Miscellaneous Gear for a Boundary Waters Trip
We may earn commissions if you shop through the links below.
This is all the miscellaneous gear that I hauled with me on my recent BWCAW canoe trip. After this post, I’ll cover the food that I brought with me — it was the best food that I’ve carried on a trip and I’ll be carrying similar in the future. For this post, I’ll just post the list and put my thoughts or future changes in the righthand column.
I could have easily saves a pound or so if I had done this list before the trip. I would have probably saved near 18 ounces with a few changes.
| Navigation | ||
| NatGeo BWCAW Waterproof Map | 3.3 | You get 1/2 of the BWCAW on one map. Read my National Geographic Boundary Waters map review. You can buy at Amazon. I sold my full set of McKenzie Maps and just use these now. |
| Silva Starter Compass | 0.9 | You really don’t need anything fancier for the BWCAW. |
| Thin Optics Keychain Glasses | 0.8 | Helps when reading small items on the map. You may not need this, but they are small cheaters that I can stash in my pocket or tie on my compass lanyard. |
| 5 | 0 lb 5 oz | |
| Office/Den | ||
| Princeton Tec EOS Headlight | 3.6 | Bought a Nitecore NU25. It will save 2.5 ounces. Have to make head strap. My old EOS has developed a crack in the plastic and doesn’t hold position anymore. This lasted a long time because I bought it or was given it at a tradeshow the first year it came out. |
| Moleskine Classic Notebook, 3.5×5.5 ruled | 4.1 | I write a lot and filled over half of this book on the trip with notes and journaling, so it is worth the weight. I like these little books and am willing to carry them. On a shorter trip, I’ll use one of their smaller cashiers. |
| G2 pen refill with tape where held | 0.2 | |
| Glasses case | 4 | Switch to used Crystal Light container to save 3 ounces. |
| Contact case | 0.3 | |
| Contact solution | 1.4 | I just used a travel bottle that was 1/2 full. I’m sure I could find a lighter bottle. This weight includes the solution. |
| Glasses | 0.9 | |
| Seattle Sports Dry Doc™ ID | 0.3 | To carry $40 in cash, a credit card and id. I’m still using this as a wallet. |
| Driver’s Lic, credit card, cash | 0.4 | |
| Book | 6 | I didn’t read much of this. I could have left at home. |
| Printed Winchell journal | 4.1 | This was trip specific. |
| Extra maps | 3 | These were for areas outside the BWCAW. I actually know those areas well and could have left these at home. |
| Outdoor Research Helium #1 dry sack | 1.6 | This is a bit heavy for what it carried. I could save around an ounce. |
| 29.9 | 1 lb 14 oz (With changes I could have saved ~15 ounces) | |
| Bathroom Bag | ||
| Contacts – Extra | 0.2 | |
| Toothbrush w/cover | 0.8 | |
| Small Wash Cloth | 0.3 | |
| Granite Gear Air ZipDitty | 0.8 | I can put this in the same ditty bag with my food utensils. |
| 2.1 | 0 lb 2 oz | |
| First Aid and Repair | ||
| First Aid Kit | 5.7 | I carry this in a Adventure Medical Zip Pouch, but the selection of items is much different and based on my training. It was nice to have what I did on this trip to handle a small injury and a weird bug bite. It looked like a spider bit me in three different places on my ankle. Here’s an example of a lightweight first aid kit that I put together in the past. |
| Repair/Emergency Kit | ||
| Moki Knife – 1.5 | I didn’t bring this because I had a rescue knife on my vest. | |
| Light My Fire Flint and Steel | 1 | |
| Tinder-Quik™ Firestarter Tabs | 0.1 | |
| Mini Bic Lighter | 0.5 | Probably didn’t need this with the other fire starters I had with me. |
| Coghlan’s Waterproof Matches | 0.3 | |
| Emergency LED light | 0.4 | I’ve never used this on a trip and probably didn’t need to bring it. |
| Duct tape | 0.4 | I use this to treat blisters, which I got on the first day after 9 miles of portages. It also does repairs. One trip, we put a hole in a plastic canoe and duct tape kept it running the entire week. I can probably bring 1/2 of this. |
| Sewing kit w/ tweezers | 0.4 | I’ve had to repair stuff on trips before, so this stays with me. |
| Gear Aid Tape | 0.2 | I didn’t realize I still had tape in the bag when I added some. |
| Gear Aid Tape | 0.6 | |
| ACR Hotshot Signaling Mirror | 1.8 | With the InReach I brought, I probably didn’t need to carry this. |
| Zippered Pouch | 0.7 | |
| 12.1 | 0 lb 12 oz | |
| Consumables | Most of these weights include the bottle. Fuel doesn’t. | |
| Clear Eyes drops | 0.3 | I carry this but seldom use it. I probably don’t need to carry it. |
| Hand Sanitizer | 1.6 | |
| Toothpaste | 0.5 | I’ve been thinking about trying toothpaste pills. Anyone try these? |
| Sunscreen | 0.6 | |
| Bug Spray – DEET | 4 | I could have put this in a smaller container and carried only about 1 ounce of juice. |
| Fuel | ||
| Burt’s Bees Chapstick | 0.4 | There are lighter and smaller chapsticks. |
| Sea to Summit Wilderness Wipes | 4.6 | |
| 10 | 0 lb 12 oz |
After this, I have two more posts. The first will be food and the second will be electronic and paddling gear. The electronics might end up as a YouTube video. If anyone is interested — these posts have gotten limited engagement — I’ll post the full list in one post or just link it as a Google spreadsheet. Maybe I’ll make a spreadsheet with recommended gear items with an ideal weight as a benchmark. That way you could add your gear to the spreadsheet and compare what you have versus what I have and what weight we should be shooting for.
Bryan Hansel
Bryan Hansel is a freelance writer, award-winning photographer and a former American Canoe Association L4 Open Water Coastal Kayaking Instructor. His home port is on Lake Superior in Grand Marais, Minnesota. He also teaches photography workshops.
2 Comments
Thos
I’m finding these posts VERY helpful- starting to work out gear for solo trip to Quetico next year, please at least post the list if not enough others are following this. Just letting you know- its a lot of work you’re putting in, and in at least this small corner of the world, it’s appreciated. Thanks!
Bryan Hansel
Thanks!