Camp near the confluence of Prairie Creek and the Nahanni River. Solar roll, weighted down with rocks, is charging batteries.
I've taken my cameras to many wild places, and I had even rafted the Grand Canyon with one in 1998. Back then I shot with film and my camera gear fit into a small ammo can. Gearing up for the Nahanni trip posed three new challenges for me - digital media storage, powering the camera and digital vault, and keeping everything dry and accessible.
Media storage
Using the D70, I estimated I'd shoot about 1 GB per day (in fact, I shot 12.6 GB in 12 days). I either needed to buy a ton of compact flash (at $100 per GB at the prevailing price in 2005) or find a different solution. I studied the portable media storage device and chose an Epson 2000. I bought it for this trip. and one reason I chose it was the battery life. In my tests, I managed 10 transfers from one GB chips on a single battery charge. One of my traveling mates used 2 GB chips and she only got about 5 transfers per charge. A caveat on battery life: I didn't use the P2000 much to review my pictures on the trip, but I did confirm that the first and last images on each chip copied safely before I erased it. On a mission-critical trip, I would now bring two units.
Recharging system
When I bought the Epson2000 in early 2005, the proprietary extra batteries were nearly impossible to buy at any price. I had enough batteries for the D70 to carry me through the trip if I was limited my use of vibration reduction features on my lenses. But I don't like thin margins on trips of a lifetime.
Luckily, our outfitter Neil had just begun to rent Brunton solar rolls. These gizmos have a regular 12 volt outlet like a car. I found a 12 volt charger for the D70 batteries, but not for the Epson 2000. The answer was at RadioShack, which sells a universal charger and adaptor pins that connect it to almost any kind of electronic device, like the P2000.
Once we set up the tent, camp job #2 was to unfurl the solar roll. In the long northern summer days, even if we got to camp late in the afternoon, my batteries would still charge up, although sometimes so slowly the indicator light on the charger wouldn't come on. In case it rained, I kept the P2000 in the tent and snaked the cord out to the solar roll. The guides had not hosted a client who had used one before and later we wondered if whether we couldn't even have deployed it on the raft if I'd needed it. I didn't. When we broke camp, I'd roll it up and stuff it in my dry bags with my sleeping bag. If I had the need again, I'd buy one.
The transport system:
I thought long and hard about how to get all my stuff to and through the Nahanni. Whatever I chose needed to meet four requirements:
- keep my gear dry and secure in the rapids,
- provide me access to gear during flatwater stretches,
- transport some gear on hikes,
- and keep my load below the weight limit for the charter flight
I considered four strategies to keep the gear dry:
- a hard sided Pelican box, in a variety of shapes and sizes,
- a LowePro DryZone backback, crafted with drysuit style zippers,
- a single large dry bag with backpack straps,
or - (my choice) several small dry bags carried in my regular hiking daypack.
Factor one: know my own likely failure points
The box or bag has to be closed to work. I worried about my own clumsiness in accessing gear while afloat. The bottom of a raft is going to be wet, maybe even an inch or two of water in it. Several dry bags minimized my risk of dousing everything. This isn't going to be an issue for photographers with tidier habits than mine. I'm sure no one else has ever forgotten to zip up a camera bag, right?
Factor two: it has to fit
A large hard sided box isn't going to be easily carried, and neither is the single dry bag, even with pack straps. Very few backpacks are designed for a woman's frame. Often the waistband isn't long enough to pad one's hip points or the center of gravity rides too high. My hiking pack fits me properly and I've carried it eleven miles in the Tetons, full of water and camera gear, without fatigue.
Factor three: weight
Nahanni River Expeditions requests their guests to hold the total baggage at 40 pounds. The Twin Otter payload is the primary reason for the limit, but guests end up appreciating the lighter loads too. At the end of the mile-long portage around the falls and the daily lugging of bags between raft and camp, some of the stuff we brought doesn't seem so essential. Luckily, I tend to pack lightly in the clothing department; even so I had to "borrow" some of my husband's weight allotment. Our group also worked in advance with the outfitters to let them know about extra gear like tripods and photobags. I wanted no surprises when we loaded the floatplane.
Factor four: know my own needs
I knew I wouldn't need a large waterproof box or bag again for at least a couple years. I need stuff that can fit into my kayak. If I could get by with something cheaper, I could spend more on batteries, memory cards, etc.
How it worked for me:
My hiking pack has a simple construction: one zipper that exposes the entire main compartment, and one outer flat pocket with a large side opening zipper. it also has four well-placed cinching straps that tighten the load into one secure mass.
First, I coated the exterior of my (clean) pack with ScotchGuard. The waterproofing helps shake off drops from light rain and river splashing. Then I lined the pack with a plastic bag designed for trash compactors. I used optics wrappers to pad a few lenses. Then I sorted my gear into four 5 and 10 liter drybags. I used ziplocks to organize the little items, and to double bag my Epson P2000. Next time I would use a Sharpie to label the contents of each drybag to speed the re-pcaking process when I had everything out in camp for cleaning. I layered the drybags into the garbage bag in the pack and tied it in a knot before zipping the pack. When I cinched up the stablizing straps, the drybags stayed in place.
On the boat, I used the pack's waist belt clips and a carabiner to secure it to the raft frame. I could easily take out the drybag containing the just the camera without exposing the other gear to water. In flatwater sections, I slipped the camera's drybag into the outer pouch or clipped it to something. I kept it close at hand to stow stuff in splashy spots. The guides were great about giving warning time for big rapids. Occasionally the pack took a dousing, and it rode out more than one rainstorm on the raft, but the system protected everything. In camp, I could dry out the empty pack and keep my stuff together in the garbage bag.
I kept my gear in the drybags for hikes, because they didn't add much weight and offered protection in case of rain. I didn't necessarily take every lens on a hike either - camp felt perfectly secure from theft and nothing would save my gear from a maurading bear anyway.
If I were going again and had room, I would use the same rig, and I'd toss in some silica packs. I might take a small Pelican box sized to my camera and a medium zoon lens so I could swim it across the "Chasm of Chills."
Extras that really help:
- Outdoor retailers offer quick drying towels in a variety of sizes. I cut a small one up into several sections. I kept a piece in my camera dryback to wipe off my camera body if it sprinkled. I have another scrap available in my tent to wipe up any rain that enters when I unzip the door. The towel won't stay clean long so I like to have lots of spares. It's one of the 10 things I like to keep in my bag.
- Sharpie pens now come in silver and gold - these are great for labeling black stuff.
- Widemouth nalgene bottles: I stow my knife, Leatherman tool, sharpie pens and headlamp in one of these bottles when I fly. The items are all together when I get to my destination, and less likely to "disappear" in baggage handling than if they were loose. Then I have use it as a drinking bottle on the trip.
Extra caution
Spiked tripod feet are dangerous on rafts. Not to mention the risk to the raft, I narrowly avoided a sharp poke from a friend's tripod when I got tossed around the boat by a rapid. Be able to remove or pad those spikes while on the water.
What works for you?
If you've gotten this far, you must be planning a big adventure. Remember, your mileage may vary. Leave a comment when you get back about what worked for you.
