The hand of a certain canoe partner next to a bear track at a campsite landing on the Y1K.
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Hmm, now those are some familiar pix!! And the hand!
The Yukon looks like a great place. Its on the list.
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Apostle Island National Lake Shore, WS… Sand Island pictures…
Of course this is what the “sea cave” looks like when the little rocks let go and the big rocks fall.
Dress for the weather. Water temp was anything from 42 degrees to 60s near the coast in shallow water.
Of course it is Lake Superior and there is lots of water…pick your weather. Sand Island is about three miles out from the boat ramp/Beach at Sand Bay…
The good thing is that when the weather started kicking up we didn’t paddle west side of the pennsulia we went on the east side, lee side, and paddled around Basswood Island.
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I hiked around String Lake as a teenager while my family was camped at Grand Teton. One of the best memories I have. Such beautiful country! I am still fascinated with clear water. I grew up on the coast of SC and water was clear if you could see your feet in a foot.
My Dad decided my feet had stopped growing and bought me a pair of outdoor boots for that hike.
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Dang - what a question! Its like asking a parent which is their favorite child or something. There are a lot of places, narrowed to paddling places, I’ve loved but at different times and for different reasons.
The BWCA, particularly the west end, (Loon L., Little Loon, Section 3 L., North L. Snow Bay, Lac la Croix comes to mind, but the whole of the Northern Boreal forest is pretty much of a piece. Its the environment where I first touched a canoe paddle. For me, at least, its like looking to mecca only much much bigger. Why? Its wild, big, remote, peaceful, silent, timeless.
Like darkstar, I love my home waters. For me now that’s the Lower Wisconsin River, and it is largely based in familiarity. Its the time honored path by which this state was first discovered in the 1680s. To paraphrase a song - I know it like I know my lady’s smile. Its lazy, wide open spaces for wide open ranging thoughts/day dreams. I always feel younger when I’m on the Wisconsin, like a boy again… (A boys will is the wind’s will And the thoughts of youth are long long thoughts" Longfellow) Camping almost anywhere so schedules fade. Friendly. Feels more remote then it is.
Still, when I first read the question the Green River through Labyrinth Canyon in Utah was the first place that leapt to mind. In test taking they say if unsure, go with your first instinct… Why? Its strange, beyond time. Paddling through geology. Often silent like a cave is silent - and the colors seem more vibrant. Sparse. Remote.
But since coming to the board here and paddling with folks in the Ozarks, the Current, Big Creek, St. Francis (what little I’ve seen of it), North Fork, and Buffalo Rivers have come to rank right up there near the top, too. The Current is getting quite familiar now, an attraction a little like the Wisconsin holds for me. Why? Intimate, clear laughing waters … the water holds your attention while rarely feeling threatening. Remote feeling without being as isolated as the BWCA or Green R.
Buffalo:
Current:
Enough!
I can’t rank this stuff - I’ve loved every single one of these place and so many more. Paddling is a key to a kingdom. Its a big kingdom. Its chock full of wonderful places. We can’t live long enough to see them all and ranking them is beyond impossible. Favorite? ???
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Thanks for that valiant attempt to choose among your children! They all look amazing. I guess I used the word favorite loosely, I’m just mining the collective experience on here for great places to put on my list of where I’d like to go one day to kayak. Plus it’s fun looking at everybody’s pictures and hearing their descriptions.
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That also looks stunning.
Wow, Alaska is so incredibly intriguing and gorgeous.
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I am 2 hours from the Buffalo National River and it is hard to beat. I did a quick trip to Ocala, FL to do the Silver River. That was a bucket list paddle for me. I saw 2 manatees, 6 Gators and 1 Monkey. That was a pretty fantastic day.
Buffalo:
Silver River:
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Again, like darkstar, I am fortunate to have a new lakeside lot of my own where I recently built a large living space cottage. Only 20 minutes from my permanent year round home make it an extremely fast easy commute whenever I want to be there in any season. I’m in the Adirondacks on a small private (to landowners) lake on which there are no motors allowed. I train there and on nearby much larger Adirondack lakes and rivers. While the Yukon is my favorite ultra long distance high impact destination to paddle, the beauty and convienience of the Adirondacks makes up my home territory.
Here’s a shot of high water at an inlet arm over a neighbor’s dock near my landing where it was recently flooded by tropical storm Fred.
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We spent a few days in a cabin at the Silver. Really enjoyed it but my favorite Florida river is the Suwannee.
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For me the West Coast of Vancouver Island is hard to beat. It is a wild coast that is equal parts potential terror and mill pond glassy waters.
Tons of wildlife of all kinds: Humpbacks, Greys, Orcas, Wolves, Black Bears, Stellers and Sea Otters.
VI is said to have the highest concentration of Cougars in North America but I have seen only tracks. The fishing is very good. Amazing geology and indigenous history. Parts of that coastline are accessible by water taxi so it’s possible for newer paddlers to experience parts of it in relative safety, or if you are confident with your open water skills and inclined to test them there are plenty of features and conditions that will amuse you. Cape Scott and the Brooks Peninsula come to mind.
Trip reports here: 3meterswell: Port Hardy 2 Coal Harbour 2013
And here: 3meterswell: Side Bay 2 Tofino 2014
Quatsino Entrance on a fine day for travel.
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That looks amazing! Actually, it looks awesome, in the old-fashioned sense of awesome.
Also loving those who posted places in the Adirondacks, NH, and Maine… places I might actually get to sometime soon.
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Hmm, gators. I’m sure it’s great to see them, but they definitely aren’t at the top of my list of animals I’d be happy to see.
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If you want to see gators, you need to paddle the Okefenokee.
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Hard pass for me on paddling any place where I might see a gator, venomous snake or big spider. I’ve figured out how to co-exist with wolves, bears and Stellar Sea Lions, for the most part but one of the reasons that I choose to live in the Pacific Northwest is that I have to go to the zoo to see giant meat eating lizards, killer snakes or Death Spiders. Some of you folks here are so hardcore. I can’t imagine. I would probably sell my gear and take up golf. Oh wait. Gators live in the water hazards, right? Guess I’ll take up base jumping.
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Guess I’m going to read up on the Suwannee. I’d like to do Juniper Springs next time I’m down there.
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Last I heard the current concessionaires at Juniper have let the run get overgrown and it was a bit trashy. I was super sad to hear that as it’s one of my favorite runs and the second place I took my 17’ just to see how it handled.
