Recent content by eckilson

For short trips (overnight to a couple of days) I have the Polar Bear 24 Pack Original Nylon Soft Side Cooler. Probably not as well insulated as the new Yetti inspired coolers, but the shape is perfect to fit behind the seat of my Wildfire (and Yellowstone Solo) - you can see the green cooler...

There are two things going on when you are paddling in the wind. There is the effect of the wind on the boat, and the tendency of the wind to push the unweighted end down wind. Since most of us trim a canoe stern heavy anyway, this is probably less of an issue with a tail wind. A lot of...

Too funny.

There has been a hole in my fleet for a while now. I have a Kevlar Spirit II with bucket seats that is a great lake cruiser and will carry a lot of gear. I also have a Mohawk Whitewater 16 that is great for poling and moving water, but really isn’t big enough for tripping (at least the way I...

It has become a summer tradition for my local club - our annual overnight camping trip on the Pawcatuck River. We load up big canoes with lots of wood and way too much food and gear, and head out to a riverside campsite in the Burlingame Management Area for the night. This year we had 11 campers...

Zoar Gap has gotten easier. If you run the drop center right at the top the current takes left right to the next drop. Working together to run rapids is fun, and it is nice to have paddles at both ends of the boat.

And practice is a lot of fun. I'm lucky to have the Deerfield within reasonable driving distance - beautiful river, lots of rapids, and it runs all summer.

I love tandem paddling. We had a great time catching eddies, surfing and ferrying - probably not stuff you would do in a loaded boat unless you had to.

I have done many runs on the Fife Brook Section of the Deerfield River in my WW solo (22 to be exact), but I had never done a tandem run until this weekend. Some friends are doing a Canadian trip this summer on the Mountain River and wanted to get some whitewater practice. Unfortunately, I...

Until my trip on the West Branch of the Penobscot this was a theoretical question. This is not a place where you would expect to have a swim since it is almost all flatwater, but we did. There is a short section of quickwater toward the end of Big Island. We went up on a rock, and over we went...

I lost service yesterday (not in the wildernes, in a dead spot in RI), and a message about switching to satellite came up on my phone. Wasn't sure what it was, so i just closed it. Next time it happens I'll pay more attention.

Tried to stay there a couple of times, but it was occupied when we got there. Grey Brook is OK, Jalbert is vey nice.

Second part of my flat tire story... I'm on the side of the road emptying the back so I can get to the spare when a truck (F250 with huge tires) pulls up. The window comes down and a lady sticks her head out and says "Everything OK, need to make a call?". I said "No, I'm fine. I'm digging out...

I bought a used rim for my Subaru Forester so I would have a full sized spare just in case. Last fall on a trip to the Allagash, I got a flat tire on the way in. No problem, put on my full size spare. On the way out, I got another flat tire. I drove 40-miles on the donut spare, and somehow made...

I'd love to do it in the summer. Definitely spend some time at Lobster Lake - the beaches there are great. Our original plan was to spend a day on Lobster Lake and hike up Lobster Mountain. With the wind, we decided to head downstream and do a lay-over day at Pine Stream instead. That was nice...