Biting Off More than the Crew Can Chew

The first couple of times we went canoeing in Algonquin up in Ontario we bit off a little more than we could chew. My first trip I started out looking at really ambitious route but the outfitter waved me off of that (it was 60 miles or more and involved some complex travel that they warned me against).

I settled on another route that taxed our crew to the max, we had a wonderful time in retrospect, but it was very difficult and unpleasant for a couple of days. The result was that none of the Scouts or adults (other than me) who did that trip ever returned to try another. The next year we went back and it was somewhat better, but still pretty hard going for a day or two, harder than it should have been. Last summer was our ninth year in Algonquin with three crews (27 people total), hard lessons learned:

1.Know what you are getting into. There’s really no substitute for actually going through the trip and covering the route. No matter what you read or research there are going to be unanticipated factors (gear, route, crew dynamics, etc.) that arise and can cause unforeseen difficulties that may be quite unpleasant or even dangerous. You can’t know what you don’t know.

2.First time out take what you think you can easily cover and cut it down by 1/2 to 1/3. If you find yourself sitting in camp early one day there are always side hikes or other activities to challenge the crew.

  1. Build in one full day that you don’t have to move camp. You may find yourself stuck because of weather (this has happened to us several times) illness or injury (not happened to us yet, knock wood).

Having an ’extra’ day if you need it can make or break a trip. We build a layover day into our routes, most times we stay in the same site for two nights and have a rest and fun day.

Sometimes we use that extra day if we are wind bound or the weather goes south on us.

  1. Shakedown gear and packing (especially food) as best you can. A weekend in a local park with the gear and cooking just as it will be on the trip can point out some holes in the plan and reveal any weaknesses in the crew that could otherwise spoil the trip.

  2. Be prepared – what happens when there’s a turned ankle, a fall, illness or other injuries? What’s the escape plan? How do you get out if you have to? How will you activate emergency services (we carry sat phones)?

I study the routes and all the various escape plans carefully.

I know where the road crossings are, where we go if we need to evacuate someone, I have the specifics of local emergency services and how to contact them. This all seems very basic but a lot of folks head out without looking at this carefully.

Thankfully (knock wood) I haven’t really needed any of these preparations but when I am awake at three in the morning in a tent as a massive thunderstorm lashes the campsite I know what happens next if we have to bug out.

  1. Get as many people trained in wilderness first aid as possible, it’s basically how to assess and stabilize injuries when help is hours instead of minutes away, you won’t be an EMT when you are certified, but you’ll know what EMT’s do. Very worthwhile.

7.Get as much information and training on weather as you possibly can. After nine years I can reasonably understand the weather in Algonquin. If the wind turns south I know we have rain for a day or two, I can look at the clouds and see what the next couple of days will be like. The weather patterns in Ontario are similar to where we live but different enough that It makes sense to study them carefully. We have safely skirted a tornado and heavy winds in the past. It’s pretty important knowledge.

  1. Make plans and decisions based on the Scout rather than adult perspective. Scouts have no earthly idea what they are getting themselves into, they will go along with whatever you say – “100 miles? Sure, I can do that!”.

I really wanted to come home saying “We paddled and portaged 50 miles!” and I did the first couple of years. The cost of being able to say this was a number of Scouts who were pressed to their absolute limit of endurance and would never go back. Now when we start talking about these trips now people always ask ‘how many miles?’ I reply ‘it’s seven days and six nights, we cover a lot of ground and see some great places.’ they ask again ‘how many miles?’ I say ’enough to cover the route, about 40 or so, if I can do it so can you.’ Our trips are pretty carefree and happy now.

I certainly feel much more confident in our abilities to make them challenging yet safe and loads of fun.

I have been privy to some real horror stories of Scout groups that went out with inadequate preparation, experience or skill and had some serous hard going or worse. One mark of success in these trips is the answer to the question ‘will you go back and do this again?’ The best answer is an unqualified “yes I can’t wait till next summer!”, second best is a hesitation, then a ‘yes, it was hard but it was worth it’. From a planning and logistical standpoint (and another bit of hard-won experience) nobody is really going until they have paid the money. We don’t put anyone on the roster as a ‘maybe’. No one is part of the plan until we have their money (usually a nonrefundable deposit of at least a third of the total expense six months out). We start out with a pretty long list of “maybes” set a date for the deposit, and only then start planning, making arrangements and spending money.