How to define a seal launch? Generally, it involves sliding or falling off the shoreline and dropping into the river. This non-exhaustive list of fail videos (with some rare successes) leaves us with the lasting takeaway that most boats—and paddlers—are not suitable for seal launching. Enjoy.
1. Someone get this paddler a helmet—please.
2. How to seal-launch a canoe. Step one: Don’t.
3. How to win the respect of friends, family, and most importantly, the internet.
Caught in a sea of clouds on Mount Spinx (7,880 feet), peaks float off in the distance in the Coastal Mountain range of British Columbia. For lighter weight inflatable sleeping pads, see page 30. | Photo: Jimmy Martinello
High above a sea of clouds, this was our first bivy spot on a four-day alpine adventure with inflatable standup paddleboards. We were here to explore the outer reaches of British Columbia’s Garibaldi Provincial Park on a route linking 30 miles of mountain peaks, glaciers, rivers and lakes. Nestled between the towns of Whistler and Squamish, this park is an area full of wildlife, covered in old-growth forest, and surrounded by beautiful lakes, jagged mountains and multiple glacier systems.
For decades I have been exploring these mountain peaks, but a route linking up the multiple summits I had dreamed about wasn’t feasible due to lengthy hiking distances. Inflatable paddleboards would allow us to directly cross the big lakes and grant easy access to more remote mountains. Of course, the tradeoff was a lot of extra weight.
The five of us each carried roughly 80 pounds each. Our packs contained all the regular backpacking essentials, plus paddling gear and ice ax, crampons and rope for glacier travel. I don’t think anyone has done a route quite like this here before.
Our first camp spot on Spinx col, captured in this photo, had a 360-view of mountain peaks and the ocean stretching out far into the distance. Our bodies ached from the 17-hour hike and paddle the day prior, but the hard work paid off with this view—we felt like we were on an island in the sky. A thousand meters below, we could still see Garibaldi Lake, where we started the day before, crossing its spectacular, turquoise-colored glassy waters at sunrise.
Our four-day route scaled the top of Mount Carr (8,500 feet), as well as stunning Mount Davidson (8,255 feet), and crossed the Sphinx and Chekamus glaciers. Hiking a total of 16,500 feet of elevation over the four days was tough.
Each time we reached a new alpine lake, we pulled out the boards we’d been hauling, blew them up and then dipped our paddles into the clear water.
Caught in a sea of clouds on Mount Spinx (7,880 feet), peaks float off in the distance in the Coastal Mountain range of British Columbia. For lighter weight inflatable sleeping pads, read 5 Best Sleeping Pads For Kayak And Canoe Camping. | Photo: Jimmy Martinello
There are only three words that come to mind: Totally worth it. Each night we’d inflate our boards again to create makeshift sleeping pads. Every camp was a memorable one, perched out under the stars and catching the first and last light of illuminating sunsets and sunrises.
We finished our quest by paddling across Cheakamus Lake at sunset—not a ripple in the water other than our boards gliding across the smooth glass. The mountain peaks reflected all around us, reminding us of how lucky we are—and that nothing worth doing is easy. After a decade of dreaming about this route, the inflatable boards made this one-of-a-kind alpine adventure possible.
This article was first published in Paddling Magazine Issue 64. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions here, or download the Paddling Magazine app and browse the digital archives here.
Jimmy Martinello is a freelance photographer based in British Columbia’s Sea To Sky corridor. His work has been published in National Geographic, Outside, and Rock And Ice.
Caught in a sea of clouds on Mount Spinx (7,880 feet), peaks float off in the distance in the Coastal Mountain range of British Columbia. For lighter weight inflatable sleeping pads, read 5 Best Sleeping Pads For Kayak And Canoe Camping. | Photo: Jimmy Martinello
The goal is to die with memories, not dreams. | Photo: David Jackson
I’ve got a bone to pick and a paddle to break. Over the years, I have read well over 100 adventure narratives, contemporary and historical. In the genre of paddling books, it seems there is an increasing number of grunt trips topping the list of bestsellers, with all the associated radio interviews and eyeballs following online. These tales focus on vast distances covered at speed, with little room for the inclusion of place, history or culture. In this genre, every page reads the same: blood-sucking bugs, crotch-deep in mud, boils on the feet, blisters on the hands.
A couple of bestselling paddling authors may come to mind.
It isn’t the journey itself I take issue with—it’s the not-so-hidden, look-at-me you-can’t-do-this message in the retelling. Friend and veteran paddler Bert Horwood calls this genre of man-against-river writing paddling porn. I call it the bravado-grunt narrative.
These endurance-focused stories tend to focus around categories of first, fastest or longest. Being the first to do something, the fastest to do it, or traveling the farthest distance. One problem for canoeists today is there aren’t many objective firsts remaining.
“I am the first person to do X!” someone might proclaim. They might well be. However, firsts achieved nowadays tend to be obscure and artificial—like being the first to solo circumnavigate the Great Lakes paddling backward. They’re challenges that seem, well, a little pointless.
A recent canoe expedition sponsored by the Royal Canadian Geographic Society paddled south to north in Labrador. On their first day, the group traveled 51 kilometers. The trip was billed a first. And it might well have been, especially given the lay of the land and that water runs mostly west to east. Traveling against the flow of the rivers and landforms has no historical context or purpose, other than that it’s a first.
“I revel in the punishment,” one paddling author writes. Pardon me if I’ve missed some philosophical insight into self-imposed suffering. To each his or her own, of course, but there are implications. Is punishment some expedition benchmark to strive for?
Paddlers claiming new routes are often proclaimed explorers—by themselves or media—and sometimes even claim discoveries made along the way, like new rivers or waterfalls, for example. That raises cultural concerns. Such findings tend to overlook the much-traveled nature of our waterways. After all, people have lived on this continent for millennia. More than likely, rivers-without-chroniclers were common routes for Indigenous peoples in a planned trade rendezvous network, or part of food gathering, fur trade and trapping travel. A little humility, please.
The goal is to die with memories, not dreams. | Photo: David Jackson
My friend, Phil Mullins, and many outdoor educators these days, will wisely tell us that we paddle in peopled and contested landscapes, not untouched wilderness. Show me a new route discovered, and with the right observational skills, someone else can show you tent rings, ax blaze marks on faint trails and the remnants of campfires.
Speed travel is another hallmark of the bravado-grunt narrative. When asked how long a particular trip should take, respected guide and co-owner of Saskatchewan’s Churchill River Canoe Outfitters, Ric Driediger, likes to reply, “It should take as long as possible.” Similarly, when Bill Mason was asked why he paddled those “slow wood-canvas Prospector canoes,” he liked to respond, “Why would I want to go fast?”
Many spend a great deal of time prepping for a trip and perhaps traveling a far distance to get there, only to arrive and do it as fast as possible. No time to fish, hike to a prominent viewpoint, stop for a great campsite, swim in a waterfall pool, jump off a cliff, chat with a passerby canoeist or visit a historical cabin or pictograph site. You know, the spice of paddling life.
Years ago, I paddled the Yukon’s Wind River. Many make this trip in about 10 to 12 days. With three full days of fog, our group stayed put and enjoyed our immediate surroundings until the fog lifted and we could see the famous river corridor of mountains we’d come to paddle amongst once more. We made the trip over 18 luxurious days and never missed the view.
I wonder what the fastest known time is for some of the rivers I have paddled with friends. I can imagine the conversation: “You were 26 days on the Horton? Man, I can do that river in 12 days.”
It’s much the same for distance. Paddling all day, every day, undoubtedly adds up to lots of miles. Are there not more meaningful things to count than miles? Over 36 days, my summer camp tripping group tried to visit as many pictograph sites as possible. Another group tried to sleep by as many waterfalls as they could.
On the page, mile counting and speed attemptsread like ego-centered, man-against-nature travels.
There’s no shortage of things to count. On the page, mile counting and speed attempts read like ego-centered, man-against-nature travels. And there’s never much of a story because the journey is fixated on the destination.
I’ll repeat myself: It isn’t the trip that’s the issue. Grunt away, I say. Go for the firsts if that’s what turns your crank. Instead, I take issue with the messaging in the story told on return. The bravado-grunt trip narrative is a story that too often fails to honor the land, Indigenous roots, the animals and the countless stories of all those who traveled before us in these places.
And there is another problem.
Authorship goes hand in hand with sponsorship and speaking gigs. And those who paddle for eyeballs may be inclined to embellish their circumstances.
This is why, in certain paddling bestsellers, every bear appears rearing up on hind legs and ready to charge—though, from my experience, this doesn’t happen often. It’s why the rapid always has waves that almost send the paddler packing for heaven—even though there is a wide inside bend all the other canoe travelers take uneventfully. And the headwind is mind-numbing, sure, but if someone had planned a more sensible timeline, they could be sipping coffee under a tarp waiting it out.
[ Plan your next adventure with the Paddling Trip Guide ]
Obviously, grunt narratives sell. But the outdoor educator in me can’t help but see the lost potential for storytelling about people and places. I want something more significant: Cultivating ecological consciousness or a sustainable, relational mindset through the canoe trip. Not role-playing a Star Trek fantasy, supposedly going where no man has gone before.
It is easy to grasp the bravado-grunt narrative. There is a long history of this type of storytelling in our colonial past and present. But what message is mentored when we guide a trip or write a book from this perspective? What sort of relationship with land, water and peoples is being normalized by nature as a sparring partner? These have been concerns for thoughtful travel writing and guides for decades. We need to widen our adventure narratives. We need change.
The opposite of the “look-at-me, you-can’t-do-this” narrative is a look-at-this-place-through me. Stories that deepen a connection. Authors like P.G. Downes, Herb Pohl and Max Finkelstein.
The trip isn’t the problem. My concern is that many who read these stories won’t go at all, because all bears are about to charge and all rapids are dangerous.
Grunt narratives pit the hero—and therefore the reader—against a hostile natural world in a manufactured quest. Man-versus-nature narratives don’t deepen our understanding of the natural world. How could they? The paddler just sped on through.
This article was first published in Paddling Magazine Issue 64. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions here, or download the Paddling Magazine app and browse the digital archives here.
Bob Henderson is a guide, speaker and author. He was a professor of outdoor education at McMaster University for 29 years. Find him online at bobhenderson.ca. Send letters to editor@paddlingmag.com.
The goal is to die with memories, not dreams. | Photo: David Jackson
Editor’s note: this story was updated on October 20, 2021, at 7:20 am
I
n “one of the hairier situations” in his paddling career, this sea kayaker found himself at the mercy of an unpredictable ocean hydraulic that was extremely challenging to swim away from.
The kayaker was out for a paddle north of Rodeo Beach in Marin Country, California when things first went awry. Paddling through a channel that he and his group had paddled through previously that day (without issue), he was caught off-guard by a strange current beneath him.
After missing a brace and then failing to roll, the paddler made the decision to exit his kayak. Now out of his kayak, he quickly realized that he wasn’t free of the hydraulic.
While still maintaining contact with this paddle, his boat was quickly ripped away from him as he desperately reached for something to grab on to–but the water wasn’t through with him yet. He was pummeled around in the nasty-looking pocket hydraulic for over one minute, actively swimming where possible, before another experienced paddler in his group was able to get close enough to perform a rescue.
The rescue was a collaborative effort. “It certainly helps to be in the company of 10 very capable paddlers,” he mentioned in the video comments. “Including one of the most renowned instructors on the US West Coast.”
In early springtime 2022, paddlers of the Great Lakes region will get the opportunity to experience sleek and stylish kayaks from Melker of Sweden, as Offshore Marine / Paddling Warehouse in Chicago introduces the brand in the USA.
Swedish-based Melker of Sweden was founded in 2015, with the bold ambition to completely game change the outdoor hardware industry.
Melker of Sweden has constantly been pushing the boundaries of sustainability, craftsmanship, design and innovation – which has brought Melker of Sweden to be the most recognized watersports company, being honoured by the international paddlesports industry & community, including several awards for their sleek and stylish outdoor products for an active and conscious lifestyle.
Offshore Marine / Paddling Warehouse (www.offshore-chicago.com) is located in Lake Bluff, Illinois (35 miles north of downtown Chicago), and will carry the complete portfolio of kayaks from Melker of Sweden. Offshore’s ability to deliver boats throughout the eastern and central US guarantees that Melker’s products will be available to a huge number of potential American paddlers.
”We’re always looking for products that change the paradigms in the outdoors industry, and Melker’s approach to design and materials is the first really new thing we’ve seen in touring kayaks in a very long time” says Matt O’Brien, General Manager of Offshore Marine / Paddling Warehouse. “With the costs of traditional composites skyrocketing, and with consumers being more aware of the impact traditional boat-building processes have in health and safety, we think the market is primed for the unique values that Melker brings to the table, and we’re excited to be able to introduce the brand to American paddlers in 2022”.
”We are very pleased to start this cooperation with Matt O’Brien & co at Offshore Marine / Paddling Warehouse as they have both long experience and the needed know-how to offer our products and building the brand in the US market” says Pelle Stafshede, CEO and Creative Director at Melker of Sweden.
The Canadian Canoe Museum (CCM) hosted a formal event, on October 16, 2021, celebrating the beginning of the building of its new world-class museum at the Johnson Property located at 2077 Ashburnham Drive in Peterborough, ON. Project donors, funders, partners and members gathered together at the property’s western point. The ceremony was broadcast on the Museum’s website at canoemuseum.ca.
“We are excited to celebrate the beginning of construction of our new world-class canoe museum in the company of our project partners, donors and funders and with our community as a whole,” said Victoria Grant, Teme-Augama Anishnabai Qway, chair, board of directors, The Canadian Canoe Museum. “These watercraft, conceived and built over millennia by the Indigenous Peoples of what is now Canada, were central to building relations between the First Peoples and those who arrived four hundred years ago from Europe, beginning our shared history. These beautiful and functional craft offer us a vehicle through which we can better understand and appreciate that history. That understanding is essential in producing the Truth upon which Reconciliation between the First Peoples and those who came later must be founded.”
The new museum will enable CCM to house 100 per cent of its collection in a building that meets Class A conservation standards, directly on the water, which allows for increased on-water and in-person programming while being a key cultural tourism driver in what will become a vibrant community hub on the Peterborough waterfront.
“It has been a long journey, and we are very excited that construction is starting. The new Canadian Canoe Museum is a welcome addition to the Peterborough/Nogojiwanong waterfront and will continue to be an important community asset,” noted Peterborough Mayor, Diane Therrien. “The new location and state of the art build will be an attraction for locals and tourists alike. The City is proud to be a partner in this exciting venture.”
The project is made possible by the generous support of the Government of Canada, Province of Ontario, the City and County of Peterborough, the Weston Family Foundation, along with other very generous lead donors and many donors from the community-at-large.
“CCM is incredibly grateful and proud of our extraordinarily successful fundraising of the last few months,” said Carolyn Hyslop, executive director, The Canadian Canoe Museum. “I’m overjoyed to announce that we have received significant donations, totalling $2M, from family foundations from across the country, affirming that this project, and our fundraising campaign, continues to have incredible momentum.”
Johnson Property is situated on Little Lake, north of Beavermead Park and south of the Parks Canada-Trent Severn Waterway head offices. The new canoe museum will be built on a flat portion of the property, away from the floodplain, on the open land along Ashburnham Drive so as to preserve the existing trail, shoreline and natural waterfront. The new museum slated for completion in 2023.
About The Canadian Canoe Museum (www.canoemuseum.ca)
With a world-class collection as a catalyst, The Canadian Canoe Museum inspires connection, curiosity and new understanding. In partnership with individuals, groups and communities – locally, provincially and nationally – we work to experience and explore all that our collection can inspire. This sees students opening their minds in our galleries; community members connecting through artisanry; people of all ages getting on the water and learning to paddle; and exhibitions and events that spark conversation and collaboration.
After decades of exploring, where do the boldest sea kayakers, whitewater boaters and canoe trippers fantasize about paddling? That’s the question that inspired Paddling Magazine to query some of our long-time contributors and favorite nomadic aquaphiles to ask after their dream destinations, most challenging expeditions and what a life of exploration really means anyways.
In this series of profiles, these exceptional water-wanderers share their top trips, best advice and biggest blunders. And whether their ambitious journeys were taken in the name of discovery, education, environment or glory, these legends affirm what we already know: There’s far more to explore by paddle than anyone could fit in a lifetime—but don’t let that stop you from trying.
[ Plan your next adventure with the Paddling Trip Guide ]
What can arduous expeditions in remote landscapes teach humans about our place in the modern world? It’s a spiritual question Jon Turk has explored through a lifetime of pushing his limits in cold and isolated areas. Fifty years ago, Turk earned a PhD in organic chemistry, wrote the first environmental science textbook in the United States and took off exploring. He’s made climbing first ascents, skiing first descents, paddled around Cape Horn and circumnavigated Canada’s Ellesmere Island. His two-year kayak passage from Japan to Alaska remains one of the most legendary sea kayaking expeditions of all time.
Jon Turk on route to circumnavigate Ellesmere Island by ski and kayak. | Photo: Erik Boomer
Q & A with Jon Turk
1 One paddling destination I dream of returning to is…
None. My greatest journeys were scary, sometimes terrifying. These adventures live deep inside me. I have no desire to go back to those places and to relive those moments. I am growing older; time is linear. There is no going back.
2One place I dream of paddling but haven’t been yet is…
I no longer feel justified to jump on an airplane and fly to distant, exotic paddling locations.
A desire to reduce his carbon footprint keeps Turk grounded. “I feel an imperative to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” he says. “The best sea kayaking within a reasonable driving distance of my home is the west coast of British Columbia. Even though I have paddled many sections of that coast, that is where I will return.”
3The best paddling companions are…
people who see paddling as a lifestyle, not a vacation.
4My biggest blunder was…
trying to race a storm off Cape Horn and I learned the value of patience.
5The hardest part about making a dream trip happen is…
quitting your job—or maybe that’s the easiest.
6My best advice for young paddlers is…
quit your job.
7Happiness is…
when the polar bear that just ripped a hole in your tent decides not to eat you.
8My most challenging expedition was…
the Ellesmere circumnavigation. And it taught me when the barriers we face are too great, we can never overcome them. We must assume they don’t exist.
Turk’s 2011 expedition circumnavigating Canada’s Ellesmere Island was a ski-and-kayak odyssey traversing 1,485 miles around the world’s 10th largest landmass. Turk, 65 at the time, and expedition partner Erik Boomer, then 26, were named 2012 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year. Gale-force headwinds, unstable ice, breaching 2,000-pound walrus, and the odd polar bear were just some of the threats they faced.
Polar bears scare me. I scare polar bears. The wind scares me. I don’t scare the wind.
10
My favorite camp meal is…
half-developed seagull egg embryos with quinoa.
11The true gift of big trips is…
presence.
12One thing I will never do again is…
screw my skins on my skis backward at the beginning of a big Arctic trip.
This article was first published in Paddling Magazine Issue 64. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions here, or download the Paddling Magazine app and browse the digital archives here.
Jon Turk on route to circumnavigate Ellesmere Island by ski and kayak. | Photo: Erik Boomer
We all have a list of dream rivers. Carefully curated beta from stories read, conversations overheard and Instagram pages followed. Of course, making a multiday river trip happen entails more than merely making lists.
We imagine the day when we will have finally gathered all the info, mastered the requisite skills, organized the myriad logistics, and miraculously aligned permits and paddling friends’ schedules. But with so many moving parts, transforming Monday morning’s fantasy into an actual river trip can be overwhelming.
Fortunately, there is an easier way: treat yourself to a fully supported trip down the river of your choice. With 3.5 million river miles in the United States and many more in Canada, there’s likely no shortage of options relatively close to home. So, whether you embark on a local adventure this year or plan next year’s far-flung escape, booking now turns reverie into reality.
Not sure if it’s worth the splurge? Here are 11 more great reasons to indulge.
[ View all river trips in the Paddling Trip Guide ]
Photo: Virginia Marshall
Photo: Virginia Marshall
Time travel
From the moment you first push into the current, you’ll find yourself on river time. Days are measured not in minutes but in river miles and sunrises over canyon rims. You’ll lose track of what time it is, even what day of the week. Forget about cell service, notifications and the anxious, over-stimulated frenzy of everyday life. River time is a simpler time; it’s about going with the flow and embracing the natural rhythms of life on the river.
Speaking of flow, cognitive research shows that being on or in the water helps us enter flow state, where our analytical minds yield to the parts of our brains responsible for daydreaming. This only confirms what river trippers have long known—when you need to relax and recharge, find your nearest put-in.
Photo: Bruce Kirkby
Ever-changing vistas
Compare a river trip to, say, a coastal journey or paddle-and-portage route and one fundamental difference comes into focus: the view from your bow. Where paddling on lakes and seas can be a meditative exercise in watching distant points inch into view, and then just as slowly fall behind, a river descent offers up new and dramatic sights around every meander. In a single day, you may witness serrated mountain vistas, sheer canyons thousands of feet deep, dense forests, dramatic waterfalls, thrilling rapids, quiet reaches and everything in between.
Add continuously changing elevation and ecosystems to the linear distance traveled, and you can’t beat a river trip for variety. Not only that, river trips grant paddlers incredible access to remote wilderness areas that few people get to see, including way-off-the-beaten-path locations in our national parks and wild and scenic rivers from coast to coast.
Photo: Virginia Marshall
Hot springs. ‘Nuf said
Where rivers travel along ancient geologic faults, their canyons may hide wild waters of a different nature. All that fractured rock can act as a conduit for rain or groundwater to penetrate deep underground, where it circulates through superheated rock before reemerging on the Earth’s surface as steamy hot springs. Rich in dissolved minerals, these wilderness spas may smell like rotten eggs, but they feel like heaven.
Hot springs with a temperature between 90 and 105°F offer the finest soaking, but several factors affect just how hot a hot spring will be. The temperature of that blissful bath is dependent on the heat supplied at depth (for every 1,000 feet of depth, groundwater is heated by an additional 10–15°F), the rate at which the water flows and whether there is a mixture of cooler groundwater into the flow of hot water. If it all sounds a bit like Goldilocks searching for “just right,” don’t despair—paddle-perfect thermal pools can be found on the Nahanni River in Canada’s Northwest Territories, New Mexico’s Rio Chama and Idaho’s Main Salmon River, to name a few.
Photo: Justin Bailie
Great guides
Guides are the voice of the river. Pondering how the Nahanni River’s four famous canyons became the deepest river gorges in all of Canada? Wondering about boreal forest ecology on Quebec’s Magpie River? Or curious why ancient peoples painted pictographs high above Idaho’s Middle Fork of the Salmon? Guides answer questions, share stories and dispense interpretive nuggets with the same quiet competence and measured pace with which they row the most technical rapids.
Unlike even the most detailed guidebook, professional guides offer a human connection to the river—a familiarity and affinity for the canyons, valleys and tundra cultivated through years of observing, studying and inhabiting these environments. Oh yeah, and guides are also great company and great cooks. Which leads us to…
Photo: Virginia Marshall
Feast on backcountry gourmet
Outfitters know delicious meals are a key part of the downriver experience. Menus range from satisfying comfort food—think bacon and egg breakfasts, black bean tacos and grilled salmon—to campfire haute cuisine. Meticulous planning and packing ensure paddlers enjoy delicate salads and perfectly ripe fruit throughout the trip. Evening meals often include freshly baked bread, wine pairings and hot-from-the-Dutch-oven dessert. Guides are happy to share recipes; lend a hand in the camp kitchen and you’re sure to pick up a few new favorites to wow the folks back home.
Going with the professionals is a great way to field test equipment or perfect your packing list for your next trip. Even seasoned campers are likely to learn a few new tricks—whether you’re taking notes on what it takes to build the ultimate oar rig, comparing heavy-water canoe designs or simply searching for the world’s best tripping pant.
Each region presents unique challenges and opportunities, requiring river trippers—and their gear—to adapt and specialize. Rafting through the world’s largest non-polar ice cap on the Tatshenshini and Alsek Rivers in the Yukon, northern B.C. and Alaska while glaciers calve icebergs just off your bow makes it easy to keep the beer chilled, but tricky to keep fingers and toes warm. In the American West, where rivers and river tripping traditions run deep, nimble wooden dories share the water with inflatables. Discovering the different approaches inspired by infinitely varied landscapes is one of the joys of becoming a repeat river tripper.
Photo: Scott Martin
Make new friends Get closer to the ones you love
River trips are social experiences. Until recently, crewing and camping on a commercially guided trip meant you could expect to mingle—in rafts or canoes, on scenic hikes, at meals and around impromptu kubb courts and beach bocce tournaments. The 2020 and 2021 tripping seasons proved river trips could still be done safely and enjoyably in a pandemic—albeit somewhat differently.
Going forward, expect more hand washing, enhanced pre-trip health screening, hand washing, equipment sanitation and, yep, even more hand washing. According to current best practices, guides and guests will continue to practice physical distancing during shuttles, meals and camp activities. On the river, each family or social pod—a.k.a. quaranteam—will be assigned their own private raft and equipment for the duration of the trip. So, while group hugs might be out, you’ll be sharing even more time with the ones who matter most.
Photo: Caleb Roberts
Perfect pandemic vacation
National parks, retailers and outfitters saw a record demand to get outside last summer. After a year spent mostly at home, that’s not surprising—especially since experts report outdoor transmission of COVID-19 is uncommon. Where pandemic restrictions were loosened, outfitters got back to business.
While trip operators will continue to abide by pre-screening protocols, sanitation procedures and physical distancing, paddlers must travel responsibly. Follow local recommendations, wear a face covering where appropriate, continue to physically distance and be mindful of the impact you could have on the communities you travel through. As travel restrictions vary from region to region and may change day to day, it’s essential to stay up to date on the current information.
Whether you are a serious angler or just starting to develop your fishing skills, nothing compares with fishing from a drift boat far from the pressures of road or powerboat access. Oar-rigged dories and rafts can perch at the edge of rapids to fish the smallest, most isolated pockets. Every river hides these elusive honey holes, whether it’s on your bucket list or in your backyard.
Go with a guide and you will not only be keeping your hands free for casting, you’ll be tapping into a rich source of local knowledge and tactics. Learn the Rogue River twitch technique to land hungry steelhead in southern Oregon, compare the merits of gnats versus nymphs while stalking Arctic grayling in the Yukon, or master dry fly fishing for colorful rainbow and ferocious brown trout on California’s Tuolumne River.
Photo: Pierre Emmanuel Chaillon
Unforgettable campsites
River campsites are as varied as the waterways themselves—from nestling beneath northern lights on the Northwest Territories’ Thelon River to watching thousands of stars tack up a river of sky from the depths of Utah’s Lodore Canyon. It could be a river’s constant renewal, or the brain-bolstering bounce of all those negatively charged ions dancing between water and sky, but there’s nothing quite like camping beside moving water. In his best-selling book, Blue Mind, marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols explores how splashing waves or falling water calm your brain, among the many other benefits to emotional and physical health we experience just by being near water. No wonder we sleep so well on the river.
Photo: Virginia Marshall
Bring a first-timer
No experience? No problem! River trips can be accessible. Few pursuits democratize the wilderness experience as effectively as rafting, canoeing and inflatable kayaking. Guided trips make it possible for any novice to enjoy the magic of moving water—from timid beginners who prefer the comfort and stability of an expedition raft, to adventurous first-timers who want the freedom of their own kayak. Whether you crave a gentle, scenic float trip or high-adrenaline whitewater descent—there’s truly a river trip for everyone.
Photo: Colin Field
Perhaps the best reason to begin planning and book a river trip now is that it means you’ll actually go. Explore the Paddling Trip Guide online to find even more rivers, outfitters and inspiration.
This article was first published in Paddling Magazine Issue 64. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions here, or download the Paddling Magazine app and browse the digital archives here.
Virginia Marshall is a former editor of Rapid and Adventure Kayak magazines. She’s spending this summer as a sea kayak guide on Lake Superior.
Solo your canoe so you can discover your own adventure while spending quality time alone in nature. From a practical standpoint, practicing solo canoeing will also make you a better, more skilled paddler.
Francis Boyes of Smoothwater Outfitters (smoothwater.com) in Temagami, Ontario, offers his top tips on how to become a skilled soloist. Discover which paddle you should use, how best to position yourself in the boat and how to perform the C-stoke in this video.
Paddlers are often thrown into uncomfortable situations—from dealing with cold water swims to handling unexpected injuries. The best leaders are those who are best prepared.
Not sure how you measure up? The ability to answer these 10 questions correctly can mean the difference between you being an asset to your group, or a burden.
