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Canoe camping, also known as touring, tripping or expedition canoeing, is a combination of canoeing and camping. Canoe campers typically carry enough supplies with them to travel and camp for several days via a canoe.
A canoeist can transport significantly heavier and bulkier loads than a backpacker or even a kayaker can. portaging by foot is sometimes necessary to pass between water bodies or around hazardous obstacles such as rapids or waterfalls, but most of the time canoe campers travel on water. Because they usually don't continuously carry their gear on their backs, canoe campers can bring more food and gear and undertake longer trips. This is especially the case with food which, unlike gear where the weight is essentially fixed regardless of the trip duration, increases in weight for each additional day of provision. On rivers, high water levels after storms can make river travel hazardous, while on lakes, winds and thunderstorms can produce strong winds which create large waves and headwinds which work against paddlers to slow the canoe. Trips may need to have extra days built into the schedule in case of weather delays.
Although some experienced canoeists feel comfortable paddling straight through large bodies of water, most typically stay within a few hundred meters of shore. Since a fully loaded touring canoe only draws about 14 centimetres (5.5 in), it can approach a rocky shore as close as arm's-length. This proximity (and a canoe's inherent quietness) lets the canoeist observe aquatic and near-shore plants and wildlife from a perspective that walking on solid ground does not allow. Many people engage in fishing while canoe camping.
The versatility of canoe tripping allows canoeists to go places and see things that they otherwise could not.
Many canoeists use specialized canoe packs designed for both easy portaging and loading into canoes. Waterproof dry bags are frequently used to keep important items dry in case of inclement weather or capsizing.
Native Americans of many different tribes who used canoes for transportation, needed to "canoe camp" regularly. Before the construction of modern means of transportation and transportation routes, the most effective way to travel through the vast expanses of northern wilderness was to navigate the countless small waterways by canoe. Their canoe was perfect for this purpose, as it was relatively easy to carry, fast, able to traverse a wide variety of different water ways (small streams to huge lakes), and able to carry large loads.
It was for all these reasons that the early French explorers of North America, such as Louis Jolliet, quickly adopted the use of the Native American canoe. With them came Jesuit missionaries, coureurs des bois, and voyageurs. Once trading posts were established in the interior, the canoe continued to be the primary transportation method, supplying such posts with regular canoe brigades. In northern Quebec, this practice continued until the middle of the 20th century.
As the "wilderness" of the Americas was tamed by the construction of the railroad and later roads, the canoe as a means of primary transportation lost its practicality. It turned into a recreational sport, a way for Americans and others to experience the pre-European America, and have a glimpse of a formerly never-ending wilderness. While recreational canoe camping has been enjoyed since the late 19th century by sporting and boating enthusiasts, it was not until later in the 20th century that, with the advent of camping consumer goods, it gained mass appeal.
An early proponent and popularizer of canoe camping was George W. Sears, a sportswriter for Forest and Stream magazine in the 1880s, whose book Woodcraft (1884), told the story of his 1883, 266-mile (428 km) journey through the central Adirondacks in a 9-foot-long (2.7 m), 10+1⁄2-pound (4.8 kg) solo canoe named the Sairy Gamp. He was 64 years old and in frail health at the time.
John MacGregor during the 1860s built and sailed and paddled his "Rob Roy" canoes through Europe, and the Middle East documenting these in a series of books including;; (1886) A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe; (1867) The Voyage Alone In The Yawl 'Rob Roy'; (1867) The Rob Roy on the Baltic; and (1869) The Rob Roy on the Jordan, Nile, Red sea. Inspired by MacGregor, and using a version of his "Rob Roy" canoe Robert Louis Stevenson undertook, in 1876, a canoe journey through the waterways of France and Belgium and wrote this up in his An Inland Voyage.
Also in 1883, American Canoe Association Secretary Charles Neide and retired sea captain "Barnacle" Kendall paddled and sailed over 3,000 miles (4,800 km) in a sailing canoe from Lake George, New York to Pensacola, Florida.
The adventure memoir Canoeing with the Cree relates Eric Sevareid's youthful journey with a companion from Minnesota to Hudson Bay in 1930.
In Canada, Bill Mason, who was an author, artist, filmmaker, and environmentalist, published several books and produced a number of films in the 1970s that greatly advanced the popularity of canoe camping.
Calvin Rutstrum was a wilderness canoeist and author, whom Bill Mason said "totally influenced me" and "he became my hero". [1]
Like Mason and Sevareid, a number of modern-day canoeists have retraced the historic routes of the fur-traders and voyageurs and published books about their experiences. Noteworthy examples from Canada include Coke Stop in Emo: Adventures of a Long-Distance Paddler by Alec Ross, Canoeing a Continent: On the Trail of Alexander MacKenzie by Max Finkelstein and Where Rivers Run by Joanie and Gary McGuffin.
Sigurd Olson, conservationist and north woods writer, traveled and camped by canoe extensively. These included long trips as he wrote about in his book The Lonely Land and well as frequent shorter trips covered in many of his books.
Eric W. Morse, author, historian and notable wilderness canoe tripper traveled with Sigurd Olson. He authored books on their wilderness trips and on historical fur trade canoe routes in Canada. [2]
In the "Source to Sea expedition" of 2005, two students from North Carolina State University paddled 2,150 miles (3,460 km) down the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers to support the Audubon Society's Upper Mississippi River Campaign.
The book New York to Nome by Rick Steber details the story of Sheldon Taylor and Geoffrey Pope who paddled from New York City April 25, 1936, to Nome, Alaska, August 11, 1937. And from January 10, 1975 until November 12, 1977, Jerry Robert Pushcar canoed and portaged solo a distance of 14,290 kilometres (8,880 mi) from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Nome, Alaska, via the Mississippi, Prescott, Minnesota, Grand Portage, Lake Superior, and Canada. This was the longest recorded canoe trip in history until 1980. [3] The record was broken by Don Starkell and his sons Dana and Jeff, who paddled in an open canoe from Winnipeg in central Canada to Belém at the mouth of the Amazon River from June 1, 1980 to May 1, 1982, covering a distance of 19,603 kilometres (12,181 mi). [4] [5]
Henry David Thoreau, an American author and advocate of environmental conservation, provided a written account of a long distance canoeing expedition in his book The Maine Woods. Thoreau's canoeing expedition in Maine covered remote areas that can still be experienced in Maine's Hundred Mile Wilderness.
The Back River, formerly Backs River, is the 20th longest Canadian river and is located in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. It rises at an unnamed lake in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories and flows more than 974 km (605 mi) mostly through the Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, to its mouth at the Arctic Ocean in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut.
A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles.
Ely is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,268 at the 2020 census.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness comprises 1,090,000 acres (440,000 ha) of pristine forests, glacial lakes, and streams in the Superior National Forest. Located entirely within the U.S. state of Minnesota at the Boundary Waters, the wilderness area is under the administration of the United States Forest Service. Efforts to preserve the primitive landscape began in the 1900s and culminated in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978. The area is a popular destination for canoeing, hiking, and fishing, and is the most visited wilderness in the United States.
The Missinaibi River is a river in northern Ontario, Canada, which flows northeast from Missinaibi Lake, north of Chapleau, and empties into the Moose River, which drains into James Bay. This river is 755 kilometres (469 mi) in length. It is one of the longest free-flowing and undeveloped rivers in Ontario.
Sigurd Ferdinand Olson was an American writer, environmentalist, and advocate for the protection of wilderness. For more than thirty years, he served as a wilderness guide in the lakes and forests of the Quetico-Superior country of northern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario. He was known honorifically as the Bourgeois — a term the voyageurs of old used of their trusted leaders.
Northern Tier High Adventure is a collection of high adventure bases run by the Boy Scouts of America in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Minnesota, Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park and Canadian Crown Lands, Manitoba's Atikaki Provincial Wilderness Park, Woodland Caribou Provincial Park, and points beyond. Northern Tier is the oldest of the four National High Adventure Bases operated by the Boy Scouts of America; the others currently in operation are Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, Florida Sea Base in the Keys, and The Summit in West Virginia. The oldest, largest and most prominent of the Northern Tier bases is the Charles L. Sommers National High Adventure Base. Central to its programs is trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) and Quetico Provincial Park
Bill Mason was a Canadian naturalist, author, artist, filmmaker, and conservationist, noted primarily for his popular canoeing books, films, and art as well as his documentaries on wolves. Mason was also known for including passages from Christian sermons in his films. He was born in 1929 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and graduated from the University of Manitoba School of Art in 1951. He developed and refined canoeing strokes and river-running techniques, especially for complex whitewater situations. Mason canoed all of his adult life, ranging widely over the wilderness areas of Canada and the United States. Termed a "wilderness artist," Mason left a legacy that includes books, films, and artwork on canoeing and nature. His daughter Becky and son Paul are also both canoeists and artists. Mason died of cancer in 1988.
John MacGregor, nicknamed Rob Roy after a renowned relative, was an English explorer, travel writer and philanthropist. He is generally credited with the development of the first sailing canoes and with popularising canoeing as a sport in Europe and the United States. He founded the British Royal Canoe Club (RCC) in 1866 becoming its first Captain and also founded American Canoe Association in 1880.
Verlen Kruger was an American canoe enthusiast who paddled over 100,000 mi (160,000 km) in his lifetime.
Garrett and Alexandra Conover have been professional canoe and snowshoe guides since 1980. They are American authors and registered Maine Guides, who have specialized in traditional wilderness travelling techniques of the boreal north woods.
Don Starkell was a Canadian adventurer, diarist and author, perhaps best known for his achievements in canoeing.
Kevin Callan is a Canadian canoe enthusiast, media personality, and author of thirteen books, including the bestselling The Happy Camper and "A Paddler's Guide To" series.
The Keele River is a tributary of the Mackenzie River, about 410 kilometres (250 mi) long, in the western part of the Canadian Northwest Territories. Flowing in a generally northeast direction, it drains a sparsely populated, rugged area of the Mackenzie Mountains.
Canoeing – recreational boating activity or paddle sport in which you kneel or sit facing forward in an open or closed-decked canoe, and propel yourself with a single-bladed paddle, under your own power.
Canoeing with the Cree is a 1935 book by journalist Eric Sevareid, recounting a canoe trip that he and friend Walter Port embarked on in 1930.
Eric W. Morse was a writer, wilderness canoe traveler and historian. He was born December 29, 1904, in India and died in Ottawa March 1986.
Canoe Country Outfitters was formed in 1946 in Ely, Minnesota, to provide canoe trip outfitting services for Quetico Provincial Park and Superior National Forest and what was to become Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Bill Rom started the business and then sold it to Bob Olson Sr. in 1975. At times they have been dubbed to be the largest canoe outfitter in the world. They operate from two locations, one in downtown [ Ely, Minnesota, the other on Moose lake, about 20 miles east of Ely.
Pioneer Camp Manitoba (PCM) is a summer camp, one of several Pioneer Camps owned and operated by Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) of Canada. It operates on two islands on Shoal Lake, near Lake of the Woods. It is located just on the Ontarian side of the Manitoba-Ontario border, and is accredited by the Manitoba Camping Association.
The Everglades Wilderness Waterway is a 99-mile navigable recreational waterway route within Everglades National Park, also known as Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness. It includes many interconnecting creeks, rivers, lakes and inner bays that are navigable by shallow draft powerboat, kayak or canoe. The official Wilderness Waterway route is 99 miles long, but a traveler can use various additional route options to greatly extend or slightly shorten the trip.
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