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The Man Who Wasn’t There… Keeping Wild Things Wild is Up to Us

The Man Who Wasn’t There…

Keeping Wild Things Wild is Up to Us

Backcountry wanderers and campers walk a thin line in our dealings with the furred and feathered natives on whose doorsteps we camp. We want to be accepted by them, but we also want them to know their place and keep their distance, and it’s much harder to strike the right balance than it used to be. But it’s up to us to help the wild creatures stay wild.
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by Tamia Nelson | June 1, 2015

A Tamia Nelson Article on Backinthesameboat.com

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away…
—Hughs Mearns, Antigonish

Ah, wilderness! The annual flight from the cities and suburbs is about to get under way in earnest. Soon many popular waterways will boast their own traffic jams, as canoes and kayaks jostle tentatively with darting jet-skis and lumbering party barges. Lighting out for the territory just ain’t what it was in Huck Finn’s day. But some things don’t change. Beyond the boundaries of the tent-cities now springing up in established campsites—the line of demarcation is easily identified by the sudden and unexpected appearance of lower … Read more »

Fighting the Cold War: Readers Wade In

Dressing for Success

Fighting the Cold War: Readers Wade In

Are drysuits worth what they cost? And which is better — to be a comfort-loving Amphibian or a safety-at-any-price Frogman? Those were the questions Tamia posed in a couple of recent articles. She outlined her answers to both questions, of course, but paddlers have minds of their own, and they weren’t shy about letting her know what they thought.
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by Tamia Nelson | May 5, 2015

A Tamia Nelson Article on Backinthesameboat.com

Last month I penned (keyboarded?) a couple of columns on a vital subject: dressing for cold-season paddling. The first of these asked if drysuits were worth the cost. (My answer: Yes, but not every paddler needs one, and some of us who need one can’t afford it.) The second outlined the less restrictive alternatives available to the experienced paddler who prefers to “dress like a sensibly turned-out hill walker” rather than an “out-of-work frogman” — a comparison borrowed from sea kayaker and British Canoe Union senior coach Derek Hutchinson.

As luck would have it, the two articles attracted a fair amount of mail. Any notion I’d had that they (along with my earlier columns on cold-season paddling and hypothermia) would exhaust the subject were soon proved wrong. … Read more »

Requiem or Renaissance for This Workhorse of the Rivers? The Tin Tank in the 21st Century

Requiem or Renaissance for This Workhorse of the Rivers?

The Tin Tank in the 21st Century

Tamia took her first paddle strokes in her grandfather’s “tin tank.” But until recently, she figured the aluminum canoe would go the way of the passenger pigeon and the dodo. Then a picture in PaddleNews caught her eye, and she started having second thoughts. What’s in the future for the workhorse of the rivers?
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by Tamia Nelson | April 28, 2015

A Tamia Nelson Article on Backinthesameboat.com

With apologies to Rodney Dangerfield, the aluminum canoe don’t get no respect. I blame Harry Roberts, the cordially cantankerous editor of the long-defunct magazine Wilderness Camping. Harry, too, is long dead, sadly, but when he was alive and paddling, he had few good words for aluminum canoes. “Garbage barge” was a favorite epithet, as was “gravy boat,” and I think he may have coined the tag “tin tank,” as well. Harry was tall and skinny, and he liked his boats long and lean, not buxom and broad-beamed. The fact that he did much of his canoeing on the New York State Barge Canal may have influenced his judgment, I suppose. But Harry’s opinions carried weight, and his disparaging words about aluminum canoes coincided with the first … Read more »

Frogman or Amphibian? The Choice is Yours

Dressing for Success

Frogman or Amphibian? The Choice is Yours

Paddlers fall into one of two schools: They’re either Frogmen or Amphibians. The former are go-anywhere, do-anything types, while the latter have a more laid-back approach to their sport. This difference is reflected in their respective wardrobes. Frogmen favor rubber from head to toe, and rightly so. Amphibians, on the other hand, observe a less restrictive dress code. Are you an Amphibian?
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by Tamia Nelson | April 14, 2015

A Tamia Nelson Article on Backinthesameboat.com

The seasoned whitewater boater knows herself to be the butt of one of nature’s best jokes. The time of year when the rivers run fastest and freest is also the time of year when the water is coldest. So we armor ourselves against the chill as best we can, balancing our need for protection against the constraints of the household budget. But what of paddlers who confine their activities to more temperate seasons? Or those of us who use our boats as transport — boaters for whom canoeing and kayaking are not only ends in themselves, but also the means to other ends. Like fishing, say. Or photography. Or following in the wake of early explorers. Or simply drifting lazily wherever a … Read more »