No matter what type of knives you use for your adventures, it’s important to keep your blades well-honed. A sharp edge reduces the possibility of injury by reducing the amount of force required to cut. Less force means more accuracy.
The traditional way to sharpen a knife is to use a sharpening stone. Stones come in a variety of styles, sizes and materials, but each promises a good finish by removing minute quantities of metal from the blade.
Like sandpaper, stones also come in a variety of grits. If your blade is dull and heavily used, you may want to begin with a coarse grit stone, however, many people choose medium grit and use it exclusively.
The two most popular types of stones are whetstones and oilstones. If using a whetstone, soak it in clean water before use. If using an oilstone, spread a few drops of honing oil on it. In both cases, make sure the stone is wet at all times when in use.
Large stones should be placed on a solid surface. If sharpening a blade at home, a vice can be a handy tool to hold the stone in place, but in camp, the ground or a picnic table will be suitable. Small stones can be handheld for sharpening, but should still remain motionless—the best technique is to move your blade across the stone, not the other way around.
To find the correct angle to sharpen your blade, lay the flat side of the knife against the stone and tilt the blade until the cutting edge comes into contact with the stone. This is the angle you’ll sharpen at, also known as the bevel.
Use your free hand to gently guide the knife away from you and down the length of the stone. Imagine that you are slicing off a very thin sliver of the stone. You should hear a distinct sweeping sound.
If the knife blade is curved or if it’s longer than the stone is wide, you’ll also need to sweep the blade sideways, so the entire edge is sharpened evenly. Maintain the bevel by listening carefully to the sound—if you change the angle of the blade, the sound and resistance will change.
PROS AT THE GRINDSTONE. | PHOTO: KAYDI PYETTE
Repeat the motion 10 times on the same side. Then repeat 10 strokes on the other side. Depending on how dull your blade is, you may need to repeat this pattern several times.
A medium grit stone will leave micro-serrations in the steel that give it more edge surface and bite, perfect for performing general camp chores.
For whittling, skinning or shaving a beard, you’ll need to progress to a finer stone. Repeating the procedure with a fine stone will remove the micro-serrations left by the medium grit stone.
Finally, to polish the new edge of your blade, stroke the edge down a piece of scrap leather a dozen times.
The best way to test your handiwork is to hold up a sheet of paper and drag the knife across its edge. A sharp knife will slice the paper effortlessly. —Wolf Starchild
Get the full article in the digital edition of Canoeroots and Family Camping, Summer/Fall 2014.Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
"STOP . BREATHE . RELAX . LISTEN - The Power of Nature to Restore the Human Spirit."
“Knowing the importance of today’s youth in shaping the future, I am proud to announce the beginning of W.I.L.D. – Wilderness Immersion for Leadership and Discoveries,” said photographer Daniel Fox. “Its aim is to give youth, especially under-privileged teens, the opportunity to experience first-hand the positive impact nature can have on their lives. The goal is to motivate them to explore and discover the natural world and understand how experiencing the beauty and challenges inherent in nature can lead to enhancing their self-confidence and developing valuable leadership skills
Our wish is to have their testimonials and experiences reach and positively impact other teens and their families and inspire them to Experience the W.I.L.D.
For my first W.I.L.D. campaign, I will raise the necessary funds to send a small group of under privileged teens to a 30-day Sea Kayaking camp in Alaska in the summer of 2015. The wilderness immersion camp will be given by the internationally known and extremely well reputed National Outdoors Leadership School (N.O.L.S.).
Launching in the third week of August, I will paddle from Victoria on Vancouver Island to San Francisco, a journey of 1,000 miles. The 2 1/2 month paddle will be at the core of a Indiegogo campaign. Click here – INREACH tracking & FACEBOOK, to follow this amazing journey!
Find out more about how you can contribute and the wonderful rewards you can get. These teens will be changed forever, transformed and more deeply connected with the planet. Lets make this happen!
“The most rewarding part of this course was getting out of my element, and experiencing nature at its fullest.” Thomas W. Southeast Alaska NOLS Sea Kayaking Grad
STOP . BREATHE . RELAX . LISTEN – The Power of Nature to Restore the Human Spirit is the foundation of my narrative and the message behind my work.”
The ALL-Terrain, $79.99, from FresheTech, is a Bluetooth-enabled, portable speaker that is waterproof and shockproof. It has a sturdy polycarbonate clip at the top which allows you to attach it to backpacks, PFDs, or a hook on a boat/kayak. It’s perfect for crakning out the tunes on paddles, because even if it comes loose, it will float!
It’s about three inches tall without the clip. With the clip, it’s about 4.5. It’s also roughly 3 inches wide. Another great feature of the speaker, is with the push of a button, you can answer calls and talk on your phone through the speaker. Perfect if you don’t want to risk getting your phone dirty or wet, or just handsfree talking while paddling.
Feature photo: Franklin Carmichael / Library and Archives Canada / E007914169
Everyone knows the two questions at the heart of the mystery surrounding famous artist Tom Thomson’s death: Who did him in and where is he buried? But there are eerie stories within those mysteries, and none so spine tingling as what became of Winifred Trainor’s old home.
Feature photo: Franklin Carmichael / Library and Archives Canada / E007914169
Tom Thomson’s canvas-covered mystery
Winnie Trainor, a Canoe Lake cottager, had been one of Tom’s many girlfriends, but one so special he was said to have arranged a honeymoon cabin at Billy Bear Lodge just before he went missing on July 8, 1917.
Thomson had often stayed with the Trainors in the nearby town of Huntsville, and the day-by-day paintings he created that spring had been left to dry in the Trainors’ cabin on the northeast shore of the Algonquin Park lake where he drowned—or more likely was murdered.
What was behind Winifred’s message?
Winnie never recovered from the shock of his death. She and her mother spent the winter and spring staying with relatives in Philadelphia, raising local suspicions that she had really gone there to give birth to Tom’s child.
She tried desperately to see the Thomson family to tell them things she felt uncomfortable putting down on paper, but they refused to see her, claiming she was unstable.
In perhaps the only thing she ever wrote of her time with Tom, she told the head of Canada’s National Gallery in 1954 that, “Tom Thomson was the man that made me happy, then vanished. If I saw you I could say things that I will never write.”
Tom Thomson, The Canoe, 1912, oil on canvas on wood, 17.3 x 25.3 cm, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
She lived out her life in her parents’ ramshackle wood-frame house on Huntsville’s Minerva Street. She had no running hot water and no central heating, yet kept a dozen or more Tom Thomson originals wrapped in newspaper and stuffed in a six-quart basket. She never married. Eight years after she wrote that mysterious note she died at age 77.
A mural appears on Minerva
Forty years after her death the town of Huntsville launched a beautification project, painting Tom Thomson and Group of Seven murals on the walls of several downtown buildings.
By happenstance, a mural was painted on the wall of a red brick building that stands in the same place where Winnie lived out her long and lonely years. The painting chosen was a Tom Thomson—his empty canoe.
This article originally appeared in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue of Canoeroots. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine and get 25 years of digital magazine archives including our legacy titles: Rapid, Adventure Kayak and Canoeroots.
Feature photo: Franklin Carmichael / Library and Archives Canada / E007914169
CAUTION: DO NOT DRINK THE WATER. | PHOTO: PETER HOLCOMBE
For the urban wave hunters of Colorado, there is no such thing as an off-season.
Any time of year they can be found squeezing a session between work shifts, home life and the daily grind.
You can pick them out a mile away. They’re the only people wandering the streets of downtown Denver with wet hair, and wearing board shorts under their parkas in February. You’ll spot them changing into dress pants and blazers in the parking lot next to the South Platte River, which drains snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains and flows through the capital, heading north towards Nebraska.
Confluence Park, a 100-yard whitewater run in the core of downtown Denver, offers a dam-controlled course with decent drops and eddies for squirt practice and play boating—a prime play spot in the cold season and the perfect location for a pre-work session.
The run begins under the swooping roller coasters of the Elitch Gardens Theme Park and travels under the ornate Speer Boulevard Bridge into the park basin.
For regular Confluence kayaker and pro photographer Peter Holcombe, it’s all about the scenery. Bikers, skateboarders, runners, hula-hoopers and hand-holding couples on park benches wallpaper the unique river run.
“While you’re sitting in the eddy trying to catch your breath there’s always something to look at,” he says. “I’ve had old retired couples out on a walk start cheering for me.”
Holcombe says the park gives a new meaning to a ‘quick and dirty’ session.
“It’s never like a beautiful mountain stream,” he says. The run has been nicknamed Confluenza Park for the gutter runoff that makes it into the river—piles of dog poop from city gutters flow downstream and mountains of sudsy foam collect in the eddies. It doesn’t stop Holcombe from getting out on the water.
CAUTION: DO NOT DRINK THE WATER. | PHOTO: PETER HOLCOMBE
“It’s urban boating so that’s just how it is,” he says, joking that if anything his time at Confluence has made his immune system stronger.
Holcombe gladly puts up with the city runoff for the benefits of boating year-round.
Just 15 miles west of Confluence, the Clear Creek White Water Park in Golden boasts the crème de la crème of the state’s whitewater offerings. But when those runs freeze in December, Confluence, however cold, remains unfrozen thanks to Denver’s city drainage.
The park has no regular maintenance crew but volunteers recruited by Colorado Parks and Recreation organize a cleanup once a year.
Mick Ralph calls himself the King of Confluence since he’s paddled there for 15 years. He says one time authorities were called in when a slew of kayakers were spotted “struggling” in the water on a particularly snowy day in early spring.
“Someone must have seen us and thought we were in danger,” he says.
An ambulance, fire truck and the police arrived on scene to find a crew of happy paddlers throwing ends in a hydraulic.
This article first appeared in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue of Rapid Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Adventure tourism isn’t just the domain of wilderness travelers and backpacking vagabonds anymore. Today’s parents are taking their children on adventurous trips all over the world in greater numbers than ever before. The children of Generation Y will be the best-traveled youngsters in history.
Whether it’s a week kayaking the coast, a month canoeing the backcountry or a season spent cycling across Patagonia, the trend is the same—today’s parents are unwilling to put their passions on hold until their kids grow up.
“The family outdoor industry is booming because the people who grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s with the advent of backpacking, mountain biking, rock climbing and other adventure sports now have kids they want to bring along on their outdoor pursuits,” says Scott Graham, author of Extreme Kids: How To Connect With Your Children Through Today’s Extreme (and Not So Extreme) Sports. His family floated their first multi-day rafting trip when the kids were just toddlers and by age six the kids were paddling their own kayaks on multi-day trips.
The rewards are worth the extra work it takes to plan a trip that includes little ones. “Family closeness and a shared appreciation for the natural world are the benefits of family adventure travel—it’s especially important when so many electronic-gadget-addicted children and parents are losing touch,” Graham adds.
Traveling with kids brings great rewards
“Traveling with kids brings great rewards,” agrees Dan Clark, a father at the leading edge of this trend. Creators of award-winning flick Have Kids, Will Paddle, the Clark family canoed 2,000 miles to reach the Arctic Ocean in 2012. The film inspired many families to get outside on trips of their own, albeit usually shorter ones.
This summer, Clark, wife Alice, Kobi, 6, and Ava Fei, 4, are cycling 3,000 miles from southern Chile to northern Argentina, crossing windswept pampas and the jagged Andes mountain range.
“One thing I really enjoy about the pace of self-propelled travel is the opportunity to see something on the horizon, chat about it, look at it and then talk about it after,” explains Clark.
“Kids can be part of that in a canoe or on a bike, but it goes by too fast in a car. We notice so many things in our travels that we would miss in a car. We met one car-bound family in southern Chile who had yet to see a condor. Kobi heard this and was surprised because we had seen at least one every day that week.”
PLAY. | PHOTO: DAVE QUINN
CLARK FAMILY EN ROUTE. | PHOTO: DAN CLARK.
Along the way the Clarks have met like-minded families, including a German family who started their cycling journey in Alaska, about 17,000 road miles away. Clark hopes their family adventures help his kids develop goal setting skills, tolerance for adversity and an interest in exploring the world.
Some may consider an international journey with kids risky, “but most of those risks can be minimized with planning, a conservative approach and listening to the kids along the way,” Clark adds.
Graham agrees: “There’s growing recognition that the most dangerous thing we can do to our kids is allow them to become couch potatoes. The current generation of American children is the first ever that may have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. That’s alarming, and something a growing cadre of parents are recognizing and working to forestall by making sure their children are active.”
“There’s growing recognition that the most dangerous thing we can do to our kids is allow them to become couch potatoes.”
Author, TV personality and veteran traveler Bruce Kirkby spent this summer on a three-and-a-half month journey to Ladakh, India, with his wife Christine, and children, Bodie, 6, and Taj, 4. To get there they traveled from British Columbia by canoe, container ship, train, jeep and by foot—no planes allowed.
“For us, these trips are all about exposing our kids to the beauty and diversity of the planet,” explains Kirkby.
“Traveling is what Christine and I truly value—open-minded exploration of the world’s wildest places and cultures. It is what we live to do, so it would make no sense not to involve our kids,” he adds.
Brian McCutcheon, founder of ROAM Adventures Inc., runs adventure travel trips all over the planet, from week-long, laid-back paddling trips in the Great Bear Rainforest and Galapagos Islands, to multi-week treks in the Himalayas. He notes that kids are much more a part of the adventure travel scene than they were just a decade ago—40 percent of his return clients are families.
Family adventure travel doesn’t have to include far-off international destinations
Family adventure travel doesn’t have to include far-off international destinations or high-adrenaline activities to be beneficial. According to McCutcheon, what parents are craving are real experiences with their kids.
“People seem to be more busy than ever, so spending quality, meaningful time with their kids has never been more important,” he says. “A wilderness experience is so much more authentic than a contrived resort vacation—no matter how fancy the pool.”
Dave Quinn recently returned from a family surf trip in Nicaragua with his wife and two kids, Tumelo, 5, and Mariha, 1. They went for the sun, but savored the slow pace of beach life and cultural immersion.
“CAN WE GO NOW? “ | PHOTO: DAVE QUINN
Generation Fly
If you are just dipping into the family adventure travel scene, a few simple tricks can make sure you cruise through your trip.
• Get buy in » Ask your kids where they want to go, what they want to see and what they want to do. Feeling like they’re a part of the decision-making process will help keep them invested in the activities on trip.
• Travel less » Transitions are tough for all of us. The less packing and unpacking, buses, planes, trains and hotels, the easier it is on many kids. Staying in one spot can also immerse your family in the local community, which adds a whole new dimension to the travel experience.
• Avoid restaurants » What used to be a romantic evening out for two can easily become a fork-flinging, tantrum-filled nightmare. Cooking for your family is cheaper than eating out, creates a normalized sense of home and minimizes the risks of food-borne illness.
• Call the doctor » Health concerns can be a major stress when traveling with kids. Visit a pediatrician for advice on recommended medications and how to stock your first aid kit. Even where there is no risk of malaria, bring a small mosquito net to avoid sleepless, itchy kids covered in bug bites.
• Kid-friendly destinations » Everyone will have more fun if you are confident that your kids are safe, happy and healthy. Do research before you go to identify red flags—big riptides, stinging jellyfish and hordes of biting sandflies are red flags for me, but each family will have their own.
Get the full article in the digital edition of Canoeroots and Family Camping, Summer/Fall 2014.Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Even before I paddled Swift’s Keewaydin, I heard what a lovely ride it is. Organizing a pickup date by phone, longtime Swift enthusiast-turned-employee Brian Duplante confided, “That’s my favorite canoe to paddle.” It wasn’t a hard sell, but genuine passion for the design.
Swift Keewaydin 16 Specs
Length: 16’
Material: Kevlar Fusion
Weight: 36 lbs
Width at gunwales: 32”
Optimum load: 300–575 lbs
Capacity: 950 lbs
MSRP: $3,095 base model / $3,180 with kneeling thwart
www.swiftcanoe.com
A few days later, tying down the canoe on site at Swift’s Oxtongue Lake location on the edge of Algonquin Provincial Park, owner Bill Swift Jr. added wistfully, “It’s a honey of a canoe.”
Complete in Swift’s two-tone white and silver Barracuda finish, I couldn’t help but agree—the Keewaydin is a thing of beauty. At 16 feet and just 36 pounds with dynamic lines, the Keewaydin looks as energetic as the north wind it takes its name from. I couldn’t wait to get it on the water.
First, however, I peeked into what was formerly Swift’s manufacturing facility, now their repair shop. Just big enough to work on a few canoes at a time, the simple space highlights the humble beginnings of this family-owned business.
Now surrounded by a rental fleet a thousand Swift boats strong, the buildings erected by Bill Swift Sr. in 1961—the original Algonquin Outfitters location—look like they haven’t changed much. In 1984, boat manufacturing began onsite to meet AO’s rental demands. Back then it was a franchise, making Sawyer designs.
By 1989, the Swift family was looking to branch out. To design lighter and more efficient canoes for their own operation they called in prolific designer John Winters, who dreamed up the Kipawa model and the Swift brand was born.
In the 20,000-square-foot South River factory where Swift now manufactures, they make 29 canoe, kayak and pack boat models and take pride in melding traditional design with high tech processes.
Unique to Swift canoes is its Carbon Kevlar Trim (CKT), where gunwales and hull are fused together as a single piece, adding stiffness and structural integrity, as well as a pretty finish.
“By volume, canoe gunwales are the heaviest part of the canoe. By using CKT we can reduce the weight by four to six pounds,” explains Swift Jr.
Released in 2012 and designed by David Yost, the Keewaydin 16 is now Swift’s most popular retail model. Swift Jr. attributes this to its versatility—great for daytrips as well as lightweight tripping.
On the water, the keyword for the Keewaydin is efficiency. The Keewaydin cuts through the water and chop rolls underneath the hull with little effect.
Swift Keewaydin 16 | Photo: Geoff Whitlock
Its asymmetrical hull tracks nicely in open water, yet our bow paddler was able to pull the boat around tight corners, ideal in winding and twisting streams. Swift Jr. says this is thanks to its differential rocker—two inches in the bow and half that in the stern.
On an evening solo paddle on Lake Ontario, I found it responsive and more manageable than many other boats of its length in wind and waves.
A kneeling thwart and significant tumblehome allows for comfortable cruising, without needing to reach out far over the gunwales.
Thanks to Swift’s distinctive curved and angled cherry seats, “You should feel as comfortable a few hours into the paddle as you did when you first got in,” says Swift Jr. The bow’s sliding seat also allows for on-the-fly trim adjustments.
While the Kevlar Fusion lay-up we borrowed offers the highest strength-to-weight ratio of Swift’s materials, the Keewaydin comes in a variety of lay-ups, ranging from 33 pounds in Carbon Fusion to 58 pounds in Gold Fusion with aluminum trim. Swift also manufactures 14- and 15-foot solo versions, as well as the Keewaydin 17, which Swift Jr. confesses is his personal favorite.
Get the full article in the digital edition of Canoeroots and Family Camping, Summer/Fall 2014.Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
It was on a whim that Maxi Kniewasser and Simon Rutherford climbed into a floatplane that landed them at the put in for the Upper Nass River.
A far northern trip had them exploring the Sacred Headwaters, a basin that serves as the source of three wild rivers: the Nass, Skeena and Stikine. Known as a wild salmon habitat and home to caribou, grizzly bears, wolves and other wildlife, the Sacred Headwaters is an enchanted landscape of mountains and canyons, cut by the curvature of free-flowing rivers.
The 125-mile descent was an exploration, as their spontaneity left no time for Google Earth investigation or advice from veterans of the river.
So it was a surprise on the third day when they rounded a bend in a tight canyon and came face to face with a towering river-wide logjam, with water rushing under and through it.
“We instantly started back paddling to slow down and managed to get out on the logs,” says Kniewasser. “We were a bit in disbelief.”
A quick scout left them with no option but to portage through the beastly tangle of trees. “It was a pain in the ass,” says Kniewasser, since the wet and slippery logs made the portage a slow moving, hour-long scramble.
River Styx | Photo: Maxi Kniewasser
They balanced along branches and passed their boats through the trees, strategically picking their route, often confused with which direction to take.
Logjams are an expected obstacle for those who do some pre-trip research, a somewhat permanent fixture on the Nass. They’re not the kind of blockage that’ll just wash away one day, says Kniewasser, “unless there’s some kind of biblical flood to break it up.”
Part way through the trek, Kniewasser stopped to pull out “old faithful,” a Nikon B700 with a 24-70 lens. Perched on a pile of branches with his kayak in tow, Kniewasser pointed his camera ahead to capture this image of Rutherford picking his way through, over and under the massive tower of timber.
This article first appeared in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue of Rapid Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
My first real rain suit came from the sports section of a discount department store. It was heavy, made of a rubberized cotton-nylon blend and camo-colored for stealth in the deep woods. Just 10 years old, I wore it proudly—around the house, in the shower and prancing in my sunny backyard, sweating like a pig and wishing for rain.
Back in those days, a rectangle of that same material served as a groundsheet. When laid inside a floorless Egyptian cotton tent, it was all that was between the dirt and me during overnight outings on the land and water trails of my youth.
The following morning, everything I owned—the Gordie Howe autographed sleeping bag from the Eaton’s catalogue, extra socks and underwear—was rolled up. It was tied with the greatest of care inside that same groundsheet in what my Boy Scout leader optimistically called a waterproofed camp kit.
By comparison, nowadays I’m camping in luxury. My über expensive, Fairy Breath Blue designer rain gear weighs less than the little pouch my childhood suit of armor came in. Stuff sacks and sealed river bags and backpacks ensure everything else stays dry. There’s a fat foam camp bed between me and the cold, hard ground. Maps and compasses used to dictate navigation; now I have photovoltaic blankets covering my loaded canoe, charging the gizmos that keep me on course as I paddle.
Wilderness gear has changed a lot in the last 50 years, and even more in the 50 years before that. Our camp kits look nothing like those of the original adventurers, the Voyageurs, who ventured forth with just the clothes on their backs, canvas tarps and tumplines. They used packs without straps, let alone suspension systems, and traveled hundreds of miles with hand-drawn maps, if they had maps at all. Imagine that!
GOLDEN AGE OF DISCOVERY.| PHOTO: MIKE MONAGHAN
Of course, Mackenzie basin explorer George Douglas had far more advanced gear than the Voyageurs when he was exploring in the early 20th century. My dad’s generation had even more than him and, like his dad before him, my dad would look at my Scout’s gear and scoff—“That’s not real camping!”
But I disagree. As a kid, wearing that rubber rain suit and smelling like a wet dog in neoprene, I ventured into the depths of the forests and river routes near my home. I imagined I was John Rae, Edmund Hillary, Roald Amundsen or Robert Falcon Scott, exploring the wilds, climbing the peaks and racing toward the poles.
It wasn’t my ragamuffin kit that connected me to these timeless adventurers—though I imagine theirs must have smelled similarly— it was the act of exploration and discovery, full of real route finding, real risk and real adventure. In this sense, nothing has changed. Whether navigating by starlight, compass or GPS, we’re all explorers here.
I went to the woods, even in the very early days, to feel the rain on my face and to see if I had what was needed to meet the challenges the trip might present. And what I learned on the trail—about myself and others, about life and the natural world—through triumph and the occasional disaster, was something I could bring home and apply to the challenges of everyday life.
That desire has always led us into the woods, throughout the ages, in spite of what we own.
Columnist James Raffan is the Director of Development at the Canadian Canoe Museum.
Get the full article in the digital edition of Canoeroots and Family Camping, Summer/Fall 2014.Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Dirt broke but own an iPhone? Save a buck by caring for the gear you already have. After simulating whitewater in the kitchen sink, we’ve deemed this mini drybag trustworthy, but won’t be counting on the snap tabs to attach it to anything. It closes with a simple sliding clip and has a headphone connector and thin window for waterproof touch screen use.
Get the full article in the digital edition of Canoeroots and Family Camping, Summer/Fall 2014.Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
This article originally appeared in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue of Canoeroots. 
This article first appeared in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue of Rapid Magazine. 
