"Wilderness is the preservation of the world..." -- Henry David Thoreau

"Most people call it 'camping' but I prefer to call it 'living outdoors.' 'Camping' is what you do when you spend a few nights outdoors. You don't hear the song nearly as clearly as when you are living outdoors. 'Living outdoors' suggests a much closer relationship with the land. It is an art, but it is even more than that. It is the beginning of a relationship with the world of nature, a world of lakes and rivers, rocky, pine-covered shores and plunging rapids." -- Bill Mason, from 'Song of the Paddle'

Some tips for camping (The more interesting bits)   ** Disclaimer ** Please be advised that I am not a "Professional Outdoorsman", nor do I have any medical training beyond a St. John's Ambulance Standard First Aid Course. My opinions are my own, based on my experiences in the outdoors and should not be taken as a "final word" on the subject. Your results may vary -- I can not be held liable for any injury or property damage should you decide to use any of the tips I have listed on these pages.

Backpacks: Backpacks should be fit properly to the frame of the person that will be carrying it. Women and shorter men will want a smaller-sized pack, while medium to tall men will want a larger pack. An average pack will run between 60 to 75 litres (3500 to 4500 cubic inches) for shorter trips, while your larger canoe or long trip packs will run from 80 to 100+ litres (4800 to 6100+ cubic inches). Be sure that a backpack fits you properly before you buy it (ask the salesperson for help), an improperly fitted backpack can cause you a lot of pain on the trail. Any decent outdoor equipment store will have experienced sales staff -- If they don't seem sure about what they're talking about, then you're probably in the wrong store. When carrying your backpack, you'll want your heaviest items (like food) towards the top of the pack and up close to your back, you'll also want the load to be balanced from side to side so that the left side doesn't have more weight than the right. Load up your pack and experiment with the load- leveling straps and hipbelt before you hit the trail, your load should be carried partly on your shoulders and partly on your hips. You can also use these straps to vary the amount of weight on your hipbelt if your shoulders start getting tired or sore -- Your hips can transfer that weight through your body much easier than your shoulders alone can.. Clothing: Clothing should be light or muted in colour, darker colours like dark blue or black will attract more insects. You'll also want to avoid bright neon colours as they have an adverse impact on the visual esthetics of the landscape, and nobody wants to see your day-glow orange T-shirt standing out against a pristine forest background -- Leave the gaudy neon colours for emergency situations when you simply MUST be seen. Stick to cotton, cotton blends or light canvas materials, you want it to be light and breathable since most people camp in the summer months. Avoid denim as jeans will wick moisture, stay wet longer and are very heavy when wet. For heavier clothing, try poly/cotton, polartec, or polypropoline to wick moisture from your body, these fabrics are made for warmth. You'll want to dress in layers, with lighter clothing closest to your body working up to a windproof/ rainproof outer shell; it's easier to adjust your internal temperature by simply adding or removing a layer. Also remember, clean clothes are more comfortable, so try to rinse the sweat out of your clothing if you're on extended trips and hang it to dry before wearing it. How much clothing is too much clothing? Well, the guideline I use to determine how much clothing I should take when camping is about 1 complete change (ie; socks, underwear and t-shirt) for every 3 days of travel. Even if you're just going out for a weekend, be sure that you have a complete change (shirt, t-shirt, pants, socks, underwear) of dry clothing packed and waterproofed, you'll be glad you did. Footwear: Your feet are the most important piece of equipment you will take with you when you're camping, and it's in your best interest to take care of them. You'll probably want to take 2 sets of footwear with you when you go; one pair for the trail and one pair for the camp. If you're backpacking, you're going to want a heavy boot that has proper ankle support, and a sole that isn't overly flexible. Boots should be sized properly for your foot; too small and your foot will be cramped and sore, too large and your foot will slide around in the boot and you'll get blisters. It's better for the boot to be too large rather than too small, as you can wear a second pair of socks to fill up the extra space and provide extra cushioning. If you're canoeing you'll want a light pair of shoes, sandals, or aqua socks to wear while in the canoe and for landing, and a heavier pair of hiking boots for the portages. Some people try to get away with running shoes for both canoeing and portaging, but they run the risk of serious damage from twisted ankles or worse while in the bush. From my experience I suggest that if you're portaging more than 50 metres (55 yards), you should be wearing your hiking boots; it only takes a couple minutes to put them on and take them off. Sleeping Gear: Half of camping is relaxation, and you're not going to be relaxed or well-rested if you can't get any sleep. When choosing your sleeping bag, you'll want to know what temperature range you'll be sleeping in. Where I tend to camp, Algonquin, the summer temperatures have been known to fluxuate from over 40 Celsius (104 F) in the daytime to lower than 0 Celsius (32 F) at night, so you'll want to get yourself the proper bag for your location. My summer bag is rated to -5 Celsius (23 F) and weighs about a kilogram (about 2 lbs), while my winter bag is rated to -30 Celsius (-22 F) and weighs about 3 kgs (about 6.5 lbs). Using different combinations, I can survive all 4 seasons with both these bags, from using the summer bag as a "blanket" for the warmest weather to using both bags together for the coldest. Generally, you'll pay more for the high-tech materials like Thinsulate, but you'll be warmer for less weight. You'll also want to isolate your body from the ground below you, especially if you're camping in colder weather or you're on uneven ground. There are several ways to accomplish this using an inflatable air mattress (good, but not great for backpacking), a closed-cell foam pad (better) or a self- inflating pad like a Therma-rest (best). Obviously, you get what you pay for -- An air matress might be cheap, but it makes for lousy comfort when it springs a leak. And don't forget a pillow! You can buy various types of inflatable camp pillows or stuff pillows, but I find that covering a small bundle of clothes, or even my clothing stuff-sack with a heavy felt "Lumberjack" shirt provides enough comfort. Food: There are probably several other sites and books that can give you recipes better than I can, so I'll only mention a couple of things about food. (Also, let me remind you to wash your hands before preparing your food.) See [Information and further reading] for some books on cooking and food. First, you want to test out any new recipes at home before you ever head into the woods, preferably using your one-burner camp stove to cook them. You don't really want to take something into the woods and find out that you really hate the taste, or its a real pain to make in those conditions, or worse you have a some kind reaction to it. Second, pre-pack and pre-mix as much as you can at home. If you buy things like "Kraft Dinner" or "Minute Rice", take them out of the box and put them into either ziploc bags or vacuum sealed bags and remember to seal the instructions into the bag with them. I tend to buy things in bulk and simply pack pre-measured 1 meal portions into vacuum sealed bags, its generally cheaper that way. There's no real need these days to buy "high-tech dehydrated food", grocery stores provide a lot of staples like "Noodles and Sauce", "Rice and Sauce", "Potatoes and Sauce", "Macaroni Dinner", "Minute Rice", "Instant Pancake Mix", "Instant Biscuit Mix" and several other things that are easily adapted to backpacking and canoeing. There are also various meals that are known as "boil in the bag" dinners; although these are nice, they contain a lot of water and therefore they tend to weigh a lot. I usually take a lot of dry food and supplement it with a couple of the freeze-dried type foods, some fresh foods (like pita bread and salami), and add some extra stuff like breakfast bars, meal replacement bars and Pop Tarts for variety. Finally, pack your food well. Pack your breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks in separate (preferably differently coloured) stuff sacks so you know at a glance what you're grabbing. You'll also want to pack to keep things dry, clean, and keep the transfer of odours to a minimum to prevent any losses to animals. I use a lot of those small plastic garbage bags called "Kitchen Catchers" to pack my food, they're cheap and waterproof. I put all my breakfast-type things into one bag, being sure to put things like tubes of peanut butter or jam into ziploc bags for extra security (there's nothing worse than having a tube of jam explode in your pack), and then I remove all the excess air from the bag, seal it and put it into a stuff sack. I do the same for all of my food groups until I have 5 small stuff sacks; usually breakfast/lunches, dinner, snacks, drink mixes, and miscellaneous (which covers salt, pepper, powdered milk, etc), then I take all of these sacks and put them into a larger stuff sack that is also lined with a garbage bag. Why go to all this trouble? Well plastic bags are fine for keeping the dampness out and spills and odours in, but they're lousy at dealing with abrasive or piercing things; this is the job of the stuff sack. It might seem like overkill, but if you pack your food like this there's less of a chance that it'll get damp or attacked by animals, and remember; ALWAYS hang your food (and garbage) at night, at least 10 feet up and 5 feet out from the tree. Shelter: Your main form of shelter will be your tent (usually), although some people prefer to use one-person shelters called "bivi sacks", or even sleep under the stars. Gone are the days of the old canvas tents, these days it's all high-tech nylon dome tents that are a lot stronger and a heck of a lot lighter to carry. Personally I like the security of a full tent, but using something like a bivi sack makes for a nice light load in your pack. If you don't have a tent, but you're thinking about buying one, be sure that you're getting something that will stand up to the task. You don't want to buy one of those cheap, $50 dome tents from your local hardware store -- they won't stand up to the rough use of wilderness camping. Nor do you want to take one of those huge 15-person tents -- they're simply too big for most wilderness campsites, and they weigh a heck of a lot. Chose your tent wisely, know what you're going to use it for, and don't be afraid to ask the salesperson questions. You can get a good 2-season (Spring/Summer) 3-4 person tent that won't blow down in the first storm for about $200 (Canadian). Most outfitters will also have tents that you can rent per day or per week if you're unsure whether you want to lay out the money for one. Assuming you have a tent, you'll want to set it up before you leave home. If it's a new tent and you're unfamiliar with how it sets up and comes down, you'll want to set it up at least once before you leave home. Or, if its an older tent that you haven't used in a while, a quick set-up and inspection will save you countless curses on the trail. Now that you've got it set up, you'll want to take the opportunity to make sure that all the seams are sealed against moisture, and if it's been a while since you've used your old tent, you may want to take this time to give it another coat of Scotchguard waterproofing. Also, check your tent poles, yours zippers and your grommets for damage, now is the time to replace that shock-cording and lube up those zippers. Once you're sure that your tent is in good order, take it down and pack it up. I usually fold my tent along its long axis twice, then fold my ground sheet lengthwise and put it on top of the tent, and then I take my poles (in their stuff sack) place them on top of the folded ground sheet and then I roll the whole thing up into one neat package about 2 feet long and 6 inches in diameter. Then I take the rolled up tent and put it into a large heavy-duty garbage bag, rolling the excess bag around the bundle to form a seal, and then I place the whole thing into the stuff sack that came with the tent. I now have a waterproofed package I can strap to the top of my backpack, or throw into the canoe. Some people prefer to stuff their tents rather than roll them, and that's fine too. Just make sure that you either used a garbage bag lined stuff sack or a drybag; keeping your tent dry is important too. If you're tent is already wet before you pack it (when you're on your trip), simply shake off the excess water before you pack it, then pack it as normal. Then, as soon as you get to your next campsite, you'll want to set the tent up right away to let it dry out (assuming it isn't still raining). Another thing that's handy to have is a couple of those inexpensive poly-tarps. They can be used for any number of things from providing shelter so you can cook outside in a rainstorm (NEVER cook in your tent), to being used as a ground sheet inside your tent if the floor starts to leak, to providing a cover for your gear while it's in the canoe. I usually carry 2 tarps, one 9'x12' and one 5'x8', each folded and rolled up into a neat package. Also, don't forget to bring enough rope (usually 1/4" nylon rope) with you to rig the tarp so it doesn't blow away in a wind. Waterproofing: Whether your backpacking or canoeing, dampness is your worst enemy. There's nothing worse than slogging through a torrential downpour, setting up your camp and finding out that your sleeping bag and clothes are soaking wet -- You can't sleep in a wet sleeping bag, and you'll freeze in wet clothing. The cheapest way to waterproof your equipment is to use heavy-duty garbage bags, and ziploc baggies, they both come in various convenient sizes. If you're willing to spend a little more money, you can buy yourself the heavy PVC drybags or rigid barrels commonly used in white water canoeing, but you're going to pay about $1 per litre (61 cubic inches) for drybags and more for the barrels. I use stuff sacks lined with plastic bags most often because I find that they fit into my backpack better as long as you're careful to get all of the air out of the plastic bag before sealing it, but I also have a couple of drybags for things like my sleeping bag and clothing. You'll want to waterproof your clothes and sleeping bag much as I suggested you pack your food; Layers of plastic bags with stuff sacks overtop to prevent the plastic from being punctured. Be sure to keep your dirty clothes and your clean clothes in two separate plastic bags within your stuff sack or drybag (seems obvious, but I've seen people mix 'em). I also find it easier to stuff my sleeping bag into a stuff sack first, getting it as small as I can (tele-compressors or compression stuff sacks are nice for this) and then put it into either a second plastic-lined sack or into a drybag. Finally, remember to waterproof your First Aid kit! Either have everything inside it in little ziplocs of their own, or put the whole kit into a big ziploc or both (better). Also, be sure you tell your campmates where the First Aid kit is and make sure it's returned sealed and put back where it goes when they're done using it. Animals: It's important to remember that a wilderness park is not a petting zoo. The animals are not tame, no matter how they seem to react to your presence; NEVER attempt to approach or touch a wild animal. Many animals, especially smaller animals (like chipmunks or foxes) could be rabid. You should be extremely careful when approached by an animal that appears a bit too friendly. Do NOT store food in your pack, in your tent or under your canoe at night, this includes all varieties of food, even something as simple as bubblegum. Animals can smell food a lot better than you can, so if you have food or food scents on something, they'll go after it -- Be sure to keep your pack and tent free of food smells. Do not eat or cook in your tent! Hang your food (and garbage) in a tree somewhere away from the tent, at least 10 feet from the ground and 5 feet from the trunk of the tree. If you can't find a suitable tree, suspend a rope between two trees at least 10 feet above the ground and hang the food over that. And make sure when you're making your knots that you do a good job of it, make at least two good overhand knots -- It's not uncommon for a raccoon to figure out how to untie a poorly tied rope and have himself a nice lunch at your expense. I also like to hang my food bag somewhere where I can easily see it from the door of my tent so I can check up on it without getting up. Small Critters: Often, raccoons and mice will spend some time exploring the confines of your backpack if you leave it uncovered overnight, so you'll need some sort of pack cover. Have a large garbage bag handy when you're ready to pack up for the night, it'll keep it dry and keep the animals out if you wrap a compression strap around the bottom, it will also keep the bag from blowing off in the wind comes up. You can buy nylon covers that will fit most pack styles, but a plastic garbage bag is the cheap way to go. Big Critters: Algonquin Park is also populated with several large animals, including black bears, moose, deer and wolves. Although there have been rare occasions when people have been attacked by black bears and wolves in the park, these are EXTREMELY rare cases and the animals responsible for the attacks were tracked down and destroyed by Wildlife Management Officers. Bears If you're ever approached by a bear, your best bet is to stand still, face the bear and make noise (banging pots or clapping hands is traditional). Be sure the bear has a clear escape route. If that doesn't work, back away slowly, don't run or make any sudden movements, and speak in a low monotone voice. The bear may try several false charges in your direction, this is not necessarily an attack, but merely a warning for you to leave. If the bear does attack, the Ministry of Natural Resources suggests that your only recourse is fight back with everything you can muster, and not play dead as suggested previously. If you manage to hurt the bear, it may decide that you are not a very good source of food -- this will not work if a bear is protecting its young, however. Stay AWAY from bears with cubs nearby, and NEVER get between a mother and cubs! For more information on bears, see Living with Black Bears in Ontario on the Ministry of Natural Resources site. This publication is also available in PDF format on the MNR site. Moose Many people seem to think that moose are slow, stupid creatures, but they can surprise you if you try to get too close. A cow moose can and will injure you quite quickly, and won't hesitate to attack you if she feels you're a threat, especially if she's with a calf. As for a bull moose, you would have to be pretty careless to get within 10 feet of one, especially if rutting season is near -- they are far too unpredictable to approach. Remember, this is a wild animal and you are not in a zoo. Domestic Critters: Personally, I would never bring a family pet into the woods with me. If you feel that you want to bring Rover with you on your camping you'll have to remember a couple things; Rover must be obedient, and Rover must be on a leash at night. Don't bring dogs into the woods if they won't stay with you on the trail -- dogs that chase other critters into the underbrush can get themselves into a world of trouble. There are a couple of good books out there about camping with pets, I suggest you check out indigo.ca or your local library, but I don't have any specific titles to recommend right now. Fire: Campfires have always been a classical part of camping, however campfires can also be extremely dangerous at the wrong time of year. Always check for fire bans before you go out into the back country, and if there is a ban, honour it. Forest fires destroy thousands of hectares of beautiful wilderness every year, and over half are started by careless campers. The days of depending on campfires to cook our meals are gone; today's modern campstoves are a much better and safer alternative. Also, campfires require that you carry some extra equipment; axes or saws. An axe in the hands of a careless camper can be fatal, or at best, they might only lose a foot when the axe bounces off that log they were splitting. A better alternative, assuming there isn't a fire ban, is to gather dead wood and have a yourself a small, easily controlled fire. Fuel can be easily gathered and cut with a small folding saw, or simply broken over one's knee. Most important, however, is to make sure that your fire is DEAD OUT before you leave the campsite. Drown it. Stir the coals with a stick. Drown it again. Check that the coals are cool to the touch before you leave the campsite. Bits And Pieces: Some other quick tips as I think of them... Keeping your boots dry. If your tent doesn't have a vestibule (part of the fly extending past the doorway forming a small sheltered area), you'll want to bring your boots inside the tent for the night otherwise they could end up wet from dew or rain, or animals could chew on them. I usually keep an extra plastic bag handy inside the tent so that when I take my boots off, I can throw them into the plastic bag and keep most of the dirt contained, but leave the top of the bag open to provide ventilation. You don't want to get the interior of the tent muddy or dirty if you can help it. Deodorants Leave your sweet-smelling deodorants and perfumes at home, the sweet scents will attract many more mosquitoes and black flies. If you absolutely must wear deodorant, use an unscented type. Although none at all is better -- the slightly gamey scent will keep the bugs (and those annoying tent-mates) away. Personally, I prefer to go without and keep clean by swimming or washing whenever possible. Canned Food and Glass Bottles You don't want to bring canned goods or glass containers with you when you go camping. Most Provincial Parks, like Algonquin, have can and bottle bans and they will not allow you to bring these items into the park, and they do check to see if you have them (I've been checked by the Rangers before). Glass items can get broken, cans that have been opened have sharp edges, and these items are usually very heavy even when they're empty and you have to pack them out. Use nalgene bottles for liquids, and buy dehydrated food or dehydrate it yourself if you simply must have something like baked beans or tomato sauce. Lightning If you're caught in a lightning storm, get off the water IMMEDIATELY and find suitable cover on the shore. Getting struck by lightning is a distinct possibility if you're on the water since you're the tallest thing around, and lightning loves to hit the high things. Get to shore, get the canoe out of the water, and get under some cover as quickly as you can. If you're on the trail, find yourself a group of trees (not just one single tree) and hunker down in them, or hunker down in a depression. If you're hiking under a closed canopy with many branches between you and the sky, it should be safe enough to continue hiking unless you feel a tingling sensation. If your hair stands on end or your skin tingles, immediately crouch (don't lie) down as close to the ground as you can get, you want to present a small target while minimizing contact with the ground. Also, insulate yourself from the ground by standing on your PFD or something similar; if lightning strikes near you, the charge can travel through the earth or tree roots and still hit you. Washing For some people it's second nature, but for other's camping is a time to just slob around and let their beards grow. It's always a good idea to go to bed clean, whether that means you have a full bath or you simply go for a swim and rinse the sweat from your body. When you're washing, take a couple of pots of water (or your 1 gallon water bag) somewhere off in the woods about 30-50 feet away from your water source (lake, river, whatever) and wash there. Soap, even the biodegradable soap, will contaminate the water and you don't want to do that since you're probably drinking from that water supply. I usually hop in the lake to get wet, then I fill up my bucket and go off to the spot I picked to wash in, then I wash and then rinse all the soap off of me with the water from the bucket. Once you've rinsed, you can go back into the lake for a nice soak, but don't rinse the soap off in the lake! The same goes for dish-washing water, pour it out 30-50 feet from your water source and away from the campsite. Packing Your Canoe Canoe packing is an art. There are several books about canoeing, and most of them will describe how to pack your canoe, but I'll give you my method anyway. I usually pack all the heaviest items (ie: my backpack) in the very bottom of the boat, this is very important in keeping a low centre of gravity and keeps your boat from being too 'tippy'. If you're in a solo canoe, you will probably be the heaviest item, and you should be positioned just behind the centre-line of the boat, and you would pack your other gear evenly about you so that the bow is slightly lighter than the stern. If you get the bow too high in the water, you'll start having a problem with "weather-vaning", which means that the wind will constantly be trying to blow the lighter end of the boat toward the direction that it is heading. If you're in a tandem boat, put your packs in the centre of the boat, just behind the centre-line, and arrange the rest of your gear to balance out the weight of each paddler so that the bow is slightly higher than the stern. Also remember to centre the weight in the boat so that it doesn't lean too far to the left or right. Keeping the weight low and balanced, and leaving the bow slightly higher than the stern will make paddling all the more easy for you and keep the bow-man from getting soaked.. Also remember to secure your gear to your canoe somehow, a short length of rope will do the job, but be sure that the rope isn't getting tangled on things as you move around. If you should capsize, your gear will stay with or near the boat and you'll be able to recover it. Common Sense Stuff I like to say "Common sense isn't very common." -- You should know your limits before you attempt an extended camping trip, especially if you're going alone. Sure, it's sometimes fun to test one's limits by taking yourself to the edge of endurance, but stop and think before you go too far. Here are some obvious things to remember; Do NOT drink unpurified water. Someone or something may have used your watering hole as a latrine, be sure to purify all drinking water by either bringing it to a rolling boil for at least 5 minutes (good), by using iodine tablets to kill those nasty bugs (better), or by filtering it with a ceramic filter (best). At best, drinking unpurified water will give you diarrhea, at worst, you'll end up in the hospital with a serious stomach and bowel infections -- E. Coli isn't something to play around with. Check your campsite for broken bottles, cans, fish hooks and anything else that might be sharp before you wander around in your bare feet. Explore the water around the base of that rock face before you do any cliff diving, nothing ruins your trip more than diving headfirst into a rock. Think twice before you decide to hop across a rockfield with your 70 pound backpack on, a fall or a twisted ankle would really suck when you're 100 kms from the nearest phone. Bring a map and compass and know how to use them. Bring a First Aid kit, and know how to use it. Make sure your campmates know where it is as well! Better yet, get each person to bring a small personal kit in addition to the larger main kit. Don't push yourself too hard, you're out in the wilderness for fun, you're not in a race. Set believable distance goals for each day, and don't be afraid to make minor changes if you find it rough going. Shortening your trip by a couple kms is a lot better than having an accident 100 kms from the nearest help. Most importantly; Relax! [Continue to my Suggested Routes Page] The entire contents of this page is Copyright ©1997-2000 FoxDesigns All Rights Reserved.