The
10-Pound Boat Selection
bets), rice, salami, cheese, peanut butter, instant
oatmeal, dried fruit and trail mix.
Gear Diet
If you don’t own a creek boat or river runner,
In your efforts to be efficient, it’s important
try to borrow or rent one. Larger volume boats
not to cut back on rescue gear. In addition
with a high back deck are easier to pack, allow
to personal throw bags, whistles and river
you to travel with a few additional camp items
knives, someone should carry a group wrap
and are more comfortable.
kit (webbing sling, prussiks and carabiners)
For a summer weekend out, a river running
and a decent first aid kit—and know how to
playboat might do the trick, but keep in mind
use them. On longer, more remote trips, pack
sleeping Bag that a boat much smaller than 58 gallons will
a topographic map and breakdown paddle as
reduce weight and worry by packing a down bag with a
be a nightmare to pack. The exact volume you’ll
well. Figure out communication options in case
waterproof shell. Sierra Designs’ Drizone series trade Wind and need depends on the length of the trip, the
you run into trouble. Will you have cell phone
Solar Flare feature highly compressible 600-fill goose down
weather forecast and your willingness to rough
and waterproof/breathable fabric at an affordable [$240 uS, 2
service in the river valley?
it with minimal gear.
lbs 7 oz, rated to -1˚ Celsius].
Finally, for simple equipment repairs, duct
The ideal kayak for a two- or three-day trip
sierradesigns.com
tape wrapped around a water bottle or the shaft
is a creek boat designed for someone 30 pounds
of your paddle can be used to patch boats and
sleeping Pad
heavier than you. I paddle a small creek boat
sleeping mats, reattach seats or hip pads, mend
(63 gallons) on daytrips, but with the additional
Forget about fitting your trusty blue foamie
a broken paddle, and perform a thousand other
weight of my food and camping gear, a larger
behind the seat of a whitewater boat. Instead,
useful tasks.
you’ll need a compact, inflatable pad like
kayak (72 gallons) performs better.
therm-a-rest’s Prolite [$60 uS, 16 oz[.
experiment with a fully loaded boat on your
cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest
local river—kayaks paddle quite differently Packing Your Boat
with extra weight on board. You may find that
The kayak’s stern is the easiest to pack, so the
tarp
your boat’s usually forgiving stern starts to grab
challenge is to get enough weight forward
If you can swallow the steep price,
on eddylines, and quick directional changes
to balance the trim of your kayak. You may
a siltarp (silicone-treated parachute
become more difficult.
want to start by moving your seat forward.
nylon) is an irresistibly ultralight shelter. Pack the heaviest items in front of your
Weighing in at just 1 lb 4 oz, Integral
Gearing Up
bow bulkhead or right behind your
Designs’ Siltarp 3 has 3.7 x 3 metres of
seat. You can also carve custom-sized
coverage for up to five people, and stuffs A mid-sized river runner or creek boat has
holes into the foam of the bulkhead or
down to the size of a football. [$200 Cdn].
about 40 to 55 litres (10-15 gallons) of usable
integraldesigns.com
support pillars to create storage space
storage space—that’s less than a typical trekking
for awkward or heavy items like
backpack. Accordingly, volume is the critical
stove
camera boxes.
factor when selecting gear.
Also consider the order in
For compact size, ease of use and versatility,
Most tents are too large to fit in a single
you can’t beat an LPG canister stove like MSr’s
which you pack gear and food
1
kayak. Try sharing the load with another
Superfly. Small enough to fit inside your pot,
items. Tapered dry bags
paddler—one packs the tent body, the other
works with any brand of fuel canister and has
are great for sleeping and
simmer controls in case you want to play chef
packs the fly and poles. If that doesn’t work,
camping gear because they
[$60 uS, 4.6 oz, 12.5 oz with fuel].
you’ll have to settle for a lower-volume shelter:
take full advantage of the
cascadedesigns.com/Msr
a lightweight tarp or bivy sac—or, if heavy
hard-to-reach packing 2
rain, mosquitoes or black flies are anticipated, a
space in the ends of
Water treatment
combination of both.
your kayak. Breakfast
the fastest, most economical water purification
When the climate doesn’t demand a winter or
and dinner food items
system is a filter-as-you-drink water bottle.
three-season sleeping bag, you’re safer packing
that you won’t need
the only downside: everyone in your group
a synthetic summer bag. Down bags pack much
during the paddling
will need one. another compact option is a smaller if you’re expecting cold temperatures,
day can be squeezed
chemical treatment like tasteless chlorine
but they are a disaster if they get wet.
dioxide tablets. Both are available from
past your bulkhead in
To save space on clothing, try to combine
individual double-
3
Katadyn. [exstream Purifier Bottle $66 Cdn,
paddling and camp clothes if possible. In colder
7.8 oz / MicroPur tablets $20 Cdn, 0.7 oz].
Ziploc packages.
katadyn.com
water, a full Gore-Tex drysuit with camp clothes
Pack your lunch,
underneath eliminates the need to pack anything
snacks, camera,
first aid Kit
but a toque. Merino wool provides the most
headlamp, fire-starter,
warmth for the least volume, but polypro and
adventure Medical Kits offers a variety of
first aid kit and rescue
complete packages for use on the river. the
fleece layers work fine and are less expensive.
gear last, so these items
Paddler Kit [$58 uS, 1 lb 6 oz] is designed
Don’t bother with rain gear— keep your river
are easily accessible
for larger groups or more remote trips and
gear on if it’s raining and use a versatile tarp for
throughout the day.
stores in a rugged dry bag. Front-country
shelter at camp. Wear sturdy shoes on the river,
You don’t want to pull
overnighters can carry the more compact but but pack clogs or flip-flops to give your feet a
your boat apart every
still waterproof ultralight .9 [$35 uS, 10 oz[.
chance to dry out in camp.
time you’re hungry. And
adventuremedicalkits.com
When it comes to menu planning, don’t skimp
you definitely don’t want to dig
on hot meals. On frosty mornings, you’ll need
Breakdown Paddle
through Therm-a-Rests and tuna couscous to
a hot cuppa to get you fired up about climbing
find your pin kit in an emergency.
a four-piece paddle is the only spare option into your frozen-stiff farmer john. A small stove
Finally, do a dry run of your packing strategy
(aside from hand paddles) for most river
is handy—and a must where firewood is scarce
runners. tape the pieces to the underside
before leaving home—the put-in is a poor place
or fires prohibited—but in most places you
of your deck to keep them out of the way.
to realize that your dry bags don’t fit in your boat.
Werner’s tough fibreglass paddles are available
can do all your cooking and boiling of drinking
in straight shaft breakdown models—the
water on an open fire with a single pot. Stick to a
SteVe WHIttaLL has been organizing and running multi-day
Sherpa is a great all-round blade for river
compact, backpacking-style menu of quick-cook
kayak expeditions from his home base in Whistler for over 15
running and play [$290 uS, 2 lbs 6 oz].
pasta (ramen noodles or easy Mac are good years and works as a heli-ski guide during the off-season.
wernerpaddles.com
0 Rapid spring 2010
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