A Weatherproof Trip Report: Paddling the Sayward Forest Canoe Route

In this episode of Weatherproof, we share our experience and provide valuable insights about the popular Sayward Forest Canoe route on Vancouver Island. We discuss the logistics of the trip, including accessing the route, organizing gear, and preparing for the journey. Claudia dives into the details of canoeing skills, such as paddling, portaging, and the importance of proper gear and footwear. We also highlight the challenges and rewards of the route, including wind conditions, different campsites, and the stunning natural beauty of the surrounding lakes. We emphasize the importance of leave no trace principles and Claudia shares her favourite route. 

Check out some of the resources we refer to in the episode, here:
Sayward Forest Canoe Loop Map & Brochure
A Paddler's Guide to the Sayward Canoe Route
Portaging Tips & Tricks

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Transcript

Claudia [00:00:00]:

Today, we're coming to you with a trip report on the Sayward Forest Canoe route, which is a canoe trip located on Vancouver Island, just north of Campbell River. And if you are looking for new canoe trip options and ideas, or you've been thinking about embarking on your own canoe trip but don't really know where to start, this will be a great episode for you.

Hannah [00:00:28]:

Welcome to Weatherproof.

Claudia [00:00:30]:

We are your hosts Claudia

Hannah [00:00:32]:

and Hannah. Join us as

Claudia [00:00:34]:

we talk about the raw, real, and relatable elements of outdoor adventure.

Hannah [00:00:38]:

Before we get into that, we are going to beg you to join our email list at weatherproofpodcast.com, and to hit that follow button wherever you listen to podcasts. If you're watching us on YouTube, hit that like button and subscribe.

Claudia [00:00:50]:

We are recording on the unceded territory of the Squamish and Lililwat Nations. We acknowledge and honor the stewards of this land on which we live, work, and play.

Hannah [00:00:59]:

So in case you didn't know this, Claudia has a ridiculous amount of experience on canoe trips, both in recreational for fun, also guiding adults and guiding kids. You've spent so many days on canoe trips, and so wanting to get any kind of tips or advice from anybody about how to embark on your own canoe trip, Claudia is the person to go to. And so today, she's gonna share with us Some real specifics about one of your favorite trips, the Sayward Forest Canoe Route. A lot of this, if you're not in BC, Not close by, and this isn't something that's already on your list or isn't something that you intend on doing. A lot of the tips and tricks that she's showing today can be applied to any canoe trip that you're doing Wherever in the world that might be.

Claudia [00:01:50]:

Yeah. So for our loyal southern hemisphere listeners, stick around. I'm sure there will be lots, that you can gained from this episode. Do you wanna mention that I've done the Sayward forest canoe route, like, 6 or 7 times? I love it. It's one of those routes or trip options that is so multifaceted that Every time I do it, it's a totally different trip. I stay in different places. I see different things. I recognize lots, but also always have a different experience, and it's been such an incredible place to go back to over and over and over again.

Claudia [00:02:33]:

And some of the most amazing things about it are how accessible it is. Even from Vancouver, it's a bit of a Trek to get out there, but everything is so straightforward, and it's really easy to do once you establish some basic logistics. It's just a beautiful paddle. It's a a gorgeous place to spend time, which is why we're talking about it today because I would really encourage everyone who is in the area to go and check it out at some point.

Hannah [00:03:03]:

And so another popular one that people often talk about is the Baron Lake circuit. How do they compare? What would you choose first, or what's your opinion on the 2?

Claudia [00:03:14]:

Yeah. So I've tried to do the barren lakes 3 times now and have been either flooded or fired out of the area. And so to be honest, like, Baron has kind of been struck from my list because it just seems too challenging to get to. I say that tongue in cheek, but but it's really tricky. We were all set to go, and then there was both a flood and a fire. And so we had to pivot at the last minute, and we went and did Sayward instead. Right. I don't know if you've had this experience where you've had a trip canceled kind of at the last minute, but I find it so devastating.

Claudia [00:03:51]:

I get so excited. The anticipation of being on trip is so real, especially when it's something new with the barons. I'm like, I just don't wanna do that again.

Hannah [00:04:01]:

Fair. Very fair. You're like, I'm I'm emotionally scarred from this experience.

Claudia [00:04:07]:

To answer your question, I've heard incredible things about the Bowran Canoe Circuit, and I know people who go back there year after year after year. I think in that way, it can be really similar to the Sayward Forest Canoe route. It's far, and I always try to maximize time on trip versus time spent getting to a location, but that's because I've really been shaped by outdoor education experiences where we're where we're really trying to to leverage the loss of

Hannah [00:04:43]:

Yeah.

Claudia [00:04:43]:

Instructional time in classes versus the amount of time kids spend in the field learning. One of the things that always determines where I go is how long I have to dedicate to that trip. So when we were planning for Bower and Links, we had figured a day of travel on either side and then 4 to 5 days on the actual circuit. We were wanting to take our time. It was the summer. I was off. The people that I was doing the trip with had committed to taking a full week off. And so when we had to pivot at the last minute, we were like, woah.

Claudia [00:05:24]:

We've got all of this time. We know the Sayward Forest Canoe route pretty well, at least I did. I don't think anybody else that came had been on it before, but I was like, 6 days is going to be so luxurious. You could do it in as little as 3 days, although that would be pretty tough, like you'd have some long days, you definitely wanna do it in summer when you had maximum daylight. 4 days is reasonable, and then 5 days, 6 days, like, a beautiful amount of time to really kinda play around and see all sorts of things and and balance the the paddling time against your portage time. We'll get into that in a minute. But the easiest way to get there, or the way that we got there was we drove on the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, which is an hour and 40 minute crossing. We took the 8/25 ferry so that we had lots of time because we wanted to get on the water that day.

Claudia [00:06:25]:

So we got off the ferry in Nanaimo. We drove to Campbell River and then, from Campbell River onto Morton Lake Provincial Park, which is about 2 hours and 10 minutes. To get to Morton Lake Provincial Park, you drive north of Campbell River on Highway 19 for about 15 kilometers, and then you turn on to Menzies Maine, which is an active logging road. Once you're on Menzies Maine, you go for about 7 and a half kilometers, and then you're turning right onto Moreton, Maine. You drive down Moreton, Maine for about 7 kilometers, and and what's amazing is that everything is really well signed. As I mentioned, you are on a forest service road, so it's gravel, but it's really well maintained and a 2 wheel drive accessible or it's accessible to vehicles with 2 wheel drive, so you don't have to have a a 4 by 4 vehicle to get there. They it is an active logging area, and so you need to be alert and yield to logging traffic. But The 6 times that I've done it, I don't think I've ever encountered logging vehicles on my way in or out.

Claudia [00:07:33]:

We've always just heard them in areas, like, throughout the the loop. So they are there, but typically tend not to be an issue.

Hannah [00:07:42]:

And so planning to do something like a paddle trip that's on a lake versus ocean. Ocean obviously has a A bit more complication in terms of, like, tidal flow, and bigger body of water means that it can get rough quite easily. Obviously, We're in Canada, so some of the lakes are huge, so they can also get pretty rough in the afternoons, especially when the wind picks up. What is, like, the minimum experience or knowledge or skill needed to safely do something like this? Obviously, with hiking, you can just, like, throw on your boots and do some research and, like, go out. You don't have to learn any real particular skills, whereas Mhmm. Something like a canoe, How much do you need to know? How much experience do you need to have? Does someone in your group need to know how to canoe, or do you just jump in and figure it out?

Claudia [00:08:33]:

There are 3 fairly large lakes by BC standards, anyway. Lakes are much bigger in Terrio than they are out here, which is why canoeing is much more popular and much bigger in Ontario than it is out here. But there are 3 fairly large lakes and wind is definitely an issue. I think the extent of what you wanna know is that wind tends to pick up in the afternoon, and so planning your route in such a way that you are able to tackle those particular lakes first thing in the morning is wise. The Sayward Canoe Loop is awesome because there's so much information about it online, and there's a fantastic brochure that's put together by Recreation Sites and Trails BC that has some basic information around backcountry etiquette when it comes to boating, has some canoe route descriptions, has Just a whole bunch of information that that I would highly recommend anybody who is, wanting to do this route, read first. There is some basic water safety stuff as well. I think from a paddling perspective, the most important thing that I think of is, you know, if you capsize your boat, are you able to get back into it safely? That would be kind of step 1. It's really helpful from an efficiency standpoint to know how to steer a canoe as well, and I probably wouldn't embark on a multi day canoe trip if I wasn't sure that there were at least a couple people in the group who knew how to Steer Canoe.

Claudia [00:10:18]:

The amount of portaging and paddling that you do kind of on a daily basis, like, it's it's typically multiple portages and multiple sections of paddling per day, I would say that this isn't where I would start if I was a totally beginner canoeist. That being said, if you know basic paddling strokes, you can figure it out. One of the really cool things about this Sayward Forest Canoe route is that there are vehicle access points at almost every lake where you could start the route, which offers so much amazing flexibility, but also egress options if something goes wrong. At just about every point in the lake, If shit hits the fan and you're like, we need to bail, we need to, you know, abandon this mission, you can pull off the water and get vehicle access, like, be accessible to emergency services or or, you know, your buddy who is in the area and is gonna come get you in in pretty short order. The most common starting point is midway along Moan Lake at Morton Lake Provincial Park. So I mentioned that a couple times. There's this beautiful provincial park. You can drive in.

Claudia [00:11:33]:

You can camp overnight depending on what your timing is like and start first thing in the morning, or you can drive in and launch right away into Moan Lake and park your vehicle for the duration of your time just a little ways away from the put in, which is really, really helpful. One of the things that I always recommend is that people leave their keys with their vehicle, that you hide them somewhere or you get a lockbox or something. But if you leave your keys with your vehicle, then they're accessible to anybody who might need them in an emergency situation, you're also really limiting your opportunities to lose your keys en route, and that's just, like, a little tip that I like to put out there because it's a real bummer.

Hannah [00:12:25]:

That's a great tip, because Losing, like, keys somewhere en route? Like, you're you're kinda screwed when you get back to your car at that point.

Claudia [00:12:35]:

You are totally screwed. And you have, like, 6 days, not to mention miles of water to be searching. Like

Hannah [00:12:44]:

You would just be getting new keys, which is very expensive.

Claudia [00:12:48]:

Yeah. And time consuming. Right? The last thing you wanna do is rock up after a 6 day trip or a 5 day trip or a 4 day trip, whatever, and be like, oh my god. Yeah. I'm now stuck here until I can get someone to come and get me. An important thing to note about the Sayward Canoe route is that the ideal direction to go around it is counterclockwise, and that's so that you go with the flow of the rivers. I first started doing this trip. We were sending 2 groups on it at the same time, and we sent them in 2 different erection.

Claudia [00:13:25]:

So we both put in from Morton Lake Provincial Park, and we would send 1 clockwise and 1 counterclockwise. And Somehow, I ended up on that clockwise group 2 years in a row before I realized that we could actually send both groups in the same direction, just Staggered? Stagger them, like, have 2 different entry points, 2 different put in points on the route. And I can tell you, we were wading up rivers, dragging our canoes for way longer than you would ever want to before I had the idea that, like, actually, this was totally unnecessary, and we could be way more efficient.

Hannah [00:14:08]:

That's amazing.

Claudia [00:14:09]:

So counterclockwise, there are lots of options for places to stay on the Sayward Canoe route, which is one of the other things that makes it so amazing. If you're hitting it in the height of summer and there are lots of people out on the water, you can just keep paddling until you get to a site that doesn't have anybody on it, and it's it's so nice to be able to camp and really embrace the kind of remote feeling that you get at some of these rustic sites there are 3 designations of campsite on the route 1 is rustic, 1 is developed, and one is RV or car accessible. Yeah. That's kind of the the drawback of there being so many vehicle access points on the route is that you encounter lots of people who aren't canoeing the route

Hannah [00:15:04]:

at all.

Claudia [00:15:04]:

Mhmm. They're just out for the weekend in their trailers doing their thing, and that's awesome, but it it definitely offers a different vibe. Yeah.

Hannah [00:15:14]:

It's not like everyone's in the backcountry slogging it away kinda thing. They have Yeah. Flushing toilets in in their RVs and and wine. And beer. Yeah.

Claudia [00:15:26]:

Yeah. I would highly recommend the rustic sites. They are are beautiful. They're in gorgeous spots. You get that remote wilderness vibe for the most part because they're not road accessible, and and they tend to not be anywhere near the roads, the Sayward Canoe route is very well traveled

Hannah [00:15:48]:

Mhmm.

Claudia [00:15:48]:

And well used. So those rustic sites, once upon a time had pit toilets. Those pit toilets are now full, and they're, like, disgustingly full. And The rustic sites do have lots of evidence of people going to the bathroom in the woods and not doing their due diligence in terms of leave no trace or low impact camping practices. So on multiple occasions, I've been out around sites picking up garbage, picking up toilet paper. I tend to think of that as my, you know, one way in which I can give back to these places that I love, particularly the Sayward Canoe route because I'm there so often. But if you are choosing to use those rustic sites, give the pit toilets a pass and be ready to pack out everything that you pack in with you because they just they're they're at capacity. The human impact on those areas has reached kind of critical a critical point, and we all have to be prepared to to kind of clean up, usually not just after ourselves, but after people who've been there before us.

Hannah [00:16:55]:

And so are you taking, like, poop bags on those kinda trips and packing everything out in that way, or Are you still digging a digging a hole?

Claudia [00:17:04]:

Yeah. There's still lots of opportunity to dig cat holes. The area is heavily forested, and so there's beautiful places, like, you know, couple 100 meters back from those campsites, it's just really obvious where people haven't Yeah. Either done a good job of digging their cat holes or have left their their toilet paper in the cat holes, and that's one particular site that was just, like, littered.

Hannah [00:17:30]:

Mhmm.

Claudia [00:17:30]:

You know, you take kind of 20 steps into the woods from camp, and it was just littered in used toilet paper. And, I mean, it's not great when you encounter that kind of thing. At this point, I'm so used to it on this route that I just know to expect it, and I bring my garbage bag and my gloves, and I pick it up for 20 minutes and call it a day. But there are so many gorgeous, rustic sites on the on this route that it's worth it.

Hannah [00:18:04]:

And are they doing anything to put in more facilities or anything like that to control the impact on everything?

Claudia [00:18:12]:

I think that's why the 3 different designations of sites exists. I think they're really letting the rustic sites go back to Wilderness sites. I don't think they're intending to clear out those pit toilets or replace them or dig new ones. I think they're really directing their energy to the developed sites and making sure that those are well serviced. Mhmm. The developed sites have tent pads. So if if a tent pad is something that you're really attached to sleeping on, the developed sites are also lovely. They have outhouses and are maintained, so they have toilet paper, they have outhouses, they have bear caches.

Hannah [00:18:55]:

Oh, yeah.

Claudia [00:18:56]:

I would recommend trying to avoid the RV sites if you are doing a a multi day paddling trip just because they're they're not as nice, they're way more used, and you've got lots of better options elsewhere. Obviously, if you encounter an emergency or your plans don't go to plan, do what you gotta do. But In planning, think about the rustic sites or the developed sites. The biggest lakes, as I mentioned, on the route are Moan, Brewster, and Lower Campbell, and lower Campbell, in particular, can get gnarly. The route, if you get a chance to look at the map, is kind of this big rectangle, and the southern end is this crescent shaped lower Campbell Lake. The wind picks up big time, and both shores of the lake are highly exposed. You have to go around this one particular point too, and it has been so gnarly at times that we've had to pull our group off the water because we weren't making any headway, and we were better off camping, and waiting for the wind to die out than we were to to continue the battle. So definitely thinking about tackling those in the mornings and and getting them out of the way as early as possible is is good.

Claudia [00:20:17]:

My favorite route was to put in at Morton Lake Provincial Park. Go around the northern end, and you end up at this rustic site on Sterling Island, which is beautiful, it's well marked on the map Insourcing. For our 1st night, yeah, gorgeous little island, not a ton of space, so you wouldn't necessarily wanna with anybody else, but 4 tents would fit just beautifully. Then to paddle the following day to the rustic site on the west side of Brewster Lake. It's tucked in out of the way and requires a bit of an extra paddle to get there. If you are kinda beelining it, you maybe wouldn't want to stay there. But if you've got some time to to get off the beaten track, the west side of Brewster Lake Rustic Campsite is my favorite. It's gorgeous.

Claudia [00:21:09]:

Sandy beach, great swimming deck, Beautiful rocky outcropping. There's actually an old rope swing. Just a great

Hannah [00:21:18]:

That's awesome.

Claudia [00:21:19]:

Great spot.

Hannah [00:21:19]:

So it's kind of like magical sites you get to, and you just, like, wanna hang out there all week.

Claudia [00:21:26]:

Yeah. I coulda spent multiple nights at that site. It's got some really cool wooden arches that somebody's obviously gone to great lengths

Hannah [00:21:36]:

Mhmm.

Claudia [00:21:36]:

To set up, so I hope I'm not exposing somebody's, like, secret spot. It was just so gorgeous. The vibe of it did have that very magical

Hannah [00:21:46]:

Mhmm.

Claudia [00:21:47]:

Feel to it. After Brewster Lake, there is a developed site on the south side of Fry Lake, and Fry Lake is at the southwestern corner of the route and puts you in a really good spot to tackle Lower Campbell Lake first thing in the morning. Mhmm. The developed site is at the Narrows in between Fry Lake and Lower Campbell Lake, and there's this really old snag, like, big, tall tree trunk that pokes out of the water super, super, super high, and it's got wooden planks like it's an old ladder.

Hannah [00:22:27]:

Fair.

Claudia [00:22:28]:

And so we've climbed up, not on student trips, but on personal trips. We've climbed up there and, you know, dived off them or done backflips off them. It's super fun. There is also the sketchiest Rope Swing I've ever seen, it's so high on the bank I would never ever hit it, and I'm a big fan of rope swings, but it's there to use at your own risk. That Fry Lake developed site, it's on the opposite shore of an RV site, and you get a lot of public in that area. And so if that's not your thing, maybe don't stay at that particular one because even though you're on the opposite Shore. You're still really close to that RV site, but it's a super fun area to spend some time in and to hang out in. So even if you just stop in there for a little bit and then carry on your way, totally worth it.

Claudia [00:23:26]:

And then because we had 6 days, we still had 2 more nights. We came around Lower Campbell Lake, went all the way up back into Moan Lake, and at the southern end of Moan Lake, there's this little island, and there's a developed site and a rustic site on either end of the little island, and the rustic site is awesome. Super worth hanging out on that island. And then we overshot we still had 1 more night, so we overshot Morton Lake Provincial Park, and we stopped at one of the little islands just on the other side of Moan Lake, and that was my favorite site. It was my favorite side of the whole trip. I'd never been able to stay there because we usually put in at Morton, and so it's too soon in the trip? Like, you've been paddling for, like, 20 minutes at that point, but it was beautiful, and it was so fun to end our trip there, knowing that we just had to paddle back. Like, we'd paddled past the car, like, waved to it, paddled another 20 minutes, and had this beautiful spot rather than staying in the parking lot or staying at the provincial park for the night before we got in the car and and drove home in the morning. So from our little last island destination, we just had a 20 minute paddle back in the morning, and It was awesome.

Hannah [00:24:49]:

That sounds amazing.

Claudia [00:24:50]:

It was so luxurious to have that much time on the trip.

Hannah [00:24:54]:

It's like that, when you don't have time, squeeze things in, like, make it work so that you get the experience, but there is nothing better than having more time than you need on a trip and just being at a have afternoons at camp where you hang out instead of always having to hike into the evening to or paddle into the evening to make things work. Like, just having That there's something, like, really special about having that extra time.

Claudia [00:25:19]:

Yeah. Yeah. So the majority of the times that I've done the trip, I've done it in October, and the days are shorter Mhmm. And there's a bit more of a sense of urgency to get from point a to point b because of that, like, rapidly decreasing amount of daylight. Doing this as a personal trip in the summer, we did it in August, we had Gorgeous weather. It was so fun, and you just, yeah, can linger.

Hannah [00:25:48]:

Mhmm.

Claudia [00:25:48]:

You know, we were sort of, like, spending a lot of time on smaller lakes, lily dipping, checking out our surroundings, and and just taking our time, it was really wonderful.

Hannah [00:25:58]:

What is lily dipping?

Claudia [00:26:00]:

When you're paddling in a canoe or a kayak, there's a real difference between intentional strong paddle strokes and what is referred to as lily dipping, which is literally just like gently placing your paddle in the water and more so letting the momentum of the boat carry your paddle backwards rather than actually putting some elbow grease on it. You know? So lily dipping refers to people who aren't really paddling, they're just faking it by putting their paddles in the water.

Hannah [00:26:33]:

Right. Yeah. So Looking at the map of this route, my first impression is there's a lot of portaging, or a lot of canoe carrying, which Honestly, sounds terrible. Is it a lot of portaging? How do you handle it? What are your tips and tricks?

Claudia [00:26:55]:

Portaging is the practice of carrying a boat or your cargo over land typically it's either around an obstacle in a river or between 2 bodies of water so, you know, if you actually can't make your way from one lake to another you're required to portage, but you might also portage a section of a river that's a higher class of white water than you are capable of paddling or that you want to paddle, and The word portage can also refer to the path itself where you travel from body of water to body of water, but the term comes from French, the French word, which means to carry as in portable. Some high level tips when it comes to portaging is think about the kind of boat that you're paddling. This might come as a surprise, but there are all sorts of different canoes out there, all sorts of different materials of canoe, and certain canoes are going to be heavier than others because in some cases, you want them to be heavier than others. An extra £10 is gonna make a huge difference when you're carrying that boat for kilometers overhead. I think the longest portage on the Sayward Canoe Loop is just over 2 kilometers. I believe it's 2.3 kilometers. And it doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're carrying a boat and all of your gear?

Hannah [00:28:31]:

That's a lot. It adds up. Because you're not just, like, doing 2 kilometers. You're doing, like, 2 kilometers and then hiking back and then doing another 2 like, You're probably in and out doing, like, how many trips are you doing of that 2 kilometer portach, like 2, 3?

Claudia [00:28:46]:

There's a couple different methods. There's the 3 trip method, which is you go from the start of the portage to the end of the portage back to your starting point for the 2nd round of gear, and then doing the whole thing again a 3rd time, or there's the 2 trip method, which is you take half of your stuff halfway, drop it off next to the trail, and then you go back to the start, grab the second half of your stuff and take it all the way and then come back for this the half of the stuff that you left and finish the the portage. I like the 3 trips for shorter portages. You can really save yourself a lot of steps and a lot of mileage with the 2 trip method for longer portages, but it really comes down to what you like and what you have the time and the stamina for. Other things that make a big difference are, like, how your canoe is outfitted. So some canoes come with yokes, which is the wooden strip or plastic strip that is built into your canoe that is designed to rest on the back of your neck, and so you're able to balance that canoe on the back of your neck by yourself. You can also portage with 2 people and then each person is underneath the bow seat and the stern seat, and that requires a lot of patience. It's helpful if the 2 people are of similar size so that the boat is level because otherwise, it creates a bit of an imbalance and makes it harder for both parties to carry it.

Claudia [00:30:26]:

It it also requires significant communication. It's lighter to carry, but can actually be more uncomfortable. Because canoes are designed to be portaged by a single person, it's not ideal to be portaging in a double.

Hannah [00:30:45]:

So, given the option, you would prefer to just carry the canoe by yourself?

Claudia [00:30:50]:

Oh, yeah. I can't carry it as far as I can carry a boat with another person, but I feel like a badass when I'm solo portaging. Fair. Yeah. And to be honest, it's very impressive to see people solo portaging. It can be tricky to get the boat up on your own, and so I would recommend working with a partner to

Hannah [00:31:13]:

Mhmm.

Claudia [00:31:13]:

To get the boat up together. And then I would also recommend if you're solo portaging, figuring out a system where whoever is portaging a boat also has a buddy who's taking maybe gear following along so that they're there for support in the event that they feel like they need to, like, drop the boat or ditch it quickly or go pee or, you know, whatever. The Sayward Canoe Loop has canoe rests all the way along the portages, and those are wooden structures that are just on the side of the trail so you can put your boat down, you know, at regular intervals and take a little break, stretch, and then get back underneath it. That's awesome. And carry on. Super helpful. And it breaks up the monotony of the portage as well. They can be really hard to see if you're under the boat, and so having a buddy there again to be like, hey.

Claudia [00:32:03]:

You've got a canoe rest in, you know, 50 meters is also really nice. Yep. I would recommend is that everyone try solo portaging. You can learn the 2 person lift to put the canoe on for a 1 person carry, which is easier than flipping it into position. There are tons of videos on YouTube that will teach you how to flip a boat solo, but it's it's quite a feat of gymnastics, I would say.

Hannah [00:32:32]:

I can just imagine, like, Flipping it on and just, like, going straight over. You're like, oh, shit.

Claudia [00:32:39]:

Yeah. Lots of people I know have, like, put out their backs in their thirties and forties, because it's a lot of it's like a lot of hip thrusting, and bending and twisting,

Hannah [00:32:52]:

and is really, really good for the low back.

Claudia [00:32:54]:

Yeah. Yeah.

Hannah [00:32:56]:

So in terms of all of your experience on doing Probably hundreds of portages in your time. What are the biggest things that you are, like, ticking off in your head To make sure that either gear you've got with you or things that you're keeping in mind so that the whole process of Getting all your gear from one lake to the next is as easy, efficient, enjoyable as possible?

Claudia [00:33:22]:

Great question. Everything has to have a place in a bag or a barrel, because the most annoying thing, and we call it Frou, It's like the water bottles and the the snacks and the, like, 5 liter dry bags that just add up. They're the things that you want access to when you're in the boat, but all of a sudden that stuff is everywhere and it creates, at times, like, extra trips because it didn't make it into a bag or into a barrel.

Hannah [00:33:56]:

I even just think of, like, When you're on a road trip and you get out of the car, and because you're taking the car instead of the plane, you haven't Patch everything as well, and then you go to take everything out of the car, and you just have, like, a 100 things. And Yeah. You're trying to carry it all in at once because you can't bother doing 2 trips, but it's, like, impossible to juggle. That's the picture I have in my head of someone trying to, yeah, just, like, Carry all the things, and for 2 kilometers, you're just gonna end up dropping them a 100 times.

Claudia [00:34:26]:

Yeah. Or leaving them Sedenta at the start of a portage. Yeah. In which, you know, you get 1 portage down, you paddle, you get to the 2nd portage, you're like, oh, where's my whatever? And so so the other thing I would really recommend is getting in the habit of doing a sweep, you know, having 1 person whose job it is to hang back on the final trip and make sure that everyone or that someone is doing a really thorough sweep of the portage area so that you know you're you haven't left anything behind. The other thing I would suggest is I really like taking all of the stuff. So food, packs, ease, paddles, throw bags. Like, I like getting all of that stuff done first. It allows you to get the lay of the land of the portage, know where you're going, and you can take all that stuff, and then I like coming back for boats.

Claudia [00:35:23]:

Some people really like getting boats out of the way. They feel like that's the hard bit, and so they wanna do that first. It's just different strokes for different folks, like, figuring out what you like and what is both mentally and, like, physically most efficient is great. And then the other thing is I really make sure that I've got the right footwear. So On the Sayward Canoe Loop, in particular, the put ins and takeouts are quite muddy.

Hannah [00:35:51]:

Mhmm.

Claudia [00:35:52]:

There's not a lot of depth, in the water as you get closer to shore, and so you're 100% gonna get wet feet. Being able to change into different footwear for the Portage itself can be a little bit more time consuming, but it will definitely set you up for eliminating opportunities for blisters or for rolled ankles or any kind of foot related injuries that are going to make portaging for the rest of the trip really uncomfortable, if not painful?

Hannah [00:36:21]:

Yeah. Just take the time, even though it's annoying, because There's nothing with some blisters and those kinda things that just ruin the rest of the trip.

Claudia [00:36:31]:

Yeah. Yeah. And that's the thing is people just wanna be heroes. They wanna get them done as quickly as they can, and so they tend to to push. Like, they wanna carry too much or they wanna rush them or they don't wanna take the time to have a snack and some water before they tackle the portage, and all of those things just ensure that you're gonna hit some snag or, you know, someone's gonna get hangry or get upset or something. If you can land at the start of a portage, Take 5 minutes to get organized. Take another 5 minutes to have a snack. Get some water.

Claudia [00:37:11]:

Take a breath. You'll set yourself up so much better for the portage itself.

Hannah [00:37:15]:

Yeah. We've talked about this before of sometimes on trips getting stuck in, like, oh, I'll be happy when, I'll be happy when, I'll be happy when. Like, you're always waiting till Once we get to the top of this bed, or once we get to camp, or once I've set up my tent or whatever, then I'll feel better, and I feel like Portage's are probably similar. They're, like, oh, Once we're in the other lake, I'll be happy, and so let's just, like, get through this, get it over and done with. But trying to take that bit of mindfulness into it And just enjoy all of it. Enjoy the process, take the time that you need, rather than just getting it over and done with, even if it does suck a little bit.

Claudia [00:37:51]:

Yeah. 100%, and especially on days where you have 3 small portages, it can be so tempting to just put your head down and go for it, knowing that you're just crossing them off your

Hannah [00:38:08]:

Yeah.

Claudia [00:38:09]:

Days to do list.

Hannah [00:38:11]:

2 down, 1 to go.

Claudia [00:38:12]:

Yeah. The other thing I would say is I have enough experience on this route to know this for sure, but those transitions between being on the water and portaging, they always take way longer than you think they will. And so on those days where you have multiple portages just being able to add a little bit of time, a little buffer space into your schedule is really helpful, and that just takes the pressure off.

Hannah [00:38:41]:

Yeah, you know, like rushing. Yeah.

Claudia [00:38:44]:

Yeah. You don't feel like you're under the gun to to Rush. You just can take your time.

Hannah [00:38:50]:

Totally. And so we've gone through your trip plan route, Top tips for campsites, how to approach portages. Obviously, we've got full episodes on gear and talking about, like, what to take for various things, but a quick run off on, like, things that you know from your experience In terms of gear for these kind of trips?

Claudia [00:39:15]:

I would highly recommend bringing your lightest setup. Even though you're not hiking, or backcountry skiing, you're still spending a lot of time carrying the gear that you're using on trip. The thing that's nice about canoe trips is you tend to have more people and so you can spread out that weight a little bit more. You can bring lots of fresh stuff, you can eat really well on canoe trips, and if you offset the weight of your food with your lightweight camping setup, then you get the best of both worlds. Yeah. I would also highly recommend using a barrel for food storage. A barrel is a portaging Tool, and it's exactly what it sounds like. It's a a plastic barrel with a lid, and it's watertight.

Claudia [00:40:13]:

You can keep your food in it. It tends to keep it cooler. You can use the barrel as an animal cache.

Hannah [00:40:19]:

Mhmm. Yeah.

Claudia [00:40:20]:

Barrel lids serve as really great cutting boards, and they tend to sit in the canoe really well. The barrels come with barrel harnesses, and they're essentially like backpack straps that the barrels sit in. And so they've got a hip belt. They've got a chest strap. They're quite comfortable

Hannah [00:40:40]:

Mhmm.

Claudia [00:40:40]:

To carry around if you adjust your straps properly, and so they're a really nice option for for carrying what is usually the heaviest Mhmm. Portion of your personal gear on those portages. And then you can also get canoe packs for your gear. So Max sells them. I think they're called the slog bag right now. They're, like, a really giant roll top waterproof bag. I have a 70 liter one, and I love it. It's also got padded straps and a hip belt.

Claudia [00:41:13]:

Sweet. Yeah. Anything you can do to keep your gear comfortable on your back while you're portaging is grate. And then the last thing is water purification. Like, there aren't that many running water sources on the Sayward Canoe Loop, so you're mostly getting your water from the lakes themselves. Mhmm. So water purification tabs or a filter works great too. Gravity filters Awesome.

Claudia [00:41:38]:

There's always lots of opportunity to hang them up at camp, and and I would recommend a a gravity filter for this trip.

Hannah [00:41:46]:

Sweet. And then when you're all done, is there anything specific that you do post canoe trip That is particularly particular to a canoe trip versus any other trip you do.

Claudia [00:41:59]:

Yeah. It really depends on what your gear cleanup system looks like. But on any paddling trip, because there's lots of water safety gear, paddles, PFDs, throw bags, bailers. I like to get all of that gear cleaned up and organized into piles or bins. It just saves so much on time when you get home. So one of the things that I always do at the end of this particular trip is I I swamp out the canoes. You get lots of sand, and leaves, and dirt, and grit, and mud on this particular route, and so just swamping them out in Moan Lake before you pull out.

Hannah [00:42:46]:

What is swamping about mean?

Claudia [00:42:48]:

Swamping a boat means that you dip one gunnel or one side of the boat underwater, and it takes on water. And then you kinda push it up and down so the water sloshes on both sides, and then you tip it out.

Hannah [00:43:04]:

Awesome. Yeah. Like a quick You're essentially

Claudia [00:43:10]:

yeah. Quick canoe rinse. And then you can load your boats, you know, onto your cars or your trailer or whatever, and then you've got your piles of gear kinda sorted. You've got all the PFDs in a bin. You've got your balers and your throw bags in another bin, your paddles, starting to sort your gear in the best way that you can so that when you get home, you can just, like, hang it, or put it wherever it needs to be tends tends to work well, and because depending on the weather that gear could be quite wet, putting it somewhere in the car where it's not gonna get everything else wet too is also helpful. And then my classic, my standard for all trips is having a fresh change of clothes in the car, and then my road snacks for for the drive home, which inevitably include bags of chips. Yep. Same.

Hannah [00:44:01]:

The most important tip of all.

Claudia [00:44:03]:

Yeah. I think on my most recent trip, it was a bag of of munchies, which, like, so good. The combo of the pretzels and the cheesy and the salty, delicious.

Hannah [00:44:12]:

Love it.

Claudia [00:44:13]:

I wanna thank everyone so much for tuning in. We hope you've been inspired to plan your own trip either to the Sayward Forest Canoe Route or another canoe route in your local hood.

Hannah [00:44:27]:

We would love to hear your thoughts on today's episode and all about your adventure stories. Message us at weatherproof podcast on Instagram.

Claudia [00:44:35]:

If you love today's episode, please share it with a friend, follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and generally hype us up to everyone you know. Happy adventuring.