Summer may be almost over, but canoeing season doesn’t have to end just yet. We’ve looked at what you need to do to get ready for your first canoe trip. Now let’s see what experienced canoers say about the things you should and shouldn’t do out there on the water.

DO:

• Tell someone where you’re going and when you should be back. “Better yet,” says longtime canoer Don Perkins, “give them a copy of the map with all your logistics data written on the back.”
• Load the canoe carefully to stabilize it. Liz Doyle, a former Outward Bound instructor, says, “If you’re heading into a strong headwind, weight the front (the bow) more heavily- it will make steering easier (if it’s a tail wind, weight the back [the stern] of the canoe).”
• She also says, “Hold the paddle grip at the top, not on the shaft! It’s amazing how many people hold their paddle incorrectly.”
• Wear long sleeves (loose-fitting synthetics dry more quickly) and shoes (not flip-flops!) that you don’t mind getting wet.
• A life jacket goes without saying.

DON’T:

• Bring alcohol (this actually may be forbidden in places).
• Stand up or try to swap places, says Sherry Gavanditti, a veteran of many family canoe trips.
• Try to hold onto tree branches as you pass them.
• Canoe where there are alligators. “I’ve done it and it’s insane!” says Ms. Gavanditti.
• Drink the water. (Bring plenty of your own.)
• Count on your cell phone working. But bring it anyway, in a ziploc bag.
• Use leaves for toilet paper. “A ziploc bag containing a few tissues is your friend. Nuff said,” says Don Perkins.

Take your time and see what’s going on around you – it’ll help you stay safe and enjoy yourself.

I love my back to nature, just me and the wild, working up a good sweat, outdoors time.  I’ve always seen it as ‘my’ time, alone time – something that I do to get away from it all.  As I adjusted to city life, my pilgrimages to the unspoiled became even more treasured to me.  Then, along came my son.  Then the other.  Like every other facet of my life, parenthood has changed my outdoors routine.

Now, if I want to go for a bike ride, it’s, “Daddy, can I come?”  If I want to get away from it all, part of “it all” comes with me.  Maybe I have overmuch of a soft spot for my sons, but I just can’t say no to such a request.  So, instead of a challenging four mile ride, it’s a slow, level one mile.  Instead of a silent commune with nature, it’s a noisy nature lesson.

Hiking has become walking.  Canoeing has become fodder for “America’s Funniest Videos”.  A healthy enjoyment of outdoor activities is something to be shared and passed down from generation to generation.  To my way of thinking, leaving them out of my routine would undermine the importance and lead them to grow up to be city boys, or worse, couch potatoes.

No, I can’t have that.  So, along they come – spilling my canteen, scaring away the animals, tipping the canoe. I still slip away by myself on rare occasion, but those opportunities don’t present themselves very often.  The funny thing is that despite all my reservations this is even better than my ‘alone’ time ever was.  I don’t miss the solitude one bit.

Sometimes, a good thing is just better when you share it with those you love.

Canoeing can be a great way to see the wilderness, enjoy its peace and quiet, spend time with your family or friends, and get some exercise. If you’ve never tried it, maybe this summer is the time to start.

Before your first canoe trip, it’s essential to do some planning. There are the commonsense preparations you’d make for any boating trip:

• Wear life jackets and sunscreen
• Bring water and snacks
• Let someone know where you’re going and when you should be back

Experienced canoers also offer these tips:

• “[W]e always take two canoes, one adult in each one,” says Sherry Gavanditti, who takes frequent canoe trips with her husband and two teen daughters. This is “better and safer”, she says, but more does not always mean better: “[A]void canoeing with large groups, as most people are not experts at navigation and when everyone is in the water with paddles splashing around and canoes hitting each other, something is bound to go wrong.”
• “It’s a good idea to allow extra time,” says Don Perkins, a long-time canoer in New England, “especially since canoeing in the dark is not a pleasant experience for most.”
• Practice dumping, advises Elizabeth Doyle, a former guide at Outward Bound. Why would you intentionally tip over your canoe? “[I]t’s important that everyone be aware of what it feels like to suddenly wind up in the water and for the whole group to know what to do if that happens.” This can help overcome fears you may feel the first time out.
• More ways to deal with fear: “[P]lay around,” says Ms. Doyle, “Try standing and wobbling the boat, see if you can tip it without using your hands, sink the boat and paddle it when it’s bobbing under water. Turn it upside down and hang out in the air pocket beneath it. Have fun with the canoe!”

While I was visiting Montreal with a school organization this weekend, my friend from Vermont picked me up, and we went to her house for Saturday night. The drive from Montreal to her house took about two hours. As we drove to her house, I gazed at my surroundings. We drove up a slightly inclined rocky path for about a mile; as I looked to my left, I saw rolling hills and the mountains of New Hampshire, and as I looked to my right, I saw farm houses and more mountains in the background. I imagined how this place would look like when the leaves turn colors in the fall, and I immediately fell in love. It truly is  a place for those of us who love nature.

She lives in the Northeast Kingdom. When she first told the staff that she and I work with that she lives in the Northeast Kingdom, we all could not help but laugh. The Northeast Kingdom? Are you the princess of the Northeast Kingdom? Well, it turned out to be real after all! I have pictures of stores in her town that say things such as “Where the Northeast Kingdom Shops.”

Her house is about 25 minutes away from the nearest grocery store and to the center of the town called St. Johnsbury. St. Johnsbury is part of the grand picture that Vermont likes to call the “Northeast Kingdom.” The “kingdom” is more like a general area of Vermont that the state uses to attract tourists. However, there is so much to do in this gorgeous place. Whether you are in the mood to hang out by the lake, ski or snowboard at Burke Mountain, climb a mountain, explore the woods, take a boat out for a ride, tour around the towns with your car, or eat in little diners, it is a really great place to visit. It is so clean, quaint, and cozy and perfect for those of us who love the outdoors.

I definitely could feel the “small town vibe” and enjoyed every minute of my stay. I now can vouch for my friend when she says that she lives in the “Northeast Kingdom”–it truly is a magnificent place to visit.

On May 4th, I sat near the Longfellow Bridge in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 4th seat of a Northeastern University Novice 8-person Resolute boat. On a normal race day, my boat would have to wait there, near the starting line, for only 10-20 minutes. However, a piece of equipment had broken in our boat, forcing us to delay the race for at least thirty minutes. Well, you may not know this, but those Boston Duck Tour boats all travel under the Longfellow Bridge, then they turn around, and go back to where they came from.

So, naturally our boat became a tourist attraction, and there were pictures of us being taken from the dozens of Duck Boats that passed us. We didn’t exactly appreciate this celebrity lifestyle–we felt like animals stuck behind a glass window being perpetually photographed.  However, at one point the annoying flashes disappeared and shifted in another direction. Wondering what the commotion was all about, our Ports “backed” and the Starboards “rowed” to turn our boat around.

What we saw was this extremely long boat with about 10 rows of pairs of people all paddling down the river. On the front of the boat was an intricate Chinese dragon head. There was a person standing on one end of the boat and another person sitting in the bow–facing the paddlers. Apparently, the person standing in the boat is known as the sweep. The sweep is also known as the helmsman or steersman, and this is the person who controls this boat with a sweep oar rigged at the rear of the boat. The other non-paddler is known as the drummer, and she or he  is considered the heartbeat of this boat because they lead the crew with the rhythmic beating of a drum.

And the people making this boat, called a dragonboat, move are called the paddlers!

I had never seen a dragon boat before, but apparently there are even big  dragon boat races in Boston! If you have never seen a dragon boat before, this is a sight that you have to see! The boats are very intriguing, and it is interesting to see how so many people paddle one boat.

Life comes at you pretty fast. And for the most part, Americans embrace fast as good. Even our recreation time is rushed. We run when we could walk. We’d rather ride our bikes fast than far. So it was when I first was introduced to the pontoon boat and the lazy Rainbow River, my first thought being, “How fast can I go?”

The answer, it turns out, is “not very”. The entirety of the Rainbow River, located in the quiet town of Dunellon, Florida, is a no wake zone. Not that pontoon boats go all that fast anyway. But the joy that I have found from boating slowly up and down the crystal clear waters of the river has far exceeded what I could have expected or even hoped.

Going fast is fun. It creates a cooling breeze. I can zip up and down the nearby Withalacoochie River as fast as the pontoon will go. But when I’m busy zipping along, I tend to miss the alligators, turtles, birds, and other assorted wildlife that are there for the viewing. When I’m going full speed ahead, the breathtaking scenery is nothing more than a blur in the periphery of my vision. It is hard to appreciate the undeveloped atmosphere, reminiscent of a day long past, when I don’t take the time to look.

On a slow, lazy boat ride I can close my eyes and imagine the time before the big city, before traffic jams and email, when there was just nature. I can drift behind a manatee as it lumbers through the water in search of some leafy meal. I can forget the expense reports and clogged gutters and the baseball games and the parent-teacher conferences. It is so easy to set it all aside for a few hours when my boat is just idling along and there is nothing but water and trees as far as the eye can see.

Next time you’re planning a get-away, try planning something that really will get you away from the fast pace of daily life – if only for a few hours. You’ll be glad that you did.