Wild Country

Almost everywhere
I paddle the first time seems and adventure. i do prefer away from civilization. Luckily N. MI is a vast expanse of forests and lakes.

well
Well glad you said it and not me.

Alaska dark? Its 24 hours of sun from about may to august.

What did he mean by the “natives live there because all the places were taken?” The Natives live there because their from there. Duh!

Jes were did that guy roll in from.

Bugs? Big deal.

Plenty of Undeveloped Coastline in Cali

– Last Updated: Apr-11-05 7:45 PM EST –

Ever heard of Big Sur? Or the Medocino Coast?

There is plenty of undeveloped coastline in California, but first you got to survive the surf launch....

The wilder the better
For those who think Canada and Alaska are too cold or too buggy You have my sympathy for missing the really wild places on the North American Continent and my thanks for one less body polluting those places.



Paul

What he said
I haven’t travelled as much as a lot of people here, and the only place I have been where there were no mosquitoes was central Colorado. It was a nice place to see, for sure, but along with almost no insects, there was practically zilch for biodiversity. I saw whole mountain sides with only two species of trees on them! I could hardly comprehend that sometimes I’d drive for more than half an hour without seeing a single bird (around here, if there are are not several birds in sight right now, you just are not looking), or the fact that, according to the park rangers, many of the lakes have only three species of fish (here, you can easily capture three or four fish species with one well-placed scoop of a net).



I’m not bashing Colorado, in fact, I want to go back again. The example I’m making here is that the more varied the life is around you, the more pesky little critters there will be that see you as a food source. Here in Wisconsin, instead of cursing the skeeters, deer flies, blackflies and leeches, I live in constant amazement at Ma Nature’s diversity. I’d truely go nuts if I had to live in an environment so barron and sterile that it won’t support much variety of life, or if special trips or observations at special times of the year were necessary to see variety. What’s the point in preaching about living in the wild if you can’t stand the inconveniences that go along with diversity?

I don’t know who “most” people are…
… but the P-Netters I know (both in-person and from their writings) generally appreciate getting off the beaten track. Speaking for myself, I tend to go for that sort of thing with a bit more often than some, but for the most part I haven’t found the need to go great distances to frequently satisfy that craving. Going way back into truely secluded places is great, but there is absolutely NO shortage of very secluded places were few people ever go that are just a short distance from civilization.

I agree with Telkwa
If you find Canada too cold then stay out!!! :slight_smile:



on the other side of the coin, you don’t know what you’re missing…



I would never stay out of Florida 'cause its ‘too warm’.



If thats how you choose where to paddle…then be ready to accept that YOU and only YOU are prohibiting your own paddling expierence.



If I could find a paddling partner to go to Siberia…I’d be gone…same with Patagonia, or Ellesmere Island or Antarctica, or southern africa, or Florida, or japan, or australia, or new zealand…



its your loss, and I’m sorry for it.



Jim.


shortage???
open your eye’s my friend. Either you are paddling in thick fog or just need to open your eyes. Every piece of water holds it’s own un-spoiled adventure. Too much water, too little time…

i smell a troll

Both
Pahsimeroi, your original post asked if folks didn’t venture out to wilder place due to necessity or choice. My answer is yes. :slight_smile:



No defense is needed for those who seek big wild country when possible. Me like much. Canada, Alaska, Montana, BWCA. Been lucky enough to go to those places and it is wonderful that they are there. I’d no doubt be living “up there” somewhere if life permited. My wife hated the winters in Indiana so a move north seems unlikely.



Here in the Lone Star State, wilderness is harder to come by. Yet there are places in the far west and in the swamps of East Texas where one can get lost with minimal effort. But there is also something real and important about going to the more local and less wild/romote places and seeing what richness they have to offer. We made a trip with the whole family in three boats this weekend on a small local lake. We paddled up the lake with the loose goal of seeing some wild columbine in bloom. There is just one little patch of it growing among wood and maiden’s hair ferns and other plants (like black cherry!)that thrive in the cool moist soil at the base of a high bluff which faces north. This little micro habitat is juxtaposed with a very xeric plant community (Ashe juniper/oak savanna)just a few meters away at the top of the bluff. A little later, after having run into and chatted with kayakangler and his son, we went further upstream and checked out a little falls that they had directed us too.



It was a very simple, short, unremarkable trip. We were never out of sight or hearing of a dwelling or some other human activity. But it was a priceless time.



Good paddling to you, wherever you go.