Recent content by VA paddler

I use as tie downs when driving. When tripping, tucked somewhere loose so they are quickly free to hand, or floating next to me if I swim.

Is that Lesser Wesser in the top photo?

I guess it all depends on the water you frequent. In relentless ww settings, you want that stuff to stay together, and if you can, have enough rope to swim the rope to shore and then you become the anchor point for your boat which you can gradually haul in, or at least pivot into the shallows...

Oh, my... where to start...? In the late 90s and early 2000s we did all of our trips with 2 Grummans sticking out the back end of my buddy's 197? burnt-orange Dodge pickup. Seems like everything broke on that truck at one point or another but we were always able to fix it on the side of the...

I’m looking forward to reading lots of TRs this summer from this far more familiar family of paddlers.

The Canyon is excellent as a white water tripper but most whitewater trips involve a great deal of flat water, too, and the Canyon does fine.

I bring my iphone and my InReach. InReach gets us weather, verifies paper map orienteering, keeps the wife happy, and is priceless in a bind. Phone gives us tunes, a camera, and an alarm clock. Phone has managed to find some bars in some pretty unexpected places that were life savers. The...

Maybe a pocket Canyon? Or NovaCraft makes a slew of Prospectors. Old Town's Appalachian is an excellent boat. I have an old Mad River ME - which I like, but wouldn't recommend - she's a squirrely thing.

I got into paddling because someone offered me a loaner. And I've always tried to pay it forward. I bought a Dagger Caption so I would have it to loan to a buddy who was broke and didn't have a boat, and so that I could train my daughter in it one day (she was 2 or 3 years old at the time)...

I have a set of the [spoon on one side fork on the other], in stainless. We cook a lot of grilled meats and vegies and a fork is useful in that application. I also have a set of long spoons/sporks for the dehydrated meal bags. But really, I could care less what I eat with, just so long as the...

Maine, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West-by-god-Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah (raft), Alaska (raft), Quebec, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba

Able to count myself in the 40s for a few more weeks!

Grain of salt: this from the guy who packed a rotisserie chicken in his blue barrel for seven days.

For lunch on the float, in the boat, no time to stop, I’ll vote for mandarins & jerky. And those packets of 6 or 8 cracker sandwiches with the fake peanut butter between them. And granola bars. But if you’ve time on your hands and a cooler, there’s nothing wrong with putting out a full deli...

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not why ships are built.” - fortune cookie wisdom