Kayak camping

[JasonByers]

Who here gets out on canoe/kayak overnight trips? I've gone on a few canoe trips and always had a blast. I found a good deal on a kayak so I guess I have a new hobby. A couple friends and I have a trip planned next weekend so I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited to eat real food on this trip instead of dehydrated meals. Steak, potatoes, corn on the cob and beer for dinner and eggs and bacon in the morning. Yum!

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

I haven't been on many, but should probably make a point to try water travel more often. I've been down the Brazos River in Texas via kayak, camping on sandbars along the way which definitely made for a trip to remember. More recently, Jen & I have hiked most of the trails through Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario - Where the great majority of backcountry users travel by canoe using the interconnected network of lakes that the park offers. Hopefully we'll get a chance to head back and check out the park from the other side. While I still prefer to travel on foot, it's great to mix it up and travelling by water certainly gives one a fresh perspective...And does allow for a few more luxuries as long as you don't forget about the portages...

[JasonByers]

Haha. Yeah no portages on this trip. One of the guys going will be in a canoe so we're gonna talk him into carrying a few folding chairs. I'm usually very minimal on backpacking trips so this will be a nice change. I'm sure this will spoil me. Haha.

[Leigh]

I fell head over heels for kayak camping when I was in my late 40's then canoe camping in my early 50's. Then discovered UL backpacking at 56, which I promptly fell in love with almost to the exclusion of paddling. I do two, week long paddling trips out of state each year and the rest of the time I'm hiking. I'm going to hike while my knees and back will still get me there, and when the time comes that I can't any longer, I'll spend more time on the water.

And as for carrying lots of luxuries in canoe camping, friends used to have a saying..."this ain't backpacking ya know" :-)

Edited November 25, 2012 by Leigh

[AdventureMyk]

Going to see if I can resurrect a bit of an older thread. Out of the last 16 weekends I've managed to camp 11 of them and 8 of those were kayak-camping runs. Welcome to living in East Tennessee! Is there anyone else out in my neck of the woods??

[Biloute]

I went to BOW (Becoming an Outdoors-Woman) this fall and one workshop I we to was canoeing. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would like to try it out some more, but canoes seem to be really expensive so I th maybe I should take a few guided trips before investing in a new hobby. Anyone know some good companies/locations for this sort of thing?

[AdventureMyk]

It depends heavily on where you are and canoe's don't need to be expensive. Often you can look on Craigs List, find one that is nearly new with lots of extras (probably upside down and dirty but in 100% condition once you spend a little elbow grease cleaning it), and you can get it all for considerably less than the price of just the boat from a store. Just like anything else from boats to motorcycles people see them, buy them with all these ideas of wild adventures they plan to do and they end up just sitting. They take a huge hit, you reap the benefits. If you get it for the right price and clean it up (something no sellers seem to ever do which makes it easy to negotiate) then you can usually break even or even make a bit on the deal if you decide it's not right for you.

[OBXh2o]

These days most of my kayak camping is on the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, though I'm headed to the Boundary Waters and Quetico Wilderness this fall. I've been canoe camping for over fifty years and kayak camping over twenty-five years.

[AdventureMyk]

Nice OBX! I haven't done much sand camping (used to use a jet-ski for the odd overnight out of Tampa Bay. How do you keep all the sand out?

[AdventureMyk]

A 4/3 night kayak camping run on Lake Santeetlah, NC last month. (4 backpacking runs since, including this past weekend. I think I have a camping addiction?).

The weather was mid-80's with a light chill at night, skies crystal clear and the rain-fly never came out. As it drew close to evening it was nice to just flop in the hammocks at the edge of the water and relax. We spent a single night in each spot around a pristine cove area just to keep it new and fresh. This one was a favorite spot.