Verlen Kruger and Steve Landick came up with the idea of a canoe trip that would surpass all others, and they did it. Paddling their canoes or carrying them on the connecting land passages, they toured North America, from Montana to Manhattan, from New Orleans to the Arctic Ocean, from Baja California to home in Lansing, Michigan.

They mastered wild storms on the ocean, often paddled 75-100 miles or more in a day, shot through deadly rapids going downstream, and paddled up several major rivers, reaching the climax by going up the Grand Canyon. Again and again they were warned, "It can't be done" or "You'll never make it," but each time they rose to the challenge and kept going, finally completing a canoe trip of 28,000 miles that lasted three and a half years and was appropriately named "The Ultimate Canoe Challenge." This is the story as Verlen lived it.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Tall Tales of kayaking on San Francisco Bay.

The Chesapeake Bay watershed covers 64,000 square miles and drains parts of six states and Washington, DC. Along with its 400-plus rivers and creeks, the Chesapeake boasts 4,600 miles of tidal shoreline suitable for kayaking. Sea kayaking is booming in the Chesapeake region, and the state of Maryland is fully supporting paddlers in finding access and creating routes and safe places to explore. This new guide will describe dozens of trips along the Eastern and Western shores, in the Bay proper, and in its tributaries. Trip descriptions will include important information on put-ins and take-outs, winds, and currents, equipment, paddling techniques, and safety issues. The authors enliven their instruction with informative sidebars on topics such as salt marsh ecology, wildlife, and social and maritime history. They also touch on low-impact paddling techniques, hypo/hyperthermia awareness, and many other paddling-related topics.

In this book you will find descriptions of over 1500 miles on 59 rivers and creeks in Northern Illinois.

You will also discover the Indian villages and early settlers and their stories.

The author spent over ten years exploring these unique watersheds. From the "Mighty Mississippi" to smallest canoeable creek, it has all been covered in "Canoeing Adventures in Northern Illinois."

The Sailors Classics library introduces a new generation of readers to the best books ever written about small boats under sail

The incredible story of Captain John C. Voss, who, in 1904, completed a three-year journey across three oceans in a Native American dugout canoe converted to sail.

Recreation -- Travel -- Nature

From Bayou Bartholomew in the north to the Atchafalaya Swamp in the south, from the Sabine River in the west to the Pearl River in the east, Louisiana abounds with water to explore. "Canoeing Louisiana" is your guidebook for paddling through a Deep South region that boasts a great variety of waterways.

The book takes a broad focus, covering the state in a way that anyone--local or visitor, day-floater or wilderness tripper--can enjoy. The book especially highlights waters that are in or near public lands, including wildlife management areas, parks, national forests and national wildlife refuges. In Louisiana there's no shortage of options, from easy day jaunts to semi-wilderness expeditions.

Although there is no whitewater in this bayou state, there is nature galore--a wealth of woods, water, and wildlife. And there's considerable variety: clear sandy streams like Tangipahoa and Whiskey Chitto; vast swamps like Atchafalaya and Honey Island; hill-country bayous like Bodcau and D'Arbonne; gorgeous lakes like Chicot and Bistineau; and sea kayaking destinations such as Grand Isle and Lake Pontchartrain. Paddlers who still want an adrenaline thrill can try finding a way through seemingly endless cypress swamps, dodging cottonmouth snakes, or paddling among alligators.

Author Ernest Herndon has identified more than thirty waterways which meet criteria for good paddling. "Canoeing Louisiana" provides general descriptions and specific information on where to go and what to expect. It also discusses types of boats and gear most suited to Louisiana, as well as techniques for camping, navigation, and fishing. And it explores relevant facets of history, ecology, folklore, and biology since most paddlers want to know more than just the logistics of a paddling destination.

This is the only comprehensive guidebook about Louisiana's waterways. It will appeal to all those who have an interest in the natural wonders of the Bayou State.

Ernest Herndon is a staff writer and outdoors editor of the "Enterprise-Journal" in McComb, Mississippi. He is also the author of "Canoeing Mississippi" (University Press of Mississippi). See the author's Web site at www.ernestherndon.com.

"The definitive guide to kayaking the Florida Keys."--Jeff Klinkenberg, St. Petersburg Times

"The author has gone to great lengths to provide the necessary details to make kayaking in the Keys easy."--James Bell, Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuge

Spanning the 200-mile stretch of the Florida Keys, this field guide to the entire island chain highlights 50 paddling adventures, many for canoeists as well as kayakers. Trips include short paddles suitable for beginners and children, half-day trips as well as day-long and overnight excursions.
Kathleen Patton provides an overview of the region's environment, describing its terrestrial and marine habitats. She covers equipment needs, safety concerns, weather patterns, and adapting tide tables for specific areas. Trips are arranged geographically, beginning near Miami at the top of the Keys in Biscayne National Park and stretching 73 miles past Key West to Dry Tortugas National Park. Each profile includes directions to the launch site, estimated paddling time, kayak rental availability, a detailed itinerary, and a route map. Icons mark each route's particular strengths: for example, great snorkeling, historical interest, camping, and appropriate trips for canoeists and for children. Patton also directs paddlers to the best reefs, swimming holes, and pristine sandbars for wildlife viewing--birds, manatees, dolphins, tropical reef fish, coral heads, sponges, sea stars, and huge spotted eagle rays.

Clear, concise trip descriptions and detailed maps make "Kayaking the Keys" the most complete guide for paddlers of all ages and abilities who want to explore the only tropical waters in America that are accessible by automobile.
Kathleen Patton is program coordinator for Florida Keys Discovery, a nonprofit community education project.

In late August 1998, Kim Trevathan and his dog, Jasper, set out by canoe on a long, slow trip down the 652 miles of the Tennessee River, the largest tributary of the Ohio. Trevathan wanted to experience the river in its entirety, from Knoxville's narrow, winding channel, which flows past rocky bluffs, to the wide-open waters of Kentucky Lake at its lower end.
Over the course of the five-week voyage, Trevathan rediscovered the people and places that made history on the Tennessee's banks. He crossed the path of the explorer Meriwether Lewis along the Natchez Trace, noted the sites of Ulysses S. Grant's Civil War battles, and passed Hiwassee Island, the spot where a teenaged runaway named Sam Houston lived with Cherokee Chief Jolly.
Trevathan also came to know the modern river's dwellers, including a towboat pilot, two couples who traded in their landlocked homes for life on the river, a campground owner, and a meteorologist for NASA. He placed his life in the hands of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lock operators as he and Jasper navigated the river's nine dams.
Paddling the Tennessee River is a powerful travel narrative that captures the river's wild, turbulent, and defiant past and confronts what it has become--an overused and overdeveloped series of lakes. But first and foremost, the book is the story of a man and his dog, riding low enough to smell the water and to discover the promise of a slow river running through the southern heartland.
The Author: Kim Trevathan, who earned his M.F.A. in creative writing at the University of Alabama, works as a new media writer and producer and writes a column for the Maryville Daily Times. His essays and short stories have been published in The Distillery, New Millennium Writings, The Texas Review, New Delta Review, and Under the Sun. He lives in Rockford, Tennessee.

Jerry Dennis has earned a reputation as one of the finest writers on nature and the outdoors in America today. Now in From a Wooden Canoe, he turns his attention to old passions and discovers new reasons to appreciate them.

This engaging collection explores the quintessential American sports of canoeing and camping and pays tribute to the things worth keeping, from wooden canoes to pocket knives to cast-iron skillets. At a deeper level, it is about respect - for our possessions, for the natural world, for ourselves - and about the pleasures of a life well spent.

From a Wooden Canoe is a celebration of the good things and the simple pleasures of life outdoors. It is a book to be treasured, to be read on winter evenings and rainy afternoons, and to be kept handy on a cabin shelf.

A paddling guide designed for canoeists and kayakers who want to explore the Cape's rivers, marshes, and shoreline and learn about the region's natural history. Paddling the Cape's waterways is the best way to see its wildlife and to understand the ever-changing forces of sand, tide, and wind that define this land-and it's a perfect way to escape the crowds. The authors are experienced paddlers who own a canoe and kayak touring business. Full of natural history, this guide also has practical details, like where and when to go; tides, currents, and safety considerations; and information about where boats can be rented. This guide is endorsed by Cape Cod Museum of Natural History.

Tap into the source and stay on course This definitive guide for navigators contains all the information kayakers need to paddle the seas safely and confidently. Novices and veterans alike will be able to chart an accurate course, whether on open water or between islands. Navigation basics are explained in full detail, including the essentials of chart reading, compass use, finding and keeping track of position, predicting tides and currents, trip planning, and navigating at night, in the fog, and in traffic. Electronic navigation is also discussed, including GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers, which allow a kayaker to pinpoint his or her position anywhere on the globe with amazing accuracy.

Lourie completed his trip. It took him three weeks and marked the first time anyone has traveled from the source of the Hudson to the mouth in a single vessel. The Hudson proved to be a very changeable river. It includes seven locks and nine power dams. The northern half is a true river with strong current, but the lower half is tidal, a sunken river from the days of glaciers. In its first 165 miles, it drops more than 4,000 feet to Albany. The second half falls no more than a foot. Lourie's account of his trip is a fresh look at one of America's great and complex waterways, one of the few, in fact, that still contains its historical and biological species of fish. It is also the longest inland estuary in the world. Henry Hudson called it the "great river of the mountains." Nowadays, too often the Hudson is stereotyped as a ruined, polluted industrial river. its glorious past is compared to its present neglect. In River of Mountains, Peter Lourie combines the Hudson's rich history and descriptions of some of the region's most impressive landscape with the residents of its mill towns, the loggers, commercial fishermen, and barge pilots - all of whom are proof that the river is still a thriving, vital waterway.

With two slender sixty-pound kayaks, a ten-pound medical kit, twenty pounds of books, triple-digit temperatures, and no contact with the outside world, Jonathan and Deborah Waterman spent two months paddling through the violent tides and storms that define the mythically charged Sea of Cortes. Amid the lore and romantic past of the Baja they discovered that what began as a mutual exploration would soon become an unforgettable test of will.

Exhilarating and lyrical, filled with images of death, beauty, and adventure, this paradisiacal journey depicts the past and present of a legendary body of water -- and the struggle of a man and a woman to find each other.

As well as being a comprehensive guide to the many rivers and streams in the state, Canoeing & Kayaking Ohio's Streams includes chapters on water safety, paddling instructions, how to read and rate white water, and even tips for paddling with children. For each of over 45 rivers in the state, you will find suggested stopover point for natural and human history, information on potential hazards and portages, detailed maps with river miles and car shuttle miles from access points, and listings of game-fish for each waterway.

In a book that has been called "a love song to nature," the author documents the latest decade of his explorations of the Baja peninsula and the Sea of Cortez. While much of the book narrates his experience as a writing professor taking undergraduates on sea kayak expeditions to the Isla Espiritu Santo archipelago each year during spring break, the book also reflects on experiences with a condor restoration project in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, and an altogether different teaching experience based in a field station on Bahia de los Angeles. While the author's intent is to evoke Baja ecologies in fresh ways, the reader comes to realize that he's also describing how education can become a transformational experience. A retired scuba instructor who turned to academics and went on to receive his college's highest teaching award, Dr. Farnsworth believes that education should be a lifelong adventure, and that explorations of the natural world should be animated by reverence and delight.

Ancient records of canoes are found from the Pacific Northwest to the coast of Maine, in Minnesota and Mexico, in the Southeast and across the Caribbean. And if a native of those distant times might encounter a canoe of our day-whether birch bark or dugout or a modern marvel made of carbon fiber-its silhouette would be instantly recognizable. This is the story of that singular American artifact, so little changed over time: of canoes, old and new, the people who made them, and the labors and adventures they shared. With features of technology, industry, art, and survival, the canoe carries us deep into the natural and cultural history of North America. In the foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winner John McPhee, we dip into the experience of canoeing, from the thrilling challenges of childhood camp expeditions to the moving reflections of long-time paddlers. The pages that follow are filled with historical photographs and artwork, authors Neuzil and Sims describe the dugout and birch bark craft from their first known appearance through the exploration of Canada by fur traders, to the recreational movements that promoted all-wood and wood-and-canvas canoes. Modern materials such as aluminum, fiberglass, and plastic expanded participation and connected canoeists with emerging environmental movements. Finally, Canoes lets us hear the voices of past paddlers like Alexander Mackenzie, the first European to cross North America, using birch bark and dugout canoes a decade before Lewis and Clark went overland, Henry Thoreau, Eric Sevareid, Edwin Tappan Adney, and others. Their stories are a tribute to the First Peoples who, 500 or 1,000 or even 5,000 years ago, built a craft designed to such perfection that it has plied the waters fundamentally unchanged ever since.

29 STORIES THAT ILLUSTRATE WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN SAFETY IS LEFT ON SHORESea Kayaker's Deep Trouble was a bestselling warning to kayakers: Do not let ignorance or arrogance get you hurt or even killed. Thousands heeded Deep Trouble's tales of tragedy; but even with the benefits of evolving technology and more safety options, kayakers still fall prey to human error. To renew the cautiousattitude of seasoned paddlers and to instill safe practices in kayaking newbies, Sea Kayaker's More Deep Trouble presents more stories of kayaking trials, rescues, and tragedy. In these 29 stories collected from Sea Kayaker magazine, survivors and witnesses tell of their experiences with the dangers and risks of kayaking. You will feel the cold rush of water when paddlers fall in, the panic they feel when they do not know how to rescue themselves, and the anxiousness of loved ones waiting to hear any news. You will learn how whale watching could cost you your life, how life-saving electronics are only as good as the batteries you have in them, and how a float plan can initiate a timely search and rescue. End-of-story Lessons Learned summaries suggest what to do if you find yourself in similar unfortunate situations. Read these tales, understand the lessons learned in these incidents, and respect the advice given as you take your next kayaking adventure. This tome of danger and survival may ultimately save your life.

A thrilling account of two friends kayaking 1000 miles though the Inside Passage of BC and southeast Alaska. This is a story of exploration and adventure, with rough seas, calving glaciers, bear encounters and persistently bad weather. But equally enjoyable is the story of this dramatic and culturally rich region, which the author weaves fluidly throughout the book. With flowing prose and non-technical language, the author provides a fundamental understanding of the area's rain forest, glaciers, wildlife and both past and present cultures. In addition to maps, instructive sidebars offer further information and tips about the many issues that arise while discovering the beauty and danger of this region. History buffs will like the many stories about the Pacific Northwest's early explorers; sea kayakers will benefit from the kayaking information; wilderness adventure buffs will be inspired by the exciting tale of paddling the Inside Passage. This book is sure to appeal to many and be enjoyed by all.

A recreational canoeman in his native Texas, Rick Sparkman thought he knew all about the sport when he moved to Nova Scotia in 1981. The swift, cold rivers and streams of his new home adjusted his thinking in the most personal way: he got dumped. That's when he started learning to paddle in earnest. Woodlands Canoeing explains the fundamentals of recreational canoeing in the woods of the Maritimes, New England, and anywhere else where the waterways are small, the water is swift and at times shallow, and canoeing varies with the seasons. It's a guide to safe, comfortable recreation for those who already canoe a little and want to know more, as well as for people experienced in canoeing on lakes or on the more predictable rivers described in other canoeing books. Woodlands Canoeing outlines the advantages of various kinds of equipment and describes canoeing and camping techniques in words, photos, and drawings, mixing practical information with anecdotes drawn from Sparkman's years of family canoeing. Throughout, Sparkman concentrates on having fun, even when the expected summer shower becomes the tail of a hurricane or the canoe has to be inched over rocky shallows where only a few days earlier there was plenty of water. Keeping warm, dry, and well fed are crucial to Sparkman's pleasure, and Woodlands Canoeing contains hints for packing, instructions for making camp, and recipes for delicious and satisfying meals. Because of the region's volatile climate and variable water conditions, Sparkman has learned how to canoe delightfully in all weathers, and in Woodlands Canoeing he passes his hard-won knowledge along. An enthusiastic winter canoeist, he even explains how to achieve this feat safely and -- believe it or not -- in comfort.