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As tends to happen when I'm speaking with people the conversation ends up, sooner or later, turning to the topic of camping (hard to imagine I know). A new arrival to my street (and to Canada), Alex, soon decided he wanted to come camping in Algonquin. And better yet he's more of a kayak guy than a canoeist, and so we rented him a pack boat and set off for a 5-day loop out of Opeongo. And I got to test paddle a Swift pack boat during a camping trip as a result!
This video covers days 1 and 2 of our trip, Opeongo (water taxi) to Merchant and then to Burntroot. While the video covers this, I'll mention that we got caught up in about a ~20 minute storm on our campsite on Merchant that resulted in a very large tree coming down quite near Alex's tent. It reminded me to be extra vigilant about tent placement, as much as it's possible to do that when surrounded by trees. I could have killed him that day.
Hope you enjoy it!
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Great video as always. Looking forward to part two!
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Thanks RC. Part two will be without any brushes with death, but it was a great and enjoyable trip and I'm hoping I can convey that.
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Great video. However, for the umpteenth time I have to say again to all campers to never be inside your tent during a violent storm as you have no idea what is happening outside.. Better to get wet than to get killed by a falling tree. Alex was very lucky the tree fell in the right direction. Stay outside, erect a tarp in you can, and enjoy the show.
Last edited by boknows (2/24/2020 8:04 am)
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I knew better than that, but just wasn't thinking. I'd put up a ridgeline and had the tarp on it hours earlier, ready to peg down the corners if the weather turned, and yet when the storm rolled in I never even thought about the tarp. Dumb of me for sure.
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Great video! Two questions came to mind ...
1) What was your repair tape of choice?
2) If your repairs had failed, would both of you fit into Alex's pack-boat?
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Thanks Barry!
1) If I was only allowed one thing in my emergency kit, it would be Tenacious Tape. The stuff sticks to anything, anywhere. Slap it on a crack, on a torn tent fly, a hole in a sleeping pad and you never have to think about it again. The stuff is amazing. I also used a bit of crazy glue along the crack before shoving it back together.
2) My boat was still usable, so I wouldn't have abandoned it regardless - it'd just have slowed me down a bit as I bailed my way back home. But yes, the pack boat would have carried both of us if we'd needed it.
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