By now, you might’ve heard of The Driftless 250 (also known as The Drifty 250, an alliteration we aboulutely love), a 250-mile, 7-day, bike, paddle and camping event. What started as a small group of friends out on an adventure became…
Browsing Tag
Barry Kalpinski
Highway 106 to County Road D: A birder’s paradise and paddler’s quagmire, this section of the Scuppernong is part of the Glacial Heritage Area and might be of interest to silent sport enthusiasts. Well, except when a jon boat…
Old Stage Road to Casey Road: It’s no secret that we love Badfish Creek, or that this is our absolute favorite paddling stretch near Madison – we’ve directed paddlers to Old Stage Road numerous times over the last decade.…
Our friends at the River Alliance of Wisconsin have created a fantastic interactive map chock-full of information on streams to canoe and kayak throughout Wisconsin. Based on information from “Rick Kark’s Canoeing & Kayaking Guide to 309 Wisconsin Streams”…
Touring Horseshoe Island in Door County: There are a lot of opportunities for paddling in Door County, but here’s a great half-day destination paddle to a crescent-shaped island that offers a short hike, as well as prime fishing within…
Koepp Park to Bluemound Road: Here’s an example of a one-star paddle that’s given leniency only because of its potential (you’re about to hear that word a lot in this report), and because it was written up in a guidebook…
Jordan Park to Iverson Park: One of the best examples of “finding adventure in your backyard,” this last segment of the Plover River through Stevens Point makes for a wonderful day trip through a mix of floodplains, tall sand…
This section of the Beaver Dam River begins as an exhilarating urban paddle before quieting down towards the outskirts of town amongst suburban development, then narrowing again and alternating between wooded corridors, farmland and finally to a wider, almost…
Canoecopia 2019 is behind us and yet again, it didn’t disappoint. Timothy gave four excellent talks on two different topics, which rest assured, were equal parts educational and entertaining. He also sold and signed a bunch of guidebooks –…
Canoecopia 2019 is upon us and this year’s Show Guide is available for download on Canoecopia.com. This year, we’ll be keeping busy throughout all three days of the event. Not only is Timothy giving three talks on two different…
Miles Paddled was blessed with a great 2018. Not only were we able to donate to the River Alliance for the third year in a row, but I’m happy to announce that we were also able to make a…
Last January we started the new year looking back at 2017 in our first-ever “Year In Review”, but we’re already deviating from that formula because we’re at the end of celebrating our first decade anniversary. Instead of looking back…
In keeping with our 10-Year anniversary features, we’re breaking the cadence of our “XX Best Paddles of 20XX” formula to highlight only ten from this year. Also, let’s face it, 45 paddles from 2045 is going to get a…
There’s certain gear that will live you for life, the kind you can depend on and trust. In the years since starting gear reviews, there have been some that have risen to the top as tried and true and…
A paddle is one of the simpler things to choose amongst all the necessary paddling gear, but it does seem kind of overwhelming at the point-of-sale when looking at all the options. They basically all look like the same…
I had a really hard time deciding what to call this group of photos. I mean, these aren’t necessarily “paddling” photos, though they were taken while out on paddling excursions. But “Ten Favorite Not-Paddling Photos” sounded not only clumsy…
Happy Black Friday, ‘Merica! Can you (canoe?) believe it’s already that time of year to start shopping for your fanatical paddling brothers and sisters? And can you believe we actually spent time working up another gift list? Well, last…
In April of 2017, I was contacted by a producer at Wisconsin Public Television who was wondering if I’d allow some of my footage of the Wisconsin Dells to be used for a new project they were working on.…
Throughout the years, Miles Paddled has received thousands, literally, thousands, of comments. They mostly arrive via email or directly to the site, but also to Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Messenger, and even snail mail (no kidding). They’ve come…
I’ll admit, this may be an odd choice of gear to review, but then again, not really if you know me. (And really, this is no more odd than a food dehydrator – which had served us well, at…
Wildlife photos are usually my favorites because I appreciate how hard it is to capture a “perfect” moment while in a moving boat and competing with the natural fact that our subjects are ready to flee at the sound of…
We’ve encountered a lot of fences and barriers, and I think every single one of them is ugly. We’ve met a lot of deadfall and blockages, and I’ve never enjoyed hiking around them. We’ve seen trash, abuse, drainage pipes,…
I’ve had a love/hate relationship with my pfd (personal floatation device) since the day I bought it. It was the same day I bought my first boat, a paddle, a roof rack, and a bunch of other things like…
I was recently asked by some Danish friends to be interviewed for their link-type site about bags, specifically an article on packing for kayaking. So I pulled together some things I’ve learned throughout the years, and also a presentation…
We’re nearing 3,000 miles reported on this site but we found a rather interesting milestone to consider in the meantime (it is an odd one, mind you). 2,790 miles might not seem like a number to get all excited…
Cotton Mill Park to County Road J: A section of the Beaver Dam River that begins as an exhilarating urban paddle before quieting down towards the outskirts of town amongst suburban development, then narrowing again and alternating between wooded…
This year’s event was much improved as far as designated unloading spots and longer-term parking (available at the adjacent Care Wisconsin lot). The clouds were a bit ominous after a morning drizzle which surely kept some people from paddling,…
The annual Fools’ Flotilla – an event to raise awareness of the work of the Wisconsin River Alliance – is this Sunday, June 10th. Last year, the first family of Miles Paddled took part and we had a blast! Take…
Ten years of documenting rivers and creeks throughout Wisconsin and our neighboring states has given us a whole lot of trips to reminisce on. When we’re asked to name favorites, there are some that instantly come to mind. But…
Years ago, I started recording paddles after I fell in love with videos found on YouTube created by Tom Lindblade, and then later Mark and Mary Morrall who once produced paddling DVDs of local trails. They were the inspiration…