Something In The Water
Published December 30, 2011 | 
Each year when the ice is beginning to form on inland lakes there is still time for the hearty paddler to get in a few good days on the water. You simply need to be more cautious. Not only should you be properly dressed for the occasion, but you also need to keep your eye out for nearly transparent floating obstacles. Paddling along at a good clip, floating ice can be nearly invisible. An awkward run up the side of one of these floating chucks or even a direct hit can quickly send an unprepared paddler right over. Most of us would call that a bad day at best. Continue reading
Frog Bay Tribal National Park
Published December 28, 2011 | 
The Red Cliff Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa are creating a nearly 90 acre Tribal National Park on the northern tip of Wisconsin with a quarter-mile beach looking out on to the Apostle Islands. Kayakers & hikers alike will of course be celebrating access to a new section of shoreline, of course they may need to wait a while. According to reports the park will not open to the public until August of 2012 at the very earliest. Still, good news all around.
More:
- Map
- Public National Park Is A Tribal First – Wisconsin State Journal
- State’s Red Cliff Chippewa to open park to public – Green Bay Press Gazette
On this last day
Published December 27, 2011 | 
The morning dawn of December 25th broke coldly over the southeastern horizon just as it should. It is winter after all! I know the days are getting longer now, but that doesn’t provide much comfort… or heat for that matter. Still, the forecast was calling for a nice sunny day, near 40f. If it hadn’t been Christmas I’d have been tempted to complete my hundred miles around Devil’s Lake in the warmth of the afternoon sun. As it was, I needed to get back home before the family started arriving to open those packages. Continue reading
GTS
Published December 21, 2011 | 
Hello. Welcome to the first “official” day of winter, and to everybody’s favorite game show, GLOVES THAT SUCK! (Cheers! Clapping!) Yes, Yes.. Alright, Thank you!! Yes, this is GLOVES THAT SUCK and today we’ll be introducing you to these grey beauties.. yes they’re thick, they’re restrictive, and what’s more, they will let your finger tips get nice and wet. Now we all know what happens when you restrict movement, restrict blood flow, and keep your fingers wet on a cold winter day don’t we!? That’s right.. Cold burning fingers!! Maybe even a bit of the ole’ frostbite!! You know what we say, when we get gloves that don’t keep our hands warm don’t we? Everybody now.. THESE GLOVES SUCK! Tune in next time when we talk to a nice pair of cotton mittens who make their home in Brixton, London, UK… They really, really SUC… Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
Posted in More Gear Reviews, Outdoor Recreation, Paddle Gear, Paddling | 
paddling gloves | 
10 CommentsWaterline
Published December 20, 2011 | 
It’s that time of year. You know, the time of year when you finally get to catch up on all the video games you bought but never played, and dig in to all those old episodes of Ghost Adventures.. Frankly, I love Ghost Adventures. This show has single-handily proved to me that ghosts don’t exist and what’s more, it’s educational… What better program could you ask for to teach your child all about critical thinking? Yeah, well.. Between the ”how-did-you-get-that?” EVPs and that ghostly Ovilus language database thingy… Continue reading
Counting Geese
Published December 13, 2011 | 
It’s a good thing that I only have a couple more days left on my 100 mile paddle at Devil’s Lake State Park, the amount of open water on the lake is shrinking each day. For the moment, the massive number of Canada geese hanging out at the park seem happy with the expanding ice. Geese are commonplace around here of course, and it’s not hard to find someone who hates them for the noise they make and the messes they leave behind. Still, to my mind, anytime we can witness such large numbers of animals in the wild is really a gift. We’ve been there before; bison, passenger pigeons, cranes, just to name a few. It’s just too easy to deem animals as pests and let the hunt begin.. Honestly, I could never imagine humans wiping out Canada geese.. I mean… Seriously?? But history tell us that we should never be too sure of ourselves…
“Is it worth risking your life for a fish?” Good question from a spokesman for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission a day after authorities rescued 6.. Let that sink in… 6, Again, 6! capsized fisherman from Chesapeake Bay a couple weeks back. [ Read the full story here. ] No wonder there are so many folks who think kayaking is crazy. Well, no. What’s crazy is going out into potentially dangerous situations without any clue how to deal with it if something goes wrong. In the vernacular of the day, “Really?” Continue reading →