Full Description
"Alan Kesselheim is a master of the paddle and the pen...This [is] the best of Kesselheim: wit, wilderness savvy, and a boat-full of sound advice." - Larry Rice, editor, "Canoe & Kayak Welcome to simplicity". You are holding the only wilderness paddling guide that tells you not just what gear you need, but what to leave behind and how to judge the difference. Welcome to discovery. This guide equips you to design and plan your own expedition instead of slavishly following a trip mapped by an "expert."Welcome to experience. Any good book can outline the requisite skills for backcountry paddling. This one also shows by example when and why to use them. Here are the keys to canoe tripping, whether for expeditions of one to one hundred days. Alan Kesselheim is both a master paddler - with 25 years and more than 10,000 miles of wilderness paddling behind him - and a writer of uncommon grace and skill. He has created here a book of concentrated wisdom that is so pleasurable to read you may scarcely realize how much you're learning."The Wilderness Paddler's Handbook" packages rich nuggets of experience in stories that entertain while they instruct.Most how-to books are written either to grow into or to outgrow. Not this one. You can start with "The Wilderness Paddler's Handbook", and you can keep going. You can paddle right off the map". "Alan Kesselheim's mix of paddling experiences and superb writing skills make him ideally suited to dispense this highly personal and entertaining look at the how-tos of canoe tripping." - Michael Peake, editor, "Che-Mun: The Journal of Canadian Wilderness Canoeing". "Alan Kesselheim is a first-rate writer who flat out knows what he's talking about. This is a book that will enrich your days on the water." - Jerry Dennis, author of "From a Wooden Canoe"."As an explorer whose heart is ever lost to the next river bend, Kesselheim inspires canoeists to seek the wilds. In "The Wilderness Paddler's Handbook", he is merciless to paddlers who've maintained that their ignorance has kept them home. It's all here! - Jan Nesset, former editor-in-chief, "Canoe & Kayak".
Contents
IntroductionPart One. From Idea to Put-In1. How Trips Get Born2. Square Peg, Round Hole: Making a Trip Fit3. Getting There and Back4. Mining for InformationPart Two. On The Water5. The Partnership Tango: Two Vignettes6. Negotiating Current7. Rating Whitewater and Rivers8. Why Wood and Water Don't Mix9. Open Water Hazards10. Against the Flow11. To Run, to Line, to Portage12. Going SoloPart Three. Nomad Skills13. Finding a Way: Navigating14. No Grit: Life in Sandy Camps15. Rigging for the Day16. Finding a Home17. The Fiery Debate: Stoves versus Campfires18. Bears, Bugs, and Boonies: The Bad Bs of Wilderness Paddling19. Kitchens on the Go20. Luxuries of No-Portage Trips21. Water Safety: Getting a Safe Head22. First Aid23. In Honor of Place: Trip Sanitation24. Keeping Group Morale AfloatPart Four. Outfitting25. Gear That Changed My Life26. The Gear List27. Trip Canoes28. Overhyped Equipment29. The Sentimental List30. The Human Fuel31. Menu Planner32. Favorite Recipes33. Disciplining the PilePart Five. Families and Canoes34. Why It Works35. Parental Judgment36. Infants37. Toddlers38. Subadults39. Kids' Gear40. Trip ActivitiesPart Six. Expedition Destinations41. An Expedition MedleyAppendix 1. Off-Season Boat PutteringAppendix 2. Wilderness Paddler's Resource CenterIndex
