I Love Paddling

Now this is a guidebook! That was, literally, our response after spending a bit of time inside the pages of Neil Rucker’s Canoer’s Guide to the Wild and Scenic Middle Klamath River. The self-published book, now in its 5th edition, is readable, comprehensive, entertaining, informative and, well, charming. If only every river had a book […]

The Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona opened its Art of the Canoe exhibition on Tuesday.   The exhibit examines the history, design, and development of Minnesota-built canoes — from boats hand-crafted from birch bark to those manufactured with modern materials. The collection features boats, art, and historic items from the personal collection of Winona residents Mike and […]

Should we expect another concrete canoeing upset this year? Last year, the University of Nevada won the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 21st Annual National Concrete Canoe Competition, upsetting five-time defending champion University of Wisconsin. Last weekend, at the Great Lakes Regional, a qualifying competition for this year’s Nationals, upstarts from Indiana’s University of Evansville topped Wisconsin and 15 other […]

Two groups you’d expect to be allies — paddlers and bird-watchers —  find themselves at odds in Houston, Texas. Houston bird aficionados have concerns about a canoe-landing trail cut through the woods of a bird sanctuary. The trail, which was cut without authorization, follows a path already approved by the city for a canoe landing. You can watch Houston’s […]

Members of the Maliseet First Nation in New Brunswick, Canada want a birchbark canoe thought to be the oldest in existence returned to its original home. The 180-year-old “Grandfather Canoe,” a freighter canoe built by Maliseet craftsmen in the early 19th Century, is currently on display at the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John — […]

Michiganders take their canoe-racing seriously. If you have any doubts about the hardiness of racers from the state where Verlen Kruger made his home and which annually hosts the 120-mile AuSable Canoe Marathon, look no further than the results, HERE, of Sunday’s 14th Annual Klondike Canoe Race. The event — held in temperatures that huddled […]

Wednesday was “… a day to celebrate,” according to the environmental advocacy group American Rivers. The group cheered House passage of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act which designates more than 1000 miles of new National Wild and Scenic Rivers.  The House of Representatives voted 285 to 140 to pass the package which the Senate had affirmed 66 […]

A canoe lost after floods last June swept it into Wisconsin’s Root River prompted a Lake Michigan rescue search this week when it, and what appeared to be a person in the water, were spotted off-shore near Racine, Wisconsin. Coast Guard rescue helicopters from Waukegan, Illinois and Traverse City, Michigan participated in a seach along […]