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An Ode to Beaver Dams
We paddlers don’t give beavers enough credit. When we come to a beaver dam that blocks our way, we know it’s going to be a haul over. Often in remote canoe locations, paddlers will have tried to break the dam to make it easier to paddle through. But, we don’t give beavers enough credit. Despite the slight inconvenience of maybe getting your feet wet as you pull your canoe over a beaver dam, beavers, a keystone species that important for the health of environment, create these wonders of the world and create helpful habitat for all sorts of species. They create wetlands by engineering a dam and raising the water…
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NRS Pivot Drysuit Review
Since last August, I’ve been using the NRS Pivot Drysuit for kayaking. This is the second NRS drysuit that I’ve used, and my wife owns a NRS Women’s Crux. So, I was familiar with their drysuits before I got this one. Even though my last two drysuits were Kokatat and I loved them, I felt like I needed to give something else a try. The Pivot with its rear entry looked awesome. So, I went for it. With a significant amount of time spent in the Pivot, here’s my NRS Pivot Drysuit Review. NRS Pivot Drysuit Features The NRS Pivot Drysuit’s main standout feature is the TIZIP® MasterSeal zipper on…
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Top 10 Outdoor Podcasts
In these Uncertain Times, a good podcast can mean… Don’t you hate it when companies lead with “in these uncertain times?” I do. If you’re like the rest of humanity, you’re probably listening to too much news or reading too much news on the internet. You need a break. I need a break. We all need a break. I typically listen to a lot of political podcasts, but right now I’m kinda sick of everything, so my retreat as I shelter at home is to listen to outdoor podcasts and hang out in my garage looking at my canoes and kayaks. What do I listen to? I listen to my…
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Free Boundary Waters Guidebook
Stuck inside somewhere waiting to be released, dreaming of adventures on the 1000s of lakes in northern Minnesota after they thaw or just someone who loves paddling? Then there’s a new free Boundary Waters guidebook for you. The Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness released The Friends’ Guide to the BWCA. The new guidebook is a free ebook available for download on The Friends’ website. If you don’t know the Boundary Waters, then you’re in for a treat. It’s a great treat, because these types of books usually run much more. For example, Exploring the Boundary Waters: A Trip Planner and Guide to the BWCAW runs $16. You can get…
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Jerry Vandiver Releases The Middle of Somewhere
If you have followed alone for awhile, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of Jerry Vandiver. I also consider him a friend. We paddled the Rio Grande together several years ago and have been on several other paddling trips together. He recently put out a new album of paddling-related songs called The Middle of Somewhere. In the past, I’ve interviewed Jerry and you can read that interview here. I’ve also reviewed his Every Scratch Tells A Story album. When you consider all things, I’m not really a music reviewer. I know what I like when it comes to music, and sometimes I can tell you why, but I’m not…
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When Avoiding COVID-19 Head to the Boundary Waters?
Last weekend Madison, Wisconsin was to hold the world’s largest annual paddlesport expo. Canoecopia, as it is called, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It seemed all but certain that the show would be cancelled, but people were waiting for the decision because just days prior to the show it was reported in Madison’s The Capital Times that the show would go on. On Thursday, Wisconsin Governor Evers gave guidance that gatherings should be restricted to 250 or fewer people and by Friday at 5pm, Evers banned gatherings of over 250 people. Between those two announcements, Canoecopia was cancelled. Had it gone on and caused infections, it might forever…
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Bear Goes Kayaking
Mike Magee sent me this picture of the model kayak that he built using the Siskiwit SOF drawings. He scaled down the drawings and built a kayak for his teddy bear. We think that President Teddy Roosevelt would be proud. Mike’s next step is to build a full-sized version of the kayak. While PaddlingLight only provides drawings and not building instructions, there are a couple of books out there for those that wish to try that. Robert Morris’ Building Skin-on-Frame Boats is a classic for your library. Fuselage Frame Boats A guide to building skin kayaks and Canoes or the updated More Fuselage Frame Boats by Jeff Horton are more…
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Best Gifts for Kayakers and Canoeists
It’s almost Black Friday again (or just the middle of summer and your favorite paddler’s birthday if somehow you googled this up and it wasn’t in November), and it’s time to come up with the latest and greatest and best gifts for kayakers and canoeists. This year has been a good one for paddlers and here are a few ideas AeroPress Go: If you’ve never used an AeroPress to make coffee, you are missing out. The AeroPress uses a pressurized tube to extract an espresso-like shot of java within about a minute of time. You add hot water to your cup and have a smooth cup of Americano. When I…
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Lightweight Camping Cookware for a Family of Three
When I used to solo canoe trip, it was easy to pick cookware. I’d just go with the lightest cookset that made sense for the time of year and trip. As my family has grown from one to three, I’ve found that it’s a little harder to balance lightweight camping cookware against ease of use and the desires of everyone on the trip. While I’m willing to forego special treats on a solo trip, it might make the night better for my kid if we have pudding after dinner. That means more lightweight camping cookware to haul along. The weight adds up. Still, we have managed to refine our selection…
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PaddlingLight News Update
Just a quick news update about the PaddlingLight website. Over the last year, I’ve been meaning to update the website to increase the speed and load times. I finally had a few days to do that, so before the craziness of my fall schedule kicked in I sat myself down into my office and worked on the website. This is step one of getting things updated around here. While doing that, I also made a few changes to the look of the website. It’s basically the same-ish look but with a slightly more compact design with a simpier color scheme. Hopefully, I also increased readability. Let me know if you…
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Photography and Paddling Mix in My New Video
The other morning, I paddled out to a location that I’ve wanted to photograph at sunrise for a couple of years. I paddled about 20 to 30 minutes in the dark and landed under cloudy skies. I thought it was going to be a big bust. In the end, the clouds broke up and the sunrise was amazing! Pictures below. The video I made from the morning is a mix of paddling and photography. Most of my photography is landscape photography, but if I’m traveling by canoe or kayak I’ll put a canoe or kayak into the landscape. It’s a combination of the two activities that I love most. I…
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Sag to Seagull Route Trip Report
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Sag to Seagull route is a short trip that can be broken into an easy multi-day trip or a long day trip. It consists of paddling across two large lakes, through many islands and across three small lakes. There are three easy portages. At higher water levels, you can skip one and maybe two of the portages. The route passes through areas of the BWCA that burned at least once in recent years. We recently paddled the Sag to Seagull route over four days and three nights. Most of the days consisted of short paddles between campsites and then lazy days in the campsite…
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Siskiwit LV Launched
Ralph M. recently completed a Siskiwit LV build. Here’s what he wrote: I put my just completed Siskiwit in the water (Puget Sound) for the first time on Thursday evening. It is a wonderful boat; stability and handling exactly as you said. Excellent response to leaned turns, a bit of skeg as needed. With skeg all the way down it obediently heads downwind. I had whitecaps building up, modest chop, a good first test for an old guy with back problems. Weight is a bit under 40 pounds. Thank you for a really good design. Here are a few photos that he took of his kayak. It’s a…
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Sawyer Bug Spray Review: Better than DEET?
What a year to test out a new bug spray and do a Sawyer Bug Spray review. This year has been buggy. I live in northern Minnesota where the state bird is the mosquito and where black flies like to rip into your flesh to drink of your blood — like vampires. Seriously. We have no-see-ums as well as biting flies of all varieties. In a normal year, it’s hard to mow the lawn for about a week or so, because you’ll have 1,000 bugs swarming around you. This year, it was a full month of hard lawn mowing. At points, you didn’t want to be outside. We have a…
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What I Carry on my Life Vest for Kayaking
What you carry on your life vest for kayaking varies based on personal choice and what you use your vest for. But, many beginners or intermediate paddlers skip carrying gear on their vest in favor of throwing it into a day hatch. That can be a bad choice. As the Coast Guard says, “If it isn’t on you, you don’t have it.” As an example of what to carry, I present to you what I carry on my life vest for kayaking. Vest fit is personal, but also a bit of a compromise with features. The vest that fit me best only had one tight pocket and made it impossible…
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