Contents

PART ONE. FROM IDEA TO PUT-IN

1. How Trips Get Born

2. Square Peg, Round Hole: Making a Trip Fit

3. Getting There and Back

4. Mining for Information

PART TWO. ON THE WATER

5. The Partnership Tango: Two Vignettes

6. Negotiating Current

7. Rating Whitewater and Rivers

8. Why Wood and Water Don’t Mix

9. Open Water Hazards

10. Against the Flow

11. To Run, to Line, to Portage

12. Going Solo

PART THREE. NOMAD SKILLS

13. Finding a Way: Navigating

14. No Grit: Life in Sandy Camps

15. Rigging for the Day

16. Finding a Home

17. The Fiery Debate: Stoves versus Campfires

18. Bears, Bugs, and Boonies: The Bad Bs
of Wilderness Paddling

19. Kitchens on the Go

20. Luxuries of No-Portage Trips

21. Water Safety: Getting a Safe Head

22. First Aid

23. In Honor of Place: Trip Sanitation

24. Keeping Group Morale Afloat

PART FOUR. OUTFITTING

25. Gear That Changed My Life

26. The Gear List

27. Trip Canoes

28. Overhyped Equipment

29. The Sentimental List

30. The Human Fuel

31. Menu Planner

32. Favorite Recipes

33. Disciplining the Pile

PART FIVE. FAMILIES AND CANOES

34. Why It Works

35. Parental Judgment

38. Subadults

39. Kids’ Gear

40. Trip Activities

PART SIX. EXPEDITION DESTINATIONS

41. An Expedition Medley

APPENDIX 1. Off-Season Boat Puttering

APPENDIX 2. Wilderness Paddler’s Resource Center