Minimal vs. Maximal

Last year on the wilderness "Epicurean" canoe+camping trip, I tried to be a minimalist. That means taking as little gear as possible and being as self-sufficient as possible and having gear that did not seem decadent. After all, this was a wilderness trip. I had never been on a long canoe trip like this before and did not understand that for portages, when one must carry all the gear & canoe for a short distance over land from one lake/river to another, taking two trips was not only possible, but common practice.

This year, I'm going Maximal. Why limit myself to one backpack of gear ? I have hands. I lift weights. I can carry more gear in them as I hump over the portage. Except for the portage, the canoe carries all the weight. That's the great benefit of water travel that pioneers understood. I bought a fine waterproof duffel bag from Cabala's [ http://www.cabelas.com/ ] and I've put lots of gear into it: my sleeping pad and bag, some more clothes in case mine get wet, a warm coat, my coffee pot & coffee, a camp stool (so I won't have to sit on wet ground or a wet log), and some assorted other gear. It's fairly heavy, but the portages aren't that long.

Having the duffel bag also let me diversify my supplies of food and clothes - I split them into two parts and packed part in the backpack and part in the duffel bag. In case of accident and loss of one set, I'll have the second ... and will survive !

Perhaps I've overdone it. If so, next year I've know enough to hit an Aristotelian virtuous optimum.

PS: no posts next week as I will be on the Epicurean camping trip.

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Futures are up this AM. I'm still riding on my Brontosaurus, looking for the next water hole when I'll get off and into the trees. But until then, it's a fine, enjoyable ride.

Word of the Day

"Farrago" - noun, plural [$10]
Farrago means a confused mixture, hodgepodge, medley: a farrago of doubts, fears, hopes and wishes.
Sentence: The P-O-R 'stimulus' was mostly a farrago of gifts to states to subsidize overpaid state employees and payoffs to political support groups. Less than 10% went to true stimulus - buying and fixing things that are needed such as roads, bridges, rails ports, air ports, air traffic control, high speed Internet, and valuable conservation and historic preservation projects that increase tourism. The P-O-R 'stimulus was squandered and that' why US poverty and unemployment are distressingly high.