Kayaking Freaks

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 20: A Beautiful Day...What Can We Say The reason you either live or travel to Michigan's U.P. is to experience days such as these. The sky was bluer than any we'd ever seen, the cloud formations were unique, and the wildlife was plenty.  We launched our kayak into the Tahquamenon River once again. We took our time flowing downriver, paddling only when we wanted to as we wanted the day to last forever.  Our first glance from the nose of our kayak on the river was awesome. The water had no ripples...it was actually a mirror. The brackish water was clear, and the sights beneath its crystal top were as beautiful as the sky. The vegetation laid in the direction of the water's flow. Lilly pads came into view and we stopped to gaze upon their serenity.  As we coasted a bit farther down river we began to see flocks of one of our favorite birds, cedar waxwings. Something about their striking appeara...

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 18: "Wide Open Spaces...and a Little Stinker!" Don prepares for the day While in Michigan we decided to try a new outing...Munuscong River. So we loaded up the new #WildernessSystems tandem kayak and headed out for the day. Map of Munuscong Area Munuscong juts off to the west from Munuscong Lake,  a flat prairie-style body of water with an amazing view.  The St. Mary's River, southwest of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, splits around Neebish Island and empties into Munuscong Lake northeast of Munuscong River. The Objibway heading south (down bound) into the rock cut The lake freighters that are traveling up river take the channel of the St. Mary's River that lies to the east of Neebish Island, and those traveling down river use the west side of the island, which locals refer to as "the rock cut," a very narrow man-made pass between the mainland of Michigan's U.P. and N...

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 12: "It's Not a Crime to Test Paddle a Yak" One day in May 2011 Don and I decided to do something off the cuff. We had been hearing about fiberglass kayaks and wanted to see (and feel) the difference for ourselves. So it was off to the gulf coast of Florida we went.  We decided to make it a day trip and enjoy our time seeing sights we don't normally see both to and from our destination. We love taking the back roads and getting "lost" in the moment of some of the most scenic roads on the planet. We arrived and were elated to find 2 fiberglass kayaks we could test paddle. We can't describe the excitement we had doing a lot of "firsts" on this trip. Our first first was entering a kayak from a dock. We had always entered at the edge of the water, so learning the entry from a dock was really quite cool!  The best way to describe a couple of kayak entry methods, including a dock entry, is to...

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 10: Canoe vs. Kayak Being December in Florida brings some of the most beautiful weather in the nation. Nice cool, comfortable temperatures mixed with plenty of sunshine and bright blue skies. December, like November, is a continuation of an autumn feel in the air.  Believe it or not, we dashed back to Rock Springs Run for one more run in 2010, and our visiting went family with us. At the time we didn't have but only one tandem kayak at the house in Florida, that being the Wilderness Systems T145 "Mean Greenie" as we like to call it. That meant we needed to rent a vessel for our guests. The rental house didn't have any kayaks available at the time, so our company decided it was fine with them to tackle the river in a canoe.  Even though a canoe and a kayak are similar, you'll find some differences. For starters each one has its own "look" about it. A canoe has an open bow and aft, meaning the fron...