Recent content by Glenn MacGrady

Yes, thanks so much for the report. One should indeed take the opportunity to share happy things with family so long as that opportunity is present. That twilight photo with the stars is gorgeous.

Well, that is a surprise trip report for me, Steve. I had no idea you were going to do Bowron. I'm jealous. Thanks for the nice photos and write-up. How many miles is it for you in Idaho to Bowron? I can't recall all your canoes, but how would you say the Solitude performed? And the Clipper...

The 2026 Pine Barrens Functional Freestyle Canoeing Workshop will be held on October 9-11 at the YMCA of the Pines in Medford Lakes, New Jersey. This is a chance to learn effective canoe paddling control techniques on both a lake and the famous Pine Barrens streams. Registration is now open...

In my later tripping years, as I knew I was declining in strength and willingness to portage, I transitioned to an Ursack with odor-proof Opsacks inside. I would just tie it to a tree away from from my tent. It can hold a weeks worth of commercial freeze dried meals, which is the only thing I...

Fourbtgait, I had a bit of difficulty understanding your difficulty until I looked at the specs and plan view of the Wenonah 14 Fisherman, with which I was not familiar. To emphatically emphasize stability, the canoe is very wide—37" at the midship gunwales and 39" max width just below the...

I have my control program set to accept images only up to 8000 kb. The program says this will: "Provide the maximum attachment file size in kilobytes (KB). Attachments over this size will be rejected. The configuration of this server limits this value to 32,768 KB." I chose 8000 kb six years ago...

As @Marc Ornstein, whose many talents include photo uploading, has pointed out, he and I paddled Boreas Ponds on July 23, 2026. Later over pizza in Little Italy Restaurant in Tupper Lake—after eating in Little Italy Restaurant in Saranac Lake the night before (go figure?)—he and I agreed it was...

"A river reaching the sea is the assumption built into the word river, and across the American West it is increasingly not true. The Colorado has not made the Gulf of California under natural conditions since 1998. The Gila, once one of the great tributaries of the Southwest, runs dry through...

"California has lost more large, historically significant lakes than any other US state. A “lost lake” is a natural lake whose normal open-water condition was eliminated by human water development, even if water occasionally returns. These losses can destroy wildlife habitat, reduce groundwater...

Nessmuk was sui generis—a 5'-3", 105 lb., tubercular man in his sixties, who was physically weak but a talented writer for Forest and Stream and master story teller. He commissioned five small and lightweight canoes from Henry Rushton between 1880 and 1885, most weighing in the 11-16 lb...

I've owned 19 canoes and three kayaks over the past 46 years, which I've bought new and used from all over the USA and Canada. I also am an "anti-mechanic" who owns the fewest tools in the world, and have trouble with any repair more difficult than screwing in a light bulb. In all that time...

I have no interests in promoting any designer's or manufacturer's canoes. I can, however, relate what I have experienced and witnessed over 45 years of observing, and occasionally participating in, sport canoeing and freestyle canoeing—which are the quiet water boat control disciplines where...

Al, your solo preference of paddling long tandem canoes from the stern seat is pretty unusual, and you are the expert in that style. I'm never sure that standard advice for centrally seated paddlers, or even bow-backward tandem seated paddlers, applies to you. Obviously, you are not turning the...

I've never paddled a Phoenix, so I can't compare it to anything. I have a 2001 Bell black-gold Bell Wildfire that I'm willing to sell to members here for $1200. I'd say it weighs 35 lbs. and is a very tough laminate: clear gel coat over carbon over a Kevlar interior with a Conk seat. I've day...

That depends. It can be done either way, depending on the geometry of the hull, the kneel/sit outfitting, and the skill of the paddler. As an adult, I first learned sophisticated, technical paddling as a whitewater paddler in whitewater outfitted canoes. In all such canoes in which I learned...