This guest blog, by, Tony Heck, is a great read. It's long, but worth your time. About Tony: Tony is a jack-of-all trades outdoorsman, paddler and master sausage maker. He travels with his little Beagle dog, Tu. Tu has grown quite comfortable sitting atop Tony's specially outfitted Old Town Tripper canoe. Tu never complains. Tony's home-smoked sausage is my go-to lunch meat on canoe trips. It keeps fine for the longest trip and is much tastier than what I've found in s

Canoe camp in the Werneke mountains, along the Snake River, Yukon, Canada Some years ago, after a dangerous storm with winds to 50 miles an hour, a teenager and I went out to fetch water on a popular lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Everywhere, wind and rain had wreaked havoc upon the land. Clumps of uprooted vegetation floated aimlessly about, and waist-thick trees were downed and scattered all around. From our vantage point we could see three camps and

The following life-threatening experience took place on the Turtle River in northern Ontario.* The Turtle is not a particularly difficult canoe route. The rapids are short and well-defined, and the portages are generally good. The major obstacle is a number of large sprawling lakes which you must navigate and which demand attention if the wind is up. Experienced Boundary Waters and Quetico Park canoeists--who have good judgment and basic whitewater skills--would find them

by Cliff Jacobson Final portage on the Frost River that leads into Little Saganaga Lake. Correction: not a portage; it's a rock-jumble that mixes seconds of paddling followed by seconds of lining followed by... whatever! Funny, how one’s perspective on things changes with age. Trips that are easy when you’re young become challenging with age. One late September, three friends and I paddled the Frost river (Cross Lake to Round Lake) in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. I’ve d

An abbreviated version of this article was originally published in the 2010 Canoe & Kayak Magazine's Dealer-marketing Guide (long gone). Given the concerns in law enforcement today, I thought a second look might be enlightening. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gates of Ladore, Green River, Utah It began at one of Rutabaga’s famed “Canoecopia” events. I stopped to chat with Larry Laba, CEO of SOA

Ask folks what they fear most about canoeing a wild river where help is an airplane ride away and you'll probably get these answers--in roughly this order: FEAR #1: Bears! They're afraid they'll get eaten alive by one! Or, a bear will get their food! FEAR #2: They fear they will paddle over a falls or drown in a rapid! FEAR #3: Getting lost. Many people canoe the same route every season, claiming it's because the fishing or campsites are great. Truth is, they probably d

#1. Bear climbs tree, chews through rope #2 Bears climb trees. Really! Readers who are familiar with my books know that I don’t recommend hanging food packs in trees to keep the food away from bears. Over the years, I’ve come under considerable criticism for this approach because II refuse to comply with what appears to be conventional wisdom. Click up my book, “ Boundary Waters Canoe Camping, 2nd Edition” on Amazon.com and you’ll find this “one star” rating a