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When I paddle long distances on rivers or lakes, most often some kinds of shore landmarks are all along my route, I pick an observable point (an odd tree, or a bend along my path) at some distance ahead, a few hundred yards, quarter mile, whatever is distinctive within easy sight. IN wide open...

Most paddlers may not actually get into the finer intricacies of Freestyle paddling, but it doesn't take learning or much doing of the strokes skills to realize that aspects of the techniques, once learned what they do for you, have a tremendous usefulness and easily carry over to everyday...

It is always fun to learn a new stroke that you have never known before, then to discover that you have been doing a version of a commonly well known stroke self-learned, but it only needs a little tweaking refinement to make it more efficient in the time and way you employ it. Especially as you...

In my experience, yes, I have tipped and "fallen out" of a canoe, mainly by breaking my own rules and by being stupid. I believe what happens is you lean badly, such as when trying to pick up something in the water, which may be aggravated by trying to turn in seat to look behind you, then you...

Hi Daisy, welcome to the trip. My recommendation is to learn slowly and safely. Work on one control stroke at a time of the many available to you, then combine or link strokes to control your canoe making it do your wishes on the water with precision. Stay on flat non moving water until you are...

Don't forget about $USD vs $CAD or is it CND? As an engineer, I am comfortable using either. When I am working on a Search and Rescue incident, distances are measured in meters, coordinate locations are in UTM (meters), but elevations on topo maps are still in feet above sea level (MSL). A...

Glenn beat me to it. In the Adirondacks any and all such overland movements between paddleable waterways are always called "carries" by residents in the know.

Adirondack racer Kevin Olson has a whole series on paddling and especially racing techniques in Youtube. he has one on turning your C1. I watched it this morning and believe that I use substantially the same methods, although at times much more aggressively than he shows in the demo video (I am...

I couldn't stand it any longer. It finally reached the high 30's in bright sun this afternoon and I just had to take my new Blackwater for a spin. Even though overnight teens made surface ice reform, and wind from the north on this long narrow lake blew ice around the corner into my previously...

Now take your race on a truly long marathon. During the Yukon1000 miler, our overall average speed with current, was nearly 9mph for around 110 hours of actual paddling on water race time for our 6 day period to the finish (were required by the rules to take a minimum 6 hour rest each "night")...

My new Blackwater arrived the last week of November 2024, too late for a test paddle on unfrozen water in survivable weather. I am still waiting for my small Adirondack lake to fully open up and the air temperature to get above today's low 30's to give my new not previously wetted Blackwater a...

I also have a 20-ish year old John Deere model 2305 compact 4x4 diesel tractor. i mows my extensive lawn, clears by blowing away my over 200 inches of lake effect snow each winter, and performs dozens of other yard tasks reliably for me.

I wish I had seen the application for this expedition. i may well have applied to join.

Spike was/is quite an institution with BSA, and especially with Camp Russell. His home is only about a half mile away on Rte 28. As the camp's High Adventure Program Director, he rarely missed a meal in the dining hall at camp Russell. Spike is a retired school teacher, and a long time past...

My wife was office manager at Camp Russell for 6 years in the early 2000's. She stayed in the small cabin on the lake shore and swam every morning. My daughter was Russell's first ever female waterfront director and then a voyageur high adventure trek guide. I guided 5 day wilderness treks...

Every once in a while a swarm of dragonflies will descend and magically all of the black flies disappear from the area. Later in the season, the same with deer flies. I've had several of them land on my shirt as I welcome their presence. There is almost no greater joy than to experience seeing...

I have inherited a 1951 IH Farmall Cub tractor that I grew up on as a kid, the tractor and I are exactly the same age. it has a sidebar sicle hay cutterr that I waned to use on my own property. It sat unused for over 30 years amd it needed a lot of work, including new tires and severe rusty gas...

I have paddled my PB Rapidfire for the majority of the 30 years I have been a wilderness high adventure wilderness guide trek leader instructor for BSA National Camping School in the Adirondacks. I carry all of my own personal gear and food, plus a good share of the group gear, not to mention...

Why did the salamander cross the road? NYSDEC has a program for protecting amphibians during migration season. A migration may only be a trip across a highway. I can remeber some seasons that we called "national frog and toad night" when it seemed that hundreds of the critters were hopping...

About 20 years ago, shortly after Hennessey and other backpacker tripping style hamocks were (nearly) perfected, a freind introduced me to one, only in rare instances (along the treeless banks of the Yukon, for example) have I gone back to ground ever since. Although you do need an insulating...