Archive for the ‘outdoor recreation’ Category

Paddler on Lake Michigan at the Door County Sea Kayak Symposium. Door County, Wisconsin.

In the last “Paddling From The Beginning” post I gave you just some of the reasons we paddle.  Today I want to talk just a bit about paddling for fitness.. for us average non-super athletic types.

I’ll never forget reading an interview with Israeli expedition paddler Hadas Feldman where she said something to the effect that she had to go on a major expedition every so often to simply avoid getting fat.  Obviously she wasn’t serious, but that’s athleticism I understand!  Certainly there are paddlers who go for the most efficient strokes, amazing speeds and all that. Bless their little souls! But most of us define fitness by simply staying active, alive and not getting too fat! Read the rest of this entry »

*Please listen to the doors for 24.3 seconds before watching this video or reading this post.. You pick the tune.

Now I absolutely refuse to comment on this image or the guy in the red shirt.  It’s more than my life is worth!.. What I can say is that anyone involved in the outdoor recreation industry or for that matter any businesses interested in how to make social media work for them, should know these folks.  You can start by watching the  “Boots on the Ground” is the first of a series of “unofficial” social media panel discussion here.  Besides if you watch it, you won’t have to listen to me tell you the same stuff. As they say it’s easier to to bring the mountain to… or climb to.. or those who buy Mohammad a beer will certainly… Anyway, I forgot.  But the point of this blog was that I’m deleting my KayakQuixotica Twitter account in favor of my Skillet Creek Twitter account.. It’s just that well.. you know.. It may be a bit too hyper-local for some.. but even most of my outdoor life is well, hyper local…

* Yes, I did steal this screen shot from the video and may burn in hell for an indefinite period of time.  If however if you are the owner of this video and you’d like to save my soul or have me remove this image, please speak now.

She’s Breaking Up Captain!

So I’ve not been paddling in awhile. It’s not easy to do when the ice is 10 inches thick on the local waterways! Normally I would spend this time of year on the blog going off into weird corners and endlessly rehashing warmed over paddling topics.  I mean if you want to know why I wear a Kokatat MSFit or paddle this kayak over that one.. just search the site.  I’ve written on this subjects ad nauseum over the years. This year I’m dedicated to staying off that treadmill and spending my time writing on a more diverse list of topics over on my Skillet Creek Journal.  So if you don’t see anything here on a give day, feel free to come over and see what’s going on there.  Right now I’m on about preservation of the Lower Wisconsin River Waterway.  A bit of a paddler topic too if you think about it.  But then there’s that whole rant about the new Stratego! That’s the thing after all.  We’re not all about one subject and as much as we can try to be we’ll find ourselves losing containment…

I’ll be back to all things paddling soon enough mind you.. when the ice starts to melt and air as well as the topic, are once again fresh!!

Jack, do you never sleep — does the green still run deep in your heart?
Or will these changing times, motorways, powerlines,
keep us apart?
Well, I don’t think so —
I saw some grass growing through the pavements today.
Tull

Today on my Skillet Creek Journal I’m contemplating nature’s end.  Sometimes I when we ride the train we spend so much time involved in looking out the window, complaining about the food, and reading the newspaper that we never actually consider that the ride will soon end.  I think this is why conservation is both a hopeless endeavor, and yet an important act of desperation.  Sea kayakers are lucky in a sense. No matter how many humans we fill the land with there should always be oceans and wind to create waves. Even if all the sea life is long dead.

So today I’m on about a bit of local outdoor/nature related politics.  Where I live we have massive amounts of protected lands.  Most of it is owned by a mix of government and private agencies and is wonderfully open to the public.  Thing is, the local government sees all this land, especially the non-profit owned land, as a curse. Something many of us in the outdoor industry would call short sighted.  Well, after a rescue last fall on land owned by the Nature Conservancy the local town board is now meeting with attorneys to figure out how to send the bill to non-profit land owners that allow public access.  You can see where this is going… Read more here.

To a very young child outdoor adventure means running. Running and throwing stones.  Running, throwing stones, & crushing leaves between your fingers. Adventure is the sound of the wind rushing through dry old oak leaves dancing high above your head.  Adventure is watching a jet silently race across a deep blue autumn sky. To a child, adventure is simply doing something else.  Something fun.  Adventure is thinking about things you’ve never thought about before.  Adventure is belly laughter on a very bumpy road. Adventure is always part of your day. Adventure begins pretty much wherever you happen to be.  Sometimes, it’s worth remembering.

Nothing remains  / We could run / when the rain slows
Look for the cars or signs of life  / Where the heat goes
Look for the drifters / We should crawl under the bracken
Look for the shafts of light on the road
Where the heat goes – bowie

So the idea is to take 3 pictures and sort of mush them together in a way that adds way more data & depth than an average photograph.  Normally this “HDR” or High Dynamic Range photography produces wildly surreal images.  Much of that of course is due to the artistic whims of the photographer who has endless opportunity to tweek the images during processing.  I’ve never really messed with HDR myself. For me most of the enjoyment of photography is in the moment and trying to capture the minds eye as it were (A hopeless task from the start I might add.).  I’ll certainly edit images  in Photoshop, but my joy is camera in hand. Still, I’m also driven to know how things are done, which sent me out to give HDR a go myself yesterday. Only the challenge I set for myself was to make it look well, real.  Then once I got started I totally adjusted my thinking. Yeah, that’s just like me!

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