Skills
Latest Skills
5 Expert Tips To Improve Your River Running
Too often, no matter whether on a big play wave in a spring creek, beginner and even quite seasoned paddlers run straight-ahead-Fred green runs...
How To Photograph A Tundra Wolf
Dream of capturing the photo of a lifetime? Use the recipe below to photograph a tundra wolf, barren-ground grizzly, caribou or muskox. Though not...
How To Fillet A Fish
If you’re not fond of bones or skin, you’ll want to fillet your fish to prepare it for cooking. Follow these five simple steps...
A Paddler’s Guide To Finding Yourself
Long trips, short trips, any trips out on the water are money in the Bank of the Soul. We can catch a sunset paddle, make...
Kayaking With Kids
At the end of a school year, I was surrounded by parents and their kids—my children’s cohorts in grade one and preschool. We were...
How To Line Rapids In A Canoe
After you line a canoe the first time around that usual portage, your watch and back will thank you for the discovery. Using guide...
A Paddler’s Guide To Predicting The Weather
As dozens of folksy sayings attest, you can make your own weather forecast from easy atmospheric and environmental observations. You don’t need a weatherman...
A Kayaker’s Guide To Saving Your Marriage
Paddling used to be as primal a need as food or sleep. Now it fits into my life about as conveniently as polo or skydiving.
I...
Kayaker Engages Dad-mode to Save Young Boy From Drowning
Kayak angler David “D.J.” Jones Jr. nearly broke the internet when he posted this video of himself rescuing a young boy from the St....
Kayaking With Kids
At the end of a school year, I was surrounded by parents and their kids—my children’s cohorts in grade one and preschool. We were...
How To Pack For Kayak Camping
A well-packed kayak is one where you know where everything is, and nothing important gets left behind. So, as a veteran guide, I felt...
How To Register Your Kayak In Your State
Registering your kayak can feel like an intimidating task, but we’re here to demystify kayak registration. From which states do and don’t require paddlecraft...
Why You’re Not Winning The River Permit Lottery
Permits for the United States’ most iconic river trips are difficult to secure, and it’s no surprise why. Data from the U.S. Forest Service...
Pro Boaters On Why Expeditions Fail
Even the pros know that not every whitewater expedition goes as planned. From overlooked prep to unpredictable weather and challenging team dynamics, a lot...
How To Score A John Day River Permit And Plan The Ultimate Trip
Standing on river left at Clarno Rapid, I watched the water tumble over a wide ledge, forming a hole that stretched from bank to...
How To Score A San Juan River Permit And Plan The Ultimate Trip
The San Juan River holds a long-running record of drawing life to its waters within an extremely arid region of the Utah desert, and...
How To Score A Middle Fork Of The Salmon River Permit And Plan The...
Some rapids sit front of mind for every boater who’s paddled the Middle Fork of the Salmon. Eli Kretzmann, 14-year professional river guide and...
How To Bake A Backcountry Pizza
Done poorly, campfire pizza will have uncooked toppings and half-melted cheese on a burnt bottom and black crust. Instead, follow these simple steps and...
Bad News Bears: 5 Tips To Avoid Problem Bear Encounters
One of the greatest benefits of canoe camping is the way it brings us closer to nature. But when it comes to bears, keeping...
Campfire Book Review: Chris Nuttall-Smith Teaches Us To Cook It Wild
People fall into one of two camps when it comes to cooking trip meals.
There are the pragmatists, always planning the next reconstitution of one...
The Bear Canoe: A Risky Way To Store Food Overnight
Canoeists love to debate camping techniques. Single blade or double. Stuffing your tent or rolling it. Ground cloth inside or outside. One of the...
15 Family Camping Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)
Family camping trips are all about making s’mores and singing Neil Diamond’s ultra-classic “Sweet Caroline” around the campfire, right? We certainly hope so. Not...
29 Tips For Fun, Worry-Free Family Camping
Parents of young children, don’t you miss the great outdoors? Great news: bringing kids along on trip doesn’t have to put a damper on...
How To Make Sushi On Trip
Sushi makes a great, versatile backcountry meal. Sushi prepared ahead of time is a quick and elegant meal on the first night of a...
12 Packing Tips For Lightweight Kayak Camping
Before I became a kayaker, I was a canoe tripper. Canoe tripping taught me that you can never have too much good camping gear—as...
5 Expert Tips To Improve Your River Running
Too often, no matter whether on a big play wave in a spring creek, beginner and even quite seasoned paddlers run straight-ahead-Fred green runs...
How To Line Rapids In A Canoe
After you line a canoe the first time around that usual portage, your watch and back will thank you for the discovery. Using guide...
How To Kayak Surf In Style
Aside from being one of the coolest feelings in the world, good surfing skills let you make controlled landings when conditions aren’t perfectly flat....
How To Get In And Out Of A Kayak In 6 Steps
As the owner of a specialty kayak retailer, AQ Outdoors, my team and I are often the first information source for many people who...
How To Transport A Paddleboard
There are few things as peaceful in life as standup paddling down a crystal-clear river that meanders through a quiet forest or floating out...
Expert Canoeing Advice: How To Do The J-Stroke
Whether paddling your canoe tandem or solo, there is a universally necessary, yet elusive goal we all set out to accomplish: going in a...
The Beginner’s Guide To Kayaking
It's been more than 30 years since I learned how to kayak. The first boat I sat in was an Aquaterra Spectrum, on loan...
Olympian’s SUP Stability Secrets
Whether you want to paddle fast, paddle far or just paddle with your dog on board, it all starts with good balance. Spending time...
Accident Debrief: Inside A Veteran Boater’s Scary Swim
Shane McManus reckons he’s run Big Splat on the Lower Big Sandy 500 times. Almost every time he runs the West Virginia classic, he...
How To Kayak Tow Your Friends Out Of Trouble
Sometimes the best way to assist another paddler is to give them a helping hand in the form of a tow. Towing a weaker...
The Beginner’s Guide To Kayaking
It's been more than 30 years since I learned how to kayak. The first boat I sat in was an Aquaterra Spectrum, on loan...
What To Wear Kayaking: The Complete Guide
The world of kayaking is as wild as you choose to make it. My kayak adventures have taken me from Lake Superior to the...
Kayak Fishing Instruction Takes Off
Kayak fishing has been the fastest-growing segment of paddlesports for years, and today there are somewhere between five and 15 million kayak anglers in...
The Essential Rescue Skill Outdoor Programs Stopped Teaching
I was not much of a reader as a kid. In third grade, I won the Most Improved Reader award, which makes me think...
3 Backcountry Blunders That Will Get You In Real Trouble
Nobody heads out on their local lake or dream paddling trip expecting a rescue. Yet anyone who has spent enough time on the water...
How Drones Are Revolutionizing The Search For Missing Paddlers
Search and rescue veterans could never have imagined the day would come when first responders could use a drone to light up a rescue...
How To Build Your Own DIY Kayak Storage Rack (Video)
Are your kayak and canoes bundled on top of each other on one side of your garage? Perhaps they are stacked up against a...
Renovating An Old Canoe While Running A Marathon (Video)
Productivity experts out there likely know the Pomodoro Technique well. The time management method invented by Italian Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s. While attending...
Winter Storage Tips For Your Canoe, Kayak or Standup Paddleboard (Video)
When the lake starts to freeze over and snow blankets the access road, many paddlers call it a season and move on to winter...
The Kayak Storage Solution For Any Backyard (Video)
Who says you don’t have room for a few more kayaks? Property square footage comes at a premium these days, and that means you...
3 Top Techniques To Build Your Own Kayak
To build your own kayak is to take part in a 4,000-year-old tradition beginning when the first Inuit hunter pieced together driftwood and sealskin...
Expert Tips To Easily Fix Your Leaky Drysuit (Video)
Drysuits are an investment. In challenging weather conditions, they are a tool to keep you warm, dry and safe. As with any investment, it’s...
An Ingenious Way To Store Your Canoe Or Kayak (Video)
Looking to shield your kayak or canoe from the elements, but don’t fancy the extra clutter on your garage floor? Nick's Life Outside is...
The Perfect DIY First Aid Kit For Paddlers
Paddlers who spend enough time on the water see injuries. Cuts and scratches are frequent while, fortunately, more serious injuries are rare. However, even management...
These Paddling Images Turned Heads At The Red Bull Illume Image Quest
For photographers in the adventure-sports world, perhaps no stage is more regarded as an artist's potential "breakthrough" as the annual Red Bull Illume Image...
Sublime Encounters With Orcas In Norway
At the edge of twilight, a lone paddleboarder glides among giant orcas on the coast of Norway. Above her, snowy mountains bathed in warm...
7 Do’s And Don’ts For Amazing Wildlife Photography
As more and more visitors try to capture that once-in-a-lifetime photo, some have little regard and respect towards the wildlife being photographed. The ethical...
10 Compact Essentials For Filming Your Wilderness Adventures
To capture a 35-day crossing of Labrador last summer, I knew I needed a film kit up to the challenge of the province’s rugged...
How To Edit Paddlesports Videos In 5 Easy Steps
Want to capture your best moments on the water, then come home and create a video that your friends, family and the entire world...
How To Shoot An Epic Whitewater Kayaking Movie
Justine Curgenven shares these simple tips on how to create your very own epic paddling adventure movie.
Pro Tips From Photographer Jan Kasl On Getting Your Shots Noticed
Jan Kasl’s ethereal image of kayaker Vavra Hradilek floating upon the psychedelic backdrop of a glacial river flowing into the North Atlantic in Skagafjordur,...
How To Put A Kayaker On The Moon
I began my photography career in 2012 and four years later met James Manke, the kayaker in this photo. We’ve created some remarkable imagery...
