Recent content by Mason

Grace is in the eye of the beholder. Having paddled sit-and-switch almost exclusively for almost 45 years, primarily in skinny solo canoes, it is effortless for me, and is like riding a road bike on good asphalt compared to riding a mt. bike on a rough dirt road (with flat tires). This summer...

Waterfowl can be a significant component of bald eagles' diet. I've seen ravens kill heron chicks in the nest while the adults were away (flushed). The chicks were almost the size of the ravens. The ravens pecked the chick and then drug it out of the nest, falling probably 40 feet.

I have a 17' PakCanoe and have used it extensively in northern Canada and Alaska. It is well suited for fly-in expeditions, and does well in big lakes and whitewater. It is beamy (38") and slow. Their 16'5" canoe is much narrower and I'd assume faster. They take 30 minutes or so to put...

"A canoe that can paddle itself with robotic arms, leaving the operator free to take a deep breath, sit back, and concentrate on not capsizing." https://hackaday.com/2025/09/01/robotic-canoe-puts-robot-arms-to-work/ As I enjoy paddling, this doesn't do it for me. However, drone re-supplies...

Spending 139 days with my two brothers would be much more of a feat than rowing 9000 miles.

Yeah, but I didn't see any Grummans or OCAs!

Wow! Lots of disappearing boats, followed by impressive recoveries!

Interesting (to me) tidbit: I was on a weeklong trip in Bowron Lakes back in the 80s with my 16' Wenonah WWC1 (fast but deep--sit and switch). My partner was in an 18'6 solo kayak, which he had used on a 30 day solo kayak trip in Alaska. A couple of days into the trip, he was frustrated that...

I shipped a 52" carbon bent shaft from Bozeman to SLC last year, and it cost me $50 via UPS, as it was oversize. I've seen a $50 shipping charge on several commercial websites.

Thinner and siltier is right! It's amazing that such a prominent river can be so shallow. No report or vid, just some memories and a few pix. Here's a pic of some of the canyon rapids:

Certainly not high, we portaged the big stuff. Down lower it gets pretty thin--a couple of inches lower and we'd still be dragging our boats.

On the same trip. Yes, that's snow, 12 July. (Hilleberg Jannu)

Horton River, Northwest Territories. This was our bug/cook tent. MEC Mantis, which they don't make any more.

Horton River, Northwest Territory. Just got back. Oh, that's the Arctic Ocean there.

Ancient canoe replica tests Paleolithic migration theory "In 2019, the team constructed a 7.5-meter dugout canoe called "Sugime," built from a single Japanese cedar trunk, using replicas of 30,000-year-old stone tools. They paddled it 225 kilometers from eastern Taiwan to Yonaguni Island in the...