Recent content by Erica

We don’t have great whites, but we do have some nasty ones, bull sharks and hammerheads. I caught and released a black tip shark in the Ten Thousand Islands. A kayaker hooked one of the big sharks in Estero Bay and it pulled him along like a toy.

I paddled a sit on bottom plastic boat with a single blade paddle in France. I was surprised at how comfortable it was for a couple of hours.

A few years ago I was looking at pfds and found a couple of 50 N, but they weren’t really for paddling. More like big heavy things to float an unconscious person, as I recall.

Big Blue has worked well for me on trips longer than 3 weeks, charging cell phone, flashlight, hand warmers and probably more stuff that I can’t remember. It charges even on cloudy days. It charges even when you don’t have the perfect angle, which is frequently hard to set. I also bring a couple...

Chateau de Montfort, Dordogne River, France

La Sélune Rivière estuary, flowing into the bay of Mont Saint Michel. European Cliff Swallows dig holes in the banks for nests. I’m pretty sure the dark smudges are flying birds.

I paddled Little Tupper Lake to Rock Pond a couple decades ago. I liked the camp on the Rock Pond Island. I don’t remember having trouble finding a flat space for the tent, but I was solo so it could have been anywhere. It was beautiful. Thanks for bringing back some awesome memories.

Or I just wear wool socks. Or neoprene booties.

Of course. That goes without saying. Those words get you far. I’m talking about the fun of chatting with people in a friendly way, about the weather, about shoe sizes, about the specialty pastry of the area, about rivers, about canoeing. It’s about building bridges. I was in Switzerland for...

People who say « everyone » speaks English, never get out of major cities. This would be a much less enjoyable trip if I didn’t have functional French. It’s fun to be able to have genuine, if brief, conversations that move past buying a baguette.

Welcome. I have paddled the lower Buffalo. Beautiful river.

This ancient Roman aquaduct, built in the first century AD, actually carried water from a spring north of the bridge to Nîmes. It was built with drystone limestone and some of the bricks weigh up to 6 tons, and were put in place with cranes and pulleys. The smaller stones were placed using...

Le Pont du Gard, Gardon River, France

The required person would have to disappear in between portages, just like gamma said he wanted.

I’m looking for that too. ;)