A few weeks ago I finally took the plunge and bought a canoe. As I’ve written before I have a crush on the Esker Wood Ki Chi Saga. I think that it’s a work of art, and I really want to buy one in the future. I’ve also thought about buying a Bergans Ally, a foldable canoe, since I hardly have room to store a canoe at home, and it’s not likely to change anytime soon.

But to be able to get out right away I bought a cheep used fiberglass canoe. It’s heavy, and doesn’t look nearly as good as the Esker Wood, but I was able to buy it right away and it will get me out paddling until I can buy a better canoe.

Last weekend I took it on a trip for the first time. I drove out to Helgö in Helgasjön, where I’ve camped a lot of times before. I put the canoe in the lake on the eastern shore of Helgö, near the parking lot at the edge of Jägaregap nature reserve.

Getting the canoe up on the roof of my car by me self was an adventure on it’s own. But I was able to get it both up and down without damaging the canoe or my car.

At Helgö I put the canoe in the water and packed it with my gear. I had heavier gear than when I’m hiking, with firewood and a lot more food. I might as well, since I wasn’t going to carry it.

I didn’t know how good I’d be at paddling by my self, but I had watched a lot of YouTube clips before I went out, and used the J-stroke to be able to paddle straight.

It was really nice to get out paddling, even thought the weather wasn’t great. Skies where covered in clouds, and eventually it started to rain slightly.

I paddled along the eastern shore of Helgö / Jägaregap, and passed the cape where Corinne and I had camped with the Outdoor life Växjö Facebook group.

Jägaregap nature reserve continues past the cape, on a long narrow island called Lilla Jägareås. I passed the island on the eastern side and reached the northern shore of Helgasjön on the cove Skräddareluckan. This was where I had camped in January, and I had planned to set up camp here now too.

I couldn’t find it at first, since I had walked on foot from the opposite direction last time, but eventually I got to the right place.

In January, when it was -10°C to -19°C, without leafs on the trees, the place was beautiful. In September, on a wet rainy afternoon, not so much. Everything was wet, and the dense vegetation would make it a condensation nightmare. Not the best if you’re using a single wall tent.

I got back in the canoe and paddled on. I kept paddling east along the northern shore of the lake, and eventually I came upon a small beach, with a fire ring and lots of flat grass covered ground to pitch my tent on.

But just before I got to shore I looked towards the island Ferön, east of the beach. It looked like there was a campsite there, with a nice open area to pitch a tent on. I’d rather sleep on an island than on a public beach, even though no one would be there, so I took aim for Ferön.

On Ferön I found a fire ring and a few logs to sit on. There was a nice place to set up my tent too. I had bought a Tentipi Olivin recently, and this was the first time I used it.

I set up the tent and started a fire. I had brought fire wood from home, so starting a fire was easy, despite everything being wet around me. But once the fire was going I collected some more firewood from the fallen trees in the forest.

I started to make dinner, and I had brought Bifteki that I fried in a pan. I fried a Somun bread too, and filled it with Ajvar, cream fraise and Bifteki. I’m glad no one was with me, because I didn’t look pretty when I devoured it, but it was really delicious.

I kept collecting firewood and sat by the fire for the rest of the evening. Eventually I went into my tent and laid under my quilt watching a downloaded episode of Narcos on Netflix.

When I laid there, relaxed and at peace, I felt a little tickle on my arm. I saw something (big!), brushed it off, and saw it laying on my CCF-mat. At first I couldn’t figure out what it was, but then I saw that it was a European Garden Spider. To me it looked huge and I killed it with a mad frenzy. As I’ve written before I have a bug phobia. I thought I had gotten past it but apparently not. I kept looking at it and I started to feel tickles all over my body. I used my head lamp to search through the entire tent to make sure nothing else was crawling around near my sleeping mat.

I’m not proud of it, but for a while there I thought about packing up and paddle back home. Or to stay up by the fire for the rest of the night. But then I pulled my self together. If I was to cave in now, I might never get rid of my phobia. And I thought of all the bushcrafters who sleep under a tarp in these woods, and of Ashely Hill, who even sleeps in the desert without a bivy or a bug net, and thought to my self that I really had nothing to worry about. And it worked. I slept soundly throughout the night.

The next morning I stayed in bed for a long time before I finally got up. When I got up I chopped up a piece of birch that I had brought from home and started the fire again. I made bacon and eggs, and ate the last Somun bread with it.

Once I had eaten I let the fire die down while I packed up my gear. I put out the rest of the fire with water from the lake, packed the canoe and headed back home again.

It was a great trip. I really liked canoe camping. You can pack heavier items without reducing comfort, and it’s really nice to be out on a lake and to be able to camp on an island that you’re alone on.

When it comes to gear I used the Aegismax Wind Hard Tiny quilt that I wrote about in my Ultralight and ultracheap post. I bought for my family, but I wanted to try it by my self, and it was warm an cozy enough for a September trip. I think they’re well worth the money. I also used the Tentipi Olivin for the first time. I really liked it. It’s heavier than my Ultamid, but it has a really nice venting system, I like the snow mats and I like the possibility to use a fire inside (with caution off course). I guess it doesn’t make sense to keep both the Ultamid and the Olivin, so I might end up selling one of them. My wife just rolls her eyes when she hears me talking about a new tent 😄.

When it comes to the canoe, I have mixed feelings. I like the fact that it is a canoe, and that it’s my canoe. But I think it’s too heavy since I’ll be using it by my self most of the times. And to be honest, I don’t really have enough room at home to store it well. But we’ll see what the future brings. I’ll buy either a Bergans Ally or an Esker Wood canoe.