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And you have to believe in wilderness.
While we usually don’t post just quotes here, this one has to be one of the best. Kirk was the founder of the Canadian Canoe Museum, located in Peterborough, Ontario. I had the pleasure of listening to a presentation of his once and meeting him afterward. This quote really sums up for me what life is about. You have to do what you can, do your best with what you are. And you have to believe in wilderness. If you do that you can’t go wrong. -Kirk Wipper
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Kayak Changing Rooms — Now!
One of the hassles of kayaking involves changing into paddling clothing at the boat ramp. If you’re like me, you try to do a quick surf change on the beach using something like Orange Mud’s Transition and Seat Wrap (See: Orange Mud Transition Towel and Seat Wrap Review). You may have picked up something like a Sqivvy, a popup changing room. Neither offer a perfect solution. The Orange Mud towel doesn’t allow you to dry off easily, so when you pull you pants and underwear on, it feels wet and sticky. The Sqivvy tends to blow down in the wind even when fully staked and guyed out. The ideal solution is to…
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Greenland Paddles Can’t Get No Respect
In the Fall 2015 issue of Adventure Kayak, James Roberts writes an article called Stickin’ It To ‘Em: Greenland paddles are superior in every way to their wide-bladed brethren. In the article he states, “It’s time Greenland paddles got some respect.” He then goes on to point out the myths and benefits that he finds when using a Greenland-style paddle (GP). I’ll list these below. While reading the article, it felt like being transported back to the late-90s or early 2000s when the online paddling world at paddling.net argued about which was better. I thought this issue was settled back then with the conclusion that you paddle what you like.…
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A Year in the Wilderness: a BWCA Adventure
Imagine living in wilderness for an entire year. Imagine living with only a canoe for transportation in the summer and only dogs to haul gear in the winter. Imagine living in a tent in northern Minnesota when the winter temps drop to -40. Imagine watching the northern lights over lakes so clean that you can dip your cup into them and drink the water. Imagine being away from it all for a full year. That’s what Amy and Dave Freeman, 2014 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year, are going to do next. They’re going to live inside the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA), a million acre wilderness and America’s…
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Why I Got Out of the Sea Kayak Guiding Business
According to a study published in APS journal Psychological Science, after receiving an unappealing prize for hard work, a six-year-old kid will hold on to it. Whereas a four-year-old kid who works hard for an unappealing reward will detach themselves from that reward by giving it away. The six-year-old, says the study, “tend to employ a cognitive strategy to accommodate the knowledge that they worked hard to earn an unattractive reward.” They revalue the reward based on how difficult it was to earn it. The four-year-old doesn’t perform that mental jump and sees the prize as it is: not worth it. In this way, six-year-old kids function more like adults,…
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How We Lose Access to Wild Places
Recently, Scott Jurek, a long distance runner, completed a record-breaking run from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail (AT). He finished the trail in 46 days, 8 hours, and 7 minutes. That’s quite an accomplishment and I’m sure from a runner’s perspective and the perspective of a FKT (Fastest Known Time) enthusiast it’s an amazing way to travel the AT. It took me almost six months to do the same. I met a trail runner on my 1996 thru-hike, and ended up spending a night with him in a trail shelter when he missed the canoe shuttle across the Kennebeck River. If I remember correctly, he thought that would cost…
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What I’d Bring on a Summer Canoe Trip
Over the years, I’ve written a lot about what I bring on canoeing and kayaking trips, and now that I’ve sold my kayak guiding business (blog post coming on why soon) I’m really looking forward to canoeing more often. In fact, I’ve been in a canoe more often than I’ve been in a kayak this year. I haven’t been able to say that since 2006. Not only have I been canoeing more often than in past years, I’m starting to think about a few new and interesting trips that I could take in the next five years by canoe. I’m really excited about canoeing, so when Lisa, Community Manager at Salt…
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What weighs 13.8 ounces and is made from wood?
Right now I’m testing out a prototype wood canoe paddle that weighs 13.8 ounces on my scale. It feels feather light in the hand. It’s stiff but has just enough flex to feel good. Plus it looks really sexy. More to come as I test this paddle throughout the summer. Here are a few pictures:
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First SUP Crossing to and Circumnavigation of Isle Royale
I ran into an interesting post on a friend’s Facebook page the other day. He posted this cut from the Cook County News Herald’s Cook County Law Enforcement briefs. It’s from a call placed at 6:57am on May 5th. It said: Grand Portage: Caller said her husband paddleboarded out to Isle Royale and is now disorientated and can’t make it back. Now that’s interesting. My knee-jerk reaction was that some idiot on a SUP did something stupid, and at least it wasn’t a “kayaker” this time. Before I made a wise-ass crack on my friend’s wall, I decided to drop Rhonda Silence, the paper’s editor, an email to see if she…
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Used Wilderness System Tsunami 175 and 165 Sea Kayaks For Sale -SOLD
SOLD – All boats are sold. I have Tsunami 175s and Tsunami 165s for sale. These are used but in great shape. These are a great sea kayak and perfect for Lake Superior, the Great Lakes, oceans or inland lakes. They’re stable, handle rough water and work well for beginners and advancing intermediate paddlers. You could circumnavigate Isle Royale in this kayak or take off on a 20-day trip if you wanted. They’re also perfect for day trips and have excellent handling. All have rudders and upgraded seats for additional comfort. The seat is a $60 upgrade from the stock boat that you’d buy at a retailer. New they run $1685 plus…
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Skin-on-frame Têtes de Boule Hunter’s Canoe Built
Several years ago Alan Sinclair downloaded the free canoe drawings for the Têtes de Boule Hunter’s Canoe, a 9-foot, 8-inch pack canoe. A year or so later he sent in a contribution of $50 to help cover the costs of the time spent producing the drawings. Then he began construction with no clue how to do anything. He made it as skin-on-frame, regretting the departure from tradition, because he thought that would be simplest and would make a very light boat. It’s taken a very long time but he finally got it finished. Alan sent several pictures and a thank you upon completion of the canoe: Thank you so very much for letting me get the plans…
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Website Note: PaddlingLight Got a Facelift
Just a note in case you haven’t clicked through to PaddlingLight recently: we got a facelift! After years and years of the old design, we updated the look and features. This was one of those things that was on the back burner, but with Google’s recent changes to search we were forced to do it or risk losing our page ranks on mobile. Many of our readers are reading on tablets or smartphones, so it also made sense to make the change. The two goals with the redesign were: Make the website responsive for all screen sizes. You can see this in action by resizing your browser or surfing to…
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Wilderness and Public Lands: You Own Them
In the U.S., we have an extensive system of public lands. If we were to average out how many acres each individual U.S. citizen owns, it would be 1.99 acres of federal lands. Many agencies control the public lands, but the primary big four stewards of our lands are the: U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service. The Department of Defense is the fifth largest steward of land. Over the 20 years leading to 2010, federal land ownership declined by 18 million acres, nearly 2.8%.(1 p.15) That means that if you are a U.S. citizen, your government sold off more of your land than…
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More Tower Problems for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
The sky was so crystal clear last night. I stepped out of my house to go get something out of my car and noticed that the treeline in my yard would make a great night photo. I shut off all the lights in the house and made this shot. I live in northern Minnesota near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Boundary Waters (BWCA or BWCAW) is a designated wilderness area with no development except for portage trails tying together 1,200 miles of canoe routes and some 2000 designated campsites. At over 1 million acres and 150 miles along the Minnesotan and Canadian border, it is the largest wilderness…
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Slightly Off Topic: GOP Wants to Make Hikers and Bikers Pay to Hike and Bike
Recently in Minnesota members of the state’s GOP proposed that hikers and bikers pay user fees to use state trails (not to mention they already pay for a park pass). I wouldn’t be surprised to see paddlers targeted as well for using state water trails. The reason the GOP cited was because snowmobilers pay user fees, everyone else should for fairness. I wanted to see how much snowmobilers pay and where the funding for the state’s 22,000+ miles of snowmobile trails actually comes from. The biggest source of funding is the gas tax paid by all drivers. I put together this info chart from the data I was able to…
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