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Website Update and Moving Forward
Several years ago, I started Paddlinglight.com as a hobby website and a place to hold my writing. Since then, it’s morphed beyond my original scope now with 12 authors, over 125 articles and pages, and over 27,000 monthly page views. My hobby website has turned into an information source for fellow adventurers, boat builders, and wilderness enthusiasts. I’ve been excited by the expansion, and for the last year I’ve known that at some point I would have to upgrade the website from basic html to a content management system. For the last three months, I’ve been working to change all the old static html pages to this new version of…
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Borden to Grand Rapids: A River Traveller’s Challenge
Robert Pruden returns to the pages of Nessmuking with the next installment of his journey to the sea.
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Skiing the Cascade River
In Northern Minnesota in winter, skiing down the frozen rivers is an exciting activity. A broken ski binding on the Cascade River turns a short ski into an adventure.
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Shoulder High: A Georgian Bay Trip
Bryan Hansel and Steve Hauptli find adventure in the 30,000 Island area of Georgian Bay. On a four day trip, they're pounded by gale force winds in an attempt to make it to the Bustard Rock Lighthouses. This is the tale of their 50 mile trip.
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IN THE WILDS OF PATAGONIA
Eager to protect the dramatic landscapes of western Patagonia, Cristian Donoso will lead a 5-month expedition by kayak to this region, one of the most inhospitable places on earth, in 2007. With its labyrinth of rocky islands, serpentine channels and icy fjords, western Patagonia, in southern Chile, is one of the least-explored areas on earth, with annual rainfall reaching up to eight metres and winds frequently rising to hurricane force. Nestled among glaciers that hug the slopes of steep Andean peaks and drenched by storms that blow out of the southern Pacific, the harsh region deters all but the hardiest explorers. That has not stopped Cristian Donoso, a young Chilean…
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Last Day in Paradise: a Boundary Waters trip report by Richard “Doc” Gams
When the Ham Lake Fire of 2007 closed all the entry points on the eastern side of the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness, Richard Doc Gams and his crew were forced to change their plans. Some quick last minute planning and their trip to the BWCA turned out heavenly.
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Canoecopia 2007
A trip report for the 2007 Canoecopia. This is the world's largest paddlesports expo. It occurs each year in Madison, WI. Here are the highlights of the show.
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Lake Superior Day Trip – Grand Marais to Fall River and Beyond
The short paddle from Grand Marais to the Fall River (4.5 mile round trip) makes for a great short outing and the paddle from the harbor to Terrace Point (10 mile round trip) adds some distance to your trip.
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Adventures in the Hills: The 2006 Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup
The Custer State Park Buffalo Round was the destination of Bryan Hansel and Steve Hauptli in the Fall of 2006. This trip report has nothing to do with paddling, but sometimes a trip that doesn't include paddling can be a good thing. This travel story includes beautiful photography.
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Up a Lazy River: A solo canoe trip in the Boundary Waters
This is an account of Shipp Webb's solo six-day trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, a trip that covered 13 lakes, 4 rivers and 28 portages totaling about 72 miles. Thirty-one hours quickly passed paddling and portaging. It was a trip with varied weather and an abundance of wildlife sightings including eagles, moose, deer, and most importantly a wolf.
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An Electric Paddle On Buffalo Creek
I’m not worried about it,” remarked Chris Sickert about the electric fence that crossed the creek in front of the canoe. “Okay,” I said back. I imagined in terror that Chris would grab the electric wire as we drifted under it, and the current from the live wire would travel down the water in the bilge of the canoe and shock me. I rearranged my feet outside of the water, and wondered if the rubber bottoms on my Teva’s would block the current. “Did I every tell you about the time my father took a pee on an electric fence?” “No,” said Chris. “I doubt that they would have the…
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Day Trip: Top Falls in the BWCA
The 8.5 mile day trip from Bearskin Lake to the Stairway portage is a classic day trip in the Boundary Waters. The reward at the portage is a beautiful waterfall and one of the best views in the Wilderness Area.
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Vern River Loop
Route Name: Brule Vern River LoopRoute: Brule, Juno, Vern, Vern River, Weird Lake, South Temperance Lake, and BruleDistance: 21 milesTotal Days: 2 Description of Boundary Waters Route Five hours of bush whacking, route forging, and pulling your canoe up and over miles of blow downs await the brave canoeist that tackles this fine route. The route starts out on the picturesque and big Brule Lake, but quickly ducks into Jock Mock Bay and then does a quick loop through the Vern River, which if paddled once a year, it would be considered a good year. The Vern River if cleaned out and some portages added would be a short but…
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Canoecopia 2006: Trip Report
As I write this, we’re getting pounded by snow blowing sideways in an almost complete whiteout, which is in contrast to the great weather we had over the weekend at this year’s Canoecopia. I have to think, yet another Canoecopia, the show that signals the start of spring for me. This year, I spent two days in Madison, Wisconsin at the show, and these are the following observations that I made. The Sales Floor The sales floor completely changed in arrangement this year. They created a large main isle down the center of the show and then had the booths branching off the center isle. All similar products where then…
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Along the Banks of the Saskatchewan: A Kayak Trip Down the Saskatchewan River
Robert N Pruden returns to the pages of Nessmuking with a tale of adventure. For this installment, he paddled his homemade kayak from from Edmonton to North Battleford on the North Saskatchewan River. Along the way, he discovered a connection with the wilderness as well as a corpse...
