For the past three years I’ve wanted to be in Duluth, MN during the annual whitewater race on the Lester River. I’ve seen photos and videos of expert kayakers negotiating the class IV and V features of this challenging river, and it looked like there were good observation points for […]
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Prairie Paddling: Whitewater Comes to Iowa
When it comes to having an eye on the future, three towns in Iowa have their stuff together. Charles City, Manchester and Elkader each have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to create whitewater parks. For someone who spent his first 30 years in Iowa, this is an amazing development […]
Bald Eagles: Convocation at the top of the food chain
Last weekend as I looked out our living room window overlooking Green Bay, I saw a pair of bald eagles perched on the ice near the open water. I assumed they were hunting fish. But through binoculars I could see one of them had captured a Bufflehead duck. Bald eagles […]
Indoor Kayak Training
Now that rivers are icing up in the Upper Midwest, it may finally be time to declare the end of the 2015 late-fall, early-winter whitewater paddling season. Some hardy sea kayakers will still be at it wherever they can find open water. While most kayakers wait for warmer weather, pool […]
That time our dive boat sank
Whenever two or more scuba divers gather in one place, you’re likely to hear amazing tales of underwater adventure. Most of them are true, mostly. When it’s my turn to tell a dive story, mine starts like this: “Well there was that time our dive boat sank.” Before I tell […]
Birth of a Creek
We were in Orange County, California this past weekend with a couple of free hours; time enough for a morning hike. A Google search of nearby trails led us to Santiago Oaks Regional Park, a 1,269-acre oasis of semi-wilderness in the midst of SoCal’s urban sprawl. This secluded refuge offers […]
A different view of surf
A 16-year-old freelance photographer from Australia is getting some remarkable results because of his experimentation with artificial lighting in surf.
Video of this year’s Door County Sea Kayak Symposium
Each year the Door County Sea Kayak Symposium (DCSKS) takes place during the second weekend of July at Rowley’s Bay near the northern end of Wisconsin’s Door County. In the 2015 edition, 170 kayakers with skills ranging from novice to advanced took part in classes and trips led by 38 […]
Some Like It Cold: Sheboygan Surfing
“From countless hours of reading surf magazines, he realized for the first time that Sheboygan was in the best location for surfing anywhere on the Great Lakes. Understanding that surfers are only restricted by geographic necessity (a coastline that generates sizable waves), he no longer saw a series of river […]
Running the Wolf
I’ve been learning how to be a whitewater kayaker for four years so you’d think I’d be better at it by now. But when it comes to playboating tricks I still can’t loop, cartwheel or blunt. I attribute my poky learning curve to my advanced years; that’s my ego-protection rationale […]