In our previous article, I discussed two great tips to prevent some of the bumps that can pop up during any BWCA family canoe trip. First, knowing your goals and your family’s goals before you go. Second, making assignments to keep everyone engaged and occupied.

Now, I’m going to touch on a couple more tips to go that extra mile to turn a good time into lasting memories.

Have Good Gear

This is a sort of pro-tip that won’t come as a surprise to anyone. Some of the worst vacation disasters come when the equipment we brought broke.

⮚ You spend your first day paddling for nine hours, get to your site and your stove doesn’t work. Blast!

⮚ You set up the tent and the cord holding the tent poles together breaks. Now your tent won’t stand up. Drats!

⮚ The zipper on your sleeping bag breaks and now you get to spend tonight (and every night for the rest of the trip) cold.

Now imagine instead of it being your sleeping bag that breaks it’s your kid’s sleeping bag. You don’t have a lot of options there. No good ones at least.

Now, I’m not saying it’s worth it to break the bank when buying your equipment. That’d be irresponsible and completely unnecessary. I will say, however, that you will get what you pay for. The cheapest tent is very likely going to be the first one to break.

And, for my money, there IS a difference between cheap and inexpensive. Cheap refers to quality while inexpensive means you didn’t pay much. It’s awesome to find great equipment for a deal, but be wary of cheap quality gear. Again, you get what you pay for.

Before you rush out to buy something new, do your research. You won’t have to look around much to find decent reviews of nearly any equipment out there. We live in a world where others have tried it and are eager to report on their experiences whether good or bad.

Of course, better equipment made from higher quality materials that will last a lot longer and often come with really good warranties will cost you more, but you don’t need the best equipment ever to have the best trip ever.

With the cost of materials getting lower and lower, finding very decent equipment in your price range isn’t much of a challenge if you’re willing to do a little work instead of just pulling something off the shelf. And, of course, give Williams and Hall a call if you need equipment advice or want to consider renting equipment for your Boundary Waters adventure.

Record the Memories

One of my favorite tips is to find a way to capture the best, worst, most hilarious and most magical parts of your trips in whatever way works best for your family. We have hundreds of pictures in albums from our trips. Our kids still go through them when they come to visit and pass those memories on to our grandkids.

With all the technology at our fingertips, there are about as many ways to capture memories as there are canoe trip memories to capture. Blogs, Tic Tok, Journaling, Scrapbooking, or just take a million pictures. Find what works for your family and run with it. Memories become more real when they’ve been captured.

Even the bad memories can turn into fond memories when captured and retold. Waiting out storms in old barns might have been miserable then but is now a bit romantic when you look at the pictures.

A midnight paddle was magical when you did it underneath a sky lit with a billion stars and galaxies, but the magic has breath when you write down the experience in a journal to read again and again.

Today's Conclusion

The smoothest of wilderness canoe trips are not beyond our grasps. With a little extra elbow grease before and after, we can prevent some of the biggest traps that can ruin a vacation.

The right preparations can make us seem almost clairvoyant, and your family will be chanting your name as they carry you home on their shoulders. At least, that’s been my experience.