Search results

There are many "flatwater" rivers I have paddled that, while flat, still have moving water...and how fast that moving water is going can often be masked by the fact that it is flat, or give the paddler a false sense of security when they think the absence of any whitewater or riffles means they...

I know this is not really a canoe topic, but if many of you are like me and paddle in groups, many in the group are kayakers. For some reason, I have noticed a marked increase in the number of my (misguided) kayak companions using paddling leashes. Has anyone else noticed this? If so, do you...

I have been dreaming of a trip around the "Eye of Quebec" since I first accidentally saw it on a map and wondered what it was. When I realized that it was a big lake, and then realized how big it actually was, I decided to postpone any trip planning until I had retired and was able to talk a...

I was 10 or 11 for my first canoe trip, a day trip with my scout troop up the Wood River and back in a 17' Grumman. It was the first time I had been in any boat, or in water deeper than a pool. It was fascinating, and a lot of work, especially paddling up a couple small, rocky rapids. The trip...

We just got back from the Sebago Lake region of Maine, and the deer flies were ferocious. Our poor dog wasn't happy, but she did manage to kill three or four of them (When anyone asks me what breed she is, I rely "a fly-catching canoe hound"). We use a natural-ingredient fly repellent for dogs...

I'm pretty sure half the canoes in Rhode Island are owned by a friend of mine, lol! He has about 40 or 50 canoes, some real classics. The rest of them are mostly owned by me and other friends of mine. The Ocean State is definitely kayak and SUP-centric, owing to all the phenomenal bay and ocean...

I am also more tolerant of big wind days on rivers, but this can change on big rivers. I'm remided of a trip on the Black Canyon of the Colorado, below Hoover Dam, that I like to call the best and worst canoe trip of my life. My wife and I rented a canoe (fortunately we got a good boat, an OT...

Wind is probably the weather factor I worry about the most. Not so much when I am paddling with experienced folks that know when to stay on shore and how to best deal with wind if we didn't and it caught us, but especially when I may be leading a trip (even a day trip) with beginner paddlers who...

I've had some "discomfort" on some trips that certainly made things memorable, but nothing compares to what my friend Jim experienced some years ago in Maine. We paddled from Errol, NH to Rangely, ME over a long weekend. Maine got hit by Hurricane Kyle while we were out there. Over the course of...

I know a few people who's common-sense sectors in their brains are so poorly exercised and atrophied that it is a wonder they are still alive. It seems like you may not have that problem. So take any opportunity to get that boat out on something benign and safe, and/or paddle with others, when...

I love opportunities to paddle through forests, but there aren't any large flood control dams in RI so usually paddling through the trees means always being aware of current. There is a large swamp (the Great Swamp) that is cool to paddle through during flood conditions (which has occurred a lot...

Riding around with a canoe on a car always seems to invite questions, and it's always good when the question is actually about the canoe or canoeing. The most common question I get, whether the canoe is on the car, or in the water with no fishing gear in sight, is how the fishing was. I don't...

I put in about 20 years as a volunteer EMT-firefighter with 3 different services (2 ambulance squads and a fire station), which is as close to being a doctor I ever want to be. It was rewarding most of the time, stressful a lot of the time, but the pay sucked, lol! Those skills came handy on...

I am also a cloud watcher, and they rarely lead me astray in either predicting rain or at least predicting a change in the weather. And I now know that campfire smoke hugging the ground for a good distance means rain, probably heavy, is coming. I did not know that the first time I saw the...

I'd like to thank Kestrel for replying to this thread a few weeks back and bumping it up. Otherwise I may have missed out on reading one of the best trip reports I can remember! What an epic trip, with very good descriptions of what it is like to be living in nature instead of just with it. I...

I regret not being able to join you all on this one! Usually I can take a day off on short notice, but not this time. It looked like a fun trip!

A comfortable chair is a must for me. The only time I took less than a full-sized chair was when I packed a tripod chair (it still had a seatback, but no arm rests) as part of an ultra-light 5 day trip that included the Mud Pond Carry. Man (at least this man) does not live on water alone. So I...

I don't think there is any ice left in RI...not that there ever was much this year. I imagine things are similar in most of CT, and certainly in SE Mass.

Expecting 1-2 inches of rain tonight and tomorrow, with some winds. Normally a nothingburger, but this will be enough to flood everything again...there's nowhere for the water to go. And the temps: 46, 39, 56, 21, 19...RI weather be throwing temps out there like the daily lottery numbers.

My immediate canoe tripping dreams involve retirement so that I have more time to do it! I have a little less than 3 years before I can retire (at age 59, which is pretty good), so after that, river gods willing, I'll be able to focus on some of my bucket list trips, like the BWCA, Voyageurs...