Brian cooking over an open fire with his light skin-on-frame kayak in the background. Photo credit: Brian Schulz

Talk about going light, Brian Schulz of Cape Falcon Kayaks lists his standard kayak camping list in a thread at the Qajaq USA. His basic camping list:

Clothing

• 1 set of quick dry clothes, no underwear,
• a warm sweater
• a hat

Shelter System

• foam pad
• sleeping bag
• tarp

Cooking System

• 1 qt pot
• a spoon
• knife
• 3 bic lighters
• msr 10L water bladder
• nalgene bottle

Emergency Gear and First Aid

• roll of duct tape
• bottle of cipro
• benadryl

Extra Gear

• book
• headlamp

Other

• hat

He writes

as far as camping goes, when I look at most peoples kit’s I just shake my head and ask “What IS all this shit?”

and

Trust me when I say that paddling a 30 lb kayak with a 30lb kit is much more fun than a 60lb kayak with a 60lb kit. There is just so much stuff you don’t need! I’ve paddled without a stove for years now and I can only remember two night where I ate cold food. Even wet and desert climates abound with small dry twigs. Don’t tell this to anyone at REI, but two handfuls of twigs will cook a dinner just fine. I’m an ex gadget junkie, one day I walked into REI and looked around and I was like “Who needs all this stuff, maybe I could be happy without it.” I remember watching a guy wig-out on a trip because he couldn’t find his forty-five dollar titanium spork. Do you really need a titanium spork? If you buy a 45$ titanium spork when you can get a spoon at value village for 1 penny, isn’t that kind of like saying “F*** YOU to all the poor starving people of the world. Come the revolution they will eat us with our titanium sporks.

I still paddle in the good gear, but the camping stuff is pretty ghetto these days and I couldn’t be happier. When you cut open an old sleeping bag and stuff in more insulation from another torn bag to make one good bag, you just feel so good about it. It ceases to be just another thing you bought, it now has meaning, a story, a life. You met somebody or learned something while you were fixing it. You don’t get that from the store. This is how currency steals from us, it siphons off value from our efforts while simultaneously masking our interconnectedness.

When you look at his gear, he has all the bases covered, especially when you account for his paddling gear. I’d personally bulk up the first aid kit—my basic first aid kit for two to four people weighs 8 ounces, and my emergency gear and a repair kit adds 4 ounces—but with a roll of duct tape, ripped up clothing you can get pretty far. For hygiene, I’d also add a tooth brush, which could be used in a pinch to scrub a bad wound. I’m not exactly sure if I’d carry cipro, but that’s a decision to be made between he and his doctor. And I’d dump the Nalgene, because of BPA (Bisphenol A).

In bug country, I’d probably sew some netting into the sleeping bag or bring a headnet or some kind of bug netting for under the tarp, and I’m a fan of stoves, because I don’t enjoy the act of collecting twigs and starting a fire. Brian’s trying to stay “ghetto” on his camping gear so he doesn’t have to use currency, which is fine, so for those with the same philosophy looking for a stove pick up a few soda cans from trash cans and make a soda can stove . But these are all small nit picks.

When you stop picking nits and look back at what Nessmuk wrote, “Go light; the lighter the better, so that you have the simplest material for health, comfort and enjoyment.” Brian’s list is pretty close to as minimal as you can go and he writes that he couldn’t be happier. It just shows that you don’t need much to head out on big trips. If you’ve read any of Brian’s Sea Kayaker Magazine articles, seen pictures of him is sick big surf, you know that he’s one hardcore paddler who knows his stuff. So, you can trust him when he states it’s much nicer to paddle a lighter kayak than a heavier one. You get better performance and speed.

I’d guess his camping gear weighs less than 9 pounds. That’s pretty light.

Nessmuking.com is home to the famous 35 Day Challenge. The challenge is simple: You must come up with a gear list that meets the following demands:

Sealline 35HD Boundary Waters pack is the perfect pack for ultralight paddling trips.

• Must have a shelter, and sleep system.
• Must have a cook system and water purifying system.
• Must have clothing to cover temperatures from 32°F to 80°F. Must handle conditions from sun to rain, sleet, hail, and snow.
• Must have a compass.
• Must have 5 days and 4 nights of food. A menu is a must.
• Must have a bear proof food storage system.
• Must fit into a Sealline Boundary 35 Day pack.

The challenge is to meet all the above stipulations while maintaining a decent level of comfort. This gear list must consist of items that you would want to take to an area like the Boundary Waters on a late September or early October solo trip.

You can assume the following: Your canoe is stocked with a seat pad, two 30 foot painters, two paddles (one bent, one straight), and a life vest.

Why?

Why the 35 Day Challenge? Simple. The 35 Day Challenge is engineered to challenge your perceptions as what is possible when traveling by canoe. A small waterproof pack, like the Sealline 35 Day Pack can be used to carry everything you need for a backcountry trip. And you’ll still be comfortable while doing it. The pure pleasure of reaching the other side of the portage without having to go back for a second trip and not feeling strained under a pack and canoe is more than worth giving it a try. It’s time you give it a shot. Check out the sample gear lists.

Sample List

Bryan Hansel’s 2007 List

Bryan’s Notes: The following list is the gear that I used recently on an overnight trip on the Vern River Route in the Boundary Waters. I had planned on a two night trip, but decided to cut out early the second day. There was enough room in the pack for three more days of meals, but not much else. I also carried a tripod inside the 35HD pack which isn’t included in the gear list below. My camera was carried separately in a Sealline 10HD. I carried a Nikon D70 and two lenses plus a couple of filters, memory cards, and an extra battery. When doing portages, I strapped both spare paddles into the canoe, threw the pack on my back, hoisted the 32 pound Bell Magic on my shoulders, and carried the 10HD in my hand. This made for fast single carry portages, which was a real plus while bush whacking and on the 240 rod portage.

Bell Magic solo canoe on Brule Lake in the BWCA.

This list itself is slightly heavy. There are several places where I could improve it, and these include a reduction in weight in clothing by probably a pound by upgrading to newer and lighter and warmer items. The shelter and bag system could also probably be reduced in weight. By switching to a lighter new and hightech tarp bivy sack system I could shave a pound off, and another half pound could come off of the bag. I went a little heavy in the kitchen also on this trip, because I didn’t feel like using a pop can stove. All in all, I could probably easily drop 3 to 4 pounds out of my pack, and if I was really trying, I could drop it down to 8.5 to 9 pounds before consumables.

A few other items of interest are my canoe and paddles. I use a ZRE Lightweight Carbon Bent Shaft which comes in a 8.5 ounces, a wood paddle which is 1.5 pounds, my Bell Magic outfitted with the seatcover, painters and bungies is 32 pounds, and my lifevest is a Stohlquist Brik, which doesn’t weigh very much at all.

All in all, this is a pretty plush and all around kit for early spring and late fall travel. In the above picture, you can see everything that I carried, except the camera and 10HD bag it was carried in. The picture below is a tarp set-up that I’ve been using lately. It’s easy to set-up, weather proof, and only requires 4 stakes.

Integral Design 8x10 tarp set-up to provide a basic shelter.

Clothing Worn

Marmot Dri-Clime Windshirt - 11 oz
Sierra Designs Ultra Pants – 11 oz
Terramar Body Sensor Tee - 5 oz
Thorlo Light Hikers – 3 oz
Steger Mocs 24.60 - 1 lb 9 oz
Tingley Rubber Overboots - 1 lb 8 oz
Outdoor Research 20th Anv Sun Ball Cap – 1 oz
Subtotal: 5 lb 1 oz

Other Items Worn / Carried

Brunton 7 – 1 oz
McKenzie Map - 2 oz
Whistle - 0.30oz
Subtotal: 4 oz

Other Clothing

Lifa Polypro Long bottoms - 5 oz
Marmot Dri-Clime Longsleave Zip Neck - 9 oz
TNF Fleece Vest - 10 oz
Swix Fleece Ski Hat - 1 oz
Fleece Campsocks - 3 oz
Black Thin Gloves - 2 oz
Marmot Precip Jacket - 12 oz
Marmot Precip Pant - 7 oz
Subtotal: 2 lb 10 oz

Sleep System

Tyvek House Wrap – One Person – 6 oz
Integral Designs SilTarp (8×10) - 1 lb 0 oz
GoLite Y – Stake 6 – 3 oz
Kelty Triptease Cord 25 - 1 oz
Mountian Smith Wisp - 1 lb 5 oz
Thermarest Prolite 3 – Short - 13 oz
Subtotal: 3 lb 12 oz

Packing

Sealline Boundary Day 35 HD - 2 lb 1 oz
Granite Gear Compression Sack - 5 oz
Granite Gear Air Bag #4 2 - 1 oz
Subtotal: 2 lb 7 oz

Cooking and Water

Platypus Water Bottle – 1L - 1 oz
Nalgene – 1 Quart - 6 oz
Outdoor Research Water Bottle Parka – 5 oz
MiniWorks w/tubes, sack, cleaning pad – 1 lb 2 oz
Markill Hot Shot – 8 oz
Snow Peak Giga Power 110g fuel canister (empty) – 4 oz
MSR Titanium Spoon – 1 oz
Snow Peak – 16 oz pot with lid – 5 oz
Bear Bag Rope – 50′ plus ‘biner – 5 oz
Syderco Folder – 2 oz
Small Bic Ligher – 1 oz
Subtotal: 3 lb 6 oz

Other Essentials

Moleskine, G2, replacement ink – 2 oz
Paperback Book – 6 oz
First Aide Kit – Bryan Style – 9 oz
Assorted Toiletries, DermaGel, Tooth, Dr. B, Floss – 6 oz
TP – 4 oz
Princeton Tec Aurora – 1 oz
Subtotal: 1 lb 13 oz

Consumables

1 lb 8 oz (0.68 kg) / day ( * – from Menu ) 2.5 – 3 lb 12 oz
Quart – 2 lb 0 oz
Snow Peak Giga Power, 110g – 4 oz
Subtotal: 6 lb 0 oz

Summary

5 lb 5 oz (2.40 kg) 84.60 (1) Total Weight Worn or Carried
13 lb 15 oz (6.33 kg) 223.35 (2) Total Base Pack Weight
6 lb 0 oz (2.72 kg) 96.03 (3) Total Weight of Consumables
19 lb 15 oz (9.05 kg) 319.37 (4) Total Initial Pack Weight (2) + (3)
25 lb 4 oz (11.45 kg) 403.97 (5) Full Skin Out Weight (1) + (2) + (3)