• Happy Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (1775)! ⛪🕯️🕛🏇🏼

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  1. PacketFiend

    Smoke headed your way for tomorrow?

    I'm a weekend pilot responsible for keeping my soaring club up to date with the smoke forecasts. It's entirely new to me, flying in smoke in southern Ontario. For two or three weeks there hasn't been a visible horizon (a big problem for pilots). In our case (Orangeville area), the smoke cleared...
  2. PacketFiend

    New-to-me First Aid Info

    Mine told me to do it to the sound of breaking and then squishy ribs. One of these days I'll have to ask a professional paramedic.
  3. PacketFiend

    New-to-me First Aid Info

    If you're in Ontario, I highly recommend Steve Tripp's courses. I've taken both his basic and advanced wilderness courses. He does them in person, usually at a group campsite of some kind. Frontenac Park is commonly used. They'll last over a long weekend, typically in the fall. He's very good...
  4. PacketFiend

    15→16→17→18→19→20→21→22→2300 Members

    I thank you for your achievements, Glenn.
  5. PacketFiend

    Albany River 2024

    This is actually a fantastic way to enter the Albany if fire or high water makes it iffy to start from the headwaters. I'm planning a resupply at Ogoki. Starting from Nakina or Aroland and then taking the North Channel I think it is, Ogoki will still be roughly halfway-ish. A bit less direct...
  6. PacketFiend

    Albany River 2024

    It's a bit far from the general area (that being the Albany) to be a backup. I did the Missinaibi twice with trains but sadly, those trains don't exist anymore. There's some talk that they may come back, but it hasn't happened yet. When we did Wabakimi in 2020, the Marshall Lake loop was our...
  7. PacketFiend

    Albany River 2024

    My plan B will likely be Wabakimi. I paddled three weeks there in 2020. Otherwise that plan B would be Woodland Caribou, or maybe Opasquia from Pickle Lake. Given the cost and time involved with running the Albany, I don't think either alternative would be insurmountable, if somewhat planned...
  8. PacketFiend

    Albany River 2024

    I'm planning on running the Albany river in 2024. The problem is that my usual companions will (I think) be unable to do it. I can't do it alone - it is for lack of a better description, above my pay grade. I intend to run the entire river, from north of Thunder Bay to the coast. I'm thinking 4...
  9. PacketFiend

    Old Gear Still Using

    I have a canvas sheathed steel canteen I bought at a Dutch army surplus store, 30 years ago. I sill use it - in a pinch, I can boil water in it. It fits on my belt quite well. I feel at home when I have that canteen with me.
  10. PacketFiend

    Callan: Life Savers are Key to Portaging

    Having tripped with a type 1 diabetic, while this is a cool story... meh, it's not that simple. Now I take both beef jerky (high salt/protein) and corner store candy (nothing but sugar), and keep it available. Energy bars are tops. Never liked Callan's stories much. He can portage like a mofo...
  11. PacketFiend

    Explain Your Screen Name

    I'm an IT man. I sit in front of computer screens with green text on a black background, all day, every day (because that contrast is the least headache-inducing). One of my biggest strengths is network engineering. In a nutshell, I build computer networks for a living. In layman's terms...
  12. PacketFiend

    Poll: How much sex have you had in a canoe?

    Actually... I hadn't considered the possibility in that way... it might alleviate the thwart issue. Definitely something to think about over winter ;)
  13. PacketFiend

    Poll: How much sex have you had in a canoe?

    Yes that. I've had "sexy time" nude in a canoe on a few cool misty mornings, but never "sex". Thwarts get in the way. The mechanics are left as an exercise to the the reader.
  14. PacketFiend

    Fears while paddling or on canoe trips

    They are surprisingly agile in a four foot swamp, and unbelievably fast to boot. And they're violent when they're angry. Their calves make excellent bear food at a time of year when food is otherwise very scarce, and they know it. To a moose, I look very bear-like. I am more afraid of moose...
  15. PacketFiend

    Fears while paddling or on canoe trips

    (Thinking as a pilot now) I try not to "advertise" it, but I am a recreational pilot, I fly small airplanes, and I'm good enough to fly them in marginal weather - but just barely. I read accident reports. All pilots do. They are... realistic. It would take you aback, how many pilots have...
  16. PacketFiend

    Why Are You Here?

    Why am I here? That's a fair question. I, generally speaking, am not a social person. I have, however, met a few friends and tripped with them, on other sites. Let me put it another way... I like board games. Very complex board games, the kind that take an entire weekend to play. It's...
  17. PacketFiend

    Poll: How much is your spouse or SO interested in canoeing compared to you?

    I introduced my wife to canoe tripping in Killarney - including the 3K from Killarney Lake to Threenarrows, and then the Pig. I horribly overestimated our capabilities on that trip. We were behind schedule the whole trip, beginning from a bad start. Looking back, we had a good time. She got to...
  18. PacketFiend

    Fears while paddling or on canoe trips

    It's known for at least one more thing than winds, waves, and pictographs. It's known for dead boaters. There are a lot of boats and boaters sleeping with the fishes in that 300' depth. I didn't know that then. I know that now. Another one of my biggest fears on the really remote trips...
  19. PacketFiend

    Fears while paddling or on canoe trips

    I was not afraid of many things until some of them almost killed me. I was not afraid of moose, until I happened across a den, and Mama came sloshing across the marsh, with a conviction of purpose that would send all but the stupidly brave running. I have never before or since been so afraid; I...
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