Canoe camping provides all the best parts of a wilderness experience. Accessing remote parts of the world in a canoe rather than a car increases the separation between you and civilization. Over the years, I have come to enjoy canoe camping much better than car camping or backpacking!
Canoe Camping Provides True Wilderness
I enjoy many social situations. Meeting new people can stimulate some fascinating conversations. On the other hand, car camping next to 23 yahoos intent on shotgunning cheap beer, crushing the can on their heads then following the performance with a fireball chaser”¦well”¦. That puts the wild in wilderness for sure, but that’s not what I’m really looking for.
Paddling several miles across an aquatic buffer puts some distance between you and the yahoos. Now, instead of being serenaded by a boom box blasting AC DC (nothing against AC DC, I just want to All Night Long them somewhere else), you can drift off to sleep to the sounds of loons and waves lapping against the shore.
Wildlife
Not the Allen’s Coffee Brandy chuggers, but the four-footed kind: Deer, moose, otters, beaver. And the winged kind: eagles, osprey, ducks. I see much more wildlife in a boat than I do on foot. Perhaps I’m quieter. Perhaps there’s more open vistas across the water than through the trees, but I see many more critters while paddling instead of walking.
Canoe Camping Cooking
Good God, the food.
When I was a kid, we hiked the 7.3 miles into Russell Pond in Baxter State Park every summer to fly fish for a week. With lot’s of walking and no refrigeration, we had to keep food weight to a minimum. So we ate Rice-a-Roni. A lot. And Ramen. Then we tried backpack baker brownies that came out more like pudding. My uncle called it “Bear Dump Surprise.”
Anyway, that’s how I thought you had to eat in the woods.
Enter my friend, Todd. On our first Machias River canoe trip together we had a group of 6 or so, and everyone was in charge of one meal. True to our upbringing, my representative group served up freeze-dried this and dehydrated that.Â
Then came Todd’s turn: Del Monico steaks with fire roasted potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic. With a dutch oven baked tollhouse cookie pie for dessert.
Todd for President! (It’s worth noting that this meal occurred over 20 years ago and I still remember it vividly!)
It rivaled a religious awakening.
I had no idea you could eat like that in the woods. “Why not?” He said. “The boat carries most of the weight.” That’s right! We can carry heavy food”¦and Dutch ovens!
I soon became a culinary disciple of the outdoor kitchen. Now it seems like much of our trip is designed around the meals.
This also changed the energy of my trips. Rather than dumping contents into a pot of water and simmering, I began prepping and preparing actual culinary courses. The ritual of meal preparation added to the vitality of life: focusing on the essentials with everything else just melting away. I find this a difficult challenge on backpacking trips!
Water
I’m not a Pisces. But I love being around water. You can look at it photograph it,, paddle across it, swim in it, fish it, and drink it (after filtration, of course).
Backpacking sites don’t always have water. Car camping sites MAY have it, but more often than not it’s only “shared access.” Or the chlorinated variety, and they frown on canoeing in the pool. But canoe camping provides premier waterfront real estate. At a fraction of the cost.
My Knees and Back
After 51 years and ACL surgeries in both knees, I enjoy the core workouts of paddling. Either sitting in my webbed canoe seat or kneeling on my foam knee pads, my body really enjoys the low-impact paddling motion. Oh, I’m still sore many a morning and may indulge in some vitamin I (Ibuprofen), but sore paddle muscles feel like the result of a solid workout. Sore knees at the end of a hike just remind me that I’m getting old.
My lifejacket weighs significantly less than a frame pack. And even though a gear-laden canoe can feel a but heavy to paddle, allowing buoyancy to be the beast of burden saves the strain on my back. And sometimes, the current even helps!
Conclusion
I could probably come up with several more reasons that I prefer canoe camping as my favorite mode of wilderness travel, but those are the key ones! I’ve done my share of backpacking, care camping, and campground tenting, but expeditionary paddling come in number one on my list!
Share your favorite parts of canoe camping in the comments!