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Is Wilderness Lost? and 2018 Endorsements
Every time I’m going to write something about wilderness protection, it seems like I always have to remind readers that one of the missions of PaddlingLight is “we believe growing paddlesport participation advances wilderness protection. Part of our mission is promoting the protection and preservation of our federal, state and local lands.” I have to do it even though that mission statement appears on every page of the website, because for some reason writing about wilderness protection triggers a certain subset of paddlers who are against wilderness protection and I have to put up with name calling and disrespectful comments. I’m leaving comments on despite knowing better. I wonder how…
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How to pick a Northstar Solo Canoe
So here’s a challenge – when Northstar already makes a bunch of really great solo canoes, and then keeps adding new ones, how do you pick a Northstar Solo canoe that is perfect for you? Two things are key – figuring out your “paddling profile” and understanding what characteristics makes a particular Northstar a good match for that profile. Back in 2008, PaddlingLight published How to pick a Bell Solo canoe. I really liked the Q&A format devised to help paddlers build their paddling profile and the scorecard that mapped the answers to a recommended Bell Canoe. What’s the connection between Bell and Northstar? Ted Bell sold Bell Canoes in…
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Bikepacking in Canoe Country
Bikepacking in Canoe Country can be just as fun as paddling in the Boundary Waters. Besides paddling, my other recreational love is biking and I love touring by bike. This year, I’ve gotten a few paddling trips in (canoeing the lower canyons of the Rio Grande, overnight on Lake Superior and an upcoming BWCA trip), but I hadn’t gotten a bike tour in. I decided to bike in my backyard and bikepack on the gravel roads of Cook County, one of the counties that contains the Boundary Waters. There’s something like 2,000 miles of roads in Cook County and much of that is gravel. I ended up riding a short…
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Best Backpacking Sleeping Pad for Paddling
In my S24O: Kayaking Kit List article, I wrote about my future needs, “As I’ve gotten older I don’t mind sacrificing a bit of weight for a more plush sleeping pad. So, I brought a bigger pad than I have in the past. While not a huge deal inside the kayak, it is bigger than I’d like. I’d like to get a smaller sleeping pad that offers big comfort. If you have a suggestion, please, let me know in the comments.” I received a few emails and I messaged some buddies of mine to see what they suggested as the best backpacking sleeping pad for paddling. From Max Watzke: You asked…
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S24O: Kayaking Kit List
I recently started doing more S24Os (sub-24 hour overnight), because it seems like with everything I’ve taken on over the last year I’m not getting out of personal paddling trips anymore. I recently visited the Fall River campsite on the Lake Superior Water Trail. The MN DNR is planning on building a bridge in front of the Fall River waterfall and next to the campsite ruining the privacy that the you get at the campsite, so I wanted to go there one last time before the DNR ruins it. If you want to take action, visit They Want to Put a Bridge in Front of the Fall River Waterfall for…
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Inexpensive and Lightweight Sleeping System
This interesting inexpensive and lightweight sleeping system comes from Reg Lake. He is using inexpensive, quilted throws from Costco. When Costco has them in stock, they run about $20. The entire system, which includes an old-school Therm-a-rest Prolite Sleeping Pad, a ground tarp and one Costco throw weighs 3 pounds and 9 ounces. Instead of packing everything separately, Reg rolls the entire kit up (see below) and packs it away in a dry bag. To make the system more useful, Reg added snaps across the bottom of the quilted throws and then an additional snap near his shin. This forms a pocket for his feet and helps him stay warmer.…
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SOF Siskiwit Bay Builder’s Log
Peter Lord writes: I have almost completed the frame of my, shortened to 16’ (x 0.94 in length, frame spacings adjusted) to decrease the displacement slightly to suit my weight of 162 lb (73 kg). It will be for day trips and weekend touring on the Swedish lakes and in the archipelagoes. It is a hybrid of “fuselage frames” and ribs, as I did not want a frame at station #4 getting in the way of my legs, and I wanted to try making ribs. I used all six ply frames of 5mm Baltic birch I already had, 3-ply glassed on both sides with 3oz cloth) to make the frame…
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GSI Outdoors Infinity Backpackers Mug Review
The GSI Outdoors Infinity Backpackers Mug is a mug. It holds drinks and you drink out of it. What more can you say about a mug? It works. Buy it. Seriously though. We’ve had GSI Outdoors Infinity Backpackers Mug for several years in several variations. They have evolved over time. My first one was plastic with just a thin foam sleeve around it. It worked great of hot chocolate and other warm adult drinks. It was light enough at about 3 ounces that you didn’t feel bad about bringing it along on a trip. The next version, which we bought for my wife was basically the same with a foam…
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Lake Nipigon Kayaking Trip Report
Dates: Sept. 12 – Oct. 2, 2017 by Hannah Fanney & Rodney Claiborne Reason for Travel Lake Nipigon is a large lake directly above Lake Superior. We were familiar with the lake’s location, but information on it was difficult to obtain. It looked to us like a less developed Superior with smaller seas and more protection available from the myriad of islands and peninsulas. Our goal was to spend time exploring an area we were not familiar with while testing out the carrying capacity of food and equipment in our boats. We chose the fall season due to our seasonal employment schedule and to enjoy rougher seas, cooler temperatures, and…
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How to Take a $H!T in the BWCAW
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) is America’s most used wilderness area. Each year an estimated 250,000 visitors paddle its pristine lakes and over 1,200 miles of canoe routes and camp at one of over 2,000 designated campsites. This many people using the million acres puts a strain on the land. While in other wilderness areas if you need to take a crap you dig a hole and bury your poop (as outlined in the book How to Shit in the Woods), it isn’t like that in the BWCAW. In the BWCAW, you take your shit by sitting your arse down on a thunder box (latrine) and letting it…
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Lightweight Cook Kit
It seems like I’m always tweaking my lightweight cook kit. While preparing for some upcoming bikepacking trips (gasp), I redid my lightweight cook kit yet again. This time it has a new stove and pot. This lightweight cook kit could be used for backpacking, canoeing or kayaking and work out just fine. What I really like about it is that the stove, fuel canister and spoon all fit inside the ultralight mug, which is compact. Overall, I’m in at 15.8 ounces for my kitchen. Leaving behind a stuff sack and elastic band saves me 0.3 ounces, but they also add convenience so I’m going to carry them. Lightweight Cook Kit…
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Circling Shakespeare on Lake Nipigon
Within a minute, the mirror-like surface of Lake Nipigon kicked up as northerly 30-knot winds descended on our island campsite. The calm, silent, evening turned into a rumble. It felt like the air above the entire arctic plains spilled down upon the Boreal forests. We shouted over the breaking waves and the rush of the wind through the trees. “Now!” I heaved the bear bags into the air as Tim ran with the rope. When the slack ran out on the weighty bags the rope stretched and stopped. Then the branch broke sending our supplies to the ground. Trying to race the wind, I threw the rope over the limb…
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Kayakers Dying and Darwin
Natural Selection is a wonderful thing. This was a Facebook response to a news report about a kayaker drowning on the Great Lakes (See: Search for missing kayaker continues). The news report tells us that two men in their 20s went kayaking on Lake Huron. They weren’t wearing lifejackets and both capsized. One of the men couldn’t swim. He presumably drowned. They are still searching for his body. Natural Selection is a wonderful thing. So, instead of expressing empathy with this man’s family, his parents and his friends, the Internet-dude responds that drownings on the Great Lake are a “wonderful thing.” Natural Selection is a wonderful thing. You have to…
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Wooden Boat Show in Grand Marais Trip Report
It’s that time of the year when wood boat builders gather in the northern reach of the state of Minnesota and show off their wood boats. This year wooden canoes, both new and restored, stole the show. Without further ado, here’s the pictures. Seliga Wide Plank, 17′, Restored at the North House Folk School Thompson Brother Indian, 16′, restored by Mike Knuth of Duluth, MN. 20th Anniversary Canoe, 18 ft, Based on E.M. White “Guide” Model, Built at the North House Folk School 1928 Old Town Canoe, model not listed. This was up for auction. The starting bid was $300. Skin-on-frame Canoe, 17′ 6″, Based on the Atkinson Traveler The…
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Siskiwit SOF Kayak Stolen!
In a recent email from Marcelo, who built a Siskiwit SOF back in 2015, he wrote: My wife stole my Siskiwit! LOL Hence, I needed to build another kayak for me, I choose a skin-on-frame baidarka. I added a system of bulkheads and dry hatches for camping gear and a rudder/skeg for trim in winds. Some pics in the Nahuel Huapi Lake: When I asked if I could share the pictures of his new kayak, he sent along some details of the baidarka build. The construction looks just as good as the construction pictures of his Siskiwit SOF (see Siskiwit SOF Detail Page for a few photos). Here are details: I did…
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