394 
FOREST AND STREAM 
August, 1919 
The cooking outfit 
Silently gliding along picturesque shores 
Handy bags for provisions 
FRESH WATER CANOE CRUISING 
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE INLAND WATER CANOE TRIP IN WHICH OBSERVATIONS ARE 
MADE ON WHAT TO TAKE ALONG AS WELL AS ON WHAT IS BETTER LEFT AT HOME 
By LIEUT. WARREN H. MILLER. U. S. N. R. 
T here are two kinds of canoe 
cruises, both of them splendid out- 
door recreations. First, the lake 
and river cruise in the open canoe, with 
the paddle as motive power, and, sec- 
ond, the decked sailing canoe, where the 
paddle is of secondary importance and a 
pair of bat wing sails eats up the miles 
of distance between you and your desti- 
nation. Both are fine sport, and both 
constitute the easiest form of travel in 
the open. Do not take along the sails 
unless you are going to have plenty of 
use for them, as they are heavy and 
much in the way in stowing duffle; and, 
do not take an ounce more weight, in 
any case, than is positively necessary. 
I would set a limit of fifty pounds 
of belongings to every one on the trip. 
Even if there are only trifling portages, 
such as lifting over down trees, around 
obstructions on the banks or over dam 
sites too much duffle becomes a burden, 
and when afloat its weight brings the 
canoe dangerously low down in the water 
and puts a lot of work in paddling on 
the voyager’s shoulders. The same canoe 
that will fly along like a fairy when 
properly loaded will act like a sub- 
merged turtle when a wee bit overloaded. 
And it is so easy to take too much ! One 
of my first canoe trips was nearly spoilt 
by just this duffle 
trouble. We both 
swore ourselves 
black in the face 
that not a pound ex- 
tra would be taken, 
but this is what we 
actually d i d take : 
For guns we took 
the shotguns, as a 
matter of course, 
and, as if that was 
not enough, the rifles 
(in case any long 
range shots might 
offer) and then piled 
on that a revolver 
each (for snakes and 
turtles) ammuni- 
tion in generous 
quantities for the 
three — let’s see, that 
makes 26 lbs. of ex- 
tra, useless weight, 
not counting the 
shotguns, which are doubtful commodi- 
ties on a summer trip and apt to get 
you into trouble with game wardens, 
as snipe are the only game birds shoot- 
able in September when we went. Then, 
as we might have a few miles of sail- 
ing, we took along the sail — 25 lbs. more, 
mostly in the way, and only used .once, for 
we had head winds on all the other open 
stretches. Then we took along a sack 
of potatoes when we knew well we would 
pass lots of farms, another useless 20 
lbs. of weight — the wonder to me is that 
she floated at all when we set forth ! 
As it was she had just three inches of 
freeboard and was as logy as a water- 
soaked tree-trunk. Well, we had a strong 
northwest wind to face the first thing, 
five miles of it. Did we hoist the sails 
and tack? We tried it, but were so 
heavily loaded that we made as much 
leeway as headway and finally ended by 
paddling the whole distance, arriving by 
nightfall where we had allowed but three 
hours on the schedule. All the blankets, 
and duffle were soaking wet from water 
shipped aboard off whitecaps, and we 
were half the night drying them out so 
we could get off to sleep. 
Our first portage was a hummer ! 
Only around a dam, maybe one-eighth 
of a mile, but it took five trips to do it 
— firearms, bedding, grub, cook outfit, 
tent and sails (now soaking wet and all 
weighing twice what they would dry). 
Again tribulation camped on our trail 
when we struck long reaches of shallow 
water. She drew so much that we both 
had to get out and wade, towing her 
up-stream. The end of the second day 
saw eleven miles of progress and 150 
miles to go. On the third day we passed 
under a railroad bridge, went into camp 
and shipped back home by express sails, 
guns, ammunition, spuds, etc., and kept 
only the fishing tackle, tent, bedding and 
cook outfit with a few provisions. Then 
we made easy progress, but our bad start 
cost us two days fishing at the lake we 
were headed for. 
This little sketch of how not to do 
it brings to mind several points taught 
us by hard experience. In the first place 
everything in a canoe that water can 
hurt must go in a waterproof duffle bag, 
either side-opening or end-opening. For 
clothing, blankets, tent, etc., the 11 x 22 
inches brown waterproof end-opening 
duffle bag, costing a dollar, is the thing. 
It will take folded blankets, tents, etc., 
easily and they can be pulled out with- 
out trouble. For food, the side opening 
bag 8 X 22 inches, with row's of pockets 
inside is best. When you go ashore for 
the night encamp- 
ment, drive in two 
upright stakes to 
windward of y o n r 
cook fire and hang 
up this bag by the 
grommet holes in the 
lip put there for that 
purpose; All your 
main food sacks are 
in plain sight, in 
rows along the bot- 
tom of the kitchen 
bag, where each can 
be chucked back as 
used, and in the 
pockets are small 
bags of salt, tea, 
baking powder, soup 
powders, etc., while 
the knives, forks, 
spoons chain pot- 
hooks and the like 
are handy in the top 
pockets. This duffle 
Off for a fairy trip through Nature's lanes of travel 
