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So many obsolete dams could be removed. They're often private business-owned and the business doesn't want to spend the money. In New England, this would be the low-hanging fruit, and would eliminate so many portages. Not to mention fish spawning.

I completely trashed both elbows snubbing (poling) down the Miramichi a few years ago. So bad I couldn't use a pair of pliers for months. First, those tennis elbow braces do work. Second, my pole was too slippery, requiring a real hard grip (basically mine was an over-use injury). Third...

I just finished reading The Farfarers by Farley Mowat. In it he lays down a convincing argument for a wave of European settlement ahead of the Vikings. It describes the cairns similar to the ones photographed above on many of the landfalls and as guides along routes (ie the Kogaluc River...

I've been going for years. After the covid hiatus, I was amazed at the attendance, and especially the new blood interested in canoes.

I like number 3. The bark is wrong-side-to, her right hand is on backwards, and I'm still trying to decide whether she's wearing anything under that fringe.

I'll be there. The website's not updated but I'll be filling in and teaching one session of the poling clinic in the afternoon.

The only boat I ever named was the Handbasket. An old bone-white royalex Explorer. That thing took me through Hell and back. I gave it away to a friend's kid and it still plies the waterways of the Maine interior.

Best not to analyze too much. I paddle for hours on end without even remembering that I'm paddling. The exception to that is when I have an erratic bow paddler and do nothing but corrective strokes.

Yes, when in whitewater, the bow should lead and the stern should follow. The big decision for the stern is whether to steer the boat in a new direction or to draw it sideways.

So to complete the saga, we met in Yarmouth, I handed over the canoe hull after scabbing the seats and gunwales, Robin handed over a case of beer and $100, as agreed. I kept the beer, but mailed the money off to Penobscot River Paddling Trail, who will use it to build and maintain campsites...

Well, last summer I had to bail out on a trip down the Allagash due to Covid, but it was my 4th trip of the season, so I can't complain. We did have some drama on our way to the Bowron Lakes in BC. Before we left home they closed the whole region due to wildfires. It was touch and go every...

It so happens I have a Wilderness First Aid course on April 22-23 in Portland and will probably be in Yarmouth for most of the week.

Robin, my standard first offer is a case of beer and $100. Completely negotiable. I can at least get it to Yarmouth, Maine and we'll see if I can get someone to bring it the rest of the way. Seeing it's you, I'll leave the thwarts and gunwales on it. I'm taking the seats, but will replace...

Yessir, a Wenonah Spirit II, in (I think) the Aramid Layup. I included the serial number below if anyone knows anything about Wenonahs. Nice boat, but it looks like it's been wrapped a half dozen times. I got it for... not a case of beer and $100, not a case of beer, not even the backwash off...

What I like about group meals is that I'm good at keeping the weight down. For instance, my tostadas: mini tortillas, turkey sausage (dried), refried beans (bought online dried), salsa (dried), chopped roma tomatoes (they keep the longest), chopped avocado (also surprising how long they keep)...

Mostly my kevlar tripping canoes from the 70's. I've worn out and replaced most everything else, but I can rebuild a canoe over and over.

What could possibly go wrong. Actually this is my current rig:

I'd like to hear what you get. Last summer I waded a mile up a stream filled with large round slime-covered boulders and had to place each foot carefully, heave the boat, then find a new footing. It was exhausting. I've thought about the wading shoes with better underwater traction, just not...

I was just about to start a thread on this subject. I have three trips coming up this season. The first is 4 of us on the Miramichi, where there will be coolers involved - two for beer and one large sized Meat Locker. Menus are a loose affair and sometimes we have to play the Missing Label...

I'm on my 4th inflatable. First Exped and the valve failed. I returned it for a new and saw they replaced the valve with a burp valve. Eventually the glued seam between the air pockets failed, resulting in a big double-wide air bubble. The third was also an Exped, also failed in the same way...