x2, plus
x2 for all these:
-Noisy campers across a wilderness lakes
-inconsiderate dog owners
-poor bathroom habits (some people think its cool to pee on everything apparently)
-talking way too loud or shouting in the wilderness
and also
-leaving trash behind (this is my number 1 probably. Pick up your crap. if you cant handle this, go vacation in a parking lot in the inner city).
-Insisting on staying with a group that does not fit your style of paddling (whether it be recreational, racing, WW, tripping or whatever. Join a group that fits your style. Dont keep coming back if you just need a group and one happens to be convenient)
-T-boneing me half way through a 180* buoy turn at full speed. Start your damn turn sooner!
and RE: inconsiderate dog owners, I think you covered it: Incessant barking, Poop, and, depending on the situation, letting it roam free and shake off all over my nice dry stuff =) but mostly noise and poop.
Inconsiderate dog owners:
Like the guy who wandered into my camp one morning and nonchalantly watched his dog lift its leg on my tent.
ive never helped my wife
Get her boat unloaded or loaded, I just get it unloaded and loaded myself.
answer
also, ripping into and eating my food,scaring and biting me.
let’s be clear about something
You wrote: “Just cause I’m a woman does NOT mean I need help loading/unloading or carrying my canoe.”
That implied to several people that they must be assuming this when they help women. If it were just me I’d leave it, but it wasn’t just me, and you’re not getting it.
I’m glad it’s ok to offer you help without you thinking it’s a sexist slam. Have a great day.
3.
People who for the life of them cannot figure out where to place their post when responding to either the OP, or to someone commenting on the OP.
I feel bad for some of you
Ever time I ever gone there’s always no one else out there besides myself or the couple of people I am with. We can paddle a whole day in places and not come across one person.
Pet peeves, by definition, are . . .
. . . subjective, emotional and personal. They DON’T have to meet anyone else’s standards of objective reasonableness, logic or etiquette. Therefore, the ultimate pet peeve, the KING KONG OF PET PEEVES, is criticism of my pet peeves.
That definitively settled, all of the following have peeved me pettingly at one time or another during my canoeing career:
- Dogs on canoe trips or in campgrounds.
- Dog owners.
- Children.
- Strong young men.
- Feeble old people.
- Men with beards.
- Women with crew cuts.
- The smell of coffee.
- Kayakers.
- Double blade paddles.
- Electricity.
- Gas prices.
- Campgrounds that cost more than Motel 6.
- Motel 6.
- Insects.
- All wildlife that urinates, defecates and makes scary sounds in the woods. These creatures have nothing to to with why I canoe, and I can see them in zoos, picture books, TV, or on your smart phone.
- Your smartphone. And your patheticological obsession with Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging every waking minute.
- People who merely offer to help me load my canoe. I don’t want HELP. I want you to do ALL the work while I watch. Just tie the bloody thing on my roof according to the official and sacred Pnet rules. Then drive me home. And buy me a cookie.
- The number 19.
Motor Boaters Who Slow Down
and look over at me with concern, making sure their wake isn’t going to cause me problems.
“Let 'er rip! Enjoy your boat and let me enjoy your wake!”
its crowded,
so its slow and its expensive. Nothing wrong with a grape pie now and then, and they have good salads, and they even have fine craft brews like pbr that you can usually get it for $3.00 a glass but every out of state boater seems to think that’s the place to go so I get sick of it pretty quick.
motel 6
Admittedly, I wouldn’t stay in one now, as I’m far too spoiled and first world for that, but I’ve rocked that place many times. Always cheap, usually clean, coffee in the office, doesn’t get much better.
2nd
I 2nd the motion, only I would add: motorboats that go so slow that they produce no wake, or so fast they plane. I’d like them to go just below planing speed so they make a huge wake to ride! Its super fun.
Funny!
Funny and cleaver Glenn!
Post O’ de year…
Ah’s noominate dis here post fer Post O’ De Year. Thanky Glenn!
FE
Etiquette
I’m not sure I’d call this a “pet peeve” exactly, but I am sometimes bothered by situations in which I find myself feeling somewhat apologetic to other non-paddling river users for the behaviors they have encountered from other paddlers. At least in the area where I live the maintenance and development of the landings is financed through taxes and motor boat licensing fees. Canoes and kayaks pay no such fees.
So when a motor boater is miffed by a delay caused by one or a group of paddlers tying up a landing while sorting out their stuff, or shuttling, or whatever, I think their complaint has some merit.
Often paddlers don’t even need a landing at all - we can launch or take out almost anyplace where there is a moderate bank, a spot to park, and a road near a river. Yet there are some (usually inexperienced) paddlers who tie up landings for considerable periods of time. I also wonder if the motor boaters might have a point about the canoe/kayak/tube liveries that rely on the heavy use of public landings for their private business. Folks who trailer in a boat need parking and turning space for a vehicle and trailer but the parking is sometimes tied up by paddlers or livery clients who often could park double or triple in the available slots, but don’t - leaving no parking at all for the motor boaters who pay for the landing.
I’ve also known paddlers who feel the need to assert their rights to use a river by paddling smack dab in the middle of the only channel deep enough for a motor boat to operate in - and making any fisherman or other motor boat user yield to them, even though they could just as easily paddle in shallower water and let the motor boat pass.
And there are paddlers who do litter badly, or who blast their boom boxes, or get drunk and rowdy on the water.
I try not to do these things myself, I try to encourage other paddlers not to, if I can do so without being overbearing. I try to share a river and get along with other river rats of all flavors, but it irks me to have to apologize for the bad behavior of others of my “clan”. It sometimes temporarily disturbs my enjoyment of paddling if I find myself in the position of having to apologize for it. I get over it though…
Of course there are thoughtless power boaters also, and littering fishermen, and so forth. I can’t help that and almost expect some lack of etiquette among those who enjoy noise and speed and the stench of a motor. (And I have motor boated and fished too - and enjoyed it.) It just seems to hurt a bit more when when those who I share a valued activity with act toward others with an embarrassing lack of etiquette. In other words, it peeves me a bit.
Perhaps its unreasonable, but I expect more of my fellow paddlers. Perhaps I’m wrong in this, but I think as a group paddlers have traditionally been more thoughtful and courteous than most other groups of outdoor enthusiasts.
I think the values, traditions and attitudes of Sig Olson, for example, are worth preserving. I believe courtesy and good etiquette are among them. I don’t know how many of those traditional values have been carried forward into the modern whitewater, or racing, or surfing cultures, but I hope a lot. Not all traditional things are in need of radical review.
but nothing beats the ma and pa motel!
Wonderfully creative. And funny.
+1
I can remember those days in MA…Kudzu, definitely agree.
I appreciate help
My husband, when he puts my little Otter in my van, says that he doesn’t know how I do it myself. It’s always nice to have a helping hand, and I offer to help others too.
The other feedback is good to hear so that I may learn what to do and not do since I just started this season.
pet peeves
I have none. I just try to invite people on trips that buy into my concept that paddling is a team sport. Help each other. Stay together. Take turns cooking and cleaning up.
I do not pretend to have much influence on other people outside of our group.