The Complete Wilderness Paddler [Paperback]

James West Davidson (Author), John Rugge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 1982

A combination of detailed instruction and text (based on actual adventures) of all the techniques of canoe camping and wilderness cruising. You learn how to "find a river," navigate, cope with accidents and much more. With 65 drawings and 11 maps.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This classic guide to canoeing in remote waters has chapters on safety, outfitting a trip, and navigation. In addition, it lists a variety of possible situations for different water conditions, including ice, riffles, and whirlpools. Thorough and lively, this is a great resource for anyone who prefers paddling in the wilderness.

From the Inside Flap

A combination of detailed instruction and text (based on actual adventures) of all the techniques of canoe camping and wilderness cruising. You learn how to "find a river," navigate, cope with accidents and much more. With 65 drawings and 11 maps.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (December 12, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039471153X
• ISBN-13: 978-0394711539
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #723,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Nature Travel > Adventure > Canoeing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Instruction and adventure in one. This is an excellent book, July 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Wilderness Paddler (Paperback)

The Complete Wilderness Paddler takes you step by step through the month long adventure shared by four men on the Moisie River in Labrador. The authors use this backdrop to explain how to successfully plan and execute a similar trip. The book does not read like an instruction manual. Instead, it explains certain things as the need arises. For example: as they were paddling across large lakes an explanation of flat-water strokes was given. Later in that chapter there were also sections on crossing ice-covered lakes and on navigation. The part of this book that is really interesting is not the explanations (though they are done well), rather it is the adventure story. After all, the theme is that of a true wilderness trip to the heart of Canada. It is hard not to get caught up in the spirit of this book. I constantly found myself imagining that I was in the bow leaning into a high brace past Igloo Rock or trying to find the portage trail that hadn't been used in ! 20 years. The book also shares stories from camp that make the characters seem more human. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever looked out a window and declared to himself that he would rather be "out there" than "in here." As for the information, I do not believe this book is all you need to plan your excursion (though it's close). To me it seems to be a wonderful place to start. It covers the basics and then some. It is worthwhile to read this book even if you just want to catch the spirit that is always prominent in this story.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travelling by canoe through the Northern Wilderness, June 8, 2003

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Wilderness Paddler (Paperback)

My husband and I read "The Complete Wilderness Paddler" before we went on a three week canoe trip north of the Great Slave Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories. It contained exactly what we needed to learn. We even ended up singing the authors' "Little Black Flies" song a few times ourselves--see Chapter Nineteen, "A Disquisition on Some (Justly) Unsung Creatures of the Woods." This chapter not only contains the black flies song ("Black flies, little black flies/ Rum bum umble dum little black flies...") but also charts a technique for unobtrusively shagging your black flies off onto an unsuspecting decoy, e.g. your husband or the guide. Priceless. This is the kind of stuff you really need to know if you're planning any kind of camp-out north of Indiana.

The authors had to portage around thirty-two sets of rapids (not easy with a canoe balanced on your head) on their trip down the entire length of Labrador's Moisie River. They include invaluable information on trail-finding (if there is a trail) and bushwack portages, accomplished with "compass, map, and horse-sense." (Nowadays, one might also use a GPS device). One of the suggestions if you happen to be looking for the next lake across the watershed, is to head for the point on the horizon where the trees dip the lowest, "but not if the topo shows it to be the Dismal Swamp."

Just remember that you may be bushwacking the next body of paddleable water with the center thwart of a canoe across your shoulders. You won't have a lot of energy for sight-seeing.

If you are going to traverse a well-known river, you might not have to read the chapters on "Scouting" and "Lining." However, it might still be a good idea to know the information they contain, just in case your 'well-known' river is running high or very low.

Jim, Rug, Joe, and Peach (the 'wilderness paddlers') also spend a great deal of time demonstrating via diagrams and text, the tactics and strokes for handling all conditions of still and wild water--the Moise River had them all--not to mention ice, haystacks, eddy lines, souse holes, curlers, and roosters.

There is also advice on bailing techniques, and how to recover when your canoe capsizes.

This book is 'the' classic for anyone who wants to take off into the Wilderness and do some heavy-duty paddling. It's authoritative, extremely detailed, and also enormously fun to read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Been there., August 8, 2000

By 

Michael A. Lacombe (Augusta, Maine United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Wilderness Paddler (Paperback)

A wonderful story. The title is wrong; this is not an instruction manual. This is a true story of four young men who find the headwaters of the Moisie River and then canoe its entire length. But it is a story written with wit and sensitivity, from the finding of the Coke bottle in the wilderness of Labrador to the final shoot to the St. Lawrence. Get it. Don't hesitate. you'll love it.