Your longest unsupported trip was what where when?

Tell us about it thanks.

Two weeks…
Yukon River
Two weeks: Woodland Caribou Provincial Park
Two weeks
Snake River Yukon
Two weeks
Wabakimi Provincial Park
Two weeks Quetico Provincial Park

Two weeks seems to be my comfort limit… Most of the trips involve portaging though the river trips don’t.

Yukon River, 1000 mile race, 2009, and again in 2011, Whitehorse to the Dalton Highway Bridge. Just over 6 days in a voyageur canoe. Race rules prohibit any enroute resupply from preplaced stash, river villages, or assistance from a pit crew, all race required equipment and food must be carried on board from the beginning, and is checked prior to race start.

For the first ever race in 2009, the rules required 20kg (44 pounds each!) of food per person. It would be weighed before departure. Our voyageur the first year seated 7 paddlers, do the math. Officials thought fast racers would take about a week (as we did), slower racers might take 2 weeks, plus a third week for possible emergencies. Thoughts of 50 pounds of potatoes or watermelons to be later offloaded would result in race disqualification.

I home dehydrated all breakfast and dinner meals, plus many fruit and other mid-day snacks. When I asked if we could include the weight of water necessary to prepare the food I was told no, 20kg of food/person had to be loaded on board, cans of wet beans or high calorie efficiently dehydrated food counts the same. Six days later we crossed the finish line with 3/4 of the food weight remaining and no one on my team went hungry or lost weight. With 7 paddlers we could afford for one person to briefly stop paddling long enough while still cruising under power to boil water and serve everyone else meals while still underway, saving considerable time.

Thankfully, that ridiculous food weight requirement was dropped for the second and subsequent years of the race. It was changed to if it is available for one it has to be equally available for all, such as stopping at Dawson (as some did), with the resultant loss of time on the river. We briefly stopped at Carmacks for ice cream. Personal resupply from pit crew is still not allowed.

47-days, solo, Ft McMurry Alberta on the Athabasca/Slave/Mackenzie rivers to Arctic Ocean-Tuktoyaktuc, 1998, 2000-miles

Outdoor Educators Course
National Outdoor Leadership School
Lander, Wyoming
21 days, backpacking in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming
After 11 days we were resupplied with food; packed it in on burros.
One instructor, and one student had to be evacuated.
The instructor because of a real medical issue.
The student basically “freaked out” after 2 days.

I remember our packs being weighed before we left; mine weighed 78 pounds.
Everybody’s packs weighed more after food resupply; we were eating more after we adapted to the altitude, and our energy expenditure was higher.

Lots of snow, and temps below 0.
Shower, shave, real bed, real food, and a six pack of Coors upon return was like being in heaven.

BOB

PS: Just to “turn everybody’s crank”, one day I fell down on the trail & had a “screaming fit”,
Everybody, including the instructors were very caring, and concerned. Someone finally asked me the “right question”, Bob, what can we do to help you???

My retort: I need a damn 6 pack of beer, and I mean right now !!!
I thought I was going to get killed; they pummeled the hell out of me…

Traversing the Adirondacks, west side to northeast, west of Boonville to east of Plattsburgh, in 2005. Traveled 185 miles total, including 62 miles of carries (it was a hot dry July and the rivers were low). Carried everything I needed with me, but did stop for minor resupply at a couple of convenience/grocery stores along the way. 7 days, 3 hours.

A number of years backpacking into a Colorado wilderness to archery hunt elk. Very heavy packs to spend up to 15 days hunting. Would hike out after about 6 days to do laudery, shower, and eat a meal before hiking back in often after dark.
Six days backpacking on the AT in GA.
Most of my paddling trips are less than 5 days, but I would do many during the year. My time off was always unpaid leave so long trips were much harder to afford.

Not everyone has ever been a wilderness-tripping hero, least of all me. In fact, I’ve rarely been free to take more than three days of vacation in a row in spring/summer/fall (whine). Long before getting my current job, I did a 9-day backpacking trip in the Boundary Waters, which was 78 miles if I recall (the first and last days were very short). We tried to use canoe campsites along the way and would bushwack far off-trail to find them, but failing that one time, we had to set up our tent on top of a giant boulder that was covered in moss more than a foot thick, because for literally miles in all directions, the largest patch of ground not occupied by a fallen tree was about four feet square (a good reason to learn to sleep in a hammock).

I once rowed the entire “Lower 100” of the Wisconsin River. I did well over half the trip by myself on the first two days, then the remaining portion over three days with a bunch of p-netters.

Cool

Your longest unsupported …
Still in the middle of it.
Started late (in my mid 30’s), many days on, many days off the water.
Longest stretch (since keeping track) is 457 consecutive days. Currently 68 days, total over 100K miles.
Location: Well, here and there, but these days mostly within a 100 miles or so of NE FL.
Unless a powerboat, shark, oystercutinfection, braineatingamoeba gets me first, I have quite a long way to the finish of this trip.

@Guideboatguy said:
Not everyone has ever been a wilderness-tripping hero, least of all me. In fact, I’ve rarely been free to take more than three days of vacation in a row in spring/summer/fall (whine). Long before getting my current job, I did a 9-day backpacking trip in the Boundary Waters, which was 78 miles if I recall (the first and last days were very short). We tried to use canoe campsites along the way and would bushwack far off-trail to find them, but failing that one time, we had to set up our tent on top of a giant boulder that was covered in moss more than a foot thick, because for literally miles in all directions, the largest patch of ground not occupied by a fallen tree was about four feet square (a good reason to learn to sleep in a hammock).

I once rowed the entire “Lower 100” of the Wisconsin River. I did well over half the trip by myself on the first two days, then the remaining portion over three days with a bunch of p-netters.

That moss should have made a good bed .

Seven days down the French river in Ontario to Georgian bay with my son. No resupply needed, we had food left over because we supplemented meals with the fish we caught. Love to do it again some day.

I think 9 days is my current max, though that’s been a function of vacation time including getting there. I see little reason why I couldn’t do 2-3 weeks easily. More with a resupply of food.

  • Lake Superior NE coast
  • Killarney’s Lacloche Silhouette Trail
  • Various other Georgian Bay archipelago areas

Mostly my trips fall in a long weekend (2 - 3 nights plus travel bookends). There have been several in a week (9 days) with travel bookends. My longest have all been on the Missinaibi. The longest was from Hawk Lake to Mattice - 13 nights out 16 days including travel. The first time we did the Lower it was 16 days overall but only 8 nights out. Train schedules added some time.

seems like anymore if I take gear in a boat for an overnight its a big deal, mostly now rv or camper van as a base camp …had my moments though- did most of the AT in two long hikes, a solo hike across kentucky through Daniel Boone Natl. Forest on a summer high school break, two of a us ran (a canoe and c1) the middle fork of salmon without raft support, then there were the boyscout years- taking scout groups out on the waterways of Maine for 6 summers, and a couple of summers doing challenge trips for a Y. Just finished a 26 day trip all out of the camper van- 10 rivers in maine- having a cold beverage at the end of the day and a hot shower can feel pretty good. Resupply on all trips at grocery stores, longest stretch a couple of weeks. Food gets heavy!

USAF Land Survival School. A week in November in the mountains north of Spokane, Washington with a 1-2 feet of snow on the ground with temperatures mid-teens to about 40F. Several days of simple travel with instructors then our instructors became our hunters as we did several more days of escape and evasion trying to avoid capture. Our travel distance was not very far, maybe 3-5 miles. but you can’t move fast if there are some guys waiting to pounce on you and increase your misery index by a factor I didn’t care to experience. We ate what we trapped, snared, hit with a BFS (big freakin’ stick) or BFR (big freakin’ rock), or dug out of the ground. Our gear consisted of what you have if you had to make a quick exit out of the jet so not much. Beside being very educational and an excellent way to get frostbite, it turned out to be a great weight loss program.

@TreeA10
Best post ever!

@TreeA10 said:
USAF Land Survival School.

Yeah, I was there more than a generation ago, when we were taught a combination of WWII and Viet Nam techniques. I was paired with a “jock” from the city who knew nothing about E&E and navigation. He wanted to walk the road, sure to get caught. He ended up following me through the dense bush where we made every assigned navigation checkpoint, until we linked up with friendly partisans who hid us from would be captors and fed us well. Eventually everyone in the class was thrown into POW camp for that experience of a few days. The greatest event of all was the final morning when the camp commandant lined us up facing west, then ordered an about face to a rising US flag set against a bright sunrise with the National Anthem playing. Brought tears to our eyes.

@yknpdlr said:

@TreeA10 said:
USAF Land Survival School.

Yeah, I was there more than a generation ago, when we were taught a combination of WWII and Viet Nam techniques. I was paired with a “jock” from the city who knew nothing about E&E and navigation. He wanted to walk the road, sure to get caught. He ended up following me through the dense bush where we made every assigned navigation checkpoint, until we linked up with friendly partisans who hid us from would be captors and fed us well. Eventually everyone in the class was thrown into POW camp for that experience of a few days. The greatest event of all was the final morning when the camp commandant lined us up facing west, then ordered an about face to a rising US flag set against a bright sunrise with the National Anthem playing. Brought tears to our eyes.

Still does to mine.

Yaeyama Islands 3 weeks Nov 2009