Recent content by eckilson

When I started paddling (2005), the Great Canadian Canoe Company was located on Route 146 in Sutton, MA. It was probably located in Worcester, MA at some time before that. They were a distributor, not a manufacturer - importing canoes and kayaks from Canada and reselling them under the Great...

Thanks for posting this. I've been thinking about getting a reflector oven. I found this one Piragis and got it, along with a new pot grabber. :) I love bringing my Dutch Oven along when camping. It is great for stuff that requires long periods of even, sustained heat - anything thick and...

For years I had the Bell Canoeworks version of this pad. https://www.comfykayak.com/products/foam-canoe-kneeling-pad?com_cvv=8fb3d522dc163aeadb66e08cd7450cbbdddc64c6cf2e8891f6d48747c6d56d2c&srsltid=AfmBOopU348i3j2_jVAsDo8WTyFNwN7OorUc-S_PVhOwF_NWqzjrpV6LwL0 It was fine, but when it wore out...

A moose on the Allagash - took one look and kept on eating.

I never paddled as a kid. I was 29 when my father got me out in a canoe for the first time. We paddled the Pontock Rapids on the Androscogin River with the Boston AMC in his then brand new Mohawk Whitewater 16. I loved it, but had a 2-year old at home, and another on the way. It was 15-years...

Getting there, but I think it will be a couple more weeks before peat. With the drought, everything is kind of dull and brown this year.

By the way, loving my Millbrook Outrage. This was my second trip. It surfs great and I bail it out with a sponge. The only problem is dumping the boat is no longer an excuse to get out and stretch. :)

Scheduled releases on the Fife Brook section of the Deerfield River end in October. With three weeks of travel for work coming up, I knew I would have to go this weekend if I wanted to catch one. When I saw a trip on the MOC Facebook group, I decided to join. We had a group of 6 - 2 canoes, 2...

Keep the tent closed up as much as possible. They still get in, but it has never been that bad. I'm more of a spring/fall camper, so I am in a sleeping bag. Swat the ones you can, hide from the ones you can't.

I've witnessed a couple of heart-stopping run-ins with strainers. One was a kayaker who tried to go over a log, but flipped over backwards and ended up going under it upside down and backwards. The other was a swimmer who went into the strainer feet first, but somehow managed to twist himself...

That's the way I learned it as well - go in head first, pull yourself on top of the obstruction, and hold on for dear life. We practiced using a long section of plastic pipe held a different levels in and above the water. The higher it got, the more difficult to was to pull yourself up on top...

As I was changing my second flat tire of the trip, a lady in a big truck stopped and asked if we needed help or needed to get a message to someone. I told her we were fine, that our paddling partners in a truck would be back as soon as they noticed we weren't behind them. She looked at my tires...

I'm 65, and definitely not in the physical condition that I was even a few years ago. I realized that during my swim on the Dead - I was exhausted. Tough to deal with getting old, and I am not even that old yet.

I'm old school and still use a waterproof camera. The camera is smaller than the typical phone so it is easier to stow in the PFD pocket, and doesn't have that big screen to worry about if you drop it or bang it. It is on a lanyard. Of course, I can't post pictures from the river, but I don't do...

https://www.americanwhitewater.org/resources/repository/AccidentSummary_Jan-June_2025.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawM6EbBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFEM1U4NVI1ZmNTeDlPRXczAR4jBQ7WIli0XQHoLRkSs4TJYhCa8kClnE_f-Cek-pkB3LiqDhbNJe6p8naRTQ_aem_0khzxXAAzKVK1sk1jBMlOg 25 fatal accidents reported 14 involved...