Canoe Days


Book Description

Opening this book is like sitting down in a canoe, taking up a paddle, and gliding out into the summer beauty of a hidden lake. In this picture book that is as refreshing and inviting as a perfect canoe day, a fawn peeks out from the trees as ducklings fan out behind their mother. Butterflies pause and fish laze beneath the lily pads. Ruth Wright Paulsen’s sunlit paintings and Gary Paulsen’s poetic text capture all the peace and pleasure of a day when water and sky are one.




Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe


Book Description

Follow the red canoe from page to page as it journeys down river carrying the family on a camping tour. It's the next best thing to paddling it yourself.




The Twenty-Ninth Day


Book Description

A six-hundred-mile canoe trip in the Canadian wilderness is a seventeen-year-old's dream adventure, but after he is mauled by a grizzly bear, it's all about staying alive. This true-life wilderness survival epic recounts seventeen-year-old Alex Messenger's near-lethal encounter with a grizzly bear during a canoe trip in the Canadian tundra. The story follows Alex and his five companions as they paddle north through harrowing rapids and stunning terrain. Twenty-nine days into the trip, while out hiking alone, Alex is attacked by a barren-ground grizzly. Left for dead, he wakes to find that his summer adventure has become a struggle to stay alive. Over the next hours and days, Alex and his companions tend his wounds and use their resilience, ingenuity, and dogged perseverance to reach help at a remote village a thousand miles north of the US-Canadian border. The Twenty-Ninth Day is a coming-of-age story like no other, filled with inspiring subarctic landscapes, thrilling riverine paddling, and a trial by fire of the human spirit.




Canoeing


Book Description

This is a thoroughly modern book on the traditional open canoe. It covers all aspects of the open canoe, from design to wilderness travel. What really sets it apart is its focus on canoeing techniques. Ray Goodwin is the UK's best known and (many would go so far as to say) foremost canoe coach. By introducing some of the latest canoeing performance skills, based on what he has discovered through decades of coaching and guiding, he sets out to inspire a new generation of paddlers. Through clear language and the use of photographs acquired over many years of paddling around the world, he shares some real insights of the reality of canoeing; sometimes gritty, but always enthralling. New in the 2nd edition is a section on 'vision pattern', a method for creating a mental map of a rapid. There is an expanded and re-written chapter on canoeing with children. There are more techniques for improvised sailing and more on advanced lining and tracking. It describes new solo rescue techniques and has many new inspirational canoe expedition examples. Ray has paddled extensively in Europe and his British canoe trips include the circumnavigation of Wales and the Irish Sea Crossing. In North America he has canoed the Rio Grande in the South and done trips as far north as the Arctic Circle, as well as doing two kayak descents of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. In addition to being a British Canoe Union Level 5 Coach in Canoe, Inland Kayak, he holds a Mountain Instructor's Certificate and has led ice climbs on Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and in the Atlas Mountains. He runs his own coaching and guiding business, working at all levels from novice to the top BCU leadership and coaching qualifications courses.




My Paddle to the Sea


Book Description

Like Huck Finn, Lane sees a river journey as a portal to change, but unlike Twain's character, Lane isn't escaping. He's getting intimate with the river that flows right past his home in the Spartanburg suburbs. Lane's three hundred mile float trip takes his down the Broad River and into Lake Marion before continuing down the Santee River.




Canoecraft


Book Description

Back in print: A revised second edition of a classic how-to book on canoe building. The new edition is updated to include advances in glues and techniques since the original was published, as well as five new canoe plans, builder tips and paddle carving.




Canoeing and Kayaking Houston Waterways


Book Description

Within about seventy-five miles of downtown Houston, some 1,500 miles of rivers, creeks, lakes, bayous, and bays await discovery. Canoeing and Kayaking Houston Waterways, by longtime paddler Natalie Wiest, is the perfect companion for anyone who wants to experience Houston’s well-watered landscape from the seat of a kayak or canoe. Before introducing readers to the quiet, green world that lies within and around the heart of the city, Wiest gives some pointers on water safety (including swimming and boating); on weather, flood stages, and legal access; and on an often unseen but always present paddling companion—alligators. She also provides a gear checklist for a day trip, a brief guide to boats and paddles, and a “sampler” list of easy places to paddle for true beginners. Presented in nine chapters, each organized around a river system or coastal basin and comprising a “suite” of paddling trips, the excursions described by Wiest offer a general description of the destination, directions (both driving and paddling), and details about the paddling conditions and access sites, which are all publicly owned or managed. Each chapter lists mileages, USGS gauging station numbers, and GIS locations when applicable. Also including ninety color photos and more than thirty detailed maps, Canoeing and Kayaking Houston Waterways offers both novice and experienced paddlers a helpful and enjoyable reference for experiencing nature at water level, in and around Houston. To learn more about The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, sponsors of this book's series, please click here.




The Sun Is a Compass


Book Description

For fans of Cheryl Strayed, the gripping story of a biologist's human-powered journey from the Pacific Northwest to the Arctic to rediscover her love of birds, nature, and adventure. During graduate school, as she conducted experiments on the peculiarly misshapen beaks of chickadees, ornithologist Caroline Van Hemert began to feel stifled in the isolated, sterile environment of the lab. Worried that she was losing her passion for the scientific research she once loved, she was compelled to experience wildness again, to be guided by the sounds of birds and to follow the trails of animals. In March of 2012, she and her husband set off on a 4,000-mile wilderness journey from the Pacific rainforest to the Alaskan Arctic, traveling by rowboat, ski, foot, raft, and canoe. Together, they survived harrowing dangers while also experiencing incredible moments of joy and grace -- migrating birds silhouetted against the moon, the steamy breath of caribou, and the bond that comes from sharing such experiences. A unique blend of science, adventure, and personal narrative, The Sun is a Compass explores the bounds of the physical body and the tenuousness of life in the company of the creatures who make their homes in the wildest places left in North America. Inspiring and beautifully written, this love letter to nature is a lyrical testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Winner of the 2019 Banff Mountain Book Competition: Adventure Travel




Man and Dog


Book Description

"One man, one dog, and a grand adventure across the rugged and mystical interior wilderness of Newfoundland. In April of 2017, Justin Barbour and his dog, Saku, arrived on the Rock's west coast to begin their quest to live the ways of old and see parts of the province's woods that few will ever get to see. A late winter lingers, and the duo must push over the Long Range Mountains and toward the interior of the island, where they hope lakes and rivers will be thawed to allow them to continue by inflatable raft. From sunrise to sunset, the reader will follow the companions as they navigate against the dangerous and unforgiving elements from west to east in an attempt to reach Cape Broyle, some 700 kilometres away. It was an adventure that spanned sixty-eight days and would push their limits further than they could have ever imagined. You'll see the island in a unique way, become enlightened about outdoor life, and learn more about Newfoundland and Labrador as a whole. Complete with photos, maps, and interesting facts from the journey, you will feel the heat of the campfire roasting your cheeks, the tug of a trout on your line, and the breath of a black bear on your neck. It's an experience for nature lovers everywhere."--




A Year in the Wilderness


Book Description

Since its establishment as a federally protected wilderness in 1964, the Boundary Waters has become one of our nation's most valuable--and most frequently visited--natural treasures. When Amy and Dave Freeman learned of toxic mining proposed within the area's watershed, they decided to take action--by spending a year in the wilderness, and sharing their experience through video, photos, and blogs with an audience of hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens. This book tells thedeeper story of their adventure in northern Minnesota: of loons whistling under a moonrise, of ice booming as it forms and cracks, of a moose and her calf swimming across a misty lake. With the magic--and urgent--message that has rallied an international audience to the campaign to save the Boundary Waters, A Year in the Wilderness is a rousing cry of witness activism, and a stunning tribute to this singularly beautiful region.