July 2 – 7, 2017 … my first time at Week of Rivers near Bryson City, North Carolina. This annual event is hosted by the Carolina Canoe Club. I’ve heard stories from my Wisconsin paddling friends about this event, so this year I decided to give it a try. It […]
Category: camping
Camper Quest Part 4: Hello, TRAK Kayaks
I’m doing it. I’m joining one of the world’s oldest professions. No, not THAT one. The profession I’m talking about is called piloting. I’m pleased to announce I have been selected as a Pilot for TRAK Kayaks. “Pilot” is the moniker given to TRAK’s hand-picked product ambassadors. TRAK describes the […]
Camper Quest Part 3: Our First RV Rental
Well, our first RV rental experience has come and gone. And guess what … we didn’t hate it. In fact, we enjoyed it. A lot. As I mentioned last time, we’re exploring buying an RV so we used the website Outdoorsy.co to rent one. We flew to Southern California’s Orange […]
Camper Quest Part 2: Rent Before You Buy
Last week I introduced here the topic of our Camper Quest — our search to find the perfect (or at least acceptable) solution to expand our kayaking world via the RV lifestyle. I’ve been doing a ton of research on the topic because RV’s ain’t cheap. Before we fork over […]
Camper Quest Part 1: Expanding Our Kayaking World with an RV
My wife and I have been kayakers for about 12 years. Over the years, as we paddled rivers, Great Lakes and oceans, I expanded my knowledge and love of kayaking and today I share it with others as an instructor and volunteer. These days Lake Michigan is literally in our […]
Kayak trip leaders learn the ropes
Fellow level 4 kayak instructor Bill Merrick and I spent two days this week at Gardner Dam Boy Scout Camp helping six kayakers attain their ACA level 1 kayak instructor certification. The candidates are preparing for their summer jobs as guides for kayak camping trips in the Apostle Islands and […]
Black River Narrows Trip Report
By guest blogger John Hart The temperature dipped little by little, hour by hour as I drew closer to the shore of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. With every drop in temperature my excitement ticked up a notch, knowing I was getting closer to the start of an amazing […]
Try prescription-strength Nature
A good message for bug- and snake-haters and other lovers of the indoors. Link to video Link to video 2
Island Hopping on Lake Michigan
This past weekend I paddled and camped a portion of what might one day be America’s newest national park. There’s an effort underway to place The Grand Traverse Islands — — islands and some surrounding mainland from Wisconsin’s Door County to Upper Michigan’s Garden Peninsula — under control of the […]
Return to Isle Royale
You never forget the first time you see Isle Royale. For me it was back in the late 1970s (yeah I’m old) on a beautiful late summer’s day. We were 50 miles from Thunder Bay, about to enter Canada when we rounded a bend. In the distance, across the sparkling […]