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KรHLโs The One: Best Jacket for Canoeing?
I find KรHL The One jacket incredibly versatile, comfortable, and well-insulated, suitable for many activities and weather conditions, and highly breathable.
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Guide to Staking Out Tents on Rocky Ground
Camping on rocky ground is possible with the right preparation. Use durable cord for the stake out points and utilize rocks for secure tent staking.
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Lake Superior Circumnavigation Speed Records
A kayaker falsely claimed a Lake Superior speed record due to lack of easy access to existing records. Despite his correction, inaccurate news persisted. Reliable tracking of such achievements remains difficult due to limited record-keeping in the paddling community.
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Paddle On, Dan Cooke
Dan Cooke, a beloved member of the Minnesota paddling community and creator of quality canoeing gear at Cooke Custom Sewing, passed away last night. His death is deeply mourned by friends and community members.
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Outdoor Sports Rescue Shaming
The post discusses "rescue shaming" in outdoor sports and highlights several cognitive biases, like the Dunning-Kruger Effect and FACETS heuristics, which impact decision-making and can lead to dangerous situations. Emphasizing education and empathy is encouraged.
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Sea Gull Lake Trip Report
Last weekend, we camped at the Trailโs End Campground at the end of the Gunflint Trail. Itโs near several entry points into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Itโs also a great place to camp and photograph. If youโre into photography, check out my photography map for the campground area. Itโs a popular campground due to its closeness to popular entry points and its remoteness, so youโll likely need to reserve a spot if you plan on going. This trip, we stayed at campsite #25 and found that it was a lovely place to stay. #24 would have been slightly better, but we had great neighbors there and in #26โฆ
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Tripods for Canoeing and Kayaking
The author, a professional photographer who also teaches photography, evaluates three tripods ranging from 1 to 3 pounds. They discuss the pros and cons of each, focusing on factors like weight, stability, and height. The author recommends using Kirk L Brackets for better camera support and shares purchase links for the tripods.
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Sea Kayaking Grand Maraisโ Harbor
Each summer, I enjoy sea kayaking from Grand Maraisโ harbor, exploring up to four miles, including Artist's Point and the campground area. Notable sights include the old Coast Guard station and Hjordis schooner. Accessibility features at the harbor such as a kayak launch, walkway, and changing room were influenced by my suggestions.
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Homer Lake Trip Report
Over the Memorial Day weekend, we took a day trip to Homer Lake. Homer Lake in northern Minnesota is an entry point to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. About half of the lake is in the wilderness and half is outside. The majority of it is outside the wilderness and thereโs a short portage into Axe Lake which is just north of Homer. The lake also has offers two campsites. Thereโs one inside the wilderness and one outside the wilderness. Iโve paddled on Homer a fair number of times and have used it on multiple trips. You can also use it to access the Vern River Loop instead ofโฆ
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Sea Kayaking Safety in Photos
Practitioners of SEA KAYAKING are a bunch of safety-conscious hoopy froods. We sass this because sea kayakers always talk about safety. For example, โYou just posted that video of the place I paddle. The video only showed calm water, but it gets crazy there. You should have introduced the video with a 15 minute safety talk about the dangers of paddling there when it gets crazy.โ Sea kayakers have conversations that stretch out into 100s of comments about how one advertisement showing calm water might lead someone to buy a recreational kayak and go paddling in 10-foot waves. They debate the merits of self-rescues and then they debate them again. Sea kayakers come up withโฆ
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Upper Iowa River Canoe Trip Report
The first weekend of May is the annual Northstar Experience canoe trip. Each year Northstar Canoes invites people who own Northstar canoes or Bell canoes to come paddle a river somewhere in the Midwest. This year was on the Upper Iowa River in northeastern Iowa. I attended two days of the event to take photos, connect with friends and make new ones and enjoy paddling with the Northstar community. The Upper Iowa The Upper Iowa is a river that I paddled several times when I was living in Iowa. Itโs one of the best midwestern rivers and used to make Canoe and Kayak Magazineโs top 20 river trip lists. Itโsโฆ
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NOCโs Grand Canyon Adventure
The NOC recently sent over a deal that I can offer you. Itโs $500 off of their Grand Canyon Adventure. It runs August 28th to September 10th. Hereโs their description: This classic rafting and kayaking adventure traverses through the entire length of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, 226 river miles, starting at at Leeโs Ferry and ending at Diamond Creek. Designed for active adults and families with children ages 12+ to paddle exciting rapids amongst magnificent cliffs, explore hidden coves, and camp on pristine sandy beaches as we boat throughout the canyon corridor. Each day will be an adventure filled with paddling, hiking to waterfalls and staying inโฆ
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2024 PaddlingLight Update
Itโs 2024 and PaddlingLight is still kicking away. Itโs been 20 years of blogging about paddling on PaddlingLight and before that Nessmuking and before that on a different website. Itโs hard to believe, but this is one of the longest lasting blogs about paddling on the internet. Iโm almost a grey beard now, so I should get really good at rolling my sea kayak soon. Anyway, I have thoughtsโฆ Blogging over Marketing As Iโve expressed before, I think that social media ended up wrecking the golden age of blogging. There used to be a bunch of different paddling blogs bouncing ideas off of each other. Now, itโs just a fewโฆ
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Canoe and Kayak Building Resources
Building resources for wooden canoe and kayak homebuilders.
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Telling a Good Canoe and Kayak Adventure Story
Years ago, I took time to analyze the story structure of different types of canoe and kayak adventures that were published in various magazines. I wanted to be able to pitch the types of stories that the editors were buying, and I wanted to be able to do it in the formats they were accepting. I ended up identify three different types of stories: Trip Reports, Autobiographical Trip Reports Focusing on a Global Issue, and a Biography. There were more types of stories, but these three were the most interesting to me. I outlined each of the different scenes that were used to tell the story. Iโve used these outlinesโฆ
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