The water bottle light thread got me thinking about needs vs. wants. What does everyone bring along that is not needed, but makes your trip more enjoyable. Example- I have reduced the stuff I bring so I can get a full sized feather pillow in my pack. Camp pillows or stuff sacks work but not near as comfy!

Hammock!

This year I plan on bringing in a cot. Dodger

My GSI micro table. Its not a needed item but I wont go into the bwca without it. It fits over logs so I have a nice flat clean surface to cook on. I also use it as a writing desk since I like to journal while in camp. My Taj3 tent for just me. Its big and roomy for 1.

Sleeping pad, not required but it is a life (and back) saver

Acid Blondie cigars.

My depth/fish finder. Some trips I bring my girlfriend.

Jimi,
I like acid blonde cigars as well. Good for a flavored cigar!!

crazy creek chair....my aging back loves it!

Also an enthusiastic second on the GSI microtable.

Lawn chair! Dutch oven.

Beer

I'm with izzy. A few beers always make it into my pack.

Fabric kitchen sink and bucket. May add a second sink for rinse water this year.

Camp Stool
Spice Kit

This Year

Cast Iron Skillet
GSI Micro Table
Utensil Roll

Everything beyond a canoe and a paddle.

Thermos of wine and a couple cigars.
Ipod with some Beethoven symphonies.
A flask of whiskey.

Let's see... I was going to start listing items but then I got to thinking about what defined "not required". Hum...

I've I had to list one luxury item, it would be my portable depth finder. It may not be required. But it makes fishing more fun for me and has helped me catch a bunch of fish. If it helps with fun and fish, is it really "not required"?

Still thinking...

I guess I would like to take a minimalist trip. Something where I all take is one small pack with the essentials. Here is a thread about that from last year:

Minimal

Here is another thread questioning what folks would take if they could only take a bookbag worth of equipment:
Minimal

I had some friends that took a summer day float down one of our area rivers and they brought a generator and blender for on-river margaritas...cooler with some beer seems like a smarter choice to me.

A chair, a couple of books, bag of wine and tobacco.

Folding Coleman beach chair. Although it's getting harder every year to get up outta that thing!

I also take my full size feather pillow... would never sleep well without it.

Walkstool, Its light and collapses down, I lash it to the side of my pack. Walkstool

Sorry knothead but my hammock is required. Some of the things that are nice to have are, GPS, GSI micro table, crazy creek chair, cast iron skillet,flask with booze, cigars,book, tripod. They are all going along in June

I like having music, especially on solo trips it's nice to just chill out with some good tunes at night.

Required is an interesting term. For instance I "require" a camp chair. A sun shower is "nice to have" for me but my wife "requires" it.

An expendable corncob pipe and some quality pipe tobacco - much more relaxing to me than a cigar, although good cigar every once in a while is nice, too.

1. chair
2. hammock
3. outback oven
4. solar shower
5. liquid pain killer
6. lantern (sometimes)

tony

I guess I really have a lot of items that are not needed but I think that is one of the allures of canoe camping over backpacking is the ability to take more weight and have a more luxurious camp. And that's the view from someone who single portages!

A secret rubber bear track stamp. Required, heck no. Nice to have around camp? YES, after everyone else goes to sleep. Made the trip immeasurably more enjoyable.

That is hilarious. Where did you get that?

Lostreef. That fake bear paw is low-down, sneaky, devious and downright underhanded.

Where do I get one?

I borrowed it from Kanoes!

Wow, I need one of those. The boy scout troop would never camp again in tents after I got done with that thing, lol.

Wow I need that rubber bear track stamp, my friends will go nuts when they see tracks all over the place. Too funny. Where can I get one?

Do they have a wolf stamp as well? That & the Bear would be too much fun.

Wild River State Park has them maybe they can tell you where the got them. The number for the visitor center is 651-583-2925. I thought we purchased ours here years ago.

http://www.acornnaturalists.com/store/Mammal-Track-Molds-C703.aspx?UserID=17066907&SessionID=0I9Xycn59oHnsU0TOMEV

I only see the female molds but you could fill the mold up with chaulk and make your own male stamp.

Why not go all out...

So much for plausible deniability, here you go.

http://www.acornnaturalists.com/store/Track-Replicas---Positives-actual-casts-C48.aspx

Wow, nice selection lostreef. There will be all kinds of new species spotted in the BW/Q this year i'm sure, lol. I think near my campsite the wolverine and grizzly are going to make a comeback to Minnesota! Ever seen a pronghorn antelope in the BW? Maybe this year. Or was that a jackalope, lol.

I am in the aforementioned group that lostreef speaks of....and yes the prints looked realistic.

those rubber bear prints are just wrong in so many ways :)

Bleacher Seat & sleep pad.

Love the Bear Tracks!!! I'll save the idea for when my wife and kids go up with me.

those are so wrong in so many ways, but they may have made a sale

My aquavu and vexliar, and my float tube

camp chair, bag of wine, something to smoke.

wow, wish i had saw that bear print before tonite, i leave in two days so i wont have a chance to get one before the trip...damn....
but as for nice but not necessary? i'd say my canoe partner. he filets the fish, so it's nice to have him, but i could probably get by with out him...

Half my fishing lures. More likly 80% of my lures. A table. Not needed but really convenient.

Very interesting discussion! Two years ago, I took a solo trip and tried very hard to minimize pack weight. I wanted to be in the low 30#. I put together what I thought was a nice, light pack; over 50#.No go! It took a lot of work (and leaving my Duluth pack home) to get down to the eventual weight of 36#. All my food was "boil and dump", Steri-pen for water, Jetboil as total cook set (there was a fire ban on), titanium spork, and no footprint. But I still had sfety gear, a tent, sleeping pad, a small book, journal and pleanty of fishing gear. With the prism, I could single portage, but it was still rough on a little old man like me.
This year, I'm going up to 45# and forget single portages.
As many have said, "required" is a relative term.

Good man Capn'. Slow down, bring a chair, enjoy the walks thru the woods.

I take a small radio with an ear phone, I like tocheck the weather the last day so i can get through Basswood without getting wind bound.
I take extra rope way more than I need.
I take climbing pulleys that work so easy that I can pull myself up with the food pack so the bears or my wife can't get me.
I take two different custom blends of pipe tobacco, one for mosquitoes and one for black flies.
I take along paper bags to store my wet ones in so they can dry faster to be burned.
I take an extra thermarest 3/4 by 2" for my dog, plus his blanket.
When it works out, load wise, I take a 9x9 canvas baker tent with a screened front, so I have a comfortable place to put the lawn chairs.
I no longer take newbies, they are to hard to portage, and their crying in their tents at night keeps me awake.

My wife