Procedural Texts

English Transcript of Procedural Text

When I think about doing a trip in the Boundary Waters, and uh, consider doing a trip with individuals who have not paddled before, some of the things that I consider…You really want to break it down into steps, and I think it’s most important to first consider looking at the abilities of the people who are on the trip. If people have paddled canoes or kayaks before, and if they have outdoor living skills, or if they are really fresh and green to the whole experience.

But being that the Boundary Waters is a wilderness area, and it’s managed by the Federal forest service, there are checkpoints in place where, that all organized trips have to follow. So what you want to first consider is how long you intend to stay out, there are designated points of travel where you have an entry point that you have to get a permit for, and you have to outline your trip for the individuals at the Forest service making sure that they know where you are going and when you are coming out.

And one of the things I have found that is real helpful for that is to look at a guide book; there are many guide books to, to traveling in the boundary waters. They actually have trips broken down into difficulties, from rugged to intermediate to pleasure trips. And in those, they just give brief descriptions of how many, how long the portages are, and, uh, the numbers of campsites in different lakes, the types of fish you might find, the wildlife you might find in the different areas. So, I am a firm believer in sitting down and doing a little pre-trip planning, making sure that everybody’s expectations of what we are going to be doing, and where we are going to be traveling are meshing. Everybody’s comfortable with the extent of what our trip is going to entail.

And looking at that, some of the things you have to do, there are certain entry points in the Boundary Waters that are a lot more popular, and it’s all kind of guided by a quota system. On any given day, “x” number of entries are allowed in certain points. So, if you’re planning to go into a more, let’s say, an easier, an entry point that might not have as many portages, that might not be as difficult and might have more paddling and less portaging, uh, those entry points are a lot more popular. So, they fill up a lot quicker. And you’re going to want to make sure that you get right on the stick, even as early as April, February, March, April, early in the spring to do your planning for this. Because it’s a very popular thing to do and a popular place to visit.

Um, when you’re looking at these things, you also want to consider the type of equipment that is going to be necessary. It’s not necessary for everybody to bring their own pots and pans and stoves. You want to break down who’s got an operable stove, who’s got the right kind of cookware, who’s going to be doing the food, the menu preparation. And just really, really dial it in, so that everybody is feeling like they have things that they can contribute to the trip planning.

So, once you’ve got your entry point picked out; you’re comfortable with the amount of time you’re going to be spending; you start to work on your menu, you get your….If people have not paddled before, you might want to do a little pre-trip paddling together, maybe even go over some procedural things like, uh, if a canoe was to tip over, how you’d get back into the canoe. Uh, and another thing that a lot of people don’t realize, and they tell you this when you watch your information video getting your permit, that there are black bears. Your food needs to be hung up, and they’ll even go over a system by which you use a pulley system of hoisting the food up into the air each evening.

Um, so those are some things to consider when doing a trip, but the biggest thing about it is that you want to keep safety in mind, and it needs to be fun for everybody. Um, a trip like this can be fun, should be fun, with the right preparation going into it. And all that takes, uh, a little bit of time and forethought.

 Procedural – ASL outline