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Sea to Summit Wilderness Wipes Review
Back in the good old days, I had a sponsorship for an expedition from Action Wipes, which were basically great-smelling, oversized baby wipes originally designed for post-love-making sessions. Since then a number of other companies have come up with something similar, including Sea to Summit Wilderness wipes. Sea to Summit designed the Wilderness Wipes were specifically for the outdoors. The Wilderness Wipes allow you to “shower” when you’re out on a wilderness trip and don’t want to jump in a lake. They’re made from extra thick soft fabric and designed to be gentle on your rugged exterior. You can compost them when you get home. The wipes contain aloe vera…
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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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The Best Boots for Canoeing
My go-to boot for shoulder season day tripping has always been the NRS Boundary Shoe. But, on longer trips, especially those without a dry suit, I’ve found the shoes to be too flexible for portages and not waterproof enough for long days. They weren’t the best boots for canoeing, especially during the shoulder season. I polled my friends and fellow paddlers, some of who have spent years guiding canoe trips and have paddled on expeditions all around the world, about what boots they typically used for this. They recommended the following most often: Xtratufs Legacy, Kamik Bushman and Muck Wetlands. The criteria for the best boots for canoeing was as…
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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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Skeeter Beater Magnetic Vehicle Window Screens Review
I’d hate to admit this but since I bought a Subaru Outback, I tend to sleep inside the car more than I front-country camp anymore. It’s far more convenient unless I’m camping in the same spot for several days. That doesn’t happen as often as it used to. The car gets stuffy without the windows down, so during bug season it’s good to have mosquito netting to cover the windows. This last summer, North Fork Gear sent me a set of Skeeter Beater Magnetic Vehicle Window Screens to review. The Skeeter Beater Magnetic Vehicle Window Screens allow you have open your car’s windows while providing protection from biting bugs. Made…
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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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Trekology Ultralight Camping Pillow Review
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been experimenting with different pillow options that range from Hyperlite Mountain Gear Stuff Sack Pillow to stuffing clothing into the sleeves of my coats. Nothing has been comfortable. So, when searching for inflatable pillows, I came across an inexpensive option that was well reviewed on Amazon. It’s the Trekology Ultralight Camping Pillow. This is my brief Trekology Ultralight Camping Pillow Review. Description The Trekology Ultralight Camping Pillow is technically called the Aluft 2.0. It’s $16 on Amazon. It is an inflatable pillow. It takes three to five breaths to completely inflate. When inflated, it’s about 17 inches by 11 inches and about 4…
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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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Fenix PD36R Flashlight Review
Having a bright flashlight with you on a paddling trip, especially when night paddling, can make a difference between being able to navigate and being able to be seen while on the water and not. In the U.S. if you paddle at night, the U.S. Coast Guard requires that you carry a bright, white light to point at other boats as needed. The ideal flashlight will be bright, light and watertight. To that end, I was recently able to checkout a new flashlight by Fenix. This is my Fenix PD36R Flashlight Review. The Fenix PD36R is an USB-C rechargeable flashlight with a maximum brightness of 1600 lumens out to the…
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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…
