Kayaking Freaks

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 5 Returning to Michigan's U.P. The time had come to return to Michigan's U.P. We decided we wanted to try a longer jaunt this trip, so we chose the Tahquamenon River, starting at the mouth off of the highly respected Lake Superior.  Kayaking Michigan's U.P. holds its own challenges: weather, cold water temps that average a whopping 52 degrees Fahrenheit in the dead of summer, big wildlife, and some of the most extreme "middle of nowhere" feelings to be had on the water. Kayaking the big, open water of Lake Superior calls for a different kind of kayak, a  far different one than you see we are using in our photos here. It also calls for  a different set of advanced skills as a kayaker, and a much different set of equipment to be carried on board for starters.     Weather in the U.P. can change in the blink of an eye. Even on a river, and not the open water, if you're paddling with the breeze you ...

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 4  Come On Dad, It'll Be Fun! It's nice to catch up on life in general with family or friends, and for us, there's no better place to do that than in a kayak.  It can also be a time of peace and quiet for adult family members (moms, dads, grand-parents, great-grand parents, and grown-up kids) to have time to bond. Sharing our kayak adventures with others is a passion for Don and myself. We love to take friends and family kayaking to expose them to the beauty of Florida's best nature spots for viewing, and/or capturing photographs of mesmerizing  scenes of nature and wildlife of a lifetime!   Kayaking with kids is also a great way to spend time together outdoors. Nature has so much offer, and it makes a super, educational homeschooling outing for your students interested in science or ecology.   We are excited that  From the Nose of Our Kayak  will come to pass not only as a blog book, but...

From the Nose of Our Kayak  Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 3 Monkeys...Really? Silver River's beauty never leaves you wanting, but this particular outing left us wanting...to go back time and time again! We began to realize, you never know what you're going to see on the shoreline, beneath the water, on the water, in the woods, high in the trees, or even higher in the sky. View of Silver River in mid October 2009 from the nose of our kayak The deer drag had worked like a charm and we had portaged to the launch area in no time. We excitedly launched the kayak at Silver River State Park for the second time. We knew we had 2-1/2 miles to paddle up river before we could coast back down on the river's gentle current to the launch area. At the time, 2-1/2 miles paddling up stream was quite the undertaking for us beginners.  We cleared the markers and were deep within nature in seconds. Ahhhhh...peace and serenity at last. Before we could even get to the first...