Canoe Tripping: Costs
Canoe tripping is a relatively inexpensive way to spend your vacation if you can ignore the cost getting to your destination or getting home. That at least is what my husband, Brian, and I tell people every year when we come up with some new piece of equipment that we just have to have. One year it was custom made rain tarps in rainbow colors. Another year it was a barrel harness and dry suits. This year we got another canoe because well….you can never have too many canoes. Each time we blow our savings we justify our actions as an “investment”. If the value of my 401k was tied to the amount of outdoor equipment I have in the garage, I could retire.
The truth is all you really need is a canoe and paddles and perhaps a strong back. At least that is how the voyageurs used to do it. In this day and age, however, the list has grown a little longer. PFDs, for instance, are considered a great way to prevent drowning. I personally also recommend rain gear, sleeping bags, tents and squirt guns.
Even if you would rather invest your money in stocks and bonds instead of spending it at NRS or Campmor, you can take a canoe trip with very little investment. First of all you don’t have to buy anything. That is why God made Outfitters. You can rent anything from a boat to a spatula. And then of course, if you decide you want to become an owner, most Outfitters turn over their equipment regularly, and you can get some good buys on used equipment. If the idea of used equipment makes you squeamish, just remember after a week in the woods, there is no such thing as “new”.
Outfitters are also the best deal in town for another reason. They are a great source of information about where you are going to paddle, weather, water levels, campsites, and what to bring. All you have to do is call and ask them. It’s free.
Don’t feel guilty about asking for all that free advice either, because believe me, when it come time to pay them to shuttle you to the put in or meet you at the take out, you may have to mortgage your house. Originally this coming summer we thought of paddling the Dumoine River in Quebec until we discovered that it cost $300 per person to take the sea plane 70 kilometers to the put in. Next we looked at the Noir River – and discovered that we could save about $20 per person. When I discovered that the shuttle for the Upper Missinaibi was ONLY $690 for the first vehicle and half that for the second, I felt like a true bargain shopper. I can’t really complain that this is highway robbery either because the alternative is to walk home.
When I talked to outfitters about shuttling our cars for our Missinaibi trip, I got a little confused because the Missinaibi runs north. That means that the Upper Missinaibi is down south and the Lower Missinaibi is up north. We are running the Upper Missinaibi north to take out down river at the beginning of the Lower Missinaibi.
As you plan your first canoe trip remember that a good sense of direction is priceless, but for everything else, there’s MasterCard.
The truth is all you really need is a canoe and paddles and perhaps a strong back. At least that is how the voyageurs used to do it. In this day and age, however, the list has grown a little longer. PFDs, for instance, are considered a great way to prevent drowning. I personally also recommend rain gear, sleeping bags, tents and squirt guns.
Even if you would rather invest your money in stocks and bonds instead of spending it at NRS or Campmor, you can take a canoe trip with very little investment. First of all you don’t have to buy anything. That is why God made Outfitters. You can rent anything from a boat to a spatula. And then of course, if you decide you want to become an owner, most Outfitters turn over their equipment regularly, and you can get some good buys on used equipment. If the idea of used equipment makes you squeamish, just remember after a week in the woods, there is no such thing as “new”.
Outfitters are also the best deal in town for another reason. They are a great source of information about where you are going to paddle, weather, water levels, campsites, and what to bring. All you have to do is call and ask them. It’s free.
Don’t feel guilty about asking for all that free advice either, because believe me, when it come time to pay them to shuttle you to the put in or meet you at the take out, you may have to mortgage your house. Originally this coming summer we thought of paddling the Dumoine River in Quebec until we discovered that it cost $300 per person to take the sea plane 70 kilometers to the put in. Next we looked at the Noir River – and discovered that we could save about $20 per person. When I discovered that the shuttle for the Upper Missinaibi was ONLY $690 for the first vehicle and half that for the second, I felt like a true bargain shopper. I can’t really complain that this is highway robbery either because the alternative is to walk home.
When I talked to outfitters about shuttling our cars for our Missinaibi trip, I got a little confused because the Missinaibi runs north. That means that the Upper Missinaibi is down south and the Lower Missinaibi is up north. We are running the Upper Missinaibi north to take out down river at the beginning of the Lower Missinaibi.
As you plan your first canoe trip remember that a good sense of direction is priceless, but for everything else, there’s MasterCard.
posted by PK at
9:59 AM
1 Comments:
This is hilarious! I just know someone will publish this stuff.
By
Sue Young, at 10:40 PM
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