New Kayak

virgos

Explorer
Mar 25, 2007
130
0
Took my first trip on a kayak. Never ever going back to the canoe. My cousin and I went down Oswego. We put in around 9:30 AM. Saw ONE PERSON on the water. What solitude. Is it a great idea to wait until September to do Batsto, Mullica, Wading so that we can match the solitude of Oswego.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,153
4,257
Pines; Bamber area
If you go on a weekday now, there should be no crowds on those streams.

Things would be so much quieter if the gunwales of aluminum canoes had rubber padding. You can hear them coming for a quarter mile.

PS: never say never.
 

virgos

Explorer
Mar 25, 2007
130
0
magical

oswego looks so different from last april. its amazing how the trip felt different this time around
 

GermanG

Piney
Apr 2, 2005
1,111
434
Little Egg Harbor
How were the water levels on the Oswego? I've had to do quite a bit of dragging across gravel beds the few times I paddled it in the summer in the past. It's definitely one of the nicest streams in the pines though.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,153
4,257
Pines; Bamber area
There is alot to be said for canoeing. A canoe offers the chance to work as a team as well as alot of storage room for beer.

Now you're thinking! I like canoes too. I don't dislike kayaks, its just that I did all the rivers on a canoe many years ago. I don't want to say I did not have a great time.
 

long-a-coming

Explorer
Mar 28, 2005
778
14
50
Berlin Twp
I recently saw a "kaynoe" in a catalog. The best of both worlds I guess never tried one. It was made by Field and Stream which I think may be associated with Dick's Sporting Goods.
 

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
Nah, you just have to weigh down the front with a heavy cooler of goods. Then it's smooth sailing.

The other thing about soloing in a canoe, for me, is to turn it around and sit facing the wrong way on the bow bench. Kind of puts me more toward the middle and balances the boat nicely.

My childhood on the rivers in Indiana was all about canoes. My friend Tod and I would spend hours on the rivers that ran from behind our houses all the way to the Wabash (never went a tenth of that distance).

Now that I have kayaked, I think I like them better. Certainly more maneuverable in the tight rivers of the pines. But if I were heading up Lake Champlain to go camping it would be in a canoe, no question. Or perhaps a much larger ocean kayak.
 

andy1015

Explorer
May 4, 2007
234
1
41
growing up always canoed. A few years ago we bought some kayaks to give them a try. I like both but for quick trips and low water kayaks are nice. I can fit four in the back of my truck(and i don't even have a full size truck). It's nice you can just throw them up on one shoulder and throw them in the back. But for a longer trip or white water, canoe. Did a lot of whitewater canoing when i was younger and like canoes for that.
 
Apr 6, 2004
3,606
551
Galloway
MarkBNJ said:
The other thing about soloing in a canoe, for me, is to turn it around and sit facing the wrong way on the bow bench. Kind of puts me more toward the middle and balances the boat nicely.

True that.


Now that I have kayaked, I think I like them better. Certainly more maneuverable in the tight rivers of the pines.

Kayaking is certianly easier, no doubt about that.

But if I were heading up Lake Champlain to go camping it would be in a canoe, no question. Or perhaps a much larger ocean kayak.

Ah, that's an idea. Maybe this site could do an out-of-State canoe/camp trip on Lake Champlain. Champ, here we come!
 

whippoorbill

Explorer
Jul 29, 2003
675
121
65
Bridgeton
growing up always canoed. A few years ago we bought some kayaks to give them a try. I like both but for quick trips and low water kayaks are nice. I can fit four in the back of my truck(and i don't even have a full size truck). It's nice you can just throw them up on one shoulder and throw them in the back. But for a longer trip or white water, canoe. Did a lot of whitewater canoing when i was younger and like canoes for that.

Kayaks put the paddler at water level. I like that. Some of my best stream moments have been spent in canoes, with friends. Depends on the mood of the day for me.

Was just over at the photo gallery and a random image by Grendel appeared. Paints a thousand words, I'd say.

http://gallery.njpinebarrens.com/showphoto.php/photo/4341

Bill
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,143
Coastal NJ
Try a Hornbeck, you'll never go back to a kayak
 

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