Jul 24, 2011

Guides

One of the things I've already noticed about boating in general, and kayaking/canoeing in particular, is that there is a welcoming mentality to the participants, much like that of the shooting sports. When you pass another boater on the water, a wave, smile, and, "Howyadoin'?" is the custom, not the exception.

I expect I'll soon toss an advert up on the local craigslist looking for a paddling partner (and I mean that in the entirely platonic, boating-related way), and will probably get a few takers (along with a few suggesting the other kind).

Kayaking is not a hard skill to learn, although mastery is another process entirely; wet exits, eskimo rolls, etc. The tricky part is knowing WHERE to go to paddle. There are plenty of guidebooks out there - and I grabbed one yesterday, Take a Paddle: Western New York Quiet Water for Canoes & Kayaks. Some of these can be one-person trips, others need a car parked at each end of a river.

Even though these are well-published routes, there is still an air of adventure as you float down a quiet creek or river. When I went a few hundred yards up the inlet of the small lake I saw a beaver mound, plenty of birds, and lots of sign of land animals coming down for a drink... it's all there, you just have to look for it.

I guess I've got a list of places to check off now.

3 comments:

Old NFO said...

It IS amazing what is now available on the net, in guidebooks and other media. My generation had to go find those places ourselves...LOL

ZerCool said...

NFO, we know better - you didn't have TIME for leisure pursuits like kayaking, what with milking morning and evening, walking eight miles to school, uphill both ways, in waist-deep snow, while fighting off the rampaging Mongol hordes...

Old NFO said...

Actually I DID milk a few cows, and that was TRULY a PITA... :-) The Mongols, not so much...