Hello I am new on the camping forum, and I enjoyed reading the posts. I took a camping trip last summer with a friend, and instead of taking the old bass boat that we normally take, I took my canoe and he took his kayak. We packed all our stuff in the boats for the 5 mile paddle to our favorite spot. I had so much stuff that I didn't even have room for my dutch oven, and I had to leave it in the vehicle. The weight wasn't the problem it was all this junk I had, and I bet I didn't even use a third of it. It sort of gave me a sick feeling. Does anyone else have this problem?. I don't want to be a minimalist, but good grief I felt like I was going on a month long survivalist trip.
That is not only an issue with camping, it is also an issue with life at home. Most people have more stuff than they will ever know what to do with and it keeps accumulating. You don't have to be a minimalist to get rid of all the stuff. You just have to know what is necessary and what is not...what things you have out of need and what things you have out of want. Explains it right there. The majority of the stuff wasn't really necessary. Leave the unnecessary things at home. It feels good to get rid of all that excess baggage and move around unencumbered.
I recently went through the same type of deal. Just normal car camping trips could get overwhelming with just "stuff". I wound up looking at the gear I was taking car camping, and the gear I had for backpacking. I looked at what backpacking gear I could dual purpose for my car camping, and done away with a lot of the larger gear that was redundant. I also kept track mentally of what I used and didn't use when on trips, if I didn't use it I took it out of the gear bag for the next trip.
When I'm backpacking, I go light, but not overly so. I do pack a few luxuries. Over the years however there is some equipment I learned to leave behind. For example the backpacker size Coleman lantern hasn't made a backpacking trip in at least 15 years. A good headlamp is all the light I need and now I only bring the part of the cook set I will need (I never used all four nested pots). Canoe camping is a different story. Like you, I probably don't use 2/3 of what I bring. Some of that is stuff I still would bring. Things good to have along in case I need them. Rain gear and tarp (for long rainy days), collapsible bow saw, extra batteries, some of the extra clothing. The Roll a Table doesn't take much room and has proven its value over the years, so that stays unless I know the campsites have tables. I guess I can ditch the folding chair and use my Thermarest backpacking chair. Where I can really cut things down is in the food and clothing category. When I canoe camp, I pack a cooler and that means fresh meat, eggs, OJ for breakfast and cold beer for the campfire. But in the end I wind up throwing nearly half of the food away, or bringing it home. I tend to way overestimate how much I'm going to eat. As far as clothing, when canoe camping, I bring a change of clothes for every day, plus long pants and warmer outerwear for the evening if it gets cold. In practice however I usually wear the same clothing all trip and only change the underwear. Almost everything else goes home unworn. Sure my clothes get ripe, but heck, I'm camping. So clothing is definitely something I can cut back on. One of the keys is coordinating with your partners. When it was just and my ex wife, it was easy. Going with others though you can wind up with a lot of duplication. I shared a campsite in the Adirondacks with a woman I met on a Meetup.com camping group. We planned to take my canoe to the site, but it turned out we had so much stuff between us she had to rent her own canoe and we both paddled fully packed canoes to the site. In the end did we really need two Coleman stoves, 8 canisters of propane, two lanterns, two tarps, two coolers of food, two cook sets and heaven knows two what of stuff neither of us used. Coordination before the trip could have really cut down on what we brought along.
Thanks for the input you all. Maybe first cold rainy day I get I am going through my camping stuff and do some serious priority listing. I got to do something because last time I went it ended pouring rain by the time we got back to the vehicle, and while unloading the canoe which involved a 100 yard carry to the truck and trailor, I kicked the tent under the trailor while loading other stuff and forgot about it. I only used that tent one time, so I was plenty disgusted with myself. I didn't know I drove off and left it there until I got home 3 hours later.
Backpacking is very useful because it forces people to bring only what they need. Your life gets small and simple. For canoeing I take the backpacking list and add a cooler which changes everything. I bring a thicker pad or light cot and a lawn chair. For a group maybe a community tarp and a larger stove. Otherwise the equipment is similar. For rafting there is even more room, but mostly we just have more elaborate food and more beer. Outdoor re-creation is best when it is simple. I am a minimalist by nature and rarely make lists except for week long trips far from home. I have forgotten plenty of things over the years, but have learned that there is always a way to get by without whatever I forgot.
Sorry for late repy. Thank your all for the input. Normally when a friend and I go we take my old bass boat or his flat bottom, and usualy we have to climb over the mtn of "stuff" to get in our seats. I was pretty embarrassed the last time because of the amount of gear we had. I felt like the trashy neighbors moving in next door. Any the last time I went I brought a 10 by 10 canopy. Yes it was a bit big and bulky, but it sure was nice when it rained. Plus we had all kinds of places in the frame work to put items like toilet paper, paper towels, match box, silverware roll, and places to hang wet items. We had our table and chairs and our fire underneath it and we could even hang our clothes to drie. Sorry, so much for light packing. I guess I better not plan a boundary waters trip till I learn a few things. I am jonesing bad to go camping right now. Again thank y'all for your input and advice.
Minimalist sometimes is better especially when you are leaving home for a journey. Just take what you need most.
Hi...!! "Silverware"...?? For me, that's a sheath knife...And, there's always trees around (here, anyway)...and home-made chopsticks work fine for me...!!
I slowly moved from lite to kitchen sink over the years as I aged. When young, with a small day pack i would spend weeks in the swamps of South louisiana in a canoe. Now we load the camper and suv to the hilt for a week long road trip.
I sometimes wonder if I'm the only person on Earth who constantly tries to downsize each piece of gear so he can bring more stuff. Like leaving the 2-burner Coleman stove at home in favor of a one burner backpacking stove. MR16 LED lights on "the telephone pole" instead of multiple propane or gas lanterns. A 2-quart pot and a 8" frying pan instead of a whole set of cast iron and stainless... and on and on... And yet, I'm still filling the same amount of space in the truck. Oh wait - I just went from a midsize Dakota to a full size RAM. Time to go to Amazon to buy more stuff...
