Paddling Education

Day trips are a marvelous way to enjoy canoeing on local rivers and lakes. Whether you’re on the water for an hour or a full day, here are the most helpful accessories to make your day-long excursions comfortable and fun.

Straight shaft and bent shaft canoe paddles are sized differently. Be sure you choose the size paddle that’s right for you, with help from our friends at Happy Paddlin.

So, you’re trying to decide between a kayak, canoe or paddleboard. How do you know which one is best for you? Recreational paddling on any of these watercraft is lots of fun, great exercise and an ideal way to enjoy the lakes, rivers or oceans around you. And they each have their own set of pros and cons.

Grab your beverage-of-choice, a comfortable seat and your digital device for an overview of your favorite content of 2022 on the Bending Branches blog.

If you’re making a list and checking it twice, we’re here to give you some holiday gift ideas. We have lots of friends in the paddle industry we’re happy to recommend, as well as some gear of our own that your family and friends will love.

The Explorer Plus wood canoe paddle is one of Bending Branches’ most popular paddles due to its reliability and ease of use in any flatwater paddling environment.

Paddle Planner is a unique online toolkit that makes planning your canoe and kayak trips easy and fun. “It’s Google directions for the Boundary Waters,” says founder Ben Strege.

Canoe camping trips on rivers are somewhat different than in flatwater environments like the Boundary Waters or Quetico. Bending Branches’ long-time President and owner, Ed Vater, takes us through his gear list for river canoe camping.

Are you confused abut whether to buy a bent-shaft or straight-shaft canoe paddle?

While canoeing in Minnesota and Maine are very similar in many ways—both have plenty of forests, lakes and rivers—the wilderness canoe cultures in these two US states are quite distinct from one another.

It’s important you learn how to transport a canoe properly to avoid damaging either your canoe or your vehicle…or risk damaging other vehicles while you’re on the road.

Starting a family doesn’t mean you have to stop canoe camping. And it doesn’t mean you can’t start canoe camping if you haven’t done it yet. But there are some different ways of thinking that will make canoe camping more successful with kids—especially very young kids.

Do you have a beloved canoe or kayak paddle that’s served its years faithfully, but you just can’t see it go? Repurpose it!

Whether your definition of a “long canoe trip” is a weekend, a week, a month or six months, you want to stay healthy throughout your trip. The longer the trip, the more important it is that you’re aware of and practice those things that will keep you healthy.

Your paddle won’t need any special care except to protect it from the elements between trips. If the finish of the paddle does become scratched or worn through, you can repair it. Here's how:

One of the best things about paddle sports like canoeing and kayaking is that they’re low-impact, healthy activities we can continue to do well into our older years. Here are a few gear ideas that will make canoeing and kayaking easier as you get older.

If you’re a new paddler, the short answer is: yes, canoeing is harder than kayaking. In no way does that mean you shouldn’t give canoeing a try, though…and learn to kayak, too! But if you must choose between the two, most beginners find kayaking easier to learn.

Here at Bending Branches, one of our main goals is to get more people out on the water in canoes and kayaks. That’s why we believe in adaptive kayak and canoe programs and equipment.

With another season of increased interest in canoe camping, Mikaela Ferguson shares the Golden Rules of Portage Etiquette to get through any portage without incident.

A few years ago my dad vocalized that he’d always wanted to paddle the Nahanni River. He’d done a little canoe tripping in his youth, but he always reminisced about 5-day canoe trip on the Moose River when he was a Boy Scout. At this point, it had been almost 40 years since he’d held a paddle. This is how my dad and I worked our way up to paddling the Nahanni River, plus advice on how to start canoeing!

Les Voyageurs is a Minnesota-based non-profit organization that provides the adventure of a lifetime for young people—a month-long canoe trip into remote areas of the US and Canada.