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
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…
27
Published November 29, 2011 | 
Did you know that Canoecopia tickets are already available for 2012? Ticket prices went up for 2012, but if you get on your horse you can save a bit by purchasing yours online right away. I’m assuming you already know that Canoecopia is the countries largest paddle sports expo and is held each year in Madison, Wisconsin. This year’s dates are March 9th – 11th. I’ll see you there.. somewhere…
Meanwhile 45 miles to the north of Madison, I spend my Thanksgiving day paddling around Devil’s Lake… Surprise, Surprise!! That marked day 27 leaving me only 7 days to go to hit my 100 mile goal. Now I’m actually dragging my heels to get my last day in as near to the end of the year as possible. I think it would be sweet to wrap up on New Year’s eve day… It’s all up to old man winter at this point. I posted a small gallery of pics from Thanksgiving day over on Flickr. (Click Here) Nice moody day, Canada Geese, Bald Eagle… great day to be on the water!
Posted in Events & Symposia, My Paddling, Paddling | 
canoecopia, devils lake, wisconsin | 
Leave a commentAnother day…
Published November 10, 2011 | 
Only 10 days left and I’ll finally have my 100 miles down. Good thing too because winter is nipping right at my tail. I posted the story of yesterday’s snowy paddle, along with a 3 minute video clip over at DevilsLakeWisconsin.com. Here’s the link.
Bad Weather
Published November 9, 2011 | 
“Seems you only paddle in wind and bad weather”, that was something someone said to me yesterday when I was launching my kayak for Day 23 of my Devil’s Lake paddle. I thought to myself, “Where were you yesterday?”. The day before the skies were blue, there was no wind and for November, it wasn’t a bad day at all. Thing is, once people feel like they have you pegged.. that’s it. I’m the guy who only paddles in “bad” weather. Continue reading
Cold Purple Toes
Published October 26, 2011 | 
Such a beautiful color I wear upon my skin
And a perfect shade of purple on a flower permanent
- pop evil
It’s getting cold. Day 19 down and some 40ish miles to go. Well, I shouldn’t say it’s cold exactly, it’s not “winter paddling purple toes cold”. It’s that slowly seeping sort of cold that sneaks up on you over time. In fact, today I re-learned an old lesson about dealing with cold weather paddling. Keeping your feet warm can be tricky, and it’s not always about the gear. Continue reading
Pour
Published September 26, 2011 | 
You know what they say about cross-country skiing don’t you? It’s fantastic as long as your dress for it! It’s the same for paddling of course, especially when the floodgates of heaven open up over your head! I’m seriously loving my Kokatat GOR-TEX Anorak. (I’d really be loving my Romany as well, if it weren’t getting about 3 cups of water in the back every time I paddle!!)
Today, by 8am I was again heading out into Devil’s lake to take a few more miles. 82 to go. I got started on this silly quest when the local Friends of Devil’s Lake State Park held a summer long “Hike 100″ event to celebrate the park’s centennial year. Hey, I’m all for anything to get people out and exercising, but how could they leave out paddling?? Grrrrr! Well, Day 6 is in the bag… a wet, drippy bag!
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