GOOD ideas and tips from a veteran:
- bring plenty to drink.. Fluids are at a premium by the last morning
- sun burn is a real threat.. (out for many hours in the open sun with the reflection of the water) bring high power, waterproof sunblock and use it. but DON'T get it in your eyes.. It's waterproof and won't stop burning like crazy for a long time. Insides of thighs and calves are more sun exposed than normal in the squatting boat position..
- waterproof "dry bags" are a smart move in case of rain or capsizing
- bring a light for night time.. It gets completely dark
- we don't litter.. you will pack out everything you bring in. glass bottles and metal cans tend to be hassle over the 3 days.
- the lighter you pack the higher you float, the easier you propel, the less you drag, the quicker you break camp, and the less comfortable you are while camping.. Your call.
- cell phones work intermittantly
- Food is expensive, but available at the IGA in Tionesta on the 2nd night..
- there really are river police after all, so bring life jackets and register your boat if it's not (at least in Emlenton.. )
- GPS's work slick, but may sink. iPods, eyeglasses, buckled canoes, pipe boombooms and dead geese definitely sink. Bavarian pretzels don't.
- bartering exists and thrives... if you can provide a commodity like fire starting, entertainment, snacks, cigars, or coffee for others, maybe you'll be invited into a tent during a downpour for example...
- habanero sauce is really hot and you cannot ride a cooler to Oil City after dark..
- bottle rockets burn holes in brand new rain flies, and cans on the fire are NOT cooling down.
- paddling upstream sucks. a canoe CAN be help together almost exclusively with high-quality duct tape..
- the fire arms are for retrieving twitching backstraps from strangling deer on the bank, and green chicken is edible..
- gorillas in the mist are a myth and should not be fired upon
- rocks do NOT float gently to the bottoms of the river..
- the river water is NOT antiseptic and WILL put you in the hospital if you have an open wound. Ibuprofen and neosporin are nice
- DON'T mess with the cook.. or Gordon. He's armed... well.
- Joe doesn't appreciate having his generosity rammed down his throat.
- putting packs of firecrackers down porta-potty exhaust tubes is NOT socially acceptable
- towing swimmers is a losing proposition
- milipedes are toxic to mucus linings of the eyes, nose and throat
- "mup-heres" are almost as deserving of tarring and feathering as the game commission
- Ted is narcoleptic dead weight as a partner. If you are in Chris's boat, you will dump at least once. If you are near Chris at any time you are in danger of random acts of exuberance.. (like being friends with an enormous saint Bernard with ADHD)
- that thing in the middle of the river isn't swimming upstream.. harpooned turtles do.
- a little b&e during desperate midnight island camp floodings is a case for moral relativism, but leads to warm, dry poker games
- weed wackers have nothing to do with canoeing, you can't build a sail on a canoe, and holding all the boats together like a barge through rock-strewn rapids is dumb..
- rope swing at your own risk
- you will never forget this weekend. (the north trip is cooler)
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