-
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.
-
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.
-
Cross Bands by Grifiti: When is a stuff sack not a stuff sack?
The Cross Bands by Grifiti, costing $1.79, are heavy-duty rubber bands that hold a pot and lid together, reducing weight by 0.3 ounces. They prevent lid rattle and fit items like the Vargo Titanium Ti-Lite 750 Mug. This gear enhances efficiency and reduces small annoyances on trips.
-
Sea Gull Lake Trip Report
Last weekend, we camped at the Trail’s End Campground at the end of the Gunflint Trail. It’s near several entry points into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It’s also a great place to camp and photograph. If you’re into photography, check out my photography map for the campground area. It’s a popular campground due to its closeness to popular entry points and its remoteness, so you’ll 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 #26…
-
Sea to Summit Spark 15°F Sleeping Bag First Look
I’m excited that I get to test the Sea to Summit Spark 15°F (-9°C) sleeping bag this season. They sent it for review. If you haven’t heard of this bag, it’s an lightweight down sleeping bag made by Sea to Summit. It’s claimed weight is 1 pound 9.7 ounces (730g). At that weight, it is in the weight range of quilts. This is my initial impression after using it for two short trips. Later this year, I’ll post a final review after I get about 30 nights on it. Unboxing When I pulled this bag out of the shipping box, I got excited just from the storage bag. Usually, sleeping…
-
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.
-
Sea Kayaking Grand Marais’ Harbor
Each summer, I enjoy sea kayaking from Grand Marais’ 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.
-
Simple Plate for Front Country Camping
The 10" Plastic Kids' Square Divided Plate by Pillowfort, sold at Target, costs $1 and is now $0.85 on sale. It’s lightweight, BPA-free, dishwasher safe, and microwave safe for reheating. Available singly or in sets, it effectively separates food. Its limited colors and separate spork purchase are drawbacks. Highly recommended for camping.
-
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 there’s a short portage into Axe Lake which is just north of Homer. The lake also has offers two campsites. There’s one inside the wilderness and one outside the wilderness. I’ve 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 of…
-
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, “You 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.” 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 with…
-
Sea to Summit Frontier Ultralight Two Pot Cook Set First Look
Sea to Summit released an updated collection of cookware earlier this year, and I got my hands on a review copy of the new Sea to Summit Frontier Ultralight Two Pot Cook Set (Get it direct from Sea to Summit). I’ll be using this over the summer on family camping trips. To make that work, they also sent me an extra Passage Bowl and Cup. This is my first look at the system. I’ll follow-up with a full review after using them for the season. Sea to Summit has been making some interesting gear that has peaked my curiosity. For example, last year the new Sea to Summit 50L Big…
-
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. It’s one of the best midwestern rivers and used to make Canoe and Kayak Magazine’s top 20 river trip lists. It’s…
-
Rocky Talkie 5 Watt GMRS Radio First Look
Rocky Talkie has a new GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) radio that has IP67 waterproofing, which means it’s waterproof to 3 feet (1 meter) for one hour. It also claims a long battery life of five days and offers 5-watts of power, which in theory will give a range of over 35 miles in optimal conditions, but more likely two to eight in the real world. For paddlers, the claimed range on a river is a half to three miles. Rocky Talkie sent over a pair for testing and I’ll be testing these over the paddling season. Here are my initial impressions. Unboxing the Rocky Talkie 5 Watt Radio The…
-
NOC’s Grand Canyon Adventure
The NOC recently sent over a deal that I can offer you. It’s $500 off of their Grand Canyon Adventure. It runs August 28th to September 10th. Here’s 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 Lee’s 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 in…
-
2024 PaddlingLight Update
It’s 2024 and PaddlingLight is still kicking away. It’s been 20 years of blogging about paddling on PaddlingLight and before that Nessmuking and before that on a different website. It’s hard to believe, but this is one of the longest lasting blogs about paddling on the internet. I’m almost a grey beard now, so I should get really good at rolling my sea kayak soon. Anyway, I have thoughts… Blogging over Marketing As I’ve 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, it’s just a few…
