc'Teryx hiking pants home on this trip for no other reason than to avoid wearing the same brand head to toe.
I had plenty of rain to appreciate on this trip, but it all happened exactly when it should have. I never had to set up or take down camp in the rain (not much anyway), but I set my tarp up on every campsite after Brule, and needed it on every campsite. On a couple of sites I was sitting under a tarp, in the rain, with a campfire going protected by the tarp. It was perfect.
| Trip Reports » Kayak Camper: Ice-out 2019 (Days 1 & 2 : video) » 5/31/2019 7:49 am |
My Spring loop didn't end up being what I originally planned, but I had a great time and spent a night on a lake I'd never been to before. Any trip that adds a pin to my map is a good trip! Here's Days 1 and 2, which covers Canoe Lake to Brule, and Brule to White Trout. I hope you enjoy it!
I think I ended up cutting all mention of it from my video, but I was not feeling well at all. For more than week before I left I'd been feeling just... wrong. Weak, lethargic. But Algonquin cures all, and by the second day I was feeling more like myself. I also replaced the 'back of the kayak' camera I'd been using with a wide angle camera, and I'm super happy with how that turned out. Instead of that footage being mostly of my back, now it shows so much more of the scenery I'm travelling through.
| Catch-all Discussions » Backcountry helo rescue 17May2019 » 5/27/2019 7:39 am |
There aren't many ways you end up with hypothermia. At a guess, they must have ended up in the water after dumping their canoes and someone had a SPOT/InReach with them. That Friday was reasonably windy by the afternoon, but nothing crazy. Making further assumptions, they must have at least been smart enough to be near shore and be wearing their PFDs, or we'd be hearing about body retrieval instead.
| Trip Reports » To Manitou Lake and Back Again » 5/24/2019 8:04 am |
Sorry to hear the weather didn't cooperate. It was definitely a cold and wet few days in there. I, somewhat magically, seemed to miss much of the wet stuff even while being told by others I passed how incredibly hard it rained. I mean I still got plenty, but it mostly happened while I was fast asleep.
On the topic of staying near shore: I always swear I'm going to, and about half an hour into a trip I give up on that plan. As you wrote, following the edge of a lake adds an incredible amount of time to the journey - although of course it's also the smart thing to do. I do wear a wetsuit, which might prolong my death somewhat if I ever dump in the middle of a lake.
| Trip Planning » Solo Lesta is back. » 5/23/2019 4:36 pm |
Heart Attack Hill is like climbing a mountain with a boat on your back. The Big Crow to Hogan portage is pretty kind for the first kilometer or so (Big Crow to Hogan direction), then gets less friendly. Rocks, roots, marsh, boardwalks, every Algonquin portage rolled into one. It's not terrible, it's just long.
| Trip Planning » It is almost upon us » 5/14/2019 1:16 pm |
My first day and last day of my spring opener have some new territory in them. I've been through Canoe Lake a dozen times, but I've always headed East at the fork to the portage to Joe. This time I'm heading up the other fork through Potter's Creek to Brule. Then a number of days later I'll be portaging south out of Burnt Island towards Linda, then through that whole stretch of lakes (Owl, Raven etc) back to the Canoe lake access point. Until I reach Smoke, that's all new territory as well. Plus I've never actually portaged across Highway 60 before!
| Trip Planning » La Muir campsites - recommendations? » 5/12/2019 12:53 pm |
I have no disdain for those who (legally) take motorboats into the park - they're doing what they're allowed to do. But as Eddy said, I don't go into the backcountry to spend days listening to motorboats.
More than anything, motorboats destroy the illusion (because in Algonquin, that's what it is) that I'm somewhere truly remote. Sure it might have taken me days of hard work to get there, but that's only because i'm not legally allowed to take the roads we all try to pretend don't exist.
| Trip Planning » La Muir campsites - recommendations? » 5/11/2019 6:02 am |
Yeah, I hadn't thought about the boats. Maybe I'll spend those two days on Burntroot instead.
| Trip Planning » La Muir campsites - recommendations? » 5/10/2019 5:52 pm |
Thanks Bo!
| Catch-all Discussions » ice out 2019 - too early to discuss? » 5/10/2019 4:09 pm |
No you didn't. The online site won't allow bookings prior to the 15th, and I just called the booking center, and they also won't take bookings prior to the 15th.
| Trip Planning » La Muir campsites - recommendations? » 5/10/2019 4:04 pm |
The delayed ice-out caused me to book a new route, which now has me spending two nights on La Muir. I've been there before, but not for many years and I have no recollection of any sites on the lake. Since it's my one and only rest day, I'd like to have a decent site to enjoy it on! Which sites should I be looking at?
