La Crosse, Wisconsin is a beautiful anomaly. Bordered by magnificent bluffs along the Mississippi River in the unglaciated “driftless” region, the valley cut by erosion was spared the leveling effect of the last Ice Age that flattened the surrounding countryside. If you have never driven across the Mississippi River, or […]
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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 […]
Getting on the Stick: the Greenland Paddle
The fall issue of Adventure Kayak magazine includes an interesting story about Greenland kayak paddles, oftentimes called Greenland “sticks”. It made me stop and think that I need to give this type of kayak propulsion another look, especially since I took the time to make one a few years ago. […]
Photo Bombing the PGA in a Kayak
This past Saturday I caught some of the PGA Championship golf tournament on TV; not because I’m a fan of golf on TV, because I’m not, but because it was being held along the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan not that far from where we live. The thing that caught […]
Swim Safety for USAT Triathlon National Championships
For the third year in a row Milwaukee hosted the USAT Age Group National Championship triathlon this past weekend. And for each of those years I served as kayak captain for about 30 volunteers who brought their kayaks and stand-up paddleboards to help more than 5,000 athletes make it safely […]
Hot Paddle Across the Bay
Mary and I paddled across Green Bay today. Our total distance was about 19 miles. 9.76 miles from the east side of Green Bay to Suamico in 2 hours and 30 minutes with a brief rest stop in the shadow of the Green Bay Harbor Entrance Lighthouse. After lunch at […]
Kayaking is a Great Equalizer
When some people hear the word “kayaking” they think about daredevils plunging over humungous waterfalls or three-week expeditions in the Aleutian Islands. In reality, kayaking is what you make of it. You can go for a leisurely paddle in a small lake or you can take on “big” water, and […]
Hiking Gozo’s Coastline
Today I’m remembering the wonderful 17-mile journey along the western and northern coast of Gozo that we hiked on April 29, 2015. As I reported in my post about our diving experience, the water was too cold for wetsuit diving. However, springtime on Gozo is absolutely perfect for hiking, with […]
Perfect Day for a Perfect Paddle
Back in March I looked at my calendar and realized our summer weekends were quickly being booked for various types of events. I knew I wanted to host another “Paddle Across the Bay” so I chose June 27 for a paddle across Death’s Door. As luck would have it, yesterday […]
Northern Lights June 22, 2015
Last night we had a spectacular display of Northern Lights over the bay. They weren’t as bright as the St. Patrick’s Day display but these were huge and were rapidly dancing and shimmering. Around 11 p.m. I experimented by using the “night lapse” setting on my GoPro Hero4 camera. I […]