Category Archives: Starting Out

A Paddlers’ Code of Conduct

A Paddlers’ Code of Conduct

Everybody Pitches In, and Nobody Gets Left Behind

Do your trips occasionally resemble an episode from Game of Thrones? Then Tamia has some good news for you: It doesn’t have to be that way.
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by Tamia Nelson | December 8, 2017
First published, in somewhat different form, on August 22, 2017

There’s safety in numbers. Or so the experts say. And I agree. Up to a point. But like most wise saws, this one is missing a few teeth. Safety in the backcountry isn’t simply a matter of arithmetic. It’s a matter of balance, and striking the right balance begins with choosing the right paddling partners. I described my approach to this vital preliminary in an earlier article. Now I’m going to take the next step, outlining what I call the “paddlers’ code of conduct.” It’s a summary statement of the rights and responsibilities of paddlers who choose, quite sensibly, to travel in company with other like-minded souls.

Let’s begin with the responsibilities of the group to each of its members. A paddling party is a collective enterprise, and the first rule in the code of conduct is therefore the easiest to state:

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Winning the Cold War: How to Not Die of Hypothermia

Winning the Cold War

How to Not Die of Hypothermia

With the New Model Climate turning autumn into spring, it’s easy to forget how quickly the weather can turn. But don’t be fooled. An ancient killer still lurks in the hills and waters of Canoe Country. The name of this baleful beast? In an article that originally appeared in 2005, Tamia reveals the chilling answer.
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by Tamia Nelson | November 3, 2017
Originally published in different form on January 11, 2005

It attacks the unwitting, the unwary, and the unprepared. It stalks its prey in all seasons of the year. It can strike during a summer picnic on Golden Pond, in the middle of a rough open-water crossing in November, or while traversing the Grand Portage in a swirling spring drizzle. And it waits patiently in any water cool enough not to feel comfortably warm. Many of its victims never see home again.

What is this stealthy killer’s name? Hypothermia, that’s what, and it’s every bit as deadly as drowning. Know your enemy. That’s always good advice. So let’s take a closer look at …

The Big Chill

The human body isn’t a heat engine in the strictest sense, but it

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