The Trip Center

Crucial to consider when planning any canoe trip are the portages you’ll encounter and what your team will be able (and willing) to tackle. If your route crosses between lakes, over waterfalls, or around rapids, you should expect to hit the shore and hoist your gear onto your shoulders.

Portaging can be a welcome challenge for a lot of canoe trippers, as well as break from paddling to stretch stiff legs. Part of the joy of wilderness tripping, especially with a team, is seeing how folks rise to challenges and find emotional and physical strengths to achieve more than previously thought possible. Don’t plan your route to avoid portages–you would be missing out.

To portage well, there are some nuanced tips we encourage you to consider:

Length
Terrain
Breaks
Loading and unloading boats, efficiently
Clothing

And of course, history. Break: The Grand Portage.

Music by “Blue Highway” by Podington Bear, Soul, Sound of Picture Production. Attribution-NonCommercial International License.

We heard you when you requested guidance planning routes in our Twitter poll, so episode six covers a favorite of mine: French Lake to Beaverhouse lake in Quetico Provincial Park. For more about visiting the Quetico, its history and personality, check out our third episode.

The route in a nutshell:

7 day trip
6 lakes
50 mi or 80 km
3 portages
260 rods - the longest portage, between Pickerel and McAlpine.
Skinny lakes and large lakes, winding narrows and shallow creek, long, low portage and short steep portage, and plenty of beautiful campsites.

Join us for A Look Back, our break segment describing the pictographs that can be found in canoe country and along this route in Quetico Lake. What are pictographs? Pictographs are pictures or symbols that signify a word. In this backcountry, the pictographs have a red ochre hue and depict canoe travelers, moose, bear, birds, fish, and more of the common surroundings.

The bare necessities of life in the canoe wilderness:

Long wool socks
Hiking boots, waterproof and broken-in
Synthetic underclothes
Athletic T-shirt
Full-length, quick-dry hiking pants
Sunglasses or sun hat
Cozy sleeping clothes
Extra layers for May or August-September trips (fleece, flannel, wool hat)

We take a brief break for Trip Tips: 11 ways to use a bandana. Of course Pinterest has many more ideas for general crafting, in case you needed more reason to pick up this resourceful item.

Credit to Anchor for an excellent podcast-creation platform (anchor.fm)!

Music: "Blue Highway" by Podington Bear, Soul, Sound of Picture Production. Attribution-NonCommercial International License.

We're off to Quetico Provincial Park in the final of our first mini-series, "Knowing Where You're Going." Listen in for an overview of this Canadian park where many canoeists start out.

Quetico by the numbers:

1.2 million acres
15,000 year-old landscape
2,000 designated camping sites
600+ lakes
20,000 annual visitors
$20-30 per adult, per night

Tune in for Trip Tips: How to Pick a Campsite.

Subscribe for future episodes and check out additional resources, posted at www.thetripcenter.wordpress.com!

Credit to Anchor for an excellent podcast-creation platform (anchor.fm)!

Music: "Blue Highway" by Podington Bear, Soul, Sound of Picture Production. Attribution-NonCommercial International License.

Voyageurs National Park wilderness has 200 backcountry camping sites and lives just beyond a popular fishing hub! This the 2nd of our 3-episode series, "Knowing Where You're Going," which provides an overview of the parks where many canoeists start out.

VNP by the numbers:

200,000 acres
15,000 year-old landscape
200 designated camping sites
50,000 annual visitors
$10 booking fee
$16 per adult, per night

Tune in for A Look Back at a Day in the Life of a Voyageur.

Subscribe for future episodes and check out additional resources, posted at www.thetripcenter.wordpress.com!

Credit to Anchor for an excellent podcast-creation platform (anchor.fm)!

Music: "Blue Highway" by Podington Bear, Soul, Sound of Picture Production. Attribution-NonCommercial International License.

Welcome to 1.1 MILLION acres called the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. This kicks off our 3-episode series, "Knowing Where You're Going," which provides an overview of the parks where many canoeists start out.

BWCA by the numbers:

1.1 million acres
15,000 year-old landscape
1,000 lakes and waterways
2,000 designated camping sites
250,000 annual visitors
$10 booking fee
$16 per adult, per night

Tune in for a reading of part of Sigurd Olson's "Why Wilderness."

Subscribe for future episodes and check out additional resources, posted at www.thetripcenter.wordpress.com!

Credit to Anchor for an excellent podcast-creation platform (anchor.fm)!

Music: "Blue Highway" by Podington Bear, Soul, Sound of Picture Production. Attribution-NonCommercial International License.