The following is a suggested list. You may add to it if you wish, but bear in mind that you should keep your personal gear as compact as possible. Most people take too much gear. Everything on this list will go into or onto a pack frame, pack bag, or duffel bag. A waterproof bag or pack for your gear is desirable, but not a necessity.
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*My concept of the minimum -- you know what you need!
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Remember you are going to live out of your pack for an extended period of time, so give some thought to organizing so as to prevent daily unpacking and repacking. Use packages within your pack. Take appropriate size plastic bags and put related items together in them. The plastic packages slide in and out easily without disturbing the rest of the pack and the plastic helps keep things dry if the pack should get wet. Of course, items that are most often used should be near the opening where they can be reached readily.
For early and late trips, do not skimp on warm clothing. While it may happen that we have summer-like weather with temperatures in the 70s, it can just as easily be in the 30s and 40s with below freezing temperatures at night. Be sure your sleeping bag is warm enough. Summer rated bags will not do in the spring and fall in northern Maine.
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A high point of a river trip is the white water. We will spend time learning the basic whitewater canoe handling strokes before we attempt this. |
Custom trips only: I am now doing only custom trips. That is, I do not schedule trips and then fill them one or two (or more) people at a time. I will take your reservation from one to ten people for any time I have available. Pricing depends on the length of the the trip and the number of guests. Let me know your needs and I will quote a price.
Payment: All reservations must include a 25% deposit to be firm unless other arrangements are made. I will acknowledge your deposit immediately. Full payment is expected at, or before the start of the trip. I will give a full refund of deposit money for cancellations received 60 days or more before the scheduled start of a trip. One half of the deposit money will be refunded for cancellations received 30-59 days prior to the trip, No refund less than 30 days prior.
Questions?: Feel free to contact me by phone, fax, email or mail if you have any questions whatsoever. I am home most evenings, and if I am not, leave your name and number, and I will return your call as soon as possible.
In over a quarter century of guiding people on wilderness canoe trips, I have met folks with a wide variety of experience, but mostly they have been people with little or no canoeing expertise. For the first couple of days I will instruct you in the canoe strokes and techniques you will need in order to guide your canoe through rapids of varying degrees of difficulty. I am proud of my success rate in this regard, because nearly all of my guests successfully negotiate the most difficult rapids on the river without an upset (injury is rare in upsets -- except to the ego). The new-found knowledge in canoe handling can make the white water experience a high point in the summer.
My trips are not designed to be an endurance test, but instead an enjoyable vacation combining some new challenges with ample time ashore for just resting, enjoying the water, the wildlife and the surrounding area. Our days start out early -- We are usually on the water by 7:00 to 7:30. While this comes as a mild shock to some who are ordinarily late risers, all soon agree that this is the only way to go for a trip like this. Being the first on the water in the morning allows you to travel during the cooler part of the day, see more wildlife, and you are first in to camp for the day -- therefore have the best choice of campsites if there happen to be other canoeists traveling on the same schedule as we are.
We are usually in the night's camp between noon and two o'clock. Of course, weather can upset the time-table at any time, but with our leisurely schedule anytime lost because of weather or other reasons can be easily made up in one or two of the following days. So far, I have never finished a trip late.
Gil Gilpatrick
P.O. Box 461
Skowhegan, Maine 04976
Phone: 207-453-6959
Fax: 207-238-9243
Email: gil@mint.net
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