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First Look: MyCanoe Review
The MyCanoe is a foldable, origami-style plastic canoe designed for easy storage and transport. This 14′ 6″ canoe folds up in a similar style to the more familiar Oru Kayak, and it packs down into two cases. The first case, created in part by parts of the canoe, measures approximately 37 inches wide by 25 inches high and 8 inches deep. The second case is soft sided. It measures about half the height of the other case. Both cases easily fit inside the trunk of a compact car such as a Toyota Corolla. The entire package weighs about 52 pounds and has a claimed capacity of 400 pounds. I had a chance…
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Review Jon Turk’s Crocodiles and Ice
Jon Turk’s latest book Crocodiles and Ice [Buy from Amazon] takes the reader through a half dozen of his adventures starting from when he was a child cutting across an immaculate lawn on a shortcut to his grade school to a hike in the mountains in his late 60s. In short, it’s an autobiographical story of his life – of sorts. In it he describes why he chose the life he chose. He describes his motivations and tells us about some of his trips – while maybe not the defining trips of his life, they seem to have helped shape his life or help shape the narrative that he wants to tell.…
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Xshot Dome Port Review
Like many paddlers, I bought a GoPro camera. I used it for a season to shoot lots of video, but didn’t do anything with the video — because most of it was pretty boring. Eventually, bored of shooting action video, the GoPro sat in the corner of my office gathering dust. That is until I got my hands on an XShot Dome Port to review. The XShot Dome Port is a 6-inch dome port designed to allow you to use your GoPro Hero 3 or Hero 4 to get “half-and-half” waterline shots. This gives you a picture that is half above the waterline and half below the waterline. It also…
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First Look: Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3
Almost two years ago, we added a person to our family. As he has grown up, we’ve had to figure out how he is going to fit in with our camping and paddling trips. This year with a toddler in tow, we found that our two person tents didn’t fit anymore (last year, we used my heavy old mountaineering tent which had plenty of extra length to fit a baby). We bought a Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3 and will review it as we continue to use it. This is the first look after using it on one canoeing trip into the BWCA. Our goal was to find a lightweight…
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First Look: Flip Reel – a fishing handline for kayaking and canoeing
Have you ever wanted to fish from your canoe or kayak, but didn’t want to deal with rods and reels? The Flip Reel by Squiddies offers a solution. It’s an easy-to-pack hand fishing line. The line, sinker and tackle all store inside the flip reel when not in use. The reel itself is compact and portable, and has a line cutter built in. It weighs 5.3 ounces without tackle. To use the Flip Reel, you flip open the bell to expose the reel, clip on the tackle (and bait the hook if needed), then you wet the reel completely. To cast, you spin the line around in a circle and let go…
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First Impressions: Vargo Titanium Ti-Lite 750 Mug
I’ve been testing the Vargo Titanium Ti-Lite 750 Mug since May. The Ti-Lite Mug is one of Vargo’s most popular mugs. Its 25 ounce (750 ml) capacity is large enough for most freeze-dried meals, and it’s big enough to cook single entree meals. It also works well as a mug to sip hot chocolate or a nightcap out of. If you carry a Nalgene bottle, it will fit inside the mug. As far as other features, it has graduated measurements in mililiters, foldaway handles, a strainer lid and a mesh storage bag. Vargo states its weight as 3.7 ounce with a diameter of 3.8 inches and height of 4.3 inches. It took…
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First Look: Paleo Meals To Go
Sick of the salty, typical freeze-dried fare in the cooking aisle of your local big box sporting goods retailer? Or are you sick of cooking when out paddling because you never have luck making a tasty meal without hauling a truck load of cooking gear? Or maybe you’re on a paleo diet and haven’t found a good way to continue that diet while on the trail. It was the later that spurred Ty Soukup and his mother Dawn Anderson to launch Paleo Meals To Go. They developed freeze-dried camping meals that aligned with the paleo diet. Paleo Meals To Go are freeze dried, gluten free, milk free, soy free, grain free,…
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Jon Turk’s New Book Crocodiles and Ice: A Journey into Deep Wild Available for Preorder
Adventurer and sea kayaker Jon Turk has a new book coming out in September. Amazon is now taking preorders. The book, called Crocodiles and Ice: A Journey in the Deep Wild, ties together several of Jon’s expeditions under the theme of a “journey into a Consciousness Revolution based on a deep, reciprocal communication with the Earth.” The book covers Jon’s circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island, which is the trip that won him National Geographics Adventurer of the Year, and several other trips as well. Here’s the description: Crocodiles and Ice is a scientist/adventurer’s journey into a Consciousness Revolution based on a deep, reciprocal communication with the Earth. The book highlights my…
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Fenix HL60R Rechargeable Headlamp Review
Recently, I received a Fenix HL60R Rechargeable Headlamp for review. For the last month, I’ve used it on night outings for photography and for night riding a fat bike. Due to the time of year, I haven’t had a chance to use it while paddling at night — something that I seldom do — but I have used it for camping. The HL60R is the highest end light in Fenix’s headlamps lineup and one of the brightest headlamps on the market. This is Fenix’s description for this headlamp: Featuring a micro-USB port for go-anywhere charging, the Fenix HL60R Headlamp delivers a maximum output of 950 lumens, beam distance of up to 381…
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Mythic Gear Drysuit Review: a Budget Drysuit
The water temperature on my home waters of Lake Superior seldom rises above 55°F. For most of the year, it’s much lower. It’s not unusual to have temps in the 30s even on the summer solstice. The warmest I’ve seen the big lake is in the 70s after unusually calm stretches of weather in August when the air temp reached into the lower-80s. It doesn’t stay that warm long. It can literally drop from the 70s to the 40s overnight. I’ve seen that happen several times when 5 to 6-foot waves mix the surface water with the colder water just a few feet lower. Because the lake is so cold,…
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Northstar Phoenix Mini-Review
I’ll admit it right up front: I’m a Ted Bell and David Yost fan. I used to own a Bell Magic and Bell Wildfire. Those canoes really paddled like Magic and were the best combo to own. The Magic was perfect for fast and light tripping in the BWCA and the Wildfire was a fun boat to take down rivers or just mess about in on flat water. I was bummed when I heard that Bell Canoe went out of business. And then Ted Bell got back in business under the name of Northstar Canoe. And then I ran into a perfect deal. The deal was a trade from my old…
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Under Armour UA Storm Tactical Patrol Pants Review: Best Canoe Pants?
Late this summer, I was in a store looking for a first aid kit (I left mine at home) and I stumbled across Under Armour’s UA Storm Tactical Patrol Pants. I wasn’t aware that Under Armour made pants or anything other than underwear, so I was surprised to find the pants. Over the years, Under Armour has formed strong relationships with the hook and bullet stores, and these pants are geared towards the hook and bullet crowd, such as hunters, sport shooters or people who fancy themselves some kind of tactical-militia person. They have all the features a pistol-carrying enthusiast would desire, such as an offset belt loop to allow for proper…
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Tubism Review: Lightweight containers for liquids
I’m always on the lookout for lightweight products that can carry liquids easily without leaking. The gold standard is Nalgene bottles, because they don’t leak. But, they weigh more than I’d like at 0.5 ounces, and they don’t work with food or products you need to squeeze. I was excited when I saw the Tubism resealing zip tubes. At 0.4 ounces for 1.7 fluid ounces, they looked like a good deal. They could carry small amounts of liquids on trips while keeping down the weight. The Tubism tubes are unique because they’re flat instead of round. One end has a zip closure and the other end a squeeze lid. They are…
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Red Paddle Company 11′ Sport SUP Review
For that last few months I’ve had the opportunity to test a Red Paddle Company 11′ Sport SUP and review it. I got it on loan and had planned on taking it to Florida in March and April, but as you’ll read below that didn’t happen. I managed to test it in the lakes of northern Minnesota after the lakes thaw. NOTE: For those of you who follow the site, you might be surprised that PaddlingLight started covering SUPs as this has been primarily a canoe and kayak website mixed with philosophy about and advocacy for wilderness and wild places. Ultralight trips are being accomplished on SUPs, and SUPs are…
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Watson’s Merino Wool Long Underwear Review
Starting in late winter and early spring, I’ve been testing Watson’s Merino 150 Wool Long Underwear. Watson’s, a company I wasn’t familiar with, is part of Chateau Lingerie, a company based out of Quebec, Canada. While I used the long underwear mainly for walking around and on photography outings instead of paddling trips, I feel like I’ve used it enough to provide an honest review. For canoeing, it will function basically the same as it does for wearing around. For kayaking for me, it’s all about whether or not it’s comfortable under a drysuit (see below). The two pieces I was provided with for review were the Merino 150 Long Sleeve Top and the…
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