Adventure Kayak reader Travis Chappell shared this photo on AK‘s Facebook page: “Took this while fishing.” Proof that rewards come to those who get up early (or stay out late).
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This kayak trip destination is excerpted from the “Killer Trips” feature in Adventure Kayak magazine.
These adjacent south Florida wildernesses are home to a disproportionately large number of dangerous creatures—from alligators, crocodiles, 20-foot Burmese pythons and four species of venomous snakes to black bears and 30 percent of Florida’s panther population—but it’s the biting insects that are most fearsome. Swarms of mosquitoes, chiggers and no-see-ums make paddling the maze of mangrove-lined creeks and bays, sawgrass prairies, endless sand beaches and cypress strands on the 99-mile Wilderness Waterway or one of the parks’ dozen shorter water trails utterly intolerable—if not deadly—from June to October. www.nps.gov/ever, www.nps.gov/bicy
This article was originally published in the Early Summer 2013 issue of Adventure Kayak. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.
So many kayaks, and so little time (and money!). What’s your all-time favorite boat?
This photo is was taken by Flickr user Brooke Anderson and licensed under Creative Commons. Want to see your photo here? Send to [email protected] with subject line Daily Photo.
Don’t leave your best friend at home when you paddle—your pooch is ready to take the plunge. Whether it’s protection against marauding chipmunks, a snuggly tent mate or a companion to wile away long hours with on the water, Rover is ready to provide. “The truth is 99 percent of dogs are fine in a canoe,” says Kathryn Howell, owner of Dog Paddling Adventures, an outfitter that provides dog-friendly canoe camping adventures. “They’re so happy to be out there, all they need is a lifejacket.” Flatwater routes and slow-moving rivers are ideal to create a sense of security and a non-slip pad on the hull of the canoe goes a long way to making your pooch feel more stable. Rules differ from coast to coast—not every park or wilderness area allows pets in the backcountry, but these ones do.
Seven Carries – Adirondacks
The historic Seven Carries, located in the Saint Regis Canoe Area, is a beautiful paddling destination. Portages are gentle and camping is first come, first served. This designated wilderness area is the largest in the Northeast. Expect loons, great swimming and better fishing. At nine miles, it’s a chance to test your dog’s sea legs. Shuttle needed. www.visitadirondacks.com
Sayward Forest Canoe Route – Vancouver Island
One of the most extensive freshwater paddling routes on the island, twelve lakes make up this circuit. Paddle the entire 50 kilometers or just a portion. Your pooch will appreciate the chance to stretch his legs on the eight kilometers of portages throughout the circuit and you’ll appreciate that much of it accommodates wheeled carts—are you thinking what I’m thinking? Mush! www. vancouverisland.com.
Current River – Missouri
Spring-fed, cold and clear, the Current River in Missouri boasts caves, trails and historic sites along its banks. Part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the Current offers numerous outfitters, access points and camping options. Take Fido for a day trip or embark on more than 70 miles of float paddling. www.nps.gov/ozar/index.htm.
Sabine River – Texas
On the border between Texas and Louisiana, this is a river of solitude for you and your canine friend. Camp on white sand beaches and paddle past shores lined with cypress, willow and sweetgum. Start your trip downstream of the Toledo Bend Reservoir—you can take out after 28 miles or canoe up to 120 miles before you near the Gulf of Mexico.
La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve – Quebec
North of Montreal in the province of Quebec, La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve covers some 8,000 square kilometers of ruff backcountry and is home to more than 40 species of wildlife and 150 species of birds. With options ranging from day trips to 105-mile circuits, there’s something for everyone.
www.canot-camping.ca.
This article first appeared in Canoeroots & Family Camping, Spring 2013 issue. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.
Between all our editorial, design and sales staff, we have a combined total of 103 years of whitewater experience. That’s a lot of cycles on the calendar spent traveling bumpy put-in roads, tracing sinuous blue lines on topo maps, sharing accommodations with wintering rodent populations and generally chasing the whitewater dream.
We’re also based in the blink-and-you-miss-it timber town of Palmer Rapids. Sure there’s no nightlife (aside from community center bingo), a box of Corn Flakes costs six bucks, the general store rents only VHS and fine dining is a seasonal chip stand. But if you triangulate between the Ottawa Valley’s world-class whitewater, Algonquin Park’s thousands of wilderness lakes, and the spring creeks that tumble off the southerly edge of the Canadian Shield, you’ll find Palmer Rapids at the center.
Hopefully that provides you with some confidence that we when it comes to river towns, we know what we’re talking about. Here—in no particular order—are Paddling Magazine‘s picks for the best whitewater towns.
2. Hood River, Oregon
3. Thunder Bay, Ontario
4. Asheville, North Carolina
5. Jasper, Alberta
6. Lake Placid, New York
7. Revelstoke, British Columbia
8. Nevada City, California
Best all-river towns
1. Fayetteville, West Virginia
2. Copperhill, Tennessee
3. Clearwater, British Columbia
4. Confluence, Pennsylvania
5. Petawawa, Ontario
6. Crested Butte, Colorado
7. Kernville, California
8. Maniwaki, Quebec
2. Franklin, North Carolina
3. Charlemont, Massachusetts
4. Palmer Rapids, Ontario
5. Forks of Salmon, California
6. Bingham, Maine
7. Canmore, Alberta
8. White Lake, Wisconsin
3. Pueblo, Colorado
5. Watertown, New York
6. Reno, Nevada
7. Cambridge, Ontario
8. Missoula, Montana
1. Sjoa, Norway
2. Pucón, Chile
3. Turrialba, Costa Rica
5. Thun, Switzerland
6. Jalcomulco, Mexico
7. Briançon, France
8. Oetz, Austria
9. Rotorua, New Zealand
10. Pokhara, Nepal
11. Tolmin, Soča, Slovenia
2. Trail, British Columbia
3. Fort Smith, Northwest Territories
4. San Marcos, Texas
6. Enderby, British Columbia
7. Glenwood Springs, Colorado
When it comes to the question of whether to sit or kneel in a canoe, times are changing. Tradition always dictated that kneeling demonstrated proper technique—sitting was sloppy.
Innovation, on the other hand, has resulted in technique that has canoeists actually paddling stronger while seated. It’s not quite as easy as just changing positions, though. You’ll need to modify your paddling style to match your seated stance for added power, efficiency and comfort.
Proponents of kneeling usually argue that it’s more stable than sitting. This isn’t always true. Lower the seat and there’s no need to kneel. Properly mounted tractor seats are installed with this in mind. Tractor seats also force paddlers to keep their center of gravity over the center of buoyancy of the boat, eliminating balance issues related to sliding to one side on a bench seat.
Kneelers who claim they get more power likely do so by leaning forward and planting their paddles further ahead—reach afforded by their kneeling position. However, when paddling most canoes, this is less efficient since it causes the bow of the canoe to porpoise in the water.
The shorter, faster stroke cadence of the seated paddler lends itself to bent shaft paddles. Because tractor seats are lower than bench seats, a shorter paddle is required. Bent shaft paddles also demand less reach because of the angle the blade enters the water.
Those quick to criticize bent shaft paddles for their clumsiness when it comes to steering strokes will find that switching sides is actually easier seated than while kneeling because of the stability factors mentioned above. Replace a pry, which is ineffective with bent shaft paddles, by changing sides (hut!) and doing a draw—generally more ideal than a pry anyways because it’s more powerful. Pries can also destabilize the canoe, which can be an issue with the lower freeboard boats commonly designed for this style of paddling.
The shortened overall height of this more modern style of boat not only reduces wind sheer, it also allows seated paddlers to comfortably reach over the sides as well as brace thighs and knees beneath the gunwales.
Bow paddlers should rest their thighs against the sides of the canoe and feet against the air chamber in front of them. Boats with tractor seats often have an optional foot brace for stern paddlers. Engaging your lower body creates the feeling of pulling the boat forward across the water rather than pushing the water backwards, behind the canoe, as is the case with straight shaft paddling common to the traditional kneeling style.
Perhaps one of the greatest benefits to paddling from a seated position is the added comfort. No more sore knees, no more pins and needles. Marathon canoeists paddle almost exclusively seated with their lower bodies braced to maintain comfort over long distances while still generating maximum power.
Kneeling remains the best choice for classic soloists and paddling most technical whitewater, but if you don’t want to kneel, learn to paddle properly when seated. Just like kneeling paddlers, in order to maintain an efficient stroke, seated paddlers must sit up straight and generate power by rotating the torso rather than relying entirely on arms. They key here is not to slouch in your seat.
This article originally appeared in Rapid magazine.
It takes a truly epic event to make whitewater kayakers stare intensely at a lake. So, there they sat, hundreds of them, restless in anticipation of the breach of the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in south-central Washington.
For the past 11 days, PacifiCorp, owner of the dam, had been blasting a tunnel the width of a two-lane highway in the base of the 125-foot concrete wall. At noon on October 26, 2011, dynamite blew away the last 15 feet. The gauge maxed out at 13,000 cfs as the White Salmon River burst free for the first time in 98 years.
In just under an hour, a new gorge began to emerge where a deep, sediment-filled reservoir used to sit.
“From the edge of the canyon, the river looked like a jagged beast carving through the mud, huge walls of sediment sloughed off into the river, trees snapped, channels shifted,” says Louis Geltman, a local American Whitewater volunteer and avid class V kayaker. “Watching the blast, I felt a mix of pure awe at the river’s power and total elation that it was finally, irrevocably happening.”
Most dams, diversions, canals and other obstructions to downstream flow have existed longer than most kayakers. Many paddlers just accept these abnormalities—dry riverbeds, concrete barriers, reservoirs—and look elsewhere for their fix.
However, these structures are not as enduring and permanent as we may think. Today, boaters have begun to realize the potential for whitewater in the unlikeliest, yet most familiar places.
“It just did not make sense to have this river end in a dam,” says Ralph Bloemers, Columbia Gorge kayaker and staff attorney for the Portland, Oregon, non-profit Crag Law Center, one of the advocacy groups contributing to the project. “Now people can paddle from the headwaters all the way to the White Salmon’s confluence with the Columbia. This is the kind of adventure that kayakers dream about—and it is right in our backyard.”
Twenty years ago, everyone accepted the Condit Dam as a natural element of the landscape. Similarly, until the late ‘80s, no paddler imagined the Elwha River on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula as a whitewater run stretching from source to sea. It was treated more like a set of classic rapids sandwiched between two reservoirs.
Today, the need for fish passage has become the catalyst to bring some of these dams down.
The Elwha and Condit Dams will be two of the largest hydropower removal projects the world has ever seen. On the Elwha, paddlers will be able to explore a new stretch of a well-known river by 2014 as salmon swim upstream to their ancestral breeding grounds. The White Salmon will be open for recreation as early as August 2012.
In many cases, it is the paddlers who are instigating the change.
“Kayakers are working as lawyers for conservation groups, documenting the beauty of the river through film and coming together to collectively advocate for the restoration of the river system for fish and recreation,” says Bloemers.
With paddlers advocating for more flowing rivers, new whitewater playgrounds are poised to begin popping up everywhere.
Susan Hollingsworth is an American Whitewater Regional Coordinator, writer and kayaker living in the Columbia River Gorge. For more information on these and other dam removal projects visit www.americanwhitewater.org.
This article originally appeared in Rapid, Spring 2012. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.
Many kayak trippers know the concept ‘put your boats to bed’—it’s a routine, like our own personal evening rituals, that goes: tidy, tuck, park, secure and, of course, reflect. Here on Georgian Bay, sleepy boats reflect on a lovely sunset from the shores of Parry Island.
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Last September, 90 competitors gathered in Jonquiere, Quebec, for the World Cup of Rafting and Pan American Rafting Championships. Raft guides, kayakers and dirtbags from around the world attempted to stake a claim amongst the world’s rafting elite and jockey for position in the 2013 World Rafting Championships to be held in November in New Zealand.
This sounds strange if you’re used to paddling rivers where guides are pushing rubber. You’ve probably spent time waiting in an eddy for your chance at a surf or been stuck behind a slow-moving crowd while they plug across the flats. We’re used to seeing commercial rafts crawl along at tourists’ pace, but rafting is also an internationally competitive sport. It even made appearances at the Olympic Games in Munich in ’72, Barcelona in ’92 and Atlanta in ‘96. All this thanks to the Cold War.
A boom in whitewater tourism in the early 1980s spawned athletes with new skills. The first widely recognized competitive rafting event came in ‘89 through the work of Project RAFT (Russians and Americans For Teamwork)-an attempt to overcome Cold War-era political divide between the two countries. Teams came together on the Chuya River in Siberia to compete in downriver and slalom disciplines.
The event was well received by many and continued until it folded in ‘94. With the help of Camel cigarettes, Tony Hansen, who would go on to help found the International Rafting Federation (IRF), put together…
This article appeared in Rapid, Spring 2013. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read the rest here.
A review of the Zegul 520 sea kayak by Adventure Kayak magazine.
Designed in Scandinavia, built in Northern Europe and shipped to U.S. and Canadian retailers from warehouses in California, Vancouver and Montreal, Zegul Marine continues sea kayaking’s long tradition of international cross-pollination.
Founded in Sweden in 2004 by designer Johan Wirsén, Zegul kayaks are now manufactured by Tahe Marine—one of Europe’s largest and longest established composite kayak builders—on the north coast of Estonia. In 2012, a merger with new, Quebec-based paddlesport powerhouse, Kayak Distribution, brought Zegul boats to North American shores for the first time.
Zegul lists the 520 in their play boating line, but as Kayak Distribution sales and marketing director Mark Hall notes, it’s really an all-purpose kayak for touring and play.
The 520 is available in two lay-ups: a glass/carbon/aramid “A-core” infusion weighing around 50 pounds, and an even stiffer, lighter vacuum-infused carbon “C-core” construction. Our lime green A-core test boat has the flawless finish of an exotic sports car, and features stylish black accents that also provide protection in high wear areas.
Zegul 520 Specs
This article originally appeared in Adventure Kayak, Early Summer 2013. To continue reading the full review and watch an exclusive video review, download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.
