No Parking
Published January 24, 2012 | 
Now here’s the real problem with outdoor recreation during the winter months… No parking. Oh sure, the roads get plowed. Even that crazy road that climbs the hill to nowhere gets plowed. The driveway at the dentist’s office gets plowed. I mean, who really wants to go there?? And you can bet that some dude in a 4×4 will be up at 3am plowing the drive-through lane at the fast food joint. Neither rain, nor snow, nor heat, nor hail (Not even the gloom of night!) will keep us from our daily Big Mac.. Continue reading
The Season of Sticks
Published January 5, 2012 | 
The brown season is upon us here in central Wisconsin. Well, it’s nearly brown, mostly brown, primarily brown. Yes, there’s some snow, some ostracized bits of white clinging to the edges of the roads and hugging the walking trails. These miniature mountainous ranges of white are all that is left to remind us of this season’s occasional short snowfalls. Snow that had not been pushed or plowed into serpentine heaps has long since receded into the earth. Occasionally hidden in the shadows of the forest or tucked at the foot of the tall prairie grass, a small smattering of snow remains, just enough to make anyone who complains of having “no snow” a liar. Continue reading
Posted in Nature & Wildlife, Outdoor Recreation, Quixotica, Random Thoughts | 
autumn, hiking, winter | 
Leave a commentSomething 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
Another 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.
Everybody Pogie!
Published October 18, 2011 | 
Sit beside the breakfast table
Think about your troubles
Pour yourself a cup of tea
And think about the bubbles – Nilsson
It’s pogie season again. It’s not necessarily that the water is too cold. It’s not that the air is freezing yet either. It’s the combination of wet hands and wind that’ll get ya. Now, let me go all “Back-in-the-day” on you for a minute. I’ve been paddling for a while now. Nearly 10 years. Being based here in Wisconsin, I feel like I’ve tried nearly every freaking glove the paddling industry has to offer. None, let me repeat that, none, have keep my hands warm on a cold, winter day paddle. Go look at the cost of heavy-duty winter paddling gloves and you’ll see that this is a very expensive failure. The silver bullet for me was a combination of Pogies and SealSkinz paddling gloves. Continue reading
Snowshoes Stop You From Sinking
Published January 7, 2011 | 
We’re workin’ our jobs, collect our pay
Believe we’re gliding down the highway, when in fact we’re slip sliding away
– p. simon
My snowshoe journey continued yesterday as I took my first silly steps through the local state park. One thing I learned, the most obvious thing, is that snowshoes stop you from sinking. My hiking partner without snowshoes, (And substantially less um, sturdy than I am, I may add!) sank about 5 inches into the virgin snow of the abandon Northern Lights campground. With my cool new snowshoes under foot, I sank maybe an inch or two at most. Well, that’s what they are made for right? Continue reading
O.K. So let me be honest here. I’m dreaming of summer. I’ll admit it. I don’t know what ever came over our silly ancestors as the continued to move north way back in the day. Sure, it was probably summer as they traveled further and further north toward the top of the earth. At first, things probably seemed pretty sweet. What more could you ask for than open fertile land, lots of animals and air conditioning? Yeah, but come November they had to be thinking, “What the hell are we still doing here?” Next thing you know they were all huddled in caves around a dwindling fire and just hoping the meat would hold out. And they stayed?! Idiots! Continue reading →