Nice site! Some nice paddling pictures in there! :dankk2

being from the great north woods of wisconsin and growing up with nothing better to do than fish and paddle, i have a pretty large group of guys to choose from when it comes paddle partners. however, i was also blessed with 2 brothers that share the same interests. after college/marriage/moving, i lost touch with a few of them, but a bunch of my coworkers also have common interests. i consider myself pretty lucky.

on top of that, my father in law and i started a paddling club to meet up with like minded people. most people are kayakers so i tend to be the only canoeist, but its still fun

check us out on facebook!  "ROCK'S"

Thanks for the great advice on this. I'm going to check out the American Canoe Association website. I'm looking at scouting out a route or two in Q in May/June for my family (to do in Aug) and will probably have to solo it as my wife teaches and kids will be in school. Come to think of it, I need to get myself a dog to accompany me...that cat is useless around our house! Anway, I'm in the twin cities if anyone is nearby and still hasn't locked down a canoeing partner for that timeframe. I certainly echo the sentiments that's all about adjusting expectations and going with the flow --- as long as you're out in the backcountry, why not just enjoy yourself no matter how the trip is turning out  . Anyone can ping me here if it works into their plans. Thanks again for the great advice on all these forums.

as db pointed out, finding other paddlers to go with was the original purpose of this forum - and of the "profiles" and questionaire at the top of this forum.

if you haven't filled out a profile yet (I didn't look) it would be a good idea to do so, so that your preferences are out there for people to see


you could do the same thing over on BWCA.com for a somewhat wider audience; and if you want to be somewhat more adventurous, over on Paddling.net (a much wider audience) which has a "Getting Together & Going Paddling" forum for that purpose.  might be easier to find people from your area on there, so that you could do some shorter "getting acquainted" type of trips before commiting to a longer Q trip to check for compatibility

Westwood wrote on Dec 28^th, 2012 at 6:31pm:


That would be my fault due to (I'm guessing) a 2004-5 script update. Ooooh have you seen the new privacy policy? 

Wstwood...thanks for pointing out that error. Better edit my profile!!!
Thanks for all replies so far. I have some good ideas and seems like I have a plan on moving forward with this idea. Again...thanks to all.

Just a point of clarification.  You list yourself as Northman, but your profile states that you are female.  So which is correct.

What I have found to be a great impediment is what I call "projections" and "imaginations". Let me explain.

Often people will project or imagine what the other persons desires and intents are without having fully explored the perceptions verbally to find out if what they are imagining is really true or not.

For example.........One of my now regular canoe partners early on was reluctant to go with me. Come to find out through conversing was that he was afraid that he would "slow me down". That I had "agendas" that he felt he would interfere with. I had to spend some time in dragging this info out of him as I couldn't understand his reluctance since we had been friends for many years.

In our situation he was not especially confident in his abilities and foreseen that if he did not "keep up" there would potentially be tension. Add in that he is a non-conflict type person this caused considerable angst on his part and thus his reluctance.

Much of his worry was imagined. That is why it is so important to talk about expectations. A good question to ask is "how disappointed will you be if we do not make the planned mileage each day"?

Once I found out that I was putting pressure on my pal through my eager planning of routes I could put his mind at ease. He found out it was sufficient enough for me to be out there and if/when he wanted to break or stop it was fine by me.......I had no agenda set in stone. The funny thing was is that he never was the slowpoke that he had envisioned but rather gained in strength as the trip went on.........now he goes regularly without concern.......and now we are quick to discuss expectations. Beware of projections and imaginations.......do not assume what the other people in your group are thinking.......draw them out and discuss things in a frank manner is my advice. 

All great ideas. But I think you'll still need to be flexible during a trip even if you think you found the right tripping partner.

Find Mountain Paddlers' trip report and read it carefully. It's a great example of adjusting expectations and making the most of a trip. There's no right or wrong way, but there are many different ways/styles. You might even enjoy another style then you've been doing.

Of course you could always bring a newbie and introduce him/her to canoe tripping.

I moved this thread but will leave the breadcrumb trail for posterity's sake.
Puckster wrote on Dec 25^th, 2012 at 5:27pm:

Timing is everything.

About ten years ago I did a three week trip with Tripper (basically just some stranger I met in the internet) years ago. It was a great trip! This forum was his idea a few years later and doesn't get used enough IMO. I think I first met him on a trip he did with Jimbo whom I don't think I had ever met before that either but they were easy enough for me to find downstream from Beaverhouse one afternoon.

Copia and various gatherings and organizations are good starts. The group solo idea is easy, kinda like speed dating. Trip reports, posting, PMing works better IMHO. We've all heard horror stories from folks who went with people they knew well in other situations but a trip is different. If it's more than a meet and greet or a rideshare ... you need to commit to some ground-rules, know yourself, what you're getting into and that they do too.

I still have fun seeing/hanging out with some guy(s) "I met on the internet."