How much do you learn about an area before tripping?

Some people like to know as much as they can about a route in terms of route planning and camp sites.

Some people like to know as much as they can about the history of the route.

Some people just seem to show up and take it as it comes.

Where do you fall and why?

Alan

I do a lot of research on route specifics and logistics, not so much about the area history.

I'm currently planning a trip for July, because of the nature of the location I'm spending more time on history than usual and less on route planning. The logistics are also very simple since unlike most of my trips it starts and ends in the same location.

If it's a totally new area for me, I'll spend enough time with my maps and other information I can gather so I can feel comfortable in the new terrain. That "information" might come from folks already familiar with the region, magazine articles or any one of the numerous YouTube videos that are out there. All of it gives me a general picture of what it is I'll be getting myself into so that's helpful.

As for the history of the area; that is something I do enjoy learning about. If there is something on the route that is of an historic nature, I'll incorporate it into my trip and do some pre-trip reading so I have a feel for what took place where I'm traveling.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

If it is something that not many people do, I will spend a lot of time planning and researching. I will try to find trip reports. I will look at as many satellite photos of the area as I can find and mark potential camp sites and make mile markers. I will do some reading on the history of the river. I will closely monitor the NOAA Hydrograph. I will come on here and ask people for advice. That Navasota River trip I did was one of these. That was a hard trip even with all the research, but I am glad I was prepared.

Paper maps, online maps, GPS applications, Google Earth… I am a bit obsessive when it’s an area I am not familiar with. Planning is half the fun for me during the winter months.
Bob

Depends on the who and what. For instance, when I did Clarno to Cottonwood on the John Day, I was with a group mostly new to me and none of us had done it before. I studied that pretty heavily...guide books, YouTube, and sat photos. You can't really get into it that much without getting some of the history, which is a plus.

OTOH, when I went to the BWCA last year, it was by invitation from my nephew and his friend who both live close to there and have spent a lot of time there. So I just showed up with my favorite paddle and left all the planning and logistics to them. Between that and the drive from Idaho and return with no real schedule, that was maybe the best vacation I've ever had. Gotta do that some more.

Then there's my upriver poling trips. If it's a new area, I just look into it enough to get an idea that it might be do-able, and take things as they come.

I've been threatening to do the Green solo because I'm not getting any real interest from any of my local paddling friends. If that's how it goes, I'll be darn well studied up on that.

I don’t like surprises and study any area very well. So much so when I’m there for the first time other people suspect I’ve been here before.

It’s also so I don’t miss things when I’m there. In my younger days I didn’t prepare as much. So often I’d get back from a trip and learn I unknowingly walked past something really cool.

Before the internet I would mail away for maps and brochures of canoe areas I read about from books and magazines. I spent a lot of time in LaVerendrye, Quebec, solo, they have a nice master map and a series of individual circuit maps. These maps really built up my confidence and I always knew what to expect. I would always get up to date information from the folks at the office where you buy your permits. LaVerendye was a great place to start my Canadian tripping experience as I trusted all the great before trip information that was available.


At 62 yo, I retired and headed out to Woodland Caribou Provincial Park for 3 weeks solo. Again, the park master map, the websites Canadian Canoe Routes and Solotripping.com where a big help planning, along with topo maps and the nice lady Clare who worked in the park office at the time. These sources where again big confidence builders and I felt very comfortable entering this adventure.


Three years later I completed the 100 mile Marshall Lake circuit in northwest Ontario (above Geraldton, Ontario). This time I relied completely on the assistance of Rob Haslam (aka Memaquay here on CT) for maps and up to date conditions. While I did have concerns about a first time crown land route, Robs maps, personal notes and positive attitude where what got me to take that first paddle stroke on the beautiful Marshall Lake.

I try to find out a lot about where we are going. As a trip leader there is a responsibility for safety, logistics, and a lack of surprises. I have ventured into some places with little information that was available. High flows at flood levels change everything. Last year a trip had 5 bridge abutments to avoid, and only one was mentioned in the guide books. Knowledge is power. I cannot get enough of it.

My difficult river trips are about over. I feel fortunate we have never lost anyone. Some trips still haunt me. I have been responsible for a lot of newbie paddlers. Some of them are adaptable and quick learners, but a few were slow to figure out how to stay safe. Those are the ones that still bother me.

The best trip I ever took there was no information about except topo maps, which I went over and over and over again.

Now I research thoroughly because now there is, generally, information available and probably even a YouTube video.

Robin said:

along with topo maps and the nice lady Clare who worked in the park office at the time.

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ppine said:

Knowledge is power. I cannot get enough of it.

Click to expand...

Great pics and post Robin. I remember Claire well … she was amazing, full of info and always kept me up to date on fire info and the condition of the road into Leano Lake.

When planning a trip I agree with ppine, knowledge is power. I study topo maps, make notes on my maps, study the internet, YouTube, personal anecdotal accounts … whatever I can find to learn about my route, the entire area I will be tripping in, weather, fishing etc.

Before any trip I research my area/route intensely, looking for possible plan B routes if needed, as well as interesting places off route to explore.

Bob.

For the BSA guide trek leader guide training program I help to instruct, it is held in a very familiar Adirondack canoe wilderness area that ai have been to at leat 40 times over the years. Not much changes since motors were bannned there a numbe of years ago, so I do little prep before I go, whether it is for the BSA cours or if I go solo on my own, which I often do. One of the instructors has been going there as long as I have, and he is very much a historian on the area, and provides a talk on what used to be, and how the area was developed (or not) into what it is today. Another instructor, based on prior knowledge and map study, will give an expectation briefing to the class, based to a large extent on LNT and what is typical of the area. Each student, at thet beginning of their term as "leader of the day" is expected to give a similar briefing, as if they are meeting their scouting youth group for the first time.

To the other extreme, when I first prepared for the Yukon River races, I spent months studying the few availble books and old charts that I could find. I also studied the then available previous race routes from the then web page published GPS of the fastest finishers, and created my own best guess best routes (and alternates) from my own map study, mainly from Google Earth, since the topographic maps are all hopelessly out of date and inaccurate. For subsequent Yukon races i did similar studies, and updated my planned route based on my own previous results and memory of each critcal section.

I spend a lot of time looking at maps. I like studying the route and figuring out alternate routes I could take if I was so inclined or, if for some reason, I'm not able to continue on the original route.

If I'm running a river with significant whitewater I'll try and find the rapid classifications, if available, and transfer them to the map so I know what to expect as I approach a rapid. I don't want to get cocky and run something that looks easy only to find a surprise CIV right around the corner.

Other than that I try to go into it with an open mind. I try not to read trip reports or watch Youtube videos. I don't usually mark portages on the map unless there is something particularly difficult or confusing. I don't want to know where good campsites are. I don't want to know where any special sites are. I don't want to know where pictographs are.

In the case of pictographs or any special sites it will have been nearly impossible, during the initial route research, to not know they exist along the way. And that's all I want to know. If I miss them then so be it. If I find them then it's a pleasant surprise. I don't derive a lot of satisfaction in finding something when I knew exactly where it was in the first place.

Although I know I'm not an explorer in any stretch of the imagination I still prefer to feel like one to some extent when I'm on a trip. I like things to remain a mystery. I like not knowing what's around the corner. If I find some old building site or other "artifact" I like wondering what it was and who lived there.

I've read quite a bit of history about northern Canada and it's fun to come across places I've read about. But there have also been times where I've later read about places I've been and it's exciting to learn the history/answer to something I'd seen on the trip and had been puzzling over.

Mostly I'm afraid that by reading trip reports and studying a route as much as I can that I'll build false expectations that can't be reached and the actual trip will seem disappointing.

Alan

I have raced the Adirondack 90 miler race route many times (27 so far) plus other travels, so I am very familiar with that entire route from Old Forge to Saranac Lake. A few years ago, I got the bright idea of taking a solo diagonal cross Adirondack trip, heading northeast from my home to my daughter's home, then across a northern bay on Lake Champlain, east of Plattsburgh. I bought a new 10.5' hybrid carbon Hornbeck canoe just for the purpose of travelling light, since I knew there would be many portages (called "carries" in Adirondack speak).

The as yet unpublished Northern Forest Canoe Trail was still under development, but I knew of one of the developers and he was able to get his recommendations for where I would have to leave the waterways to carry around tough spots that I was not prepared to negotiate. That was super useful, if only to know which side of the river to exit and re-enter without trespassing on private lands and getting told to get off.

So I cut up map sections of the route below Saranac lake, and with Hornbeck mounted on my Knupac with everything I would eventually need for a week solo, I headed off from home on a combined partial road, deep woods bushwhack, and water route from door to door. A week earlier I had stashed a bear barrel of food that I ended up never using, but retrieved later on my way back home. The entire diagonal crossing route measured out to 185 miles, but during a hot low water dry July week with many exposed boulders in the lower Saranac River, I carried everything on my back for more miles than planned, for a total of 62 of those miles (fully one third of the way) to reach my daughter waiting on shore for me across the big lake

I got back to tripping later in life and wasn't 100% sure I could do it (particularly the portages). I did a lot of research for that 1st trip and one of the reasons that I chose the BWCA was because there would likely be lots of other people out there if I got into real trouble and needed some help. (not that I wanted to be dependent on others but it was a consideration)

I looked at portage descriptions on paddleplanner.com, read Robt. Beymer's books cover to cover, read trip reports... all of that and even planned my route so that I could bail out early if I found that it was beyond me.

As it was, while I wasn't wholly prepared, it was well within my ability and I enjoyed it immensely. Now, as my confidence grows, I seek solitude and lesser-known routes as I do on my backpacking trips.

For last year's trip on the Steel river and this year's on the Marshall Lakes loop, I've relied solely upon Memaquay's maps and the notes upon them. Although a self-described masochist, his maps are wimp-friendly and outstanding.

In 2025 I'm hoping to tackle 2 weeks+ in Wabakimi and I am seeking a lesser-known route from the railroad to my truck. I'm doing a bit of research for it but probably won't overdo it.

After that? Maybe something along the lines of Erica's recent adventure or one of Alan's trips. Both of those would require time off without pay but it's just money and we've got to have priorities.

In researching old canoe routes, it's hard not to learn all the history from the first people. Add to that the writings and maps from white people and you've pretty much exhausted the body of knowledge - or so it seems! Sometimes I think I know everything about Maine, then am delighted to find another source.

Other times, current knowledge is important. Sometimes things come as a surprise, for instance racoons will puncture a gallon jug of water, just for a sip or two.