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Bears, sharks, snakes, hippopotamus. All are animals you could possibly encounter while canoeing or camping. If you do encounter them, there's a small chance the animal will attack you. If attacked, you could be injured or killed. Ticks on the other hand, if you are in their range, you WILL...

I have not done a lot of trips with portages, and don't remember seeing any weird sites on portages. The only odd thing I saw was a footbridge and that was only odd because it was my second time across, and I knew there was no footbridge on the portage trail. With my canoe on my shoulders I was...

Pete's post, with which I completely agree, sent me to the dictionary. Trabeculae is an anatomical term, but works well to describe what he's talking about: a structural part resembling a small beam or crossbar, for the less anatomically informed, such as me. I don't think I have previously...

Pasta. We were on a barrier island trip and fresh water was precious. Cooking pasta usually involves throwing out the cook water. Wasteful, right? So, I just used bay water. I mean, I always salt the water before the pasta goes in, so bay water is just pre-salted water. The pasta came out way...

Half a century ago home was Alexandria and I went to school in Va. Beach, 208 miles away. You could make it in an hour and a half by averaging 133mph. Tie the boat on well! ;-)

I’m with Mr Poling, except I’m reluctant to say anything negative about an MRE. The Explorer is a well loved canoe, so I just figured that my dislike for it was user error on my part. I tried and tried to make the Explorer carve like a normal canoe—turning toward the down-leaned side. The MRE...

Nomad, what’s your impression of the wind speed accuracy on that kestrel? I paddled with somebody who carried a similar looking gadget, and, to me, it always seemed to read on the low side. But, I always think the wind is stronger than reported. Is the wind really stronger on the water or do I...

I don’t purposely swim in the winter. I did receive Baltimore Canoe Club’s swimming trophy, presented to first swimmer of the year, several years, twice swam on New Year’s Day, first paddle of the year. I swam with ice blocks on a different outing, and this was pre drysuit days. I remember...

While paddling, PPine and I both carry thermometers. This got me to wondering who carries thermometers, and what kind. I use a meat thermometer, but it's never been in the kitchen. It folds and fits into a pocket on my PFD. On the water, I was Mr. Smarty Pants telling other paddlers the water...

Today, I hiked with John S, who was using a Garmin. I was a Garmin user for many years, but an older model: 76csx. WillDerness had one, too, and he loved it. The device was fantastic, but I found the user interface torturous. WillD thought it was fine. So, I mentioned this to John, who told me...

That is the kind of run the old guys stayed off in the winter. Some used wet suits but none of them had drysuits. "Old guys." Huh, they're gone, and now I'm the old guy (but with a drysuit!). How'd you know the water temperature?

I started out a ww canoeist and still managed to find mud. I remember thinking, "they don't tell you about the mud," when you are getting into it. Often the trail to and the put in were muddy, and the mud came in the boat with me. But agree, there's a lot less mud and more rock on the ww rivers...

I carry a meat thermometer so I can know the water temp. Maybe a new thread?

First the feet get muddy. And then I sit or lie down in the boat, usually to fit under some log or bridge. That gets me muddy.

The knees and butt of my drysuit tend to get muddy. I remember reading one should keep a clean drysuit to extend the life of the suit. Only once a year do I actually put the drysuit in the washing machine. The rest of the season I take it in the shower. The drysuit often ends up there anyway. I...

I use clothes stuffed into the sleeping bag’s compression sack. For years, before it dawned on me I should wash that sack once in a while. The sack lost a couple shades of grime when I washed it.

Lounge pants. AKA pajama bottoms, but if you wear them out of the house, they’re lounge pants. You can get them in fleece or in wool. I wear my normal, quick drying, DWR pants while driving to the put in, then pull on my lounge pants as a second layer before beginning the “seven Velcro”...

Before Chesuncook house burned down, the proprietor raised bison, so that’s another place you could have seen a buffalo from a canoe. the buffalo was behind the house, so seeing it from the boat might have required field glasses.

The Little Missouri must occasionally have enough water to float a canoe. Bison are among the animals who water on the Little Mo according to the website for Theodore Roosevelt National Park. So, you conceivably could paddle there and see buffalo. I’m also thinking on paddle trips near...

Here's one from an Alligash trip. Later on that same Alligash trip we were camped at riverside and awoke to dense fog/river mist. We could hear what we surmised was a moose walking the riverside and, we assume, feeding. By the sound, it was 20 or 30 feet off the bank, but we never actually saw...