Boundary Waters Canoe Camping, 2nd Edition

Rating:
Summary: Boundary Waters Canoe Camping...With Style
Review: An excellent book for anyone who is interested in canoeing, camping or the B.W.C.A. Timely information for the first timer in the BWCA or for those that have made many trips. Well written and illustrated. A must for the Boundary Water traveler!

Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Guide for the Boundary Waters
Review: An excellent book that touches on all aspects of canoe camping in the boundary waters. The author interjects humor throughout as he provides the reader with excellent advice. The book is filled with wonderful illustrations that show you exactly how or what to do, which text alone could not provide. The book also has great appendixes that provide checklists, equipment suppliers, a map index, and even a copy of a permit! Overall, I feel if you buy only one book for the Boundary Waters, this should be it.

Rating:
Summary: Bears CAN climb trees, buy this book to save your food pack.
Review: As someone who has spent many years camping, Cliff Jacobson is absolutely correct that hanging your food doesn't work because (surprise!) bears can and do climb trees to get at food packs. Better to encase it in a sturdy airtight plastic bin and hide the food away from the camp. What bears can't smell, bears won't go after. This an other good practical and effective advise on canoing and camping "up north" can be found in this book. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book Filled With Excellent Tips on Canoe Camping!
Review: Before setting out on our first trip to the BWCA five years ago, I bought Cliff's book. I read it cover to cover and found it packed with practical information that helped make my first trip (and all my subsequent trips) completely enjoyable. I've re-read the book every year since. I've followed Cliff's tips, and he's never let me down. Yes, put the groundcloth inside your tent, and you'll never have a wet sleeping bag. Use a tumpline when portaging .... it relieves a the stress of carrying a heavy pack. Don't hang your food in a tree, unless you want a bear to to find it! Follow Cliff's tips. I've heard him speak on the subject of canoe camping several times...and he brings many years of valuable experience. I highly recommend reading this book before taking your next canoe/camping trip!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book Filled With Excellent Tips on Canoe Camping!
Review: Before setting out on our first trip to the BWCA five years ago, I bought Cliff's book. I read it cover to cover and found it packed with practical information that helped make my first trip (and all my subsequent trips) completely enjoyable. I've re-read the book every year since. I've followed Cliff's tips, and he's never let me down. Yes, put the groundcloth inside your tent, and you'll never have a wet sleeping bag. Use a tumpline when portaging .... it relieves a the stress of carrying a heavy pack. Don't hang your food in a tree, unless you want a bear to to find it! Follow Cliff's tips. I've heard him speak on the subject of canoe camping several times...and he brings many years of valuable experience. I highly recommend reading this book before taking your next canoe/camping trip!

Rating:
Summary: Bad, old ideas die hard!
Review: Everything you need to know about enjoying the BWCA "with style" is in this book. Cook with cozies, make pita-pizza and garlic-cheese tortilla melts. Storm-proof your camp, locate isolated routes federal authorities try to hide--and learn non-traditional ways to discourage bugs and bears (DON'T put your food pack in a tree!) Scores of slick tricks that will keep you warm, dry and the envy of your Boundary Waters friends. Read this book and you'll discover that"bad old ideas die hard!"

Rating:
Summary: Tons of tips to "smooth" your wilderness experience!
Review: Everything you need to know to experience the BWCA "with style" is in this new 2000 edition. Cook with cozies, prepare steamed pita-pizza and garlic-cheese tortilla melts; navigate with compass and GPS; storm-proof your camp; make a one match fire in a driving rain; protect your gear from a capsize; locate isolated routes federal authorities try to hide; learn non-traditional ways to discourage bugs and bears (DON'T put your food pack in a tree!). Twelve BWCA experts share advice in an all new chapter! Use the internationally recognized "Wilderness Meal" activity to teach wilderness etiquette. There's updated permit and travel information, equipment source lists (including web sites!) and slick new tricks that will keep you warm, dry and the envy of your Boundary Waters friends. You'll find tons of tips to "smooth" your wilderness experience.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money on this book.
Review: I wanted to give this book zero stars, but the reviewing system would only let me go down to one star. Mr. Jacobson sounds like a salesman for outdoor equipment companies throughout the whole book. I have been camping for over 30 years and he didn't tell me anything helpful that I didn't learn to do, or not do, after my first camping trip. Many of his ideas and suggestions are well into the ridiculous range. Anybody that followed what he says in his book word for word would spend a lot of money on unnecessary expensive equipment camping equipment and most probably have the worst time of their life camping. He thus would turn a happy camper into a person that would never camp again.

Rating:
Summary: Boundary Waters Canoe Camping...With Style
Review: Reading the other reviews submitted about this book, one would think that it is either the best or the worst book ever written about the special requirements of canoe camping in the boundary waters. Well, it is neither. I take a 14-plus day trip to the Quetico every other summer, and have travelled many of the most challenging and remote routes of the park. The value of this book is that it offers one set of ideas as to the best way to go about one's business in the wilderness. These ideas are not definitive, and I flatly ignore many of them. That said, I have also adopted some of the ideas found in the book, or at least reconsidered my tried and true methods based on some of the author's recommendations. If you're looking for a book to stimulate you to think about different ways of doing things in the woods-- this is a good choice. If you're a beginner, this isn't a bad place to start, but it would be a bad place to stop. There are as many different ways to go about travelling in canoe country as there are lakes in the Quetico. Almost all have something to offer. None are perfect. This book is worth reading as part of the exploration and learning process.

Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Perspective
Review: Reading the other reviews submitted about this book, one would think that it is either the best or the worst book ever written about the special requirements of canoe camping in the boundary waters. Well, it is neither. I take a 14-plus day trip to the Quetico every other summer, and have travelled many of the most challenging and remote routes of the park. The value of this book is that it offers one set of ideas as to the best way to go about one's business in the wilderness. These ideas are not definitive, and I flatly ignore many of them. That said, I have also adopted some of the ideas found in the book, or at least reconsidered my tried and true methods based on some of the author's recommendations. If you're looking for a book to stimulate you to think about different ways of doing things in the woods-- this is a good choice. If you're a beginner, this isn't a bad place to start, but it would be a bad place to stop. There are as many different ways to go about travelling in canoe country as there are lakes in the Quetico. Almost all have something to offer. None are perfect. This book is worth reading as part of the exploration and learning process.