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 […]
Tag: kayaking
December Beatdown on Lake Michigan
A cold, rainy day in late December but rare open water for this time of year on Lake Michigan. Fellow paddlers in the video: Dan O’Connor and Peter O’Malley.
Three Great Days of Boating in Mid-December
Editor’s note: Rob Smage is an accomplished Midwest whitewater paddler and author of many river reports on the American Whitewater website. He was also one of my mentors during my early ventures into whitewater kayaking. The following guest blog post came my way today via Tony Cantania, a fellow protégé […]
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 […]
Wisconsin’s Wolf River Section 4 at 450 CFS
Thanks for the rescue, guys!
White water on the Red River
For more years than anyone can remember there’s been an organized Tuesday evening paddle on the Red River near Gresham, Wis., from early spring deep into autumn. I’ve seen anywhere from four to 17 paddlers of all ability levels join in. The great thing about the Red, compared to many […]
“Flat water” kayaking
My whitewater river kayaking friends like to refer to the other kind of kayaking as “flat water.” Yeah right. Not when southerly winds kick up 5-foot waves on Lake Michigan, as was the case this late afternoon and evening at Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
Paddling La Crosse
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 […]
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 […]