Those are some good points Steve, solitude is easy to find in a canoe. There may not even be a better way to find it, although being a canoe nut, I may be biased.
Solitude isn't always about going solo. You can be in a group and seek solitude from other people. It's always nice to have a lake to yourself but it's not something that is important to me anymore. As long as the other people are quiet and respectful and I have a good site, they don't bother me...
As far as fishing rods go, I see a lot of people in the airport with two piece rods as a carry on. I've never done it and you should check with your carrier to see what their rules are.
I've never flown to Ak for a trip, but I have flown from there to Florida to do trips. I think it's pretty...
I agree, moving water doesn't have to have waves to be hazardous. I've been on flat stretches of the Susquehanna that I had been unable to pole up because of the strong current. Getting broadside and leaning the wrong way could be enough to flip ya. It could also make swimming and boat and gear...
I did a trip last summer and kept a rod rigged up and tied to the boat on portages and it worked fine. One of my goals for the trip was to check out the fishing, so it made sense.
I may be a little over sensitized to the fishing rod thing. On an early trip with a friend we broke three out of...
I like the idea of the telescoping rods because it seems that you can stay rigged up when it is compressed. It would be quick and easy to pull it from the top of a pack to take a few casts. With my pack rods packed away I don't fish while traveling if there are portages.
Getting back to the question of traditional Haida paddles not having grips, I was unable to find any examples of it in the limited search I did. In fact the grips on their paddles seem to be on the ornate side.
Generally speaking their paddle were pretty robust. I had read somewhere that they...
Thanks Benson, now I wonder if they changed the design at some point. The specs don't match my '42 18 footer. It's also surprising that the 19 weighs less than the 18 foot boat. I also think that more recently built twenty foot boat weigh much more than 92lbs. I think they are closer to 110 lbs...
I grew up on the Susquehanna too and think that is a fine goal. I did my first trip there in '76. I like big boats so I would probably take one of the 16 footers. I never paddled any of the boats, but checked out their specs. I"d be mainly concerned about wind and avoid the Penobscot at 14...
I was invited to join a paddle training session with a Hawaiian outrigger club many years ago. They had converted a rowing machine to a paddling machine. Everyone in attendance had to use it for a short time. It was used not only as a warm up, but also for instruction. The coach would critique...