When I was younger one of my favorite summer time activities was canoe camping. We would pack canoes with our fishing gear, lots of food and beverages, our tents and our sleeping bags then, head down the Susquehanna River for three or four day excursions. We took a leisurely approach to water travel, stopping to camp on islands each evening and moving on down river in the morning. It was a Huckleberry Finn existence and one of the happiest and most carefree times of my life. Now that I have a young Huckleberry and Polly of my own, I would like to pass the joys of canoe camping on to them. I started looking around on the internet at canoes and related equipment, it was while searching canoe deals that I discovered Paddling.net
The complete web address of Paddling.net is: http://www.paddllng.net. Upon opening their homepage we can begin exploring the assembled resources. Site navigation is provided along the left hand side of the page and is broken down by category with subheadings underneath. The first category is the Buyer’s Guide. In addition to a collection of links for canoe and kayak manufacturers there are two product searches for canoes and kayaks. These let you search by price, size, manufacturer, type or purpose.
There are also pages of accessories and a new products guide. The next category is called Guidelines. The first time I opened this link I expected to find site rules and etiquette. I was pleased to find that Guidelines is, in the site’s words, “Your Guide to Paddlesports”, a collection of articles dealing with a variety of topics ranging from getting started and safety to specialized articles on rigging and technique. Being a fisherman by nature my curiosity was aroused by the topics listed under the kayak fishing heading. Tucked in among two dozen kayak fishing articles was “Extreme Kayak Fishing”. I had to see what this entailed. When I opened the link, I was not let down, shark, marlin, and tarpon are just some of the fish caught by the author while fishing “off shore” from his kayak.
Continuing down the front page navigation bar we see a series of links called the Directory. This is a well organized list of links to outfitters, paddling schools, canoe and kayak dealers and paddling related resources. Next in line is Places to Paddle a truly wonderful collection of trip planning information. You can select a particular state and find a multitude of paddling destinations. There are no less than forty-eight destinations listed for Pennsylvania, many of these, such as the Allegheny River, have multiple entries posted. A category called Features lists weekly articles, photography, the events calendar and Paddling.net’s own newsletter. Other categories include: classified ads, product reviews, message board and shopping.
The main portion of the homepage is devoted to highlighting special events, articles and products. There is a link which lets you sign up for email delivery of the newsletter, this newsletter has over 75,000 subscribers; Paddling.net is one hefty web community. Speaking of the Paddling.net community, the message boards or forums as I would call them deserve special attention. General categories in the message boards include: Advice, Suggestions and General Help, Paddlers' Place, Getting Together & Going Paddling, Wilderness Tripping and Fishing from Kayaks and Canoes, and Bicker and Banter, There is a forum called Bicker and Banter for members to air their views on more controversial subjects too. Taken as a whole, these categories contain hundreds of member generated topics and thousands of posts, all of which are searchable allowing someone to sift through them effectively to find information on very specific topics.
Paddling.net is a well organized and informative resource for outdoor adventurers. The site is loaded with relevant articles, forums, and links. Whether you enjoy canoeing for relaxation, kayaking for sport, or employ these vessels while engaged in other in pursuits you are sure to find something of use here.
