An Ode To Shuttle Rigs

Without one, your brand-new, auto boof, never-flips-but-easy-to-roll kayak is useless. That $375 paddling jacket—so dry the only way water gets into your boat is through your nose—means nothing. Your hydrokryptonite, triple torque, modified crank, guaranteed-to-make-you-bounce-higher-on-a-wave paddle, just a lifeless stick. As paddlers we all use them, need them, hate them and love them.

That’s right, I’m talking about our beleaguered, beloved shuttle rigs.

“I think we're going to make it!” | Photo: Scott MacGregor

9 Rules For Driving Shuttle On Your Next Paddling Trip

An ode to shuttle rigs

It’s a strange relationship we have with our river rides. When they are doing their job (getting us to the river) and not breaking down (costing us money), we rarely think twice about them. We drive too fast down logging roads, push the suspension well beyond the manufacturer’s recommendation and assume the liter of oil burnt every month counts as regular oil changes. We watch impotently as scaly rust advances like leprosy and tell ourselves grinding Doritos into the carpet adds character.

Some of us, though, understand what an important role the shuttle rig plays in our dirtbag boater lives.

You never forget your first love

Touring river to river in New Zealand, our 1988 Isuzu Bighorn was more than just a shuttle vehicle. It was our living room, bedroom, dining room and, unfortunately, once or twice our bathroom. Even after splitting it four ways, the Bighorn was the only thing I owned of any real monetary value. For the first time, I truly appreciated and, well, loved a shuttle vehicle.

[ Browse the widest selection of boats and gear in the Paddling Buyer’s Guide ]

Most folks don’t ever develop such a strong bond with their metal steeds—such a close relationship, the self-help authors tell us, requires months of intimate contact. When the inevitable happens and something goes wrong, the blame for the breakdown falls unjustly on our poor, boat-burdened beasts. “Why is this P.O.S. pulling to the right? I was only going 60 when I hit that stump. Stupid car!”

Spirits of shuttle rigs past

Thinking back on all the shuttle rigs I’ve owned and the rivers they’ve delivered me to makes me a little nostalgic. Breaking down on the way back from Mexico and sleeping in the Automobill’s parking lot in Arkadelphia, Arkansas while awaiting repairs. Driving at night with no lights, dodging unseen sheep when the Isuzu’s alternator fried. Changing two flat tires at the same time in a torrential downpour on a Vancouver Island logging road.

car with two kayaks driving on scenic route

The Dreaded Driverless Shuttle For Paddling Trips

At the time, it seemed like the world was against us and vehicles were the worst contraptions ever invented. Thinking back, though, it was probably just our rides reminding us to show them a little love now and then. Air out the trunk, change that sludgy oil, Bondo the rust holes. Heck, maybe even run a tank of high-test through her system. Because without your trusty shuttle rig, you’d just be another hiker.

Dan Caldwell has been writing for Rapid since the Summer 2007 issue. Starting in 2012, he took on multiple roles at Rapid Media, including media sales and Paddling Film Festival coordinator.

Cover of the 2023 Paddling Buyer’s Guide This article was first published in the Summer/Fall 2012 issue of Rapid Magazine and was republished in the 2023 Paddling Buyer’s Guide. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.

Wing and a prayer down 65 / Five best friends on four bald tires / I can still see Billy smiling / When we finally made it —“Talladega,” Eric Church | Feature photo: Kalob Grady

Scouting Niagara Falls

Stories

Photo: Jens Klatt — Scouting Niagara Falls

When Rafael Ortiz became the second person to kayak over Washington’s 186-foot Palouse Falls last spring, extreme whitewater boating was reinjected into mainstream headlines. “You get some attention after doing something like this,” says Ortiz, who received both praise for pushing the envelope and scorn for being careless and stupid. Then, after the hype died down, people asked, “What’ll they try next?” That’s when talk of an attempt at Niagara Falls started to recirculate.

“If someone were to run Niagara Falls safely and successfully, it would indeed be an amazing feat and the publicity would be insane,” says Tyler Bradt, who set the record for highest vertical drop when he ran Palouse in 2009. “It would be quite a fine line,” he cautions, “because the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful descent would reflect the sport either very positively or very negatively.”

Running Niagara Falls has always been somewhere between a heroic feat and cliché publicity stunt. Since the original pickle barrel hucksters of the 1920s, just 16 people have survived the drop, none in a kayak.

In 1991, 28-year-old Jesse Coombs died attempting to run the Canadian falls in a converted Perception C1. Many say ego got in the way of better judgment—Coombs refused to wear a helmet so his face would be visible in photographs. Those close to him point to his stellar paddling record and suggested that if anyone could have run Niagara at the time, it was him.

JAILTIME AND A FINE FOR THOSE WHO ATTEMPT NIAGARA FALLS WITHOUT PERMISSION

Even if a paddler was to manage the combination of skill and sheer luck needed to survive the plummet, there’s still the law to contend with. Nik Wallenda spent years planning and negotiating with authorities on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border to complete his tightrope walk across the brink of Niagara this past June. Despite his success, officials have clearly stated that such pro- posals will only be considered once every 20 years.

While a handful of crews have poached an illegal kayak run down the class V+ gorge below the falls, anyone caught initiating a stunt that may draw a crowd to Niagara Falls without first getting permission faces a fine of $10,000 and up to six months in jail.

Despite the safety and legal risks, hucking huge is an expanding part of the sport and it’s garnering a lot of outsider attention for whitewater kayaking. This might make the timing for a Niagara descent more opportune than ever. If they’ll sponsor someone to skydive from 120,000 feet or drive Formula One on an ice circuit, why shouldn’t Red Bull—who just happens to be one of Ortiz’s sponsors—send a kayaker off of Niagara Falls?

Ortiz admits he’s scouted Niagara, which measures up a VW microbus shorter than Palouse. “There is a line, no doubt,” he concedes, but says the famous falls are far from ideal for a first decent. “The main difference with Palouse is that you can’t run Niagara dirty,” Ortiz explains. “Your life relies on a couple of strokes you take looking 170 feet down.” Still, he admits, “It’s there—the Holy Grail of waterfall hucking.”

This article first appeared in the Summer/Fall 2012 issue of Rapid Magazine. For more great content, subscribe to Rapid’s print and digital editions here.

S-Turn Rapid Technique

Skills

fb5c27012bf7bd2b528a5fe03304bd91_XL — Photo: Dane Jackson

This whitewater kayak technique article originally appeared in Rapid magazine.

S-Turn is one of the most famous and celebrated rapids in Mexico. It is the crux rapid on the notorious Roadside section of the Rio Alseseca, dropping 20 fast and twisty feet before ending in an eight-foot-wide mini gorge.

As with any steep, tight drop the first requirement for hitting your line is staying upright. The real trick to nailing S-Turn, however, is to get river right during the first slide. Although it looks like a bad idea, starting left is the way to go. Then the water will take you back to the right at the correct time.

[1] Enter the rapid on the far left with your bow pointed slightly right. This will look intimidating since there is a menacing rock wall on the left that if feels like you are going to crash into. In reality, you will slide down four feet, hit the angled rock on the left and deflect back with right momentum.

[2] Take a hard left stroke to pull yourself as far right as possible onto the ridge of dry rocks that form the top bend of the “S”. Your bow should launch off the rock, sending your boat into the air. This move is key, as it sets you up for the next turn. If you don’t make it all the way right, your bow will drop and could piton the left wall, which will most likely result in a flip. Avoid this at all costs!

[3] Once you have launched off the rock and are aerial, lift your left knee. This prevents you from flipping when you land on the large boiling curler coming off of the left wall.

[4] Brace as required to stay upright and take a powerful right stroke to keep your bow pointed left as you enter the final kink of the S-turn. If you fail to keep your bow left here, you risk spinning out into a micro eddy on the right or spinning sideways and pinning in the narrow alleyway below.

[5] After you have snaked through the sliding S-turn, you drop into the super cool mini gorge. This alleyway is about 70 feet long with 15- to 20-foot-high walls. Make sure to stay pointed downstream because, at just eight feet wide, the gorge is the perfect size to pin sideways if you get careless. Enjoy the view as you drop out of the alley into a calm pool.

[6] When you realize that this is one of the coolest rapids EVER, you can eddy out on the left in the bottom pool and hike back up for another run.

– Nick Troutman was a member of the first team to make a full descent of the Rio Alseseca. He swam three times and considers himself lucky.

This article originally appeared in Rapid, Fall 2012. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.

Profile: Haley Mills

e213534406f5e673030b12a49a117407_XL — Photo: Mike Tavares

This profile originally appeared in Rapid magazine.

In 2010, a petite firecracker in a yellow Wave Sport Project 45 exploded onto the U.S. free- style circuit. Two years and one Freestyle World Championships later—where the 26-year-old Elizabethtown, KY, native ranked 5th among the world’s top rodeo queens—there’s scarcely a throwdown where you won’t see Haley Mills’ broad grin and lofty aerials buoying her to a podium finish. Rapid caught up with the peripatetic playboater in Raleigh, NC, en route to Virginia’s Dominion River Rock Festival.

How did you get started in kayaking?

I took a class at Nantahala Outdoor Center when I was 13. My parents encouraged me to hook up with local kayaking clubs and a couple of friends took me paddling almost every weekend. After college, I moved to Colorado. It was so easy to get to the playpark for a workout in Salida—that’s where my interest in freestyle really started.

How did you make the leap from recreational boater to professional competitor?

I was training so much, working on my tricks and placing well at local competitions, that I figured, “Hey, I’m pretty good at this—I think I’m going to give it a go.” I showed up for U.S. team trials in 2010 and placed third.

You were also the USACK National Freestyle Point Series Champion… what else made 2010 a breakout year?

My boyfriend, Mike Tavares, and I bought a 1975 RV for $1,500 so we could travel from competition to competition. I’d been paddling Wave Sport boats since I started freestyle kayaking and when I made the U.S. National Freestyle Team, Wave Sport signed me to their pro team.

Tell us about being a full-time river nomad.

We recently upgraded to a nicer RV that we live in year-round. I like the RV lifestyle because I can spend the whole year around water, training and competing. In the winter, we park the RV in Clay Wright’s driveway and train at Rock Island, Tennessee. We spend some time paddling with the Jacksons when they’re around. The South- east freestyle scene is pretty close-knit.

We’ve heard rumors that you work at Tom Sawyer’s Christmas Tree Farm in Chattanooga?

Trimming, wrapping and loading Christmas trees for six weeks is really good cross-training! I’ve also waitressed at upscale restaurants and sold smoothies in Iowa at a 10-day road biking festival. This year I have more sponsorship help and we’re also pulling a trailer for Boardworks, doing SUP demos and events.

Speaking of cross-training, you also compete in downriver, slalom, surf and SUP. What’s your favorite discipline?

I want to keep my focus on freestyle for the 2013 Worlds, but I love training for all of them. Racing six-mile SUP ocean events or doing an eight-mile downriver sprint makes me stronger in my playboat and a better competitor. The more I do, the harder it is to pick a favorite.

Are there any specific tricks you’re working on for the World Cup this September?

I’m known for my huge aerial loops and I’m working on a few more combos, making sure I get my Phonix Monkey and McNasty dialed. A split-to-split would be nice as well.

How excited are you to see the World Championships coming to the Nantahala Gorge next year?

Thrilled. I’ll definitely be living at Nantahala, working the feature a lot. I want to move up from top five.

Life after the Worlds?

Training to be an all-around athlete…slalom would be nice to add for the 2016 Olympics. Staying healthy and strong so I can paddle for a long time.

This article originally appeared in Rapid, Fall 2012. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.

Of Souls and Water Review

3dcbd8056f504532259e733a4b9e2ae3_XL — Photo: Ben Marr

This article on the film series Of Souls and Water was first published in Rapid magazine.

“So, so, so, so, so, so, so SICK!” is how big wave maven, Ben Marr, describes his latest project—starring in “The Shapeshifter,” the third episode of the new short film series, Of Souls + Water. Marr’s opinion is obviously biased, but the five-episode series—released monthly this summer for free online viewing with the last five- to seven-minute short premiering August 28—is drawing plenty of acclaim elsewhere.

The series’ first episode—“The Nomad,” featuring National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, Erik Boomer—received a nod on Outside magazine’s OutsideOnline.com. When a teaser of Marr’s episode played at the North Fork Championship in June, the crowd went so wild they drowned out the musical score. And, at the time of printing, both the first and second episodes were staff picks on Vimeo, a video sharing website with some 10 million members.

It’s no wonder people are taking notice. Of Souls + Water’s creative engines are director Skip Armstrong and producer Anson Fogel of Forge Motion Pictures—the Colorado-based production company that raised the bar for kayaking films in 2010 with Wild Water, and took Grand Prize at the Banff Mountain Film Festival in 2011 with the climbing film, Cold. Armstrong and Fogel shot all the episodes on high-definition RED digital cameras and the visuals and quality sound design are nothing short of cinematic.

“We wanted to bring Hollywood-style cinematography to the outdoors,” explains Armstrong, “we planned the shots we wanted, then found the characters to support that vision.”

It isn’t just production quality that sets Of Souls + Water apart. Armstrong and Fogel envisioned an artistic, poetic series that would tell the stories of five individuals bound together by the common theme of water. Rather than focusing on a particular sport (the series features whitewater kayaking, rafting, sea kayaking and surfing), each episode poses a question about the human condition.

“We took some risks, focusing on ideas of our humanity more than the details, more feeling than explanation,” says Fogel. “The result is something a bit more unique, I hope, that stands above the noise of today’s web media.”

Mark Deming, marketing coordinator at series sponsor NRS, agrees, “We wanted to get at the underlying meaning behind paddling and go beyond eye candy.”

After seeing Forge’s films on the festival circuit, Deming met with Fogel and Armstrong to explore partnership possibilities. Underwriting films is a recent venture for NRS—the Idaho-based paddlesports manufacturer and retailer first partnered with National Geographic filmmaker Andy Maser in 2011 for a series on dam removal—but Deming says there are plenty more projects in the hopper for 2013. Monetizing the films, he adds, isn’t a consideration. “Our goal is to help the artists at Forge bring their vision to reality,” says Deming, “then share it with our audience.”

Giving away the goods—especially when those goods are the fruit of costly production techniques and state of the art equipment—isn’t a new concept in the outdoor industry, but it is relatively new to paddlesports. When Reel Water Productions filmmaker Bryan Smith partnered with technical apparel manufacturer, Arc’teryx, in 2010–2011 to produce The Season, it was among the first times that paddling lifestyle had been featured in publicly available, professionally produced branded films.

As the paddlesports industry develops a more sophisticated online pres- ence, says Deming, “Branded content as the way companies do business on the web is going to become more prominent.”

Armstrong says that without sponsorship from NRS and New Belgium Brewing, the Of Souls + Water team wouldn’t have the luxury of shooting films when river or ocean conditions are optimal, and then getting them in front of audiences just a month later. Free online distribution, he says, “is so cool—as filmmakers, we finally have a platform where we can release this stuff. It’s something everyone who makes films is going to have to explore.”

See the episodes now, at www.nrsfilms.com

This article originally appeared in Rapid, Fall 2012. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.

Editorial: Great Lines We Can’t Run

Stories

4a071c64184f6ed127d1b90fcde1a863_XL — Photo: Robin Carleton

Off the Tongue is a column that appears reguarily in Rapid magazine.

In 2009, Gawker.com called out the editor of Men’s Health, David Zinczenko, for copying and pasting old cover lines onto new magazine covers. Turns out Zinczenko has been recycling cover lines since 2004. To be fair, editors are always looking for what readers want and trying to deliver it to them. Men, if we are to believe Zinczenko, here’s what we really want: “Six Pack Abs” has been used on five Men’s Health covers, “Lose Your Gut” on five, and “Get Back in Shape” has run on 10 covers in five years. You get the idea.

Publishers track newsstand sales and editors run cover lines to entice readers into picking up a copy. A few magazine cover power words are: free, easy, shocking, secret, new, ultimate and sex. Virtually any magazine at the checkout counter of a grocery story uses these. Cosmo works all of them into a single cover story: “Shocking New Free and Easy Secrets to Ultimate Sex.”
Good cover lines are an essential part of selling magazines and, dare I say, are a lot like good pickup lines. You only have a few seconds to ignite a certain emotion and intrigue a person into buying the publication or letting you buy her a drink.
Magazine experts say editors should not be too clever on the cover. Satisfy a need and give readers the short answer fast. But sometimes it’s fun to break the rules. One of my favorite cover lines was a small print, bottom of the page story that ran on Outside magazine—”My Girlfriend Rappels Me: Inside the Crazy World of Adventure Dating.” Being happily married, I didn’t give them my five bucks, but the editors did get my respect for being clever.
A few years back on the cover of Rapid’s sister publication Adventure Kayak—I should note, a magazine with an older, more mature readership— we had a little too much fun when we ran these two cover lines: “Kayak Porn—Behind the Scenes with Bryan Smith” and “Derek Hutchinson: Why we Suck.” It was our editor’s mother who first noticed and expressed her disappointment at seeing the words porn and suck on the same cover. A dozen subscribers cancelled their subscriptions.
Over the years, I’ve learned that not-so-interesting stories don’t produce great cover lines. If we can’t make it sound intriguing in five words, it’s probably not all that interesting inside at 1,500.
The opposite is also true. A well-crafted, seductive headline usually makes for an interesting story.
This spring we were following tweets from @wwheadlines who has taken this idea one step further. Not burdened with having to publish or even write the accompanying stories, @wwheadlines tweets great headlines that would certainly intrigue readers and sell magazines. Here are some of my favorite whitewater headlines we can’t run, at least not yet:
Professional Kayaker Sets New World Record for Uses of the Word “Epic”
Upon Closer Inspection Steve Fisher Appears to be a Robot
Young Guns Celebrate 15th Anniversary of “The Future of the Sport”
Groundbreaking Kayaking Film to Feature Paddling Set to Rap Music
Following Breakup, Attractive Female Paddler Single for 3.4 Seconds
Eskimo Kayaks Announces Plans to Update 1989 Outfitting with 1994 Outfitting
River Karma Being Revamped to Include Competitive Scoring System
Poll Shows 63 Percent of Americans Still Oppose SUP Marriage
Aging EJ Forgets which Boat he is Supposed to be Hyping
In a Shocking Turn of Events, Sponsored Kayaker Recommends Sponsor’s Product
Grumman to Release All Aluminum Playboat.
– Scott MacGregor is the founder and publisher of Rapid.

This article originally appeared in Rapid, Fall 2012. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.

Butt End: Kevin Callan on Stage Frights

Stories

6ddb2450462828abf9aabc88d6bfb7fe_XL — Photo: Scott Adams

Butt End by Kevin Callan is a column that regularly appears in Canoeroots and Family Camping magazine.

I love presenting to a crowd of paddlers. I always have. I’ve been standing in front of canoeists for over 25 years, ranging from quaint evenings at small-town libraries to Madison, Wisconsin’s Canoecopia, a show I once described to a U.S. border guard as a Star Trek convention for canoeists.

I used to prepare some sort of script to keep me organized, but gave that up a number of years ago. I’m just too hyper to stick to a script. Besides, a set dialogue doesn’t necessarily work, especially during Q&A period. You just never know what’s going to come up.

Quirky questions are de rigueur: Where do I purchase bear-proof fencing for my canoe trip? How do I convince my canoe partner to carry more gear? Are you the same Kevin Callan that’s a murderer? Is your wife single? And, just recently while presenting inThunder Bay for the Friends of Quetico, How did your schoolteachers deal with your attention deficit disorder?

I’ve been abused by landowners who hated me for promoting a canoe route neighboring their cottage or camp. I’ve been belittled by part-time historians who beg to differ on a point of historic fact. And there was the time I was embarrassed in a packed university auditorium by an outdoor professor and her lawyer friend who threatened to have me sued for writing about her wilderness exploits (even though they were good and honorable exploits).

On another occasion, a government official disrupted a presentation I was giving on dealing with bears and took over the lecture with her counter points because she thought I was telling too many jokes. True story. That was the only time I lost my temper during a show and actually kicked her off the stage.

The embarrassments aren’t limited to cross-examination, either. I’ve mispronounced place names, both forgivable— Chiniguchi and Tatachikapika—and unforgivable—vagina instead of Regina is one of the more humiliating examples. Once, my tongue slipped when I tried to say Reese’s Pieces and the words came out Reese’s penis.

I’ve had my fly down for a 90-minute presentation, and sat on a chocolate bar just prior to the show while wearing beige pants. I’ve even done the classic, pre-show water-splash-on-my-groin-while-washing-up-in-the-bathroom and got caught trying (in vain) to dry my pants with the wall-mounted air-dryer.

Being mistaken for another writer who was wrongly convicted of murder or being accused of suffering from ADD is well worth it though. Why? Over the years, I’ve actually witnessed a few paddlers out on canoe trips that I originally met during a presentation. More than once, they’ve claimed that it was my inspirational talk that convinced them to head out on their adventure in the first place.

The most memorable of these moments occurred after a presentation I gave in Restoule Provincial Park in which I told everyone about a magazine cover story I had just written titled How To Make Love in a Canoe. After the show I wandered back to my campsite beside the water’s edge and spotted a canoe floating in the moonlight. Two heads suddenly popped up and the couple inside yelled out, “Thanks, Kevin.”

– Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, Kevin Callan believes there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

This article originally appeared in Canoeroots & Family Camping, Fall 2012. Download our freeiPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.

Make a Solar Oven

3bd6583af5a14653b7b54db2c9fe7f3e_XL — Photo: Michael Mechan

This Campcraft article originally appeared in Canoeroots and Family Camping magazine.

The surface of the sun is about 10,000°F. Why not put some of that energy to use and make yourself a snack? A solar oven works by redirecting and concentrating the sun’s rays, trapping their heat inside the collector box. You’ll be amazed at how simple and fun it is to cook treats using only the power of sunlight!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

1 large pizza box

Aluminum foil

Box cutter, scissors

Heavy-duty plastic wrap

Black construction paper

Tape

Aluminum pie plate

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut a flap out of the lid of your pizza box as shown in the picture. Cut along three sides, leaving about an inch and a half between the flap and the edges of the lid. Use the box’s hinge as the flap’s folding edge.

Line the entire interior of your pizza box— top, bottom and sides, including the flap— with aluminum foil. Tape it into place with the shiny side showing.

Cut two pieces of heavy-duty plastic wrap slightly larger than the flap to cover the opening—this will seal in the heat created by the sun’s rays. Tape them into place in a double layer.

Line the bottom of the box with black construction paper, taping it down on top of the aluminum foil. The black paper will absorb the warmth.

Tape over any holes where heat may escape your oven while making sure it is still able to open and close. Decorate the exterior.

You’re ready to cook! Put your food on the aluminum pie plate, aim the flap so that it reflects the sunlight into the box and prop it in place with a stick.

You’ll get the best results on a hot, sunny day between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. This solar oven will reach temperatures up to 200°F. Keep an eye on it as you cook and use oven mitts. Expect cooking times to be about double that of a conventional oven. You can preheat the oven in the sun to speed things up.

SOLAR OVEN RECIPES

Stellar Mini Pizzas

Spread tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, chopped veggies and sliced pepperoni sticks onto an open-faced English muffin. Cook until the cheese melts and the muffin is toasted.

Solar S’mores

Place some chocolate and a marshmallow on a graham cracker and allow them to melt. Place a second graham cracker on top and enjoy.

Quesadillas del Sol

Spread shredded cheese, chopped onions, peppers, mushrooms and salsa onto one half of an open tortilla flat. Fold it over and cook until the cheese melts and the tortilla is crispy.

This article originally appeared in Canoeroots & Family Camping, Fall 2012. Download our freeiPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.

Base Camp: Catching Frogs

Stories

de2df791682f079f8397226a3ff38bc7_XL — Photo: Conor Mihell

Base Camp is a regular column in Canoeroots and Family Camping magazine.

Every summer my parents rented a small cottage on a small lake. We swam in the lake, hiked a little and fished a lot. We fished mostly for smallmouth bass. Smallmouth bass, if you don’t know, love frogs. And so, frogs were bait.

At the time, you could buy frogs. But since we had more time than money, we spent hours stalking around the squishy edges of frog ponds. Catching frogs was even more fun than fishing.

We started every trip to our secret frog pond in rubber boots and came home in goo-caked bare feet. Some kids used nets to catch them, but if you were quick, it was better to use your hands. Slowly, slowly, slowly we‘d crouch into position. Fingers together, hand open, we’d hover above our little green prey waiting for just the right moment. SPLASH! Like lightning you snapped down on it so that your palm was on top of the frog and your fingers clamped around it, plucking it from the weeds before it could duck out of sight. If you were good, you’d get one for every five attempts.

After a few trips around the pond, the ones that got away on the earlier laps were even harder to catch because they were now a little… jumpy.

Frogs, scientists say, have reason to be jumpy. Frog populations have been declining worldwide with nearly one-third of the world’s amphibian species now threatened with extinction. Since 1980, when I was at the top of my frog catching game, 200 species of frogs have completely disappeared. Save the Frogs, a non-profit organization dedicated to, well, saving frogs, says that an onslaught of environmental problems, including pollution, infectious diseases, habitat loss, invasive species, climate change and over-harvesting for the food industry are to blame.

People say if you have a healthy frog population, you have a healthy environment.

Frogs spend some time on land and some time in the water and because they have sensitive skin that can easily absorb toxic chemicals, frogs are especially susceptible to environmental disturbances. Biologists around the world believe that the health of frogs is indicative of the health of the biosphere as a whole.

I’d like to put forth another theory. I believe that if we teach children the joys of catching frogs, some of those kids will grow up to rid the environment of hurtful toxins. In fact, I don’t think we need to teach them; I think we just need to point them toward a frog pond and turn them loose.

You see, we weren’t just gathering bait, we were learning about the environment. We were engaging with nature, playing in it, sink- ing in it barefoot up to our knees. Sure, putting frogs on hooks was a bit mean, but let’s not overreact and pull our kids from the swamps where they can study, understand and connect with nature. Kids, after all, weren’t identified by Save the Frogs as a contributing factor to declining numbers.

The regulations on fishing with frogs vary from region to region. Where I live, it is now illegal to use all but one species—the northern leopard frog—as bait. Instead, anglers use millions of petroleum-based, frog-like artificial baits that I’m not so sure are better for the environment, or the frogs. We’ll leave that one in the hands of the great biologists of tomorrow. But we’ll have to wait; right now they’re in swamps with their hands full of little green frogs.

– Scott MacGregor is the founder and publisher of Canoeroots & Family Camping.

This article originally appeared in Canoeroots & Family Camping, Fall 2012. Download our freeiPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.

Best Paddles Gear Review

Gear

f41bf091a4e18f2312495cc0e975d9f7_XL — Photo: Michael Mechan

This gear review originally appeared in Canoeroots and Family Camping magazine.

These paddles will help you go fast, go long and, go quietly in style.

SANBORN CANOE CO.

Little Sag

www.sanborncanoe.com • $140

Sanborn paddles stand out on the water and on the rack. Optional hand-painted shafts in several different heritage designs blend art with craftsmanship, making these truly unique paddles.

The gentle seven-degree bend in the Little Sag was pleasantly surprising. The increase in power over a straight shaft is noticeable yet control strokes like the J aren’t affected. This paddle belongs in the collection of touring canoeists who appreciate a paddle with character.

GREY OWL

Eagle Feather

www.greyowlpaddles.com • $195

The walnut and ash veneer on the broad blade faces of Grey Owl’s newest paddle really does resemble an eagle feather. Blended with a unique combination of butternut, birdseye maple, basswood and white cedar, the paddle is both sturdy and relatively light. A partial urethane tip protects the blade from delamination and splitting of the grain. Its oval shape is tailored for deep-water recreational or tripping paddlers.

BENDING BRANCHES

Black Pearl

www.bendingbranches.com • $230

Because of its strength-to-weight ratio, carbon remains the standard for high-performance paddles. The new Black Pearl is an unconventional head-turner for Bending Branches, known for their wooden blades. Marathoners will love this paddle as the 11-degree bend gives lots of oomph to each stroke and the grip is more comfortable for long tours than many sprint racing paddles. Most noticeable is what’s absent—it weighs only 14 ounces. You’ll barely notice you’re holding it.

BADGER PADDLES

Cherry Tripper

www.badgerpaddles.com • $130

The Cherry Tripper performs just as well for soloists as it does for tandem trippers. A long narrow blade provides excellent leverage needed for deep strokes used in solo and freestyle paddling. The shape also results in an efficient, low-impact stroke ideal for all-day, distance canoeing. Smaller-framed paddlers will appreciate the Tripper’s scaled-down shaft diameter and grip, while larger paddlers will likely prefer the more substantial proportions of the Badger Paw.

This article originally appeared in Canoeroots & Family Camping, Fall 2012. Download our freeiPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.