Paddling With Groups: What Are We Doing?

By Nick Pritchard

While paddling solo gives you unrestricted freedom many of us enjoy sharing our outdoor experiences with others. The outdoors are a great time to get away from our busy lives with our friends or family but there are  some things to consider before going on a trip with other people. One thing that needs to be worked out is what the goal or purpose of the trip is. It is important that everyone has the same goals and mindset so that everyone has a successful trip.

If a few people in your group want to go on the trip to take photographs or go fishing and the rest of the group want to log as many miles as possible, it will be difficult to keep everyone happy. A simple difference like this can often create conflict within the group ruining everyones trip. Particularly if you are taking new folks on your trip you should sit down with them and determine what they are hoping to get out of the trip. If your goals do not match you may consider finding new group members. Otherwise, you could compromise that the group would take one rest day to be used for photography, or that fishing could be done once you got to camp but not during the day, etc. There are many different ways that a group can mesh to meet everyone's goals with a little compromise. If you are someone that likes to log miles  it may not be a good opportunity to take a few people who like photography, fishing, birdwatching, etc. They can show you some new skills while you are out there, which is never a bad idea.

If you decide that some of your group members do have different goals than you do, don't feel bad if you find new group members. It is better to be honest with everyone upfront before you are in the backcountry for several days and can't do anything about it. Nevertheless, don't be afraid to try something new, there is a lot that we can learn from others if we are open to it.

As always feel free to ask us any questions!