Packing for Northern Tier

[resqman]

We are heading to Northern Tier Aug 2010. We have several troop members who have treked in the last several years but am looking for a broader range of opinions.

 

What item(s) do you wish you had taken but did not?

 

What item(s) did you take but should have left behind?

 

What item(s) suprised you at how much or often it was used?

 

What item(s) could you not have lived without?

[Mike F]

I've been up there 3 times and hope to go many more! But I'm always learning, so look forward to hearing more ideas from others.

 

Here are mine:

 

What item(s) do you wish you had taken but did not?

- A knife sharpener. Cleaning lots of fish with dull fillet knives took much more time.

- Small, lightweight, tripod camera stand for taking group pictures.

 

What item(s) did you take but should have left behind?

- Extra clothes - only need 1 pair zip-off pants/shorts, 1 pair shorts, 2 t-shirts, 1 long-sleeve shirt, 2 pairs of hiking socks, fleece jacket and 1 pair camp shoes. (All clothes synthetic, quick-dry - only cotton allowed was one t-shirt for sleeping.)

 

What item(s) suprised you at how much or often it was used?

- Clif Bars. Crew of older boys were hungry.

- 2m portable HAM radio for listening to weather reports. (Also useful for emergency communications.)

- UV water purifier

- Fire starting kit (cotton balls partially dipped in wax and kept dry in double baggies - great for getting soggy stuff started)

 

What item(s) could you not have lived without?

- Hip pack for rain gear, compass, sunscreen, DEET, chapstick, etc. This allowed quick access and could be worn while carrying 1 or 2 packs on portages.

- Carabiners for rigging bear bags

- Bug head net with elastic straps under armpits.

- 100% DEET

- Bag on Snickers Bars for special treat after tough day

- Duct tape wrapped around Nalgene bottles (used for bandages and repairs)

 

NT is an awesome experience - enjoy!!

[BrentAllen]

What item(s) do you wish you had taken but did not?

..A plastic ground cover to go INSIDE the tent. We dodged major flooding, but came close a couple of times.

..More para cord. We didn't get much of any with the tarp. Needed more clothes lines.

..Lighters, needed for lighting cook stoves. We were always looking for one, especially a dry one that would work.

 

What item(s) did you take but should have left behind?

..Not much, we really had our gear down to a minimum. I took too much fishing gear (lures, etc)

..We took one Day pack - leave it at home. Everything goes in the Grey Whales. No extra bags or packs.

 

What item(s) suprised you at how much or often it was used?

..Lighters. See above.

 

What item(s) could you not have lived without?

..Switchback pants, nylon Action shirt, wicking Troop t-shirt, poly u/w.. These clothes worked great, dried quickly, were comfortable when wet. Marmot Oracle rain jacket. Canon Powershot A 560 camera in Pelican case, always on my belt loop. If you have to take a camera out of a bag, you are going to miss a lot of photos. XY Bent-shaft paddle, sold at Trading Post.

 

What items did you think about taking, but were glad you left behind?

..Canoe seats (the cordura-type). We were in kevlar with formed seats. Soooo glad we didn't take these.

..Water filters. We just used bleach and PolarPure.

[Eagledad]

Camp chairs, the kind with no legs. Because the typical ground in camp is dirt, mud or rocks, that item was missed the most by those who didnt take one.

 

I agree with using waterproof cameras cases or waterproof disposable cameras. You only have about 3 seconds for the really good moose, bear, eagle and other critter shots.

 

Did someone mention bicycle gloves to prevent blisters?

 

The one thing I really liked about Northern Tier over a backpacking trek is taking baths in the lake. I generally took a bath and washed my clothes every other day. Very refreshing in many ways.

 

Barry

 

[mmhardy]

I asked my son this. He spent the summer working there. Here is his advice.

 

"While working as an interpreter I had a pretty set list of items that I brought. Scout participants may not share the same list but as I worked there for the summer I would like to think it would help. The main difference between what I packed and what scouts packed is that I, as an interpreter, had my own pack. The crews usually got one gear pack per 3 people. The weight that each scout packed made a difference.

 

Essentials

-Lightweight Sleeping Bag

-Fold Flat Bowl and spoon

-Wet Shoes AND Camp Shoes (misery ensued with constantly wet feet)

-Knife (it is a lot of weight for everyone to bring their own (however, I personally brought two, comfort thing))

-Seal Bag (extra protection, one 20L and one 15L bag should fit everything(a 30L bag can be bulky). If you need more space, you need less stuff)

-Map case (if you plan to use it more than once by all means, invest. However, the double zip lock freezer-bags work as a decent substitute)

-Camera

-Nalgene (you only need one, it is not Philmont, you are surrounded by water all the time)

Clothing Essentials

-2pairs pants (zip-off quick dry are best)

-2t-shirts (not cotton)

-Several pairs of boxer-briefs (whatever is conferrable, offers support, and will keep you dry)

-Several Wicking socks and Wool outer (once they are wet, they will NOT dry)

-Fleece

-RAINJACKET (Rain-pants are redundant since you are getting in and out of water all the time anyway so dont bother. Ponchos are a joke. If you dont have any, it may be the time to invest. Summer 2009 there was seldom a string of good weather longer than 4 days.)

-Small camp towel (for feet, drying off soaking legs before entering a sleeping bag, ect.)

-Sleeping Clothing (I liked having something dry, comfy, and warm)

 

Tip: Waded up clothing doubles great as a pillow.

 

Luxuries

Jetboil (great for my Ramen Noodle or coffee needs)

Lightweight Hammock (Used it EVERY sunny day)

Mug (if you dont like having breakfast and coffee/hot coco separate)

Book or Magazines (these may fit in your mapcase)

Candy Bars =]

 

Ultimately if something is forgotten, or you feel you truly need, you can live without it for a time. There was a 7day trip where I managed to forget socks, camp shoes, and a mess kit and lived to tell the tale. Yea my feet were soggy any unhappy but I learned that a big leaves can substitute for a bowl and chopsticks are easy to make with twigs.

 

Dont Bring

-Obscene amounts of foot powder (crews, always, without fail bring bottles of foot powder. Hint: I didnt use it all summer and I dont know an interpreter who does.)

-Too Many Fishing Poles (I occasionally brought my telescopic pole. Nothing frustrates an interpreter like 7 fishing poles open in a canoe that need to be hand carried on every portage. )

-Giant Tackle Box (Bring a small selection of whatever, you dont need bobs bait shop in a box. Live bait works best anyway)

-Day Packs (honestly if you think you will need something thought the day put it in a pocket (ex: camera) or on top of your gear pack (ex: raingear)

- Sleeping Pad (I never took one. The ground usually is not cold enough to warrant its use. Unless you have a bad back or its a comfort thingultimately youre carrying it)

-Canoe Seats (They are nice, but are just one more problem on portages. Plus some canoes have seats that are not canoe seat compatible) "

[GernBlansten]

Everything you need to take (personal) should fit in a 5 gallon bucket. If you can't fit it into the bucket, you are taking too much.

 

But the most favorite luxury I took was my Big Agnes chair that my Big Agnes pad fits into. Its a throne for when you get off the water each day. Nothing better than to blow up your chair, kick off your boots and let the sun dry you out while enjoying a good book, listening to the scouts argue about the duty roster. Warning though, you must guard the chair. A vacant chair is fair game to poachers.

 

Also, good jungle boots are important. As are wicking pants and shirts.

[mmhardy]

Gern,

 

Your right about fitting in a 5 gal bucket. I'm not sure NT will let you use it. Plus there was a rather lengthy discussion at the bwca.com blog about those who utilize this method.

[GernBlansten]

Are you talking about taking the bucket or the chair?

I'm just saying everything you need to bring should not exceed a bucket's capacity. Not that you take the bucket.

As for the chair, its a couple of fiberglass rods and some fabric. Your sleeping pad slides in it. NTier can have my chair when they pry my cold dead butt out of it.

[resqman]

Just got back last evening from a 7 day trek thru BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area). Wow! Much more physically demanding than Philmont. We covered 104 miles in 7 days. We were within 5 miles of base camp on the last day so we took a day trip so the interperter could complete a challange. He carried 3 canoes at one time on an 85 rod portage. Each canoe is about 75 lbs for a total of about 225 lbs. He tied two canoes to the third and carried them 1400 feet. He gets to tie a turks head around his canoe paddle to commerate the task.

 

We had wonderful weather. Rained one morning for about 2-3 hours. Cloudy for several days but that limited the sunburn and heat. Wonderful for paddling.

 

As for gear, the above suggestions were right on.

 

2 pair of zipoff nylon pants

2 pair of socks

2 quick dry T-shirts

2 quick dry (nylon) underwear

1 quick dry long sleeve shirt (prevent sunburn during day or mosquitos in evening)

camp shoes (NOT crocs)

Jungle boots

Wide brimmed hat with chin strap

sunglasses with strap

camera

rain jacket

pocket knife

bowl

spoon

water bottle (no camelback)

bandanna

sleeping pad (nothing but rocks to sleep on)

2 fishing poles per crew max

small notebook and pencil for journaling

Alarm clock

head light

 

PFDs were used for seat pads in camp. Brough a paperback but was too tired to read except once or twice. Lads read aloud to each other each night from a "scary story" book. 1 deck of cards was handy for crew.

 

Everything thing else is just extra weight.

 

We had a water filter and never used it. Polar Pure did not add any taste.

We used the strike anywhere matches in the crew box for the stove and never had a problem.

No coffee drinkers so only used two quarts of fuel for trek. Sister crew did not drink coffee and used 4 quarts of fuel duing same time.

We did not have an alarm clock but other adult woke up @5:30am from habit.

 

Recommend adults do some cardio training before going. Lugging canoes up hill on the portages had me sucking wind the first couple days.

[Eagle92]

never been to Northern Tier, But did a 64 miler in Canada. Plus anothe rtrip in FL. A couple of things I notice are missing.

 

1) a few garbage bags. They are super lightweight, and have lots of uses.

2) twist ties. see above

3) Small transceiver. On the FL trip, we had an emergency that called for an airlift. Luckily we were able to get to a park and use a phone. But NT is pure wilderness if I'm not mistaken. If that was to happen on my Canada trip, I don't know what the results would have been.

4) Wide brimmed hat. I use a boonie hat. One guy I met uses a Vietnamese rice paddy hat. He actually had it set up were some things were stored in it.

 

 

I second no ponchos. Learned the hard way. HOWEVER, you can do a "Rambo" and tie the painter around you. It helps, but not as much as a rain jacket.

 

Also second good jungle boots as wet shoes. I bought a cheap pair prior to a prep trip. Heel and part of the sole came of. Get the real McCoys and not imitations.

 

Somethign I've been told and haven't tried is Vitamin C tablets if you are using some type of chemical purification. Vitamin C cuts down on the taste I'm told.