Our considerations for what kit to take on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail
Once we had decided to do the Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) we knew we would need the right equipment to make it possible. Here are some of the key factors we took into account when selecting our kit. If you need help on how to select equipment for an activity, we have an article on how to do just that. If you want to see what we packed, then you can look at our full kit list here.
As with all our trips we considered what equipment we would need to ensure that we would be safe and comfortable.
To start with, the two of us set out some guiding principles that we would use throughout our equipment selection for this trip. If we were ever faced with the decision between two or more items we went back to this list of key requirements.
Irrespective of what equipment we were looking to take we knew it had to:
Be useful in the climate we are expecting
Work with not against the flora and fauna along the trail
Last the length of the trip with minimal chance of breaking.
Be fixable by us if it was to break.
Fulfil one or more key functions.
Be light, as we would be carrying it all a long way; every gram would count.
Be able to be taken on an international flight or readily available at the start.
Fit our bodies and be usable by both of us.
Have a small as possible impact on the environment.
All fit within our equipment budget.
To help us then structure our thinking, and make sure we didn’t forget anything crucial, we broke down what we would need into the following 11 categories (because who makes a neat list of 10!):
Means of transport - what we would need to float down rivers, across lakes, and carry on portage
Shelter & Sleeping - so we can ensure we are as comfortable as possible after a long day paddling or portaging
Navigation - knowing where you are and where you need to get to is a good idea
Personal protection from the elements - in other words, clothing from head to toe
Cooking, fire, food, and campcraft - paddling is a sure way to work up an appetite, so we needed ways of getting calories into us
Repair - unfortunately stuff breaks, and being able to fix it can be the difference between dropping out or finishing
Survival - so if it all goes sideways you can take responsibility for yourself and ensure you have the knowledge and equipment to sort yourself out
Fun along the way - this is all the little luxuries that can make life just that bit easier
Memory capture - when going on adventure we like keeping records of what we have done
Sanitation and toiletries - we are all filthy animals, so the bits and bobs needed to keep your bobs and bits fresh
Load carrying - we will need to carry all our kit in or on something
1. Means of transport
There were many craft options for paddling the NFCT. We considered the trail and the time of year that we would be travelling.
We needed a craft that:
Could handle large lake crossings with waves
Could take the occasional bump on a rock or river obstruction
Would be fast in the water, as the trail is a long way
Would be as light as possible for the portages
Would have enough storage space to carry all our equipment
Could carry a person if they are not in a position to paddle
Would be a two person craft, but could support one person if they are not capable of paddling as effectively
Would be able to be patched if we manage to get a hole in it
Would be comfortable to sit in for extended periods of time
Would be within our budget, as there are some very expensive boats out there
Could rescue a boat when pinned
Dependent on the craft selected we would also need to consider any:
Additional personal protection equipment suitable for the type of craft
Rescue equipment for pinning in that craft
Outfitting needed for that craft so that we could use it
2. Shelter & Sleeping
When not on the water doing activities we knew we were going to need to get out of the elements, and we would want a comfortable nights’ sleep. We realised that this broke down into considerations for sleeping and living.
Sleeping considerations:
Safe space away from the bugs (we knew there would be many bugs)
Waterproof as there would likely be much rain
Suitable for temperate range between -5°C (23°F) to +40°C (104°F)
Free standing as there may not be a good place to peg (stake) it to the ground
Big enough for us to comfortably sit up in
Big enough for us to get all our non-food smelling kit into
Big enough for us to “comfortably” spend multiple days in
Allow us to to pack all our bags when raining without getting water on the inside
Have a comfortable sleeping system
Have a washable surface that our bodies will be in contact with while sleeping
Living considerations:
Cover from the rain while cooking and eating
Shelter from the wind while cooking and eating
Free standing if necessary
Ability to be set up in and around trees
Flexible set up depending on camping location
Strong enough to stand up to high wind
3. Navigation
When travelling, knowing where you are and where you are going is probably a good idea. Therefore we wanted any navigation equipment to be:
Robust and reliable
Accurate
Not reliant on electrical power
Not reliant on external input
Work in the dark
Work in low visibility
We also wanted to be competent in the use of the equipment (so we were likely to use equipment we were familiar with).
4. Personal protection from the elements
Unfortunately the human body is not well adapted to the conditions of the NFCT without clothing. Our clothing would then need to be:
Quick drying
Comfortable when wet with little chafing
Protect us from biting bugs
Protect us from the sun
Protect us from wind
Thermally insulative to allow wandering around in freezing conditions
Thermally conductive to allow us to wander around in scorching heat
Easily washable
Small when packed
Able to keep leeches off legs when standing in water
Fire resistant
It would be wonderful for every item to fit all of these requirements, but given that some points are a little contradictory we would try to select the minimum number of clothes to enable coverage of the identified factors.
5. Cooking and food
Due to the length of time that the trip was intended to take we could not afford to use off the shelf backpacking foods for the whole trip. Hence we would need to cook from individual ingredients.
Our cooking equipment would need to be able to:
Enable safe drinking of river and lake water
Hold clean water
Process and cook carbohydrates, protein, fats, and fibre
Enable boiling
Enable frying
Enable sauces to be made
Cook a carbohydrate separate from a sauce
Be resistant to getting knocked around
Cut up vegetables
Cut up meat
Enable cooking over a fire
Provide controllable heat to food when open fire is not an option (or is not permitted)
Be easy to clean
Make lighting an open fire easy
Enable prepping of firewood
Hold cooked food
Enable drinking of hot drinks
Keep hot liquid warm until needed
Hold rubbish (trash) until a suitable refuse point could be found
Enable washing of clothing
Enable cleaning of cooking equipment
Allow us to make liquid hot in a reasonable time
Use (or be used with) easily accessible fuels along the route
6. Repair
After we had selected most of our equipment we could then assess what were the likely ways in which they could be broken. We would need repair equipment that would be able to help with:
Fabric rips, tears, and splits.
Waterproof fabric rips, tears, and splits
Servicing our chosen stove
Tightening any fastenings on the selected watercraft
Fixing a hole in the selected watercraft
Tighten all the fastenings on the selected portage cart
Fix plastic chips and cracks
Sharpen edged tools
Hold two or more parts of an item together if they broke
Fixing a broken tent pole
7. Survival
This category relates to when something goes wrong. Now we are engineers and actually conducted risk assessments for this trip (and we wrote them down!). These risk assessments helped us optimise the type of equipment we would select. Our survival equipment would need to provide:
Treatment of potential injuries
Enable treatment of water to make it safer
Provide light
Produce fire
Signal for emergency services to come and help
Protect against smoke
Provide caloric intake
Signal to other members of the group our location
Shelter from the elements
We thought that the chances of us being separated from the group was most likely to happen whilst paddling over any other activity, so all of these needed to also be carried on our person whenever on the water.
8. Fun along the way
On any adventure there are likely to be times when you have free time. Time where you are not travelling, eating, or sleeping will pop up from time to time. Our fun along the away items could therefore need to:
Keep us engaged for hours
Be used in airports, as well as in the wilderness
Help us wind down
9. Memory capture
Capturing memories can take many forms. Our memory capture methods would need to:
Capture images
Capture action
Capture thoughts and feelings
10. Sanitation and toiletries
To keep our bodies in working order we needed to ensure that we took care of our sanitation. One bout of food poisoning (or the like) could have been disastrous. Our sanitation items would need to:
Allow us to clean our hands with and without water
Facilitate going to the toilet in a long drop toilet
Facilitate going to the toilet in the wilderness
Enable us to wash our bodies with or without a shower
Enable us to wash our hair with or without a shower
Get anything off us that should not get on us
Handle all personal grooming that we would normally do at home
11. Load carrying
When we had established most of what we were going to need to carry we then had to consider how we would carry all this stuff. Load carrying equipment would need to:
Keep equipment dry
Be comfortable to carry for 7+ miles
Protect the contents from bumps and bashes
Be able to take through an airport
Be able for either of us to carry without issue
Fit in our selected watercraft evenly to enable effective trim
That just about covers everything! We wanted to give you a thorough walk through of how we select equipment for expeditions, and this was our biggest adventure (yet!) so there was a lot to think about. If you want to now see the full list of everything we packed, you can find that here. If you’d like more of a guide to selecting equipment for your own activity, then we also have an article on how to do just that here.