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I’ve paddled a fair bit of Superior, including nearly the entire MN shoreline, some of Pukaskwa, the Slate Islands, and the Apostle Islands – all in an open canoe without a spray cover.
I’m on Lake Erie now, and Lake Erie is a more difficult lake to paddle b/c it’s choppier (seems windier too) – I suspect Superior may be the easiest. That said, Superior is cold almost every where. If you dump, you probably die.
You need to have 100% confidence in your ability to paddle flat water without dumping before paddling on Lake Superior. The Apostles are a fun and relatively safe place the paddle (the water’s a bit warmer there, there are some people around, and the islands offer some protection from the swells).
I’ve thought some time about this question, the tent I’ve been eyeing is the Hilleberg Nallo 3GT.
The vestibule looks huge and the tent is suppose to be 6lbs.
I have a friend who uses a VE25 – certainly one of the most storm proof tents made, but heavy (over 10 lbs), and I wish the vestibule was bigger.
The other problem with storms is that you end up cooking in the vestibule, which becomes a delicate business (I once knocked a pot of boiling water onto my foot when I was winter camping under a tiny lean-to, my bubbled, oozing skin ended up meshing with my sock, so the next day I got to re-live the agony when I removed my sock at the doctors office.)
My wife also got burnt once when we knocked a cup of hot water over in a tent.
Charlie’s looking for something that can really handle the wind and roomy. When you’re a long way from anywhere, and a 3-day storm blows in, your tent suddenly becomes the most important thing you own. Three season tents should be avoided.
The northern tundra of Nunavut and Nunavik (Quebec) is much windier than what most of us are use to. If you look at the map below, it’s even windier on average than the Canadian Prairie.
Map of Canada windsCharlie,
I was pushing for a 3-person Hillberg tunnel tent for our next tent.
Bob O. raved about the Cabela’s expedition tent he used for the first time this summer. It seems a little heavy, but it’s apparently well made, will take a beating, and cheap.
OBA, we didn’t run that ledge – that one would be a bad idea. We portaged around it.
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I think it’s a good idea to listen and read when you’re new to canoeing, but then go out and form your own opinions.
PK and I might be considered experts by some, by I’m sure we do some things differently. What works for me, will not always work for some one else.
I really like Cliff’s Expedition Canoeing book b/c he gets this point across well with his interviews with other canoe trippers. I don’t know him personally, but enjoy his ‘high energy’ talks. Cliff has been really good at marketing his books – but there are many more people out there who have done more canoeing than Cliff (I wouldn’t lump myself in that category – I’ve done a lot of miles, but only did my first trip 20 years ago, and have only done 2 barrenlands trips).
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The more amusing aspects related to canoeing are those habits/styles which you won’t see in print.
For example, we just swish some ‘purified’ water around in our bowls to clean, and wipe visually clean with a finger. The cooking pot I clean with lake water, and scatter any scraps. I bet a lot of people do this, but you wouldn’t know it from reading books.
You right PK, I didn’t read the report. If you made a backpack for the canoe, this would be easier.
El Diablo is 1200-1400 vertical feet? It must be up and down?? Lake Superior is 600 ft asl, and the divide to Hudson Bay is ~1000 ft asl.
Edit:
I looked it up. Santoy Lake is ~800 ft asl, and Diablo Lake is ~1130 ft asl. The ridge between the two gets as high as 1500 ft asl, but the portage wouldn’t go over the top of the ridge.I’m guessing El Diablo has a 400 ft climb? It probably feels like 1/4 of the Grand Canyon.
@pknoerr 422 wrote:
Most folks end up dragging their canoes up Diablo and over the Devils Den sections of the port. Rather than drag the canoe, I opted to dissassemble the canoe and reassemble, allowing me to carry the entire canoe in a backpack, freeing my hands.
Personally, I’d rather carry a Pakcanoe on my shoulders than in the bag. [Pakcanoe’s are ideal if there is a fly-in or fly-out, or if you need to fly commercial and check the canoe.]
Dragging a canoe never made sense to me, unless you’re going over grass.
If you look in the photo galleries (Kasmere-Arviat 2007), you’ll see two pics of our pakcanoe: kognacelbowmed and kognacpaddling. You can see our portage yoke in the 2nd picture, and our 3 spare paddles (2 aluminum, 1 bent).
@kayamedic 349 wrote:
Y
As for excercise Shawn Burke has written a techinical manual on training for paddling. Its quite specific and quite dedicated! He is a marathon racer and excercise physiologist. I am a cruiser! He can knock off with hit and switch some amazing distances but spends about five or six hours a day training. So it would seem that its not only the technique but the high level of fitness that makes it succeed.I will try to find a source for Shawns manual.
Doesn’t he sit? By sitting you can also use your legs more effectively using foot braces.
I’m a little bullheaded when it comes to kneeling or sitting. My a** was designed for sitting, so why would I kneel?
How does kneeling all day not get hard on your knees?
Paddle whispers, canoe glides . . . one of my favorites.
@Jerry R. 58 wrote:
Andy, where is Montgomery Creek in the Quetico?
Just east of Shelly Lake is Montgomery. There’s a creek that drains into the lake, and a ways up the creek is a caribou picto. (Discovered in the winter – maybe in the 80’s). I spent an hour going up the creek in the summer, and decided that it was more like a half day trip to the picto and turned around (was in a group). I think the only other caribou is on Quetico Lake.
(I haven’t seen the Mackenzie Lake pictos either – some day).
If you haven’t already, ‘Reading Rock Art’ by Rajnovich is a must.
Jerry, I opted to avoid my paddlenorth moniker and be a little less anonymous.
CCR attracts way to many serious canoe trippers to leave just yet – I just hope a well managed site like this one could eventually do the same.
I drove through Solway again this summer. The last few times I’ve driven through I look down the streets for a canoe – wondering if you’re around – but I’ve yet to see one.
(My father-in-law originally is from Winger).…
I’ve seen nearly all the BWCAW/Quetico pictos – but haven’t seen the caribou on Montgomery Creek. I tried once, but decided it would take more time than I had available.
Charlie, I was re-reading Toward Magnetic North and Sleeping Island. Oberholtzer writes about the Chipewyans switching sides every 3 strokes. It sounds like they paused a bit between strokes – but something similar to Marathon stroking.
We had a very experienced paddler tell us we would be chopping our wooden bent shaft paddles into kindling after they broke 2 weeks into our trip this summer. I didn’t bother to explain one of those paddles already had over 3,000 miles on it.
Boneli,
They make a map for the entire park – presumably it’s still in print? It’s an excellent map, and sufficient for navigating anywhere in the park.
