Since starting my blog and youtube channel, I have gotten a lot of requests from people to see what I pack for my trips, so today I am posting what I packed for my 5 day Algonquin trip last summer.  This canoe trip, was not only the longest trip I’d done solo, but also the first time I was portaging a canoe daily to get to each site.  I had only portaged a canoe myself a few times in the weeks prior to the trip, and I wanted to make sure I packed as light as possible.  Due to this reason, I went with a lot of dehydrated and freeze dried food options and discovered many of them were quite delicious.  Here is everything that I packed for that trip and if you prefer the youtube video version of this post, click here.

I will start with the food for the trip, which was 5 days, 4 nights.  My first meal was to be eaten on Kiosk Lake, just a paddle across the lake from the put in, so I brought some wine, a steak and some snow peas which isn’t shown above but some photos are posted below from the actual trip on site. The steak was packed in newspaper and was frozen, and eaten on the campfire my first night.

Day 1:  LUNCH: turkey sandwich while en route to the put in.  DINNER:  steak cooked on the fire with asparagus and wine for dessert. LOL

Day 2:  BREAKFAST:  scrambled eggs and bacon. SNACK: granola bar. LUNCH:  salami, wraps and laughing cow cheese.  DINNER:  dehydrated mushrooms and asparagus, rice, freeze dried chicken with a sauce mixed of oyster sauce, soya sauce and sesame sauce in a nalgene container.  DESSERT:  dark chocolate cheesecake.  (Notes, the scrambled eggs and bacon freeze dried meal was very good, a bit salty but otherwise very good.  I did not end up eating the dark chocolate cheesecake as yet so no review on that one for now).

Day 3: BREAKFAST: Oatmeal with dehydrated apple slices. SNACK:  Special K bar and chocolate covered almonds. LUNCH:  wraps, prosciutto and laughing cow cheese. DINNER: Stroganoff with beef and noodles. DESSERT: 2 mini snickers chocolate bars.  (Note: Stroganoff with beef and noodles meal was very good, a bit bland but that’s how I like it. If you like spice, I suggest adding your own, for me it was perfect, just a warm good meal).

Day 4:  BREAKFAST: scrambled eggs and bacon. (also packed a few wraps and dehydrated salsa in case I wanted to make it into a wrap),  SNACK:  granola bar. LUNCH:  turkey keilbasa, 2 year old cheddar cheese and a few wraps.  DINNER: Three cheese chicken pasta . DESSERT:  Chocolate mudslide   (Note:  the Three Cheese Chicken Pasta meal was my favorite freeze dried meal on the trip, absolutely delicious and the chocolate mudslide was also very very good and extremely rich. I did not eat the mudslide on this trip but had it after and extremely challenging day on my Killarney trip…. for dinner.  Was a good mood booster.)

Day 5: BREAKFAST:  Oatmeal with dehydrated strawberries. SNACK:  Special K bar.  LUNCH:  german salami, wraps and laughing cow cheese.  DINNER:  picked up fish and chips on the way home since I didn’t catch any fish.

All items were packed in my  Ursack food bag.  

EXTRAS:  One package of freeze dried salmon (didn’t get to eat this on this trip, but tried it on my kayaking trip with Kevin Callan, very tasty but also very smelly, bear attractant, glad I didn’t eat it on this trip),  one Godiva chocolate bar with almonds, 2 packages of oatmeal in case of emergency, dish soap, salt, garlic powder, bag of mixed teas, hot chocolate mix, bag of corn chips, bag of dehydrated apple slices, emergency fish bag with half a package of mashed potatoes, fish crisp coating and a small nalgene of oil, emergency chicken noodle soup package (goes on most trips), toiletry bag containing unscented deodorant, Tylenol bottle of 30 spf sunscreen, mini toothpaste, travel toothbrush, floss and tiny container of Clinique face cream.  That is all of the items that I packed in the ursack bag for the trip.

KITCHEN/COOKING ITEMS:   I packed my UST Solo Cook Kit, which really worked great for boiling water for the dehydrated meals.  I also brought a 2 pan set I had in case I caught a fish and to make the rice stir fry in, as they nested I brought 2, one to use as a lid or also a plate. They are very light.  For utensils I packed a knife, silicon spatula, a plastic spoon and a metal fork.  (this was in case I cooked on the fire so it wouldn’t melt), and a small spatula.  Other kitchen items included a j-cloth, a few sheets of foil which I ended up needing badly to keep my fire from drowning in the rain,  and about 20 paper towels. I also packed a bottle of Purinize drops in case I had issues with my filtration system and used them every night at camp to treat my water instead of hand pumping.

WATER FILTER & SAFETY ITEMS:  To filter my water I brought my Xstream straw with hand pump.  I tied the hose around the yoke of the canoe and when I needed to drink, I just put the filter into the lake/river/stream and drank. It was great!  At camp, I used the hand pump to fill up my nalgene bottle occasionally but was just too tired and ended up using the Purinize drops when I wasn’t out traveling.  .  Other items in the above photo include my plastic shovel which always comes with me, my Beacon signalling device, my first aid kit, my compass, a canister of fuel and my tarp, however, the tarp was taken out of the pack upon arrival at the put in and replaced with the tent footprint which ended up giving me enough shelter from the rain without taking up nearly as much space.

FISHING: for fishing items I brought my telescopic rod and a very small tupperware container of lures.  I also brought my needle nose pliers and a piece of rope to use as a stringer.   Other items packed with this were my Sven Saw to cut wood, my fishing knife and my bug shirt.

In the photo above my Eno hammock and straps are pictured, however, they were also removed from the pack upon my arrival at Kiosk.  Some things had to be eliminated and this luxury item was one of them.  My Off wipes however made the cut and were priceless. There are 10 packages here, 2 per day and they came in very handy.  Also pictured is my which I absolutely love.  I used a carabiner to attach it to my pack so it will get solar light during the day and work at night.  It’s very bright and as I am afraid of the dark, I really like having it with me.  In the small ziploc above I also have my waterproof emergency UST flashlight and my headlamp. To the right of that I have my whistle which I always bring on any adventure and my UST 5 in 1 tool which holds waterproof matches and has a signalling device, flint, whistle and compass on it.  Beside that I have a few rolls of toilet paper and below those there are a few garbage bags and some extra ziploc bags. (I find plastic always comes in handy on a rainy trip and for this trip these were priceless).  There is also a package of firesticks and some waterproof matches.

ELECTRONICS:  I have a few things I pack as far as electronics go. I take most of my video and photos via my iphone 7 but I also always bring my waterproof camera with 2 batteries as a backup.  In addition, I have 3 portable chargers I brought on this trip to keep my phone charged.  There is a small speaker which has my ipod inside of it and this is what I use for entertainment and to scare away the bears. I have several podcasts on my ipod such as Paddling Adventures Radio that I listen to at night by the fire to keep me entertained and also to use the sound of voices to keep away predators.  Above the chargers is my selfie stick and a zoom lens for my phone.

My maps were packed in waterproof bags and kept handy for navigating throughout the trip.

Above are my clothes for the trip. I do not have packed one tank top, one long sleeve shirt, a pair of pants, a pair of underwear and a pair of socks as I am wearing them for the trip in.  On the table is underwear, a bathing suit, a sports bra (in addition to one I am wearing in, in case one gets wet), a pair of Columbia hiking pants, a warm fleece, my rain pants and rain jacket, a few tank tops, a pair of shorts, a second long sleeve shirt, a pair of tights to sleep in, a wash cloth, a dish towel, which will end up in the ursack later on, a second pair of socks, a hat, my buff which was also worn in and a  pair of sunglasses.

The only other items not pictured on the table that were packed are my Marmot Tungsten 2P tent, my Marmot Trestles sleeping bag, the tent poles and pegs and my as they were already packed into the bottom of the backpack.

All the items noted above fit into this pack, except my Keen sandals which were carabinered to the outside of the bag and interchanged with my Keen hiking boots.  Also my selfie stick and fishing rod were put on the side of the pack using the straps to attach them.

For a portion of the trip, I put my tent on the bottom of the pack on the outside as I thought I had too many things in the top of the pack and it was keeping me from being able to single carry the canoe and it was getting in the way of the yoke. It turned out that wasn’t the issue and I just wasn’t able to single carry the canoe and all my belongings on this adventure, which was fine. I still had a great time and it was my favorite trip of 2017.  To see the post on it, click here and to see the video series on it, click here.

A complete list, with links, here.of all the gear I use on my trips can be found on my website by clicking here.  

I hope you enjoyed the post. If you have any questions, comments or just want to say hi, please leave a message.

Happy Packing!

Camper Christina