What makes a Great Trip ?

I do a lot of babbling about Green Horns, Tender Pads,
Hopelessly Lost and Miss Fits on canoe trips.
The reality is that I was all of those at one time.
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So what made the difference?

It was the practice, planning and embracing the challenge.

Practice means head knowledge through excellent outdoor books, videos, learning opportunities by doing. It means hooking up with a more experienced person or group and learning first had the arts of outdoor living. It means making an assessment at the end of each trip to determine what went well and what one can do to improve on the next time out. It means refining whatever skill you need.

Planning means sound thoughts that will be executed in the immediate future. The equipment you will need, how to use it, and how to take care of it. The food you will need, how to pack it, and how to cook it properly. Safety and First Aid practices. Skills such as swimming, canoeing, kayaking, portaging, packing and strengthening your physical condition to meet the rigours of the activity.

Embracing the challenge means to accept the wonder and beauty of nature. To leave your human frailties behind and absorb the simplicity of life. To bask in the sun and marvel at a full moon at midnight; to swim in natural water and sit spell bound by a campfire. To rely on self and let the mind and body rest. To celebrate your achievement.

It's a process that takes time - but it's good time.
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"Had I done it alone by canoe I might have boasted a little."

Sergeant Farrar, NWMP,
3rd mate aboard the St. Roch
first vessel to circumnavigate North America
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@Northern Dancer, I'm not sure if you are quoting Sergeant Farrar or yourself. I'll say this if this is your comments you really do need to sit down and write that book, period!

Bibsoutdoors

 

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Thanks! The comments are mine but the quote belongs to the Sergeant.
He was suggesting that if they used a canoe they would be able to get the job done faster. That is open to debate.

When posting I tend to keep things short to accommodate people's attention span. Some of the suggestions and thoughts certainly need to be expanded but I usually wait for someone to question me.

I've tried a tad of poetry - some of it is posted here online. Under Nature I think.

Thanks again and I hope you know that I enjoy your posts too. Like I said, if we were a covered wagon closer we would be meeting up at the corral.

 

"Canoe camping 101, A Guide To Keep You From Being Bear Lunch" by Northern Dancer, PhD

Get it soon from your favorite bookstore.

Just saying......

Bibsoutdoors

 

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That's funny. I do have some stuff after my name but alas it's not a PhD. I can boast and be honest, I was an excellent student - but very definitely a lousy academic. I know, I know - you are going to ask how it was that I taught Community College for all those years? It could be that I had a knack for capturing student's attention and making them responsible for their own learning with me being a cheering mentor.

 

No, actually I was going to ask what has any of this to do with you tickling the keyboard and putting out a beginner's - moderate or even advanced canoeing, camping book? Your list seems to me to be well on the way to an outline to write. Ok, ok, I'll knock it off.......just saying!

Bibsoutdoors

 

I would have to say that as long as you have some good memories, and for some that might mean photos and all that, then it is good trip. The more memories and better experiences, the better the trip, most likely at least.

 

When I first read the title of the thread the first thing that crossed my head was the people that are with me, but I see you take this to another level. Nothing like good preparation and the right state of mind though, if we have both we surely will have a great time.

 

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Great to see you online. But...your are right. It is the people that are with you. The question might be - "Who are these People and do you want to be on the water with them?"

 

Thanks, great to be back.

Haha, have you had a bad experience in the water with someone? Lately my kids have made my interest gain a new joy because nothing like passing onto our kids the stuff we love to do, and I know these are the moments they will remember forever.

 

Yes I've had a few. Sometimes it's okay in that they are invited knowing full well that I can expect challenges. On the other hand it can be a bother. Awhile ago I thought if I'm going to get into this canoe stuff it would be wise to take some courses. I did that and it made a world of difference. But you have to adjust considerably when others come along and have not had your experience. In the finality it's all fun - and I suppose that is what it's all about.

 

Yeah, it's all about the fun, but surely we need to know what we are doing.

The first time I went in a canoe it was in the winter, and I had no experience. We were going down a river with considerable volume, so I got paired with one of the most experienced guys. He just told me, on the more complicated areas, just take your paddle out of the water!

 

For me, a great trip is one that is fruitful in terms of haunt. Like a fishing trip, my father once brought me along to a mussel farm where I learned that mussels grow on bamboo poles. We went home with more than 10 kilos of mussels. In another fishing trip, I was the errand boy who also handled the cleaning of the big fishes that my father and his friends caught - marlin, tuna, etc. Even in hunting, I was overjoyed to see a big deer shot by my father's friend. It was cut into 4 and we got a fourth which served as our food for several days at home. And when we bring home nothing from a trip, that's the opposite of a great trip.

 

If you depend on hunting and fishing for living and eating a fruitless trip would indeed be bad. I've been lucky enough to not have been in that situation (although there were times as a kid my mother and family would have been grateful for meat.) When I was old enough to hunt and fish and came home empty handed I would be disappointed, as I grew older it became less and less important for me to be successful in the hunt and more and more enjoyable fire the get out experience. Elk tenderloin was the best steak I've ever eaten. But, if I never shot an Elk again, that's ok, but should I...

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