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Back in 2023, I proposed a Triple Crown of Paddling that included the Inside Passage, the Mississippi River, and Lake Superior among other classic North American trips. Later, I was asked to write an article about it specific to sea kayaking for Paddling Magazine, and I was asked to select three routes to propose. I went with a salt water trip, a river trip, and a Great Lakes trip. I thought those choices represented the diversity of paddling routes in North America. That article appeared in issue 74 and is now online here. Today, I decided to make a map showing the routes. I present it to you now. I…

Agency reveals it’s still “reviewing” implementation months after law took effect, despite telling content creator filming was prohibited When Adam Van Tassell planned a solo canoe trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) this fall, he thought the new EXPLORE Act had finally cleared the way for small-scale creators like him to film without a permit. Van Tassell runs the YouTube channel Crazy Good Fishing, where he shares his videos with 1,300 subscribers. Instead, a Superior National Forest official told him his planned video would be illegal. “Really frustrating!” he said. Van Tassell had been wanting to film a trip for a while and was excited after hearing…

Learning how to stay warm in your sleeping bag can transform your paddling trips, especially those taken in the shoulder seasons. I’ve spent many nights waking up shivering at 3am with my teeth chattering so hard that I thought I’d crack a molar and many more in that half-sleep state knowing that I was too cold but already wearing every piece of clothing I brought. Over the years, I’ve learned a few tricks that changed everything. Now my nights are comfortable, and yours can be too. Understanding Sleeping Bag Ratings Sleeping bag ratings can be confusing, but the ISO 23537 rating system was designed to standardize ratings across all manufacturers. Many…

I’ve been looking for a new stake bag to replace my old one when I came across a spooky and fun bag from Hilltop packs. It’s the Vampire Killing Kit Tent Stake Bag. I’ve used Hilltop bags in the past and love their bear bag and rock throw kits, so I knew that I’d be getting good stuff. The tent stake bag comes in several prints, including the Vampire Killing Kit, Groundhog, Steak Stake, and Don’t Lose Me varieties. I laughed out loud at each one, but the Vampire one really struck me in the heart. It comes in two sizes: an 8-inch Stubby Stake Sack and a 10-inch XL…

Earlier this year, I had purchased a sleeping bag even though I wasn’t planning on getting a new bag. That purchase didn’t work out, and after a multi-month hassle I got a refunded. With the refund and a bit of extra cash, I picked up a Western Mountaineering FlyLite sleeping bag as a replacement. My idea about picking up this bag was that I could get a bag that was slightly lighter than my old quilt and just as warm but with less hassle. I also wanted a new sleeping bag for the summer and the shoulder sessions near summer. My main sleeping bag is too warm for the summer,…

Today, BioLite launched the Range models of headlamps. I was lucky enough to receive a BioLite Range 400 before the launch to review. It’s one of the more exciting headlamps that I’ve been looking forward to reviewing this year, because it offers a new feature that I haven’t seen on a headlamp before: a dimmable light. What Is It? The BioLite Range 400 headlamp is a lightweight headlamp with a dimmable white spot light and red light mode. It features USB-C rapid charging that provides one hour of full brightness runtime from just eight minutes of charging. When fully charged, the runtime is 200 hours on the low setting and…

This summer, my 10yo took a wilderness skills class offered by the Friends of the Boundary Waters and run locally in Grand Marais by Sarah Bransford, Friends’ Northern Education and Outreach Coordinator. At the beginning and end of the course, Bransford had the kids complete an exercise designed to help the students and the instructor identify how skilled students were in important outdoor wilderness skills. This exercise could be completed by anyone who enjoys spending time outdoors. The exercise used a pie chart representing different wilderness skills, including: At the start of the summer, kids ranked each skill using paper, twigs, or rocks: paper meant paper-thin knowledge, a twig meant…