Trip prepping

Early planning discussions

It's a good idea to get a sense for what everyone is looking for in a trip ahead of time. Check out our Goal-sharing discussion guide for a guide to having some important discussions before getting too deep into planning. 

Allocating roles

There are a few areas that benefit from a predetermined point-person. These roles do not mean that others do not play a shared role, it just means that someone is responsible for either making sure everything is in order or making a quick decision in a crisis. The people in these roles will likely need additional experience in their area and require additional study and preparation. Of course in smaller groups some people will have multiple roles.

Researching

It can be really nice to just hop in on a pre-planned trip where someone else did all the research, but if you don't have that luxury, you'll need to hit the books (and websites, and people, but don't hit the people). 

We get trip ideas from books, blogs, trip reports and talking to paddlers. Once you have an idea, there are a few things to asses before getting too deep into the planning. 

1. What kind of water is it? If you want a whitewater trip, confirm how much whitewater there is. 

2. How many nights are required? We've gotten into the trap of getting excited about a river and jumped to watching videos of its rapids, before assessing the minimum number of nights it will take. Later we realized it was beyond what we had time for. 

3. How much will it cost? This can also be preventative. Some shuttles are wildly expensive, and some routes even need aircraft shuttles.

Once these are confirmed, you can get deeper into your research. 

Here are some things to try:

• I start by Googling "[river name] canoe tripping" and check out the blog and trip-report kind of material. Someone will have written extensively about the river.

• Some paddlers make and share custom maps of the route, like we do on this site. So adding "map" to the river name can be helpful. These can give you quicker insights on where the portages are, how long certain sections are etc. 

• You'll likely also find footage of people paddling the river on YouTube. 

• If there's specific information that you can't find, go to Canadian Canoe Routes and navigate to their (ancient-looking) forums section and do a search. Likely someone over the years has asked and been given an answer to the same question. If you can't find your answer, then you can make an account and ask the question yourself. Someone will get back to you in a short amount of time. 

• If you're using our Trip Planning Doc template, start pasting in the links to all your helpful findings as you go so that the whole group has access to what you've found. 

Gear planning

You can read more about suggested gear to bring over in our Whitewater Gear section. 

Unless you're just starting out and only have the bare essentials for gear, you'll likely have to make some decisions on what gear to bring. Here are some things to consider: 

• The route: Easy flat water trip without portages or base-camping (staying in one site multiple days), you can likely bring more gear. A long complex trip with whitewater and portages, maybe a little lighter.

• The season: Summer packing tends to be lighter. On colder trips there is lot more to consider.  You'll likely want more extra layers and a thicker sleeping bag. On some cold, non-whitewater trips, we bring a long a hot-tent and stove. If you've got the space, and portages are limited, why not? 

• Portages: If it’s a backcountry trip with lots of portages, then you’ll need to think about how much you want to carry and how long the portages are. Too much heavy gear can quickly become a regret on trips with long portages. 

• Canoe agility: Canoes will handle differently in whitewater when they are weighed down. If you don't like that feeling, that could impact the decisions on how you pack. 

• Group size: The total size of the group impacts gear selection as well since shared gear will be spread out to more boats on larger trips, freeing up space in each boat for extras. Things can feel pretty tight when it's just one or two boats. 

Canoe tripping does not need to be ultra-light camping. You have room for stuff, just don't make it too heavy and work with your group to figure out the right balance.

Gear choices affect others

Keep in mind that the choices you make about gear may end up impacting others on your trip. If one person brings a large heavy luxury item, it could mean that they can't carry as much shared gear so others have to pick up the slack. If a canoe with extra gear dumps, other people will be chasing down that gear, and sometimes a some personal risk. Someone with a lot of extra gear may carry all their own gear on portages, but it also means they are not as available to carry more of the shared gear.

The best approach is to talk about it with your group. Decide together what is worth it. For us, the joy of cracking open a beer on a hot day in the bush is worth the extra weight for a few days and hauling around the empty cans. Sometimes we even stash more beer in the bush part way down the river so there's new beer available later in the trip. We in Split Rock collectively agree that a cooler of beer is too much, but could even change our mind if the group was large enough and the shared gear spread out. It's all a matter of what your group is comfortable with. 

A note on gear-shaming

We believe it is basic camp etiquette to not gear shame people in the group (unless it’s just so funny we can’t help it). Not everyone has the best gear, and for some people, some luxury item is really worth it while it seems unnecessary to others. One of us carries a larger camp chair on trips to ensure that he can properly rest up at camp without getting even more sore. On first glance, it might seem unnecessary, but for him, it's totally necessary. Good communication about this with the group is always helpful.

Handling the money

We usually don't know how much trips will cost ahead of time. Each paddler will record their shared expenses as they go and insert it into a cost-splitting app or site. We like to use spliito.com since it's web-based and it doesn't require everyone to install an app.  

Other groups with more of a single-leader approach may develop a flat fee for everyone, or someone might function as the banker for everything and then split up the costs. Those aren't really really our style, though, but it works. Whatever the case is for your group, talk about it before hand. Is it an honour system, or should everyone be saving receipts? 

A safety checklist

There are several things you should think about and make some decisions on before starting your trip. 

• Is there an adequate first aid kit for the group size and a smaller backup one if it is lost? Have you examined the kits to see if they are up-to-date?

• Have you shared your entire itinerary and trip plan with someone not going on the trip who can be a key contact if you don't come back when you should. 

• If you're far in the backcountry, do you have a satellite communications device? New phones are starting to have this now.  

• Do you have back ups of your maps? 

• Do you have a plan if someone is injured. If a helicopter evacuation isn't an option, will it be possible to do a "fast canoe" exist with strong paddlers? Will the remaining paddlers have enough skill and gear to continue the trip and get home? 

• Have you selected someone to be the point-person for first aid and they've done some additional wilderness medicine refresher learning? 

• Has all the gear been examined to ensure it all works or won't fall apart? Are there spares for critical items?