Recent content by riverstrider

Funny, I've rarely heard complaints from anyone about their knees coming in contact with the gunnels, even though I'm betting it happens a lot. And, as it happens, the one person who I have heard complain about that is my wife, and a few years ago we came up with a pretty good solution. We cut...

If you're running the Dead, better take your high-volume boats and keep the gear to a minimum and floatation to a maximum. Even at 1400-1600 cfs, the major rapids have big drops and big waves. Lot of exposed rocks to watch too. Big Poplar (the last of the big rapids) is a mess no matter what the...

2024 was one big blur to me. Work responsibilities last year really chewed me up and spit me out on a frequent basis, and so far 2025 looks to be more of the same. It has been, and will continue to be, tough for me to get away for any extended time without wifi so I can stay in touch with what...

Seeker, I was at Hoel that same crazy windy day with two others! We had done the carry from Polliwog Pond, and finished around 11:30, intending on heading toward Turtle (We were doing a loop trip). We were pretty bummed seeing that wind and decided to wait it out. Two and a half hours later, I...

I waited all day to see any SUP paddlers as I manned my safety boat outpost the Saturday of the 90-miler, and didn't see any. Were there any entries for SUP this year? I imagine it is a tough race for the SUPers, standing most of the time.

I usually store my wallet, phone and keys in a small nylon bag that is then placed into my 5-gallon bucket with a watertight screw-on Gamma lid. It keeps them dry, and allows me easy access to them, along with the bug dope, sunscreen, glasses, TP, rain poncho, first aid kit, duct tape...

There are many "flatwater" rivers I have paddled that, while flat, still have moving water...and how fast that moving water is going can often be masked by the fact that it is flat, or give the paddler a false sense of security when they think the absence of any whitewater or riffles means they...

I know this is not really a canoe topic, but if many of you are like me and paddle in groups, many in the group are kayakers. For some reason, I have noticed a marked increase in the number of my (misguided) kayak companions using paddling leashes. Has anyone else noticed this? If so, do you...

I have been dreaming of a trip around the "Eye of Quebec" since I first accidentally saw it on a map and wondered what it was. When I realized that it was a big lake, and then realized how big it actually was, I decided to postpone any trip planning until I had retired and was able to talk a...

I was 10 or 11 for my first canoe trip, a day trip with my scout troop up the Wood River and back in a 17' Grumman. It was the first time I had been in any boat, or in water deeper than a pool. It was fascinating, and a lot of work, especially paddling up a couple small, rocky rapids. The trip...

We just got back from the Sebago Lake region of Maine, and the deer flies were ferocious. Our poor dog wasn't happy, but she did manage to kill three or four of them (When anyone asks me what breed she is, I rely "a fly-catching canoe hound"). We use a natural-ingredient fly repellent for dogs...

I'm pretty sure half the canoes in Rhode Island are owned by a friend of mine, lol! He has about 40 or 50 canoes, some real classics. The rest of them are mostly owned by me and other friends of mine. The Ocean State is definitely kayak and SUP-centric, owing to all the phenomenal bay and ocean...

I am also more tolerant of big wind days on rivers, but this can change on big rivers. I'm remided of a trip on the Black Canyon of the Colorado, below Hoover Dam, that I like to call the best and worst canoe trip of my life. My wife and I rented a canoe (fortunately we got a good boat, an OT...

Wind is probably the weather factor I worry about the most. Not so much when I am paddling with experienced folks that know when to stay on shore and how to best deal with wind if we didn't and it caught us, but especially when I may be leading a trip (even a day trip) with beginner paddlers who...

I've had some "discomfort" on some trips that certainly made things memorable, but nothing compares to what my friend Jim experienced some years ago in Maine. We paddled from Errol, NH to Rangely, ME over a long weekend. Maine got hit by Hurricane Kyle while we were out there. Over the course of...