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Going by what S&T offers on their website, they list a Northwoods Paddle and a Maine Guide as separate designs. It doesn't matter much what I think, I wonder what Alexandra would call them? I'm sure it's a grey area with varying opinions.

Nice paddles. Too bad he was probably gone before you got to meet him. I'm sure he had some good stories to tell. Going by my definition and Shaw and Tenneys, I would say only the longer one with the oversized blade is a Maine Guide Paddle. It doesn't matter what you call it, but it is an...

Glenn, you obviously don't need a long, big bladed paddle for your use, but if you did there are light (for their size) well balanced ones out there. As far as that 57" OT paddle that you liked but were disappointed with the replacements. Some paddles just have the right feel, I'll never spend...

Nice paddle Alex. I have three of the same ones. An ash 72" beavertail with elongated grip from The Bark Canoe Store, a 60" S&W 1897 in Cherry and two of the Old Towns like the one on the right. I wasn't a fan of the grip on the 1897 until I started using it. It looked big and clunky, but it was...

This is probably true, and is something I considered but I would say I've had equally good results with both. When doing out of water recoveries, like mentioned above, going at the right speed eliminates a lot of noise.

I haven't noticed much difference between a beaver tail and an otter tail as far as being quiet. I think a thin blade edge is important. If you are doing underwater recoveries, the blade shouldn't make any difference in noise level, but you will want one that slices through the water better...

Well that explains it. It had been a few days since I read your OP and forgot you had a partner.

Looking at your pics again Bob, I noticed the one where you are tumping a pack. It seems like it would be a hard shot to set up with a self timer and I can only assume it was taken by one of the dogs. Very well done on the dog training.

Yeah, I thought it could be a problem. Luckily you have them well trained and they stay on the pads. It would be quite the trick if you could teach them to rinse their paws and then shake the water off before getting in.

It looks and sounds like you had a great trip Bob. Do you have to be concerned about your dogs scratching the bottom of your boat with their claws?

I've takin a sharpening stone on trips before. Down time on a trip is a good time to do gear maintenance and repairs. I also have one of those round diamond hones that you have, I think it's in my repair/ tool kit. I found it at a campsite, it's a little course to get a really fine edge compared...

The Dr. I took out was my wife's younger female cousin who was an ER doc in Baltimore. At that time in my late 30's the significance of the safety factor of having a Dr along didn't occur to me. Years later in my early 60's when I took along my new friend, Nurse Bob, I was well aware of it.

I've been wanting to do the Placer River from Spencer Glacier and was disappointed to find they won't take a hard sided boat on the train. I have recently seen a canoe at the landing on the Placer at the highway so I figure it must be navigable upstream, especially if you can catch the rising...

I understand there are different body mechanics and different type boats, but it's still a paddle pushing a boat through the water. I thought maybe it was the height of the paddler above the water. The sprint racers have that high kneel, which would make a difference in the angle the paddle...

What I find interesting is that it appears that the straight shaft paddle is the paddle of choice for sprint racers. Why is this the case when most other types of canoe racers use a bent? It is not universal that a bent shaft is faster.

I've taken a nurse on one trip and a doctor on another. They're good for piece of mind, but you need to feed them.

I didn't expect a pack boat, but those Pakcanoes are capable tripping boats. You should have a lot of fun with it. It sounds perfect for a Spencer Glacier trip. Did you float the Placer River to the highway? I've been using a kevlar Mad River Malecite on the trails in the Wildlife Refuge. It's...

I'll take a stab at it. I think the bottom two are Old Towns. The first a Trapper then maybe a 16' Guide. The Chestnut may be a Pal or Chum, it doesn't look beefy enough for a Prospector. The stripper looks a little bigger, maybe a Prospector or EM White.

$4,000.00 sounds like a lot, but I wonder how it compares to sending a kid to sleep away camp for a month.

I always envied the kids lucky enough to attend one of those canoe camps. There is a good article on field repair of canvas canoes in there. It was very informative. You can use a piece of your blue jeans to repair canvas, but don't use your underwear. To repair a puncture in your planking use...