Paddlers and Pantries

February-March 2002

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Marcia Sixta

Feast hosted by First Nations friends on Hotspring Island in Haida Gwaii, featuring seafood gathered at the shoreline. (Alan front right, Howie next left)
Photo:Wavelength

Paddling in the Pacific Northwest means camping in the temperate rainforest zone. During rainy conditions, it's important for the trip leader to set priorities and encourage everyone to think of the group needs. If you have tired paddlers reaching the shore during a downpour, think "creature comforts". The first thing to do is get the tarp up, then fire up your stove and get some soup going. As a testimonial to this 'recipe', my teenage son and his friend remained 'happy campers' on a rain-soaked trip around the Bowron Lakes. And I still keep in touch with a woman from another group of cold, tired, hungry paddlers who I invited under our tarp for soup.

SELECTING YOUR CAMPSITE

Choose a site from a low-impact point of view, thinking of a worst case scenario -a downpour-when you are cold, tired and wet. Choose a well-used site on hard ground rather than a carpet of moss. Avoid placing your tents at the bottom of a hill where the water could rush down. (Place your kitchen tarp and fire about 50 metres away from your tents in bear country.)

TARPS

• The tarp is the first thing up and the last thing down at camp.

• Choose your tarp according to the size of your group. A 4x5 metre (roughly 13x 15 feet) size is good for sheltering a group of six. I bring along a couple of hundred feet (60 metres) of braided nylon rope to cut into appropriate lengths to secure the tarp properly for a strong wind. The extra line is handy for clothes-drying lines and tying boats to trees when the bow lines aren't long enough.

• Pack your tarp for fast access. On a portage-type trip, like the Bowron Lakes, pack the tarp on your back deck along with your kayak wheels. Otherwise, snuggle the tarp in your hatch below the neoprene cover and avoid having "gust-catchers" on deck. This also helps keep gear below dry in heavier seas.

• Put the tarp up where it will be safe and an open fire won't melt it (or burn any of the vegetation).

• Pitch (put up) and strike (take down) tents under the tarp if it is raining. This helps keep your tent from getting muddy and prevents rain soaking into the mesh tops of your tent. Put the fly on and move the tent to your sleep site and stake it down. Do the reverse when you break camp.

NOW FOR THE SOUP!

• Keep your stove, fuel, lighter, soup, bowls or cups and spoons ready for quick access. My food bag and stove are behind the seat in my cockpit.

• For a quick fix, choose an instant soup mix. Choose hearty soups like pea and ham, lentil, or chicken noodle to serve along with bread. This helps everyone warm up and boosts spirits.

AS FOR MEALS

My style is a 'pantry' method, which includes a variety of fruits and veggies, soups, breads and mixes for muffins and scones. After years of camping, I like to "wing it" when I'm out there and don't always want to eat what I've planned. On trips where everyone brings their own rations, I like to get them together for communal dinners- "kayak-luck". This way you get everybody participating and if the meal bombs, it's nobody's fault! As a leader, watch to see if everyone is eating enough. This is especially important for cold and rainy trips where people may be tired and not interested in preparing fancy meals. Sometimes you get to camp later than you anticipate-around 5 or 6 pm. They want to eat now, not in 2 hours. Start them off with soup and bread. We always have desserts too: cheesecake, dried fruits, chocolate.

For dinners, choose the heartier soups that require cooking-turkey and rice or clam chowder. Buy commercial soup mixes (20-30 servings) from liquidation stores and put the pouches in zip-locks. At dinnertime, you can add extra veggies to the soup, and make bannock or scones. If you're hungry later on, cook something else. Use combinations of veggies-broccoli, cauliflower and peppers-in fondues or stir-fries. Bring a variety of cheeses-cheddar, marble, blue, Mozzarella. French bread can last a good week. You can thin the leftover cheese sauce to use on fish.

PERISHING PRODUCE?
My philosophy is to eat fresh all the time. My boat becomes my garden. Take what's in season, but don't bother with tomatoes because they are too mushable. We've roasted corn on the cob (in its husk) two weeks into a trip and made carrot-onioncoleslaw up to three weeks out. Here are some of my tips for enjoying fabulous fruits and vivacious vegetables on paddling trips.

FRUIT
Outside of berries, which only last a day or two, you can take most fruit on paddling trips.

• Soft fruits like apricots, bananas, grapes, kiwi, melons, nectarines, peaches, and pears need to be protected from bruising -as do apples. Lemons, oranges, grapefruit and pineapples are standbys for longer trips.

VEGETABLES

• For the first few days you can enjoy asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, green peas, green onions. Leafy greens like kale and lettuce need to be used up first.If you're careful, for a week or so you can have artichokes, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, green beans, peppers (green, red, orange, yellow) and zucchini

• Even later on the trip you can be eating beets, cabbage (green and purple), carrots, corn on the cob, garlic, ginger, potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash and round onions.

WHEN SHOPPING

• Choose produce that is clean, dry and free of bruises. (Dugald Nasmith from Pacific Rim Paddling dives into produce coolers to rescue veggies from the sprinkler system. Water-logged leafy veggies spoil quickly-so you may need to bring a salad spinner or towels along for pre-trip ritual drying.)

• Buy your produce at varying degrees of ripeness. For example, both yellow and green bananas, hard and nearly-ripe avocados. (Doug Alderson, author of The Savvy Paddler, buys half his tomatoes under-ripe- these last longer and can help "soften the blows" for riper ones. He suggests airing and drying soft veggies like tomatoes with paper towels every couple of days.)

WHEN PACKING:

• Pack carefully so stoves or heavy gear don't crush the produce.

• Keep soft fruit and veggies in mesh bags (like onions come in) inside a small duffel bag. This makes for easy handling and access. My food goes into a waterproof 30- litre duffel bag-directly behind the seat of my Telkwa Sport. Leave asparagus on the deck to let salt water wash over it. Hard avocados ripen 2-3 days in their mesh bag. Help fruits ripen in a mesh bag under a bungie on your deck. (Kirsten Musial from Ocean River Sports uses the brown paper bag method for ripening. She packs soft produce like tomatoes in tupperware containers.)

• Hard vegetables-potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage can fit into the hatches in nooks and crannies around the gear, even in your gumboots! They keep well and don't take up the same amount of room as they would in a separate bag.

Will that be wine with dinner?

A couple of things make meals on kayak trips different from other backcountry adventures -you can bring more fresh food and wine! But bottles are breakable and there isn't a great selection of boxed wines. So for short trips, why not carry your favourite local grape in the cross country skier's friend-the wineskin?

Great food and wine combinations come from thinking about the flavours, taste and texture, or body. Most importantly, neither should overpower each other.

Some hints from members of the BC Wine Institute:

MATCH:

High acid foods (goat cheese, oranges, lemons, tomatoes, vinegar) with high acid wines: Sauvignon Blanc, some styles of Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Zinfandel.

Rich Foods (cheese or beef) with oaky white wines: Chardonnay or young reds, Cabernet Sauvignon or Zinfandel.

CONTRAST:

Spicy, salty/smoked and heavily seasoned dishes (curries and Mexican) with lighter, fruity wines: Gamay Beaujolais, Gewürztraminer, Johannesburg Riesling, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and lighter styles of Zinfandel.

Ph.:604-853-9320, Web: www.westerncanoekayak.com.

Mercia coordinates the annual Coast Kayak Symposium on Thetis Island in May. See Events.