So here's a question I haven't seen discussed.

How many of you LOVE paddling just for the sake of paddling? I assume I'm in the minority here. I do enjoy paddling on its own but for me paddling a canoe is more a means to another goal and not the goal itself.

I paddle because I love the quiet, I love being able to get into more remote areas, I love to fish quietly and slower, I love being close to the water. The canoe and paddling just allow me the avenue to accomplish these goals. To me its really just a mode of transportation. If I could accomplish my goals in other ways I'd be just as happy.

So what about everyone else? Is paddling your goal or a means to achieve another goal?

I just plain like to paddle in a canoe. I love taking long canoe trips far from home but if I had to choose between paddling once or twice per year if far off places or paddling as often as I want around home I'd have a very difficult decision to make.

You'll find me on the water 2-3 times/week (or more) in the spring and early summer. Less so in mid-summer when it's hot and humid and the water in the river is way down. Paddling is the perfect way to get in shape for a paddling trip. Always surprised when people come up with all these other ways of preparing for a trip.

Alan

I definitely love the simple act of paddling and wish I got around to doing it more often. I'm actually hoping to find a cheap solo and then I can paddle and my wife can row her skiff. Otherwise, we tend to sail and that is also great fun but not as good exercise!

Unfortunately, solo canoes are rare beasts out here in CA.

In rivers I actually enjoy paddling, but in lakes it is merely part of loving to fish the BWCA. I'd take a motor given the choice.

I like to paddle about 10 miles s day. Do I love/live to paddle? No. It's just one part of the trip.

I grew up on a farm with the Namekagon river running through I spent more time in a canoe then on a bicycle. Learned to paddle and pole before I could ride.

Canoe is very special to me paddling is a great way to spend time.

My dad took my two brothers and me on my first BWCA trip in '68.

I love paddling as long as the waves and the wind are not too big or strong.

I love to paddle for all the reasons you mentioned: the quiet, getting into remote areas, encountering wildlife, fishing quietly. I enjoy a brisk breeze on my face. If tandem spending quality time with my wife. Being on the water.

But I also simply enjoy the act of paddling as well. This summer I hope to begin learning freestyle canoeing.

Like others, paddling gives me pleasure in and of itself. I prefer paddling in quiet surroundings with nice scenery, but will paddle anywhere rather than not paddle. I paddle kayaks winters on the Des Moines River up and back and use my Magic once the water warms up. I try to paddle at least once per week winters and up to three times a week during warmer weather peaking spring and fall. Travel allows me to experience new and often more pleasant surroundings and while the BWCA and associated areas offer some of the best of paddle and camp there are lots of great places to paddle.

I am on the fence on this one. I paddle because I fish and the canoe allows me access to uncrowded waters.

As I have aged I do like to paddle but I only do it so I can fish. Since I retired over a year ago I average about 200 days on the water. If I had a motorized boat and a good fishing lake close to home the canoe would hardly get used. ~JOE~

quote riverrunner: "I grew up on a farm with the Namekagon river running through I spent more time in a canoe then on a bicycle. Learned to paddle and pole before I could ride.
Canoe is very special to me paddling is a great way to spend time.
My dad took my two brothers and me on my first BWCA trip in '68.
I love paddling as long as the waves and the wind are not too big or strong."

Lucky guy, growing up on the Namekagon! Reminds me so much of my "Home" rivers with a north woods flavor?

I started canoeing for one reason, to fish. Couldn't afford a boat and motor, so.... Somewhere along the line, it became more about the fishing, although; less is more nowadays! I'm content paddling 10 miles or less most days.

i just like to paddle around.
i've shore lined my way around the Q and the west end of the BW and never tired of it.if i had to skip going around the inside of a big bay because of the weather i'll try on another trip.
Coleman Island is on my list but the weather held me back twice.
i had detailed Google Earth print outs but i needed to cut south for Lady Boot Bay because the wind was up on the big lake.

I love paddling a canoe because I love the places it takes me and the way it takes me there.

I've done the majority of my paddling on the rivers around my home. The Kishwaukee, the Sugar, the Rock and the Pecatonica.

To drift silently to explore what is around the next bend.

To sit quietly waiting for that catfish to try sneaking away with your stink bait.

To sit in the river fishing and have deer come to drink almost on top of you. Wildlife of all sorts don't even notice me and the canoe because predators don't come from the water in these parts.

In addition, I love how the canoe has made me slow down over the years. You can't get anywhere quickly, so you learn to be patient.

A canoe of one sort or another has been a part of my life for most of my 67 years and they've enriched my life immensely.

I enjoy paddling but I enjoy it more in the beginning of the day when I am fresh and rested. I also enjoy paddling more at sunrise or sunset on a mirror calm lake compared to fighting waves for hours on end. Although I enjoy it, if the scales were to tip ever so slightly it would be towards it being a means to an end.

The reasons I paddle the BWCA are for relaxation and renewal, fishing and photography. I find the relaxation and renewal more in camp when I have time to sit back with a cup of coffee and take everything in. Fishing from a canoe is okay but not ideal, if i can catch fish from shore in camp I am just fine with that. Photography is not ideal in a canoe either, not particularly steady and always that concern about the equipment. But it does let you see many wondrous things as you move along.

I appreciate the independence paddling a canoe gives you, and the possibilities it opens up for exploring an incredible area that you just wouldn't get any other way.

For me it's not so much about paddling a canoe as a means of travel but more about being able to experience and enjoy the the rugged beauty and solitude of the BWCA. I like paddling, just don't love it and I am sure glad it's not the BWMA (Boundary Waters Motorboat Area).

I'm a split personality about it. The paddling with gear, portaging and route finding to get to where I'm going is not the reason I go to the BWCA. The quiet paddling slowly exploring a lake, sitting in the canoe, watching the water and feeling all that is around is a main reason I go. Can't have the second without doing the first...schizo!

Paddling! I Captain a large motor yacht on a large lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains (Lake Tahoe). I spend most days zipping around one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. But, most days, weather permitting, I can't wait to get back to the dock and launch my Wenonah Encounter and simply paddle about between trips on the big boat. Days off, the wife and I either cruise in our Spirit II along the shore of Lake Tahoe or other Sierra lakes for a few hours and a picnic or a few nights camping. To me, paddling a canoe is so Zen like. Yep, I'm goofy.
My name is Doug and I'm a paddler.

Just like to paddle and don't really know why?
Maybe to be different.
Maybe to get to places you can only find in a canoe.
Maybe for the change to really appreciate your surroundings.
Maybe for a chance to fish spots no else can get to with a motor boat.
Maybe for quietness of the stroke of a paddle.
Maybe for the minimum environmental impact paddling a canoe has.
Maybe for the type of people I meet in a canoe.
I know a lot of people give me strange looks when I tell them I'm going to the bdub for a week. Some wistful, jealous and some your an idiot.
I know I don't get enough of it since the grand kids came.

Time passes and our perspectives change. When I was a young man, I bought a motor boat like my father before me. I would rip around the lake and see these old guys with a small boat and a little 3 hp motor and think, "What's up with that?"

We went to Canada every year on fishing trips with boats, motors, canoes in tow to fish smaller lakes, portaged Grumman sport boats, 6hp motors, tons of gear, and caught lots of fish. Over time, I lost my Canada crew, had some kids, fished less, and things changed.

Four years ago I took my first paddle trip to the BWCA and the transition started. I discovered that you don't need all the heavy boats, motors, gear, and that things can be much more simple. I discovered Kevlar canoes, single burner stoves, CCS Tarps, and a chair that packs up in a little bag.

Three years ago, I sold my motor boat, and now have a Kevlar Champlain, and will soon have a solo. I have a guy coming tomorrow to hopefully buy one of my 6 hp motors. I will keep the older 1971 6 hp because it's in such nice shape and I like the way it sounds because I spent so much time with my hand on the handle. I will keep my two Grumman sport boats because they allow me to take other families and lots of kids for a two hour tour down the local river, but I have changed.

Look for me paddling on the local lakes and rivers in Western Wisconsin looking at all the young guys ripping around in their motor boats and thinking "What's up with that?" I am now the old guy and I do not even have a 3 hp motor, just a paddle. Simple. A different perspective.

I like to paddle, especially under ideal conditions I can go all day. I can get into a zone where I get lost in the time and the place and paddling becomes effortless.

I look at paddling as an art form. The paddle and canoe linking me to the water. The old Paddle Sport Journal was a big inspiration to me. It showed me efficient paddling along with the then emerging Free Style flat water paddling. I love to paddling first and foremost. But then combining it with outdoor skills in a really cool place becomes the best

It may have started out as a means to an end but now I just like paddling. Probably one reason I do lots of trolling........love easing along and seeing the sights.

Same. Slow paddling is what I enjoy most. Gliding. Catching a fish is just a bonus.

Canoeing used to be just transport on the water easier than backpacking.

Now that I have done FreeStyle for a number of years and have lived on or near water since 1983 canoeing is something I do almost every soft water day. I love the stretch and the control of paddling FS in patterns.. and the loons come up to watch sometimes! So its sort of my equivalent of dressage sans the need to have a horse.

Sometimes canoeing is still transport. A friend of mine was paddling with me in the Okefenokee with lots of gators watching. He heeled his boat to the rail, spun it and linked maneuvers. I was a wuss. I will continue to be a wuss in gator country.. I like as much freeboard as possible there!

I love to paddle. And, I like to try to keep working on technique. It's fun to pick a tree across the lake and see how fast you can move in a straight line to it.

Because I love to paddle so much, my shoulder has some issues. So, might have to start training the off side this year to balance things out.

I do love to travel in a canoe also. And, as the name says, I love to break things up with a good portage, because I love to hike as well.

quote yellowcanoe>. I will continue to be a wuss in gator country.. I like as much freeboard as possible there!"

Haha Kim... I would be a wuss right with ya.

I like to paddle. At home I paddle to get my arms in shape for a trip. I have a condition that is kind of painful. I can't dive onto things like I did when I was young. I love paddling a canoe loaded to go. I get into canoe country and I'm in heaven paddling. I like the adventure and all, but with paddle in hand I smile a lot no matter how crappy I feel. Sometimes I'm not smiling on the outside, but inside I am.

Paddling sometimes is the end in itself. But it is in the act of paddling for the sake of paddling; that is what releases me to be in the moment, to be fully engaged in the flow of the hull in the water. It is first the anticipation followed then by the fulfillment of the movement of the hull to the forces from the paddle blade.

Paddling is sometimes the means to the end. Setting a goal of the canoe taking you to a destination. Be it the other side of a lake or many days of the paddling on lakes and or rivers. Each paddle stroke is fulfilling my commitment to achieving the destination.

The paddle has taken me many places, and brought me to meeting many wonderful people.

Count me as one who loves paddling a canoe. I will not try to explain as everyone has been so eloquent explaining the reasons to paddle a canoe. I agree with your reasons.

I am in the paddle to fish group, I don't remember the last time I was in a canoe to do anything except fish or get to a place to fish. I do enjoy the paddling in the BWCA especially early morning and late evening on the small lakes but wouldn't do it if not for the fishing.

quote nctry: "

quote yellowcanoe>. I will continue to be a wuss in gator country.. I like as much freeboard as possible there!"

My first few canoe trips were in gator country and I completely understand. My first time dumping a canoe was just after seeing a HUGE gator, maybe 10-12 feet long submerge as we came around a bend in the river. I remember my exact words were , "Whatever you do Wayne, don't dump this boat right now." Not more than 10 yards later, he turned us into a submerged log that I was trying VERY hard to avoid. I grabbed the paddle as it floated by and we hauled all the gear to shore. Don't think I ever swam faster in my life!

Surprisingly, I have loved paddling ever since and would do it much more if I had my own canoe. Lot's of great drop in points within 10-15 minutes from home.

Oops

paddling my 1940 Canadian canoe I feel as if I am a part of the landscape. I feel Lucky that my canoe can share this with me. I love my canoe and I love paddling it.

quote hobbydog: "I like to paddle, especially under ideal conditions I can go all day. I can get into a zone where I get lost in the time and the place and paddling becomes effortless.


"

yeah, when the water is like glass and the sky is blue.....

In an ugly place devoid of fish, I wouldn't do much paddling.

quote jwartman59: " paddling my 1940 Canadian canoe I feel as if I am a part of the landscape. I feel Lucky that my canoe can share this with me. I love my canoe and I love paddling it.
"

What a beautiful picture! What lake is that? Looks kinda like Mountain Lake? Sure looks familiar?

east or west pike, probably west. this was one of those perfect solo trips where everything went right, and no people! the photo was used in a duluth pack catalog, i got money!!, it still gets used by groups like friends of the boundary waters.

quote ParkerMag: "In an ugly place with no fish, I wouldn't do much paddling."

Why do I have to be in the ugly place with you? Is it me or the ugly place that makes you not want to paddle? :)

quote nofish: "

quote ParkerMag: "In an ugly place devoid of fish, I wouldn't do much paddling."

Why do I have to be in the ugly place with you? Is it me or the ugly place that makes you not want to paddle? :)"

:-)) Sorry, let me fix that!