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The Store Behind the World’s Largest Paddlesports Expo to Close
On Sunday, September 21, Darren Bush, owner of Rutabaga Paddlesports in Madison, Wisconsin, announced the closure of his store effective at the end of 2025, but Canoecopia will continue.
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Lightweight Pen Hack for Journaling
I recently saw a lightweight gear manufacturer offer an ultralight titanium pen with two refills for $20. It’s actually kind of cool, but I have a lightweight pen hack that weighs about the same and costs about $1. If you’re into fancy pens, you’d probably like the one that I saw, but if you like functional things that cost very little, then my hack is for you. I’ve been using this hack for decades. The hack is simple. You get yourself a G2 Pen Refill pack and use one of the refills. Then where you normally hold a pen, you add a tab of tape. I used gaffers tape for…
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BioLite Range 400 Headlamp Review
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…
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Adventures in Learning: Measuring Your Outdoor Skills
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…
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How to Fix Empty Down Sleeping Bag Baffles and Prevent Down Migration
Nothing ruins a camping trip faster than discovering your down sleeping bag has lost all its insulation. This can happen after going through the wash. You wonder if something you did during the wash cycle or while hand washing that tore open a baffle wall, causing the down to migrate throughout the bag. The good news? Whether it needs warranty repair or a DIY fix, you have options. Plus, it might not have been something you did at all. It might be the way the bag is constructed. Before you dive into a potential fix, you need to know a bit about down sleeping bag construction. Down Sleeping Bag Construction…
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Wild Lands at the Edge of the Boundary Waters At Risk
On June 23, 2025, the USDA announced plans to dismantle the 2001 Roadless Rule, stripping protections from 58.5 million acres of National Forest roadless areas and opening them to road building and logging. For nearly a quarter of a century, the Roadless Rule has protected these ecologically diverse areas from development and extraction, and over 75% of American support the Roadless Rule, but the current administration wants to rescind it to open up these areas to the lumber barons. Because I live on Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota and use the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and surrounding lakes often, I wanted to see what potential impact this could…
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ZPacks Pivot Solo First Look
I recently got a Zpacks Pivot Solo to review, and I’m excited. The Zpacks Pivot Solo is an ultralight, single-wall, solo tent that with poles, eight stakes, and stuff sacks weighs 1 pound 5.5 ounces (611 grams). It’s surprisingly roomy for this style of tent, and that may mean many nights of great sleeping without carrying an additional pound of weight that carrying a freestanding or semi-freestanding tent would bring. Get it here. What is the ZPacks Pivot Solo tent? This single-wall, solo, ultralight shelter packs packs a surprising number of features for the weight. Using a 52-inch main pole and a 32-inch secondary pole, it creates a near vertical…
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Cumulus X-LITE 200 Sleeping Bag First Look Updated
Herein lies the saga of obtaining a Cumulus X-LITE 200 Sleeping Bag. It is a long and tangled tail of international commerce, and the saga will enthrall you with wonder. Back in days of yore, when scribed my 2025 paddling gear update, I penned that I wasn’t going to buy any new gear this year, but I was on the lookout for a 30°F sleeping bag without a hood. I kept my eyes open for a bag that would meet my criteria, and decided that at 30°F, I’d likely just bring my Sea to Summit 15°F Spark. That meant I was looking for a bag for the summer. I used…
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KÜHL Silencr Kargo Shorts Review
I think I may have found my new favorite shorts for canoeing, and they are the KÜHL Silencr Kargo Shorts. Earlier this year, KÜHL sent over a pair for review, and I’ve been using them often since then. If you are looking for the gist of this review, it’s I like them and recommend them. I’m going to dive in below for more details. The Silencr Kargo Shorts are cargo short from KÜHL’s men’s shorts category. They offer a slim fit with low-profile pockets that appear hidden but extend across the entire front of the pants. Each are big enough to hold two smartphones plus extra gear. For an idea…
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Twin Lakes Canoe Route in Northern Minnesota
The Twin Lakes Canoe Route in northern Minnesota offers a short canoe route outside of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness that provides a wilderness-like experience. No permit is required. The route features four portages, five campsites, and no permit is required.
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Wild Rye’s New Water Collection Review
Earlier this year, Wild Rye sent over a few pieces from their new "When Wet" Collection for review. The pieces included the Parker Action Dress, Sawyer Sunshirt, and a Camp Towel. While I'm writing this review, it was my wife that tested out the gear. The impressions section will be her thoughts.
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Rocky Talkie Supports Search and Rescue
I don’t typically write about press releases that I receive, but I feel like this one is important. I recently wrote about what journalists get wrong when reporting on paddling fatalities, but I seldom write about the people who risk their lives to rescue paddlers that get into trouble. Recently Joe Friedrichs, a friend of mine, wrote about paddling accidents, emergencies, and tragedies in the Boundary Waters in his book Last Entry Point: Stories of Danger and Death in the Boundary Waters. In that book, he interviewed some search and rescue people, so it was a fun read to see things from their perspective. I’ve also known people involved in…
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The Dagger Meridian: One of America’s Best Sea Kayaks
In 1996, Dagger introduced their first composite sea kayak using techniques they had developed to build whitewater slalom kayaks. It was one of the first British-style kayaks made commercially in the US for the US market and that placed it squarely in competition with the NDK Romany, which would have been one of the most popular British-made boats sold in North America at the time. It had a big target, and I think it succeeded. The Dagger Meridian is still one of the best designed British-style kayaks of all time, and this is its story as I know it. The research for this article was done for an article that…
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Crescent Lake Canoe Route in Northern Minnesota
One of my favorite day trips outside of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota is the Crescent Lake Canoe Route. The Crescent Lake Canoe Route is referenced on the US Forest Service’s website, but there are no maps currently offered. I’m adding maps in this post. I remember when you could pick up a paper map of the route at the Gunflint office in Grand Marais, but that isn’t available anymore. USFS Map of the Route About 10 years ago, I tried to get a copy of the old map and route guide from the USFS, but they couldn’t find it. Instead they sent me an old…
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What Paddling Gear Am I Using In 2025?
With the paddling season just around the corner, I’m starting to look at what paddling gear I’ll be using for canoe trips this year. I have a couple of goals: As always, I like to travel with as light and as little of gear as I feel makes sense. I do carry camera gear, which won’t be included in my totals. While everything is dialed in, I may be testing a few new pieces of gear to review here. So far, I’ve accepted one piece that was offered (and testing is done), and I’ve requested an item that is brand new this year and looks great. They don’t have a…
