Allagash Gear Recommendations

Let’s talk about gear, paddles and knots use on the Allagash. We continue to expand and refine our gear collection with an emphasis on maximizing efficiency, usefulness and reducing size/weight. We have never been “backpack” campers — luckily canoe camping allows for more space than your typical backpack hiker has, but also requires that everything be waterproof and stored in such a way that it will float and be balanced in the canoe and can easily be carried for portage.

Here’s some of the gear and knowledge we’ve picked up along the way.

30-can RTIC backpack cooler

Best last minute purchases

The day before we left we bought adjustable tarp poles from REI that made it much easier to get our tarp up quickly. I don’t know what I was thinking by almost omitting these from the kit. The other item we got at the last minute was a 30-can RTIC backpack cooler. This kept our perishables cold for 4+ days. 

Best cooking gear

We picked up a Svante Freden reflector oven made in Sweden from Rutabaga Paddlesports. I had wanted to get a Sproul Baker because they were being made locally (Bowdoinham, ME), but it seems this company has switched hands and isn’t currently selling new ovens.

We made cheese bread, cookies and cinnamon buns in front of a campfire on our trip and they all came out great.

Favorite borrowed item

Derik loaned me his Therma Rest inflatable sleeping pad for an earlier Katahdin trip, and I just kept it for this trip. Thanks, D!

Relaxing at camp in my Helinox Chair One with Oakley.

Favorite Luxury Item

There's nothing better after a long day in the canoe than having a comfortable seat to sit around the fire. There are more comfortable chairs thank the Helinox Chair One, but it's very lightweight and easy to pack which makes it a superb item for trip like the Allagash. Oakley appreciated having a place to sit, too.

Other important gear

Snow & Nealley Hudson Bay axe

Agawa Boreal 21 folding hand saw

Wood cutting tools — Our Snow & Nealley Hudson Bay axe (made in Smyrna, ME) and Agawa Boreal 21 folding hand saw, along with a pair of leather gloves, were invaluable tools for processing wood while on our trip.

Stainless Steel Bush Pot & Lid (64 oz from The Pathfinder School) -- this pot has become a standard item on my camping trips. It has held up well to being hung directly in the fire and banged around. The size is perfect to heat water for drinking or cooking for a couple people.

For filtering drinking water, we used two Katadyn BeFree squeeze filters. It worked well, but could get tedious when producing a whole day’s supply. Next time I'll probably a gravity filter like the Platypus GravityWorks Group Camping Water Filter System.

We were also glad we brought a 1 gallon water jug to store filtered water. We had smaller containers for personal use, but the big jug was convenient. Sometimes we used unfiltered water right out of the river and boiled it for coffee or doing dishes and that worked fine.

Hats & rain gear — I have a Tilley hat and Stephanie has an REI hat that we both love and wore for sun and rain protection while we were on the water. The rain gear was super important, especially on the first day when we set up in the rain. 

Dry storage — we used a blue barrel for most kitchen gear and all of our dry food, separated into smaller plastic bags for convenience. The barrel fit nicely in my canoe, and the Granite Gear Barrel Harness made it comfortable to carry on our portages. For our bedding and my clothes, we used a very large (115 liter) Eureka backpack dry bag. This thing is huge, tough, and comfortable to wear, but sadly, it has been discontinued.

Allagash Wilderness Waterway Maps & Garmin InReach Mini 2 — the map was very important for obvious reasons. We also had the InReach which can send messages via satellite. There’s zero cell coverage and very few other

people on the waterway, so it’s good to have in case of emergency. We turned it on once a day to send an update to the kids at home. But I’ll be honest… unlike many people I don’t LOVE my InReach. I find that it can take a very long time for messages to go through and it’s hard to tell when they do. My son sent one reply to us that we never received. Maybe it’s user error, but I wish it was more user friendly.

Another must-have piece of gear is The Allagash Guide: What You Need to Know to Canoe this Famous Maine Waterway by Gil Gilpatrick. It contains essential lists and planning advice for anyone preparing to visit the Allagash Wilderness Waterway on their own.

Boats — can’t do a canoe trip without canoes! My son and I each solo paddled our 16’ Royalex Old Town Campers which are great for this purpose but which haven't been made in over 30 years. They handle gear and light whitewater well. Stephanie used her Pyranha Fusion II kayak. it’s a crossover suitable for rapids but also has a skeg that can be dropped for flatwater sections. It also has a fairly large cargo section for a kayak and we used this for our semi-wet stuff like tarps and tents.

Things we forgot: we accidentally left the spinning rod at home but had two fly rods. We forgot to bring a measuring spoon for coffee, but did fine without it. I wished we had Neosporin ointment because I had a split on my thumb that was nagging at me from the constant wet/dry cycle.

Things we wish we had: a better tent because our old Timberline A-Frame is getting tired and couldn’t keep the water out. We woke up Day 1 with our feet in a puddle. As previously mentioned, a better water filter like a Platypus GravityWorks Filter would be nice for filtering greater volumes of water with less effort. I wish I had brought my pole for poling the canoe. It would have been very nice to have been able to stand more, and I think it would have been super efficient in many parts of the river. I suppose I could have made a pole… next time.

Things we brought but didn’t really need: headlamps (at this time of year the days are LONG), extra camera mounts, extra large pot (2 small ones were fine), 2nd isobutane stove and extra fuel because we cooked so much with wood. (Although, had the weather been worse, having 2 stoves and plenty of fuel would have been crucial.) Stephanie wishes we left the cast iron frying pan because it’s heavy and hard to pack, but we did use it to make delicious pancakes.

Paddles (as shown in the photo from left to right):

1 - Bending Branches BB Special - I switched to this bent shaft paddle on day 3 and wish I had sooner. It’s a more relaxed option compared to the Werner Bandit. It’s shorter so the recovery is easier on my shoulders. The J-stroke is less effective but I focused on my technique and found I could keep a good relaxed pace without too many corrections.

2 - Werner Bandit - my 2024 whitewater paddle with a carbon shaft and large spooned face. This was used for all of Day 1, including Chase Rapids. It moves a lot of water but it’s stiff and can get tiring on the joints. I used it sparingly the rest of the trip.

3 - Wooden Old Town Canoe model unknown - this was a paddle we picked up as part of a used canoe package and never had reason to use it until this trip. It became Nolen’s primary paddle and he thought it worked fine. It’s pretty lightweight, has a large square face, and a rock guard so it was right for the job.

4 - Aqua Bound Manta Ray Carbon - the double bladed paddle I save for special situations. But Stephanie accidentally used this for Chase rapids and struggled with the length. I used this, especially in Day 2, when towing Nolen’s canoe into the wind - a job I may not have been able to do with a single blade.

5 - Aqua Bound Stingray Hybrid - Stephanie’s new high angle paddle for river running in her Fusion Kayak. It’s what she used for most of the trip.

6 - Adventure Harmony - an older aluminum kayak paddle we got with our first kayak. This is what Nolen used when he opted for a double blade. But it’s heavy.

A sheet bend used to easily lengthen short tarp lines

Knots we used:

• Sheet bend - used to add two lines together to make longer tarp lines (shown in the picture)

• Bowline - used all over… attaching a line to a tree, line to a boat

• Truckers hitch - used for putting up clothesline, tying boats into truck

• Half hitch - for lots of things; use two of them to secure a truckers hitch

• Clove hitch - for tying the center ends of the tarp to the ridge pole

• Tautline hitch - for creating adjustable tarp lines