By Mary Fairchild Although it is possible to ride storm surf, tidal bores, and swell, what provides us with ‘the finest waves to ride’ is swell arriving on a suitable beach. Nigel Foster (1) During the first week of April, I was fortunate to be a part of Gini Callahan’s first sea kayak surf camp…
Category: Paddle/Hike/Play
International Sea Kayak Guide Snubs Registered Maine Guides: American Canoe Association’s Cover-up
By Mary Fairchild This was my favorite play area from my 2011 guided Coastal Maine trip (2011 report). The sea kayaking community needs, perhaps most of all, to guard against any shift from safety to one of recognition and getting paid. Known as “Ocean Camp Maine,” my second guided trip to Maine, September 2013, was set up quite differently…
Exploring the Great Basin: Anza-Borrego Desert, Calico Early Man Site, to Boarding the Coral Pink Sand Dunes
By Mary Fairchild Anza-Borrego Desert The Great Basin stretches from southern Idaho to Southern California which includes all, or portions, of Oregon, California, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Its southwestern parts are now known as the Mojave and Colorado Deserts of Southern California. In this large, generally dry, mountain-studded region of the West the rivers do not flow to the sea…
Water Trails Reveal Rich Archaeological History in the Midwest
By Mary Fairchild Maquoketa River Trail; 6/15/14. In June my two daughters joined me for a river clean-up and local archaeology paddle on the Maquoketa River with Iowa archaeologist Elizabeth Reetz. There are two forks of the Maquoketa River that meander through Jackson County for about 50 miles and meet up just north of the…
Mirror, Mirror, on the Water: A Tranquil Paddle at Mirror Lake State Park
By Mary Fairchild Chelsea Boots appreciates the serenity of Mirror Lake as she quietly discovers the oak/pine forest reflection before her for the first time. …there is rarely a wind-stirred ripple on the water’s still surface— Mirror Lake is a narrow river-like waterway between tall cliff-sided gorges that is about 4 miles long. An impoundment of Sauk County’s Dell…
Giant Fiberglass Statues: Do You Know the Wisconsin Dell’s Muffler Man?
By Mary Fairchild (updated 10/2015) Until recently, this Muffler Man had been behind the Mobil Station near the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. Now he’s all groomed, repainted and stands “all lit up” by the Buffalo Phil’s Pizza & Grille. These giant fiberglass statues were designed to draw the attention of tourists in the latter half of the 20th century when the West opened…