does anyone take an 8" dutch oven canoe camping or would this be too heavy? I’ve always taken light aluminium pans but some suggedt the ovens are the best thing for camping.
Raymondo
carries a cast iron dutch oven on canoe camping trips. It is heavy, but the suppers he makes with the thing are great. On a route with short flat carries its not bad. Over Raquette Falls Carry he gets to carry the pack with the Dutch Oven. He says its no heavier than the bottles of wine the women insist on bringing. An aluminum dutch oven would cut the weight in half, but he is used to the old BSA oven and it goes in his pack.
Bill
GSI anodized aluminum
dutch ovens aren’t cheap, but IMO they’re the way to go. A twelve inch and ten inch nest together and will meet all camp cooking needs.
apart
from boiling water…the seasoning might give it an odd taste?
Gonzo, not sure if you’re responding
to me, but I’ll assume you are. Aluminum dutch ovens don’t require any seasoning, so that wouldn’t be a concern. I’ve used cast iron for years and still do occasionally, but I won a ten inch GSI at a cook-off a couple years ago and loved it so much I bought a twelve inch. Since then I’ve only used the black pots when the need for more cooking capacity requires it.
DO and canoeing
It is part of the required equipment. I used to take an old 10 in cast iron oven that I got from my great uncle. It is from the 1930s. On the John Day R in OR my buddy sunk his canoe after a rapid and he had the DO in it. I threw him a rescue rope from shore and dragged the oven and the lid across the bottom of the river about 50 feet.
Now I take an aluminum oven and use it mostly on a propane stove. An oven changes everthing when it comes to living outdoors.
I take a solar-powered microwave.
Dutch Oven?
Make it lightweight or pay the price on the portage between Lacs Myon and Nichcotea. Eskers in La V are steep.
do it!
The lunches, dinners and blueberry muffins(to go with one’s coffee) taste so good outdoors…
Small aluminum DOs
Check out these light weight aluminum DOs that are square. I’ve got the older versions where they had two sizes and I have two of the 6 1/2 x 9inch ones. They work great.
http://www.woodydutchoven.com/
great
Thats the whole point of canoe camping…its the same as car camping on the water!!! Take the dutch oven. You can get a lot of weight and big deal if you got to portage, which is fun too. Ive taken a dutch oven on a solo 2-month trip through Canada and gave it to some Inuits when I was done!!
I don’t
because I have to carry everything multiple times a day. My gear and the canoe.
Its called portaging. Most here on these boards don’t go where it is required.
My kit including the canoe comes in at 75 lbs for a two week trip. Excluding the boat and safety equipment required in Canada, its just another form of backpacking.
I concur
Cast iron on a backpacking trip? No way. I do have several cast iron skillets, griddles, grill pans, and 3 or 4 dutch ovens. On canoe trips, sometimes I’ll take a GSI aluminum one (that does take seasoning if not leached out by boiling liquids). However, if I’m solo, I go light light light.
I do
take a 10" cast iron sometimes when I have company, but I wouldn’t if I had to portage much.
DOs
Paddletothesea,
You are welcome at my fire anytime. It is an absolutley wonderful gesture to leave equipment with people that you meet on trips. That is especially true if they will get a lot of use out of it.