CLIFF JACOBSON WILDERNESS CANOEING & CAMPING SCHOOL

In its second year, this intensive training program has moved to a more convenient location at beautiful Camp DuNord near Ely, Minnesota. We have more room to work in and be located right next to the newly redesigned and expanded dining hall.

"The emphasis of the CJ program is canoe camping skills—the things you need to know to make a successful canoe trip beyond the beaten path. There is heavy emphasis on navigation, equipment, foods and cooking, storm-proofing your camp and foul weather fire-making. These skills are at the heart of canoe tripping. To break up the intensive week participants will receive four hours of on-the-water instruction with Jim Mandle, a certified American Canoe Association instructor and registered Adirondack guide. Jim will teach paddling basics, that’s all. The bottom line is that this school is about the “nuts and bolts” of canoe tripping; it is not a place to learn how to canoe."

Cliff Jacobson

Five days of learning, practicing and having fun!

Want to become proficient in the wilderness and be able to confidently handle your canoe without spending years to develop your skills? Then this new (first of a kind!) wilderness canoeing and camping school may be right for you. Taught at rustic camp DuNord outside Ely, Minnesota by the master himself, the program provides personalized, hands-on instruction in all facets of wilderness canoe travel (tandem and solo) and backwoods camping. Emphasis is on making a wilderness canoe trip on a remote river where help is an airplane ride away. The expedition-oriented procedures you’ll learn are equally useful on easy local rivers and lake-country routes like those in the BWCA. There is something here for everyone who loves wild places and the magic of canoes. Enough down time is provided to practice, question, socialize and paddle.

WHEN ? May 18-23, 2008. Five days of hands-on instruction. Arrive at Camp DuNord by 8 pm, Sunday, May 18. Instruction begins Monday, May 19 and ends 5 pm Friday, May 23.

WHERE ? Camp DuNord—a rustic and elegant YMCA camp near Ely, Minnesota.

WHAT IS PROVIDED ? All equipment, including canoes, paddles and PFD’s. Piles of hand-outs and resource guides plus all food (there’s a mess hall and professional cook) and on-the-lake cabin accommodations. The cabins have electricity and are heated (all have fire places or wood stoves).

WHAT TO BRING ? A clothing and suggested equipment list will be sent when you register.

PROGRAM SUMMARY—YOU GET ALL THIS AND MUCH MORE! Click here for a complete Itinerary.

Planning a canoe trip: maps, trip guides and personal accounts.

Navigation skills: one full day of intensive map and compass and GPS instruction. Includes practice navigation in the wild outdoors.

Choosing and outfitting a canoe for wilderness travel: canoe design and construction; paddles, PFD’s, spray covers (tandem and solo), tracking lines and accessories. Canoeing technique – paddling, portaging, lining & tracking: on-the-water personalized solo and tandem canoe instruction.

Packs and packing—waterproofing your gear; selecting and packing packs, loading canoes for the long haul; portaging. Clothing, footwear and rain gear.

Select and storm-proof tents and tarps, rig single and double rain tarps. Important knots, hitches and rope handling skills.

Edged tools: selection, use, sharpening and maintenance—you sharpen a knife and axe to a razor’s edge.

Make a one-match fire in the rain (Yes, you will do this!). Food selection and Preparation-- how to choose, prepare and pack suitable trail foods for the long haul. Easy meals, tricks for cold weather and large groups. You do the cookin’; the instructors do the lookin’!

Topics to be covered if time permits...
Health and sanitary/procedures on the trail.
Signal and communications gear.
Leadership: Picking and training a crew, division of labor.
Wilderness Ethics: things you can do to spread the word.’
Safety: equipment and procedures for avoiding dangers.
First aid—common canoe trip ailments.
Canoe repair—in the field and at home.
Bugs, bears, insects and other critter concerns.
Transportation concerns: trucks, trains, boats, planes.
Canoeing with tots and teens.

THE INSTRUCTORS

Cliff Jacobson is a contributing editor for Canoe & Kayak Magazine and the author of more than a dozen top selling books on canoeing and camping. He has outfitted and guided scores of wild Canadian rivers, many above the Arctic Circle. In 2003 the American Canoe Association presented him with the “Legends of Paddling Award” and inducted him into the ACA Hall of Fame.

Jim Mandle (one of my long time canoeing buddies) is a registered New York State Adirondack guide and an ACA certified instructor in FreeStyle and Wilderness Canoeing, plus a Canadian CRCA Classic Style Paddling Instructor. Jim has extensive experience organizing and leading canoe trips and has canoed several wilderness rivers with Cliff.

COST: $1,295.00 per person plus tax. $400.00 Deposit Required.
Contact: Piragis Northwoods Company. Drew Brocket 1-800-223-6565

Sign-up soon!

Daily Schedule 2008

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See Mongolia in Fall Color!

It may be a longer trip than the hills of Vermont but believe it or not, Mongolia is a hot spot for fall foliage. I just returned (all in one very long Monday of 30 hours of travel) from Mongolia and I can tell you it is a beautiful, wild country. The city of Ulaanbaatar is pulsing with growth and new construction and blanketed in a layer of coal powered smog but the countryside is wide open and wild as it ever has been in the centuries since Chingiss Khan ruled Asia and half of Europe.

By the way, the Mongolians spell and pronounce his name Chingiss not Ghengis so I guess that must be the way he’d like it. Anyway, go see Mongolia soon. They are building new paved roads making exploring easier (the roads are braided paths thru the grasslands now) and access to national parks like Hustai are getting easier. Hustai is where the wild horses have been reintroduced from zoo stock around the world and now thrive again in their native land. The fishing is some of the worlds best for Taimen on rivers in the Hovsgol region. This is the world’s largest trout species. One trophy fish has exceeded 70lbs.

Nomadic herders live in gers, what we know as yurts, all over Mongolia. The families we dropped in on were warm, jovial and always ready to share the secrets of how they make yogurt, dried milk bars, a type of dried cream like frosting, fermented mare’s milk (tastes like hard cider) and a special vodka from fermentation of milk right on the old woodstove in the ger. They herd horses, yaks, cows, sheep, camels and goats. These animals all seem to give milk and they all make for a very meat rich diet. Vegetarianism is quite unknown on the steppes of Mongolia.

Check out Kim McCluskey’s web site for details of a canoe/kayak trip to Mongolia scheduled for next June. I can’t wait to go back to visit Mongolia with Worldwide Paddling Adventures. To find out more about Paddling and Hiking Trips around the World contact Kim McCluskey and visit his website:
http://www.worldwidepaddlingadventures.com/home/

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Piragis Northwoods Company, Ely Minnesota, 1-800-223-6565