BWCA "Alone in a Canoe" Boundary Waters Group Forum: Solo Tripping
Chat Rooms (0 Chatting)  |  Search  |   Login/Join
* For the benefit of the community, commercial posting is not allowed.
Boundary Waters Quetico Forum
   Group Forum: Solo Tripping
      "Alone in a Canoe"     

Author

Text

adam
Moderator
  
03/04/2017 06:47PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
The author, Michael Kinziger, dropped me a note about his new book:

One man, one canoe, five solo journeys to five remote wilderness regions in Western Ontario, Canada. Can you imagine being retired (over 60), healthy and determined to research and travel alone for three weeks or longer on numerous wilderness trips into areas that you know little about? Can you imagine not being in verbal or social media contact with anyone for over one hundred days of travel? What does it take to be self sustained and responsible for all of one’s actions and decisions?
The solo canoe journal stories are a combination of the day to day excursions and decisions that a solo paddler must make to successfully navigate from one lake or campsite to another while managing to stay safe and to not get lost in the wilderness. The journal stories are also filled with very real and personal insights into the mind frame of the author who attempts to relate to the reader the intense feeling of what wilderness, or solitude or fear or a number of intimate emotions means to him in the moment.
Alone in a Canoe also includes detailed gear and food lists and trip statistics. The stories are inspiring. It is a must read if you ever dreamed about what it would be like to be alone in a canoe in the wilderness for any length of time. There are also 200 color photos documenting the journeys.

 
      Print Top Bottom Previous Next
03/04/2017 08:36PM  
Thanks, Adam, it sounds interesting. The name sounds vaguely familiar for some reason, like maybe I read a trip report somewhere.
 
Whatsit
distinguished member(726)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/04/2017 09:09PM  
Thanks Adam
I can't wait to get this. I too feel like the title sounds very familiar but can't for the life of me place where I've heard it before.
Mike
 
03/04/2017 10:30PM  

Adam,

I met Mike Kinziger in Balmertown Ontario back in August of 2014. He was about to fly out from Red Lake to Opasquia Provincial Park to embark on a 22 day solo trip. Fog and severe thunderstorms delayed his early morning flight for more than 8 hours so I got to have lunch with Mike and had the opportunity to talk paddling and fishing. A very interesting guy. We exchanged emails and have kept in touch.

Like you he sent me an email about his new book "Alone in a Canoe". I ordered the book via Amazon Prime and just finished reading it. Its worth a read. I have been to 2 of his solo destinations he talks about in his book... Opasquia and Quetico Provincial Parks. Someday I will do Wabikimi and Woodland Caribou.

Amazon Alone in a Canoe by Mike Kinziger
 
03/05/2017 12:39AM  
I will be buying this book. Mike is an acquaintance of mine - a friend of a friend. He turned me onto Norwegian Kick Sleds on the backwaters behind his house in LA Crosse, WI and the Coon Creek Canoe Race. Saw him last at Canoecopia a couple years ago.
 
03/05/2017 07:04AM  
I knew I recognized his name from somewhere. I read a report at canoestories of his first one of these trips that he did right after he retired. A lot of good stories there.
 
03/05/2017 10:26AM  
Very cool.... thanks for the info and I look forward to reading it.
 
03/05/2017 11:21AM  
Thanks! If it's at Copia I will grab it. I'm pretty sure I read a report of his before. It's been a few years though. Looking forward to reading it.
 
BlueSkiesWI
distinguished member(517)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/05/2017 09:09PM  
Ordering it now, thanks for the info!
 
mkdixon
distinguished member (141)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/07/2017 08:57AM  
I met Mike last fall in the Quetico. We had both been out solo for 8 or 9 days and I hadn't seen anybody in the last 4. I had just pushed off from the portage on the west end of Baird Lake and saw a solo canoe in the distance to the east coming my way. Our boats and the conversation drifted for a while and we moved off on our separate ways. A great unexpected encounter. Before we parted ways I realized that I had read his Wabakimi canoe stories post. The strange coincidence is that I had cancelled a Wabakimi trip based partly on his route there, and instead came to Quetico.
 
dentondoc
distinguished member(1097)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/08/2017 09:54PM  
quote Wally13: "
I met Mike Kinziger in Balmertown Ontario back in August of 2014. He was about to fly out from Red Lake to Opasquia Provincial Park to embark on a 22 day solo trip. Fog and severe thunderstorms delayed his early morning flight for more than 8 hours so I got to have lunch with Mike and had the opportunity to talk paddling and fishing. A very interesting guy. We exchanged emails and have kept in touch."

Mike and I have had something of a running banter since 2013 ... phone calls and e-mails. We have had a common interest in places we've paddled. I paddled Opasquia PP the month before he entered, so I provided him with some "up-to-the-minute" intel. I also produced (and mailed to him) the maps he used for his trip to OPP, which contained references to additional portages which were scouted during my visit that were only vaguely hinted at in a couple of documents I'd run across. He used some of that to "open" a new route between East Lake via Mossberry Lake to Joint Lake (NE corner of OPP).

dd
 
      Print Top Bottom Previous Next