PaddlingLight

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, one million acres of wilderness, is one of the premier destinations for canoeing in North America and, in my opinion, the best place in the United States. The Donald Trump administration and Republicans in Congress want to remove protections from it. Legislation to do so has already passed the House and will be voted on in the Senate soon. Unfortunately, they are attempting to use a legal loophole that has never been used in this way before to avoid the filibuster. Читать дальше...

I’ve spent a lot of time sea kayaking on the Great Lakes, including a 45-day sea kayaking trip from Port Huron, MI on Lake Huron to Grand Marais, MN. In all of that paddling, I’d never once imagined the Great Lakes as islands within a sea. But that’s exactly the perspective that cartographer Stephen Kennedy created with his The Great Islands map. To produce the effect, the Great Lakes bathymetry was inverted, and by inverting it the depths become mountains. The familiar geography of the region is transformed into a completely new world. Читать дальше...

With Valentine’s Day coming up, I’m scrambling a bit to find a gift for my wife. I guess it just slipped my mind a bit. If you’re in a similar boat, I have a suggestion. While I don’t usually write these types of guides, I cover so few women-specific items on this blog that I thought it might be nice to highlight something. Last year, Wild Rye sent over a couple of pieces of clothing for my wife to try out. You can read the Wild Rye review. She also got a Danner 3/4 Zip Fleece Jacket and has been... Читать дальше...

To kick off the year, I landed on a plan for a new trip. I’m going to try and combine two of my favorite activities into one adventure with a sport called bikerafting. Bikerafting combines bikepacking or touring with paddling using a lightweight and portable raft. While I haven’t finalized the entire route, it’s looking about 900 miles (if I can squeeze the trip into a slot in my schedule). It could shortened to about 400 miles total if I can’t make it work with my schedule. The goal is to ride... Читать дальше...

Recently, I read Pushing the River by Frank Bures and enjoyed it thoroughly. The book documents the history of marathon racing on the Mississippi River, other stories from the region, some of the author’s personal adventures and his brush with death on cold water. Overall, it was an entertaining read and well worth picking up for your winter reading. I find book reviews somewhat tedious, but I did want to recommend this book to PaddlingLight’s readers, so I’ll be brief with this review. The History... Читать дальше...

Superior National Forest reissued its BWCAW Bear Aware Food Storage Order effective February 1, 2026. The order requires visitors to either hang all food, food containers, and scented items or store them in an Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee–certified bear-resistant container. The reissued order remains in effect for an additional five years. The requirement runs from April 1 to November 30 of each year, which is one fewer month than the previous order. The last order required food storage from March 1 to November 30. Читать дальше...

When apps show us a nonstop stream of adventure, such as sea kayaks in the surf, pristine wilderness canoeing, or winter whitewater, it can feel like that's the norm. It isn't. We define our own norm, and we don't have to be influenced by the paddling clips that the algorithm shows us.

Late this year, I picked up a Deeper MAX Depth Finder (get it here). with the goal of using it for depth-mapping Minnesota lakes from a canoe. I bought it directly from Deeper Sonar right when it launched, but a shipping delay with DHL, who claimed I needed to pay tariffs that Deeper had already covered, meant it took weeks to finally arrive. By the time that Deeper sorted it out with DHL, the paddling season was almost over, and I didn’t get to test it as much as I’d hoped. Still, I managed to get it on the water for a first look. Читать дальше...

It has now been two years since I got a set of Rocky Talkie Expedition Radios, and after plenty of real-world use, it felt like time to update my opinion. My original First Look is here: Rocky Talkie Expedition Radio 5 Watt GMRS Radio First Look. In the first look, I also cover VHF versus GMRS, which is worth considering, especially for sea kayakers. If you’re a sea kayaker, I recommend reading the first look for more details. The Expedition radio (originally called the 5-watt radio) is an IP67 waterproof... Читать дальше...

Back in 2023, I proposed a Triple Crown of Paddling that included the Inside Passage, the Mississippi River, and Lake Superior among other classic North American trips. Later, I was asked to write an article about it specific to sea kayaking for Paddling Magazine, and I was asked to select three routes to propose. I went with a salt water trip, a river trip, and a Great Lakes trip. I thought those choices represented the diversity of paddling routes in North America. That article appeared in issue 74 and is now online here. Читать дальше...