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Recent content by MichaelMerry

  1. MichaelMerry

    St Regis advice

    I have paddled multiple trips in boundary waters and the Adirondacks. Love them both! We paddled through St. Regis as part of a longer trip. Lovely. It was the portions of our trip outside of the Regis area that wasn’t necessarily wilderness. Still excellent paddling and camping. However, I...
  2. MichaelMerry

    How many paddles do you bring on a canoe trip?

    I have broken a paddle while pulling upstream in shallow water. That experience scared me into always having a spare along.
  3. MichaelMerry

    Luxury items you take canoe (or winter) camping

    We packed last night for a weekend of winter backpacking in Pennsylvania. There are two items that get added to the winter pack that are super luxurious. The first is down booties for camp time. These include soft soles and work well for padding around a frozen camp and escaping frozen or wet...
  4. MichaelMerry

    How is your winter so far?

    Our winter has been disappointing. We’ve shoveled twice and only have three ski days locally. We really pushed the conditions two of those days. We’ve chased some snow around the Great Lakes region, but it’s been excessively warm.
  5. MichaelMerry

    Winter footwear preferences?

    We do a lot of winter backpacking. Unfortunately, we don’t often have much snow these days. If there is no snow, we stick with trail runners. No gore Tex bootie. If the trail is wet and muddy, our feet get wet. We wear neoprene socks in the evening in camp and squeeze into our often frozen shoes...
  6. MichaelMerry

    Invasive fish (northern pike) threatens Maine lakes. Huh?

    Agreed. Hate the universal DH.
  7. MichaelMerry

    Big Boundary Waters Loop - 9/4/23-9/11/23

    I think that’s the one! Loved it there.
  8. MichaelMerry

    Big Boundary Waters Loop - 9/4/23-9/11/23

    9/9/23 Picking up where I left off, as I shook off the grogginess and came to the realization that it was a moose crashing through the heavy brush right toward us, I began yelling my head off. Jodi awoke next to me, her heart pounding audibly asking me what was going on. I exclaimed that a...
  9. MichaelMerry

    Great Lakes Info

    Surfing Lake Erie off Cleveland
  10. MichaelMerry

    Great Lakes Info

    Lake Erie has the best fishing by far! I also contend that it has the most adventurous paddling; the conditions change on a dime. I’m biased of course living in the beautiful city of Cleveland.
  11. MichaelMerry

    Big Boundary Waters Loop - 9/4/23-9/11/23

    A smattering of photos from a beautiful trip. The rest of the trip report is coming
  12. MichaelMerry

    Big Boundary Waters Loop - 9/4/23-9/11/23

    9/7/23 Up about 7:00 for another leisurely breakfast and packing up of wet camp. We were on the water by 9:15 as the wind began to subside. It was still out of the east and pushing us along Little Saganaga Lake. We used the islands that dot the lake as wind shadows. We had a 20-rod portage...
  13. MichaelMerry

    Big Boundary Waters Loop - 9/4/23-9/11/23

    9/5/23 Our first evening and night on the water was just lovely. Morning was wonderful as well! We were up by about 7:00 or so and I made pancakes! I surprised my traveling companions with some new additions: powdered butter and powdered maple syrup. Wow! I further simplified it by just...
  14. MichaelMerry

    Big Boundary Waters Loop - 9/4/23-9/11/23

    I'm finally writing a trip report for the 71-mile (almost) loop a group of four of us paddled in early September this year. It was a fabulous trip completed by my 75-year-old father-in-law, 60-year-old female friend, my 46-year-old wife and me (50-year-old male). We are an experienced group...
  15. MichaelMerry

    What Do You Do In Winter ?

    Winter has been my favorite season for a long time now. I love it more as I get older. That could be a result of accumulating (and being able to afford) higher quality gear for my outdoor winter pursuits. I’m a runner and can’t wait to substitute x country skiing for my running. We also do most...
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