Canoe camping

Canoe camping (also known as canoe touring, expedition canoeing, or canoe tripping) is a combination of canoeing, long-distance travel, and camping. Like backpacking, canoe campers carry enough with them to travel and camp for several days, but do so via canoes or kayaks. Canoe camping is primarily practiced in North America.

A canoeist can transport significantly heavier (up to 400 pounds or more) and bulkier loads than a backpacker or kayaker, and can therefore travel farther and more easily under similar conditions. Portaging by foot is sometimes necessary to pass between water bodies or around hazardous obstacles such as rapids or waterfalls, but most of the time canoe campers travel on water. Because they usually don't continuously carry their gear on their backs, canoe campers can bring more food and gear and undertake longer trips. This is especially the case with food which, unlike gear where the weight is essentially fixed regardless of the trip duration, increases in weight for each additional day of provision. On rivers, high water levels after storms can make river travel hazardous, while on lakes, winds and thunderstorms can produce strong winds which create large waves and headwinds which work against that paddlers to slow the canoe. Trips may need to have extra days built into the schedule in case of weather delays.

Although most experienced canoeists feel comfortable paddling straight through large bodies of water, most typically stay within a few hundred meters of shore. Since a fully loaded canoe only draws 12 to 16 cm (six to eight inches), it can approach a rocky shore as close as arm's-length. This proximity (and a canoe's inherent quietness) lets the canoeist observe aquatic and near-shore plants and wildlife from a perspective that walking on solid ground does not allow. Many people engage in fishing while canoe camping.

Compared to backpacking, canoeing produces less noise, with no crunching boots and bouncing packs, and a lower level of exertion. Maneuverability on the water and the easy shift to portaging allow canoe campers to go places that cannot be accessed conveniently by other means of transportation, which can include less crowded boat-in only campsites. The versatility of canoe tripping allows canoeists to go places and see things that they otherwise could not.

...
Wikipedia