u/Kevburg
r/KayakCamping r/Kayaking r/whatstheword r/Settlers r/PureMichiganPics r/AskReddit r/LED_lighting r/isleroyale
▲ 6 r/Settlers
Settlers II 10th anniversary - what are rafts for?
When I build a shipyard it starts producing what appear to be rafts if I don't switch it to ships. What use are rafts? What do they do?
u/Kevburg — 14 days ago
▲ 8 r/whatstheword
WTW for the fallacy where you imply as fact something by stating a question
For example, "What makes Joe Blow the most popular actor of all time?" which implies that Joe Blow is actually the most popular actor of all time without explicitly averring it. Sort of a misdirect to get you to focus on answering instead of on the assumption behind the question.
u/Kevburg — 29 days ago
▲ 60 r/PureMichiganPics
Bicyling the Gordie Howe bridge
Biked the new Gordie Howe bridge today, it was great! Less than four miles round trip from the Historic Ft Wayne parking lot and free. I don't understand why the Ambassador is so popular, it was a parking lot and the Howe dumps you right on the 401 instead of the commercial drag in Windsor, with zero wait at customs.
u/Kevburg — 2 months ago
▲ 6 r/KayakCamping
Trip report from North Channel trip
Posted a trip report from last week's 6-day paddle on Lake Huron's North Channel out of Spanish Ontario.
u/Kevburg — 2 months ago
▲ 1 r/Kayaking
Six Day trip on Lake Huron’s North Channel From Spanish August 2026
The weather forecast showed a window with a week of sunny days and max 15 mph winds for Spanish Ontario. I drove to a motel in Blind River, stopping to check out Beharriell Park near Iron Bridge for a possible trip to North Channel Islands Provincial Park in the future. Early the next morning I launched at Spanish Municipal Marina. Launch and daily parking fees were $5 a pop.
Day 1, Monday, 13 miles: The plan for the day was to head west along the north shores of Aird and John Islands. I paddled southwest from the marina at 8:30 for two hours to Aird and then west to a pit stop at Otter Islands, passing several beaches, cottages and boats along the way. I spotted another kayak! But it turned out his home base was a sailing yacht parked a few hundred yards away. The east end of John island is private and I passed a group on a beach there that might have been a construction crew. I continued west along John looking for a camping spot and ended up finding one with a rock slot on Nicholas Island that fit my kayak nicely. The site checked a lot of boxes, including a good views, sunrises and sunsets, shade, isolation from mosquitoes, and blackberries and blueberries. The only sign of previous use was a fire ring with wood in it that had been weathering for years. As usual the wind picked up in the afternoon and Whalesback Channel was covered in whitecaps.
Right at happy hour I spotted a large critter hopping nimbly along the rocky shore of John 150 yards across the water. First time I’ve ever seen a bear while camping! I double checked my bear hang.
Day 2, Tuesday, 10 miles: The goal for the day was an archipelago to the west between Turnbull and Sanford Islands. I woke to a dead calm and set off shortly after seven in my dew-covered boat.
I crossed Turnbull Channel at 9:30 and stopped at a beach on the Island’s southeast corner. From there I paddled into the protected waters west of Turnbull. The bay between Turnbull and Bassett “Island” was a yacht basin. Near the yachts I found a beach with picnic tables (luxury!), a barbeque grill and other amenities. I hailed the nice folks on SV Smile out of Port Clinton and asked about it. They informed that the amenities are courtesy of the North Channel Yacht club and I could camp on it – after all, crown land is open to anyone for camping for up to three weeks. Tempting...
I continued exploring the islands out to Sanford, which is private, in the calm waters of this little archipelago. To the north I could hear highway traffic three or four miles off, this being one of the few places where you can see Lake Huron from the Trans Canada. There is also a quarry dock with massive piles of white rock similar to the limestone quarries on Michigan shores, but this is the shield side so no idea why it was white. Could be some leftovers from Uranium mining days.
I found an excellent site with a beach on an unnamed island near Turnbull at noon and set up camp. The site featured an escaped lumber industry log that made a fine bench, and a high perch with a great view. There were small cleared areas in the trees that may have been used as tent sites in years past. During the afternoon a dingy and a pontoon boat cruised by, otherwise nothing but eagles, loons mergansers and gulls. The island also features blueberries and the ones growing in shade were juicy. The water was great for swimming.
Day 3, Wednesday, 17 miles: Today I would head back east, this time along the south shores of John and Aird. I left at seven and went east right into the blinding sun, heading back across Turnbull channel to John. Winds were supposed to be out of the northwest so I would be in the lee, but instead they were from the south. The passage between Dewdney and John Islands was particularly scenic, and pretty much every cove on the south shore of the west half of John had a beach. I stopped on Dewdney at 9:15 on a beautiful beach made of multi-colored rounded stones.
After passing the southeast tip of John I stopped for lunch on a long tropical-looking beach on Klotz “Island”. It was very hot and shade was welcome. There was a line of fresh human footprints in the sand. I continued east along Aird and found a good campsite on Conmee Island before two. I saw no evidence of previous campers. The water was 72 degrees and swimming felt great. A runabout cruised down the strait before the wind whipped up. Sandhill cranes gathered across the way in the evening and fearless grebes hung out nearby. That night the Milky Way was spectacular.
Day 4, Thursday, 12 miles: I wanted to continue east to Fox or North Benjamin Island. I have been there before and really like the area. I was on the water at 7:30 and stopped at Hoskins Island at 8:45. Winds were light from the southwest. I took the south shore of Eagle Island, passing a few anchored yachts in coves, and crossed over to the southern tip of Fox. Last time I was here there were plenty of others camping, but this time mid-week it all belonged to me and the yachters. I got a lovely site with every checkbox except sunrise, and this was the only place where mosquitoes were an issue due to the numerous frog ponds nearby. Although the sites here are in great shape they have been stripped of firewood, perhaps a little too zealously. Fox Harbour, another yacht basin, is not far away and I could watch boats sail in and out of the entrance a few hundred yards away. I explored a maze of long channels and swam in the warm back bays. Wonderful for swimming if you can get in and out without slipping and cracking your head open on the glacier-smoothed granite.
Day 5, Friday, 6 miles: Today’s plan was to explore the east coasts of Croker and the Benjamins, places that I missed on my last visit, and spend another night at camp. I expected the usual weather pattern of calm in the morning and windy in the afternoon but today was different. I headed out toward Croker before eight but as I got out into McBean Channel the wind picked up and within minutes it was all whitecaps and I needed my spray skirt. That was fast! I decided to skip Croker and just tour the Benjamins. The waves built to a foot in a few more minutes and were twice that stacked off of cliffs that reflected them back out. It was a wet ride. There were ten cabin cruisers and sailboats in the bay between North and South Benjamin and it looked like they were all preparing to head out. I skipped the rest of the tour and returned to chill at camp, although the wind died a bit at noon.
That afternoon a party with paddleboards and a kayak arrived from a sailboat in Fox Harbour. They stayed on a peninsula a short ways away and swam for a few hours. Eventually the sailboat navigated its way very slowly into the cove, picked them up, and headed east.
As the afternoon wind picked up I watched sailboats flying storm jibs try to make their way in and out of the channel between Fox and Eagle Island. They eventually took down the sails and motored. I spent the afternoon exploring by foot, swimming, picking blackberries and reading. The wind kept blowing my chair over when I got up. Eventually a bunch of tents went up on a peninsula a quarter mile away. Turns out they arrived by runabout.
Day 6, Saturday, 10 miles: With a long drive ahead of me I headed out at 6:30 and was cleaned up, packed and on the road by ten.
Summary and tips: It seems that nobody kayaks west of Spanish. No circles of rocks to let you know where people have camped but OTOH plenty of firewood when you do find a spot. When Yachters see you they ask what boat you are on. Very friendly folks. Compared to previous trips in Georgian Bay and the North Channel there were fewer cottages, more yachts, more beaches, more bald eagles, and (at least on weekdays) no other paddlers. I never saw an otter or mink but the bear made up for that, and I heard and saw loons every day. Water temps were 68 to 72, depending on if you were in a bay or out in the open. Air temps were low 60s at night and mid 80s in the afternoon. Wind forecasts were ridiculously off as far as direction went. Even the “current weather” page would show winds from the north when they were coming it a ten mph from the southwest.
I use a Sawyer squeeze filter and the CNOC bag was a great addition. Although mosquitoes find me particularly attractive, they were only a problem in the morning where there was no wind. Pre-treating with permethrin works well; I never did have to use DEET.
Resources
The area is accessible from Spanish Municipal and from McBean. There are other marinas in the area too.
Previous trip reports:
https://paddling.com/paddle/trips/georgian-bays-the-massasauga-provincial-park
https://forums.paddling.com/t/trip-report-lake-hurons-north-channel-from-spanish-on/117712
https://forums.paddling.com/t/georgian-bays-mcgregor-bay-and-baie-fine-from-birch-island/124126
https://forums.paddling.com/t/trip-report-6-days-key-river-into-georgian-bay/131235
https://forums.paddling.com/t/trip-report-lake-hurons-georgian-bay-from-bayfield-inlet/133047
https://forums.paddling.com/t/trip-report-lake-hurons-georgian-bay-from-snug-harbour/137049
Canada topo maps are available gratis athttps://ftp.maps.canada.ca/pub/nrcan_rncan/vector/index/html/geospatial_product_index_en.html#linkI used raster 1:50,000 tiffs cropped, printed double sided on heavy paper and sealed with a Scotch laminator. I usually mark them up to label private vs crown land before laminating. I also have Trak Maps nautical charts but there isn’t much contrast between land and water, making them hard to see when covered with water droplets.
You can identify private vs crown land at this website. You have to zoom in before property lines will appear and it can be difficult to differentiate between property line and shoreline:https://www.lioapplications.lrc.gov.on.ca/MakeATopographicMap/index.html?viewer=Make_A_Topographic_Map.MATM&locale=en-CAIt is not entirely accurate but better than finding houses on satellite views.
I rely on a free phone app called Geo Tracker to help navigate and to track my route.https://geo-tracker.org/enIt works with or without cell coverage. Cell coverage was at least two bars everywhere on this trip.
I edit my photos, mostly adjusting the tilt so the horizon is horizontal and cropping, with a free program called FastStone Image Viewer.https://www.faststone.org/
The Milky Way shot was done with a Pixel 10 Pro phone at ISO 3200 and 15 seconds. It was disappointing until I jacked up the shadows in FastStone. My other camera is a “splash proof” Lumix FZ300.
The gear weighed 60 pounds and my food target was 2500 calories a day. If you can keep that under two pounds a day you win a kewpie doll.
u/Kevburg — 2 months ago
▲ 41 r/KayakCamping
Geared up for the North Channel
All packed up and ready to go for a 6-night solo paddle on Lake Huron's North Channel. All 60 lbs fit in my Epic 18X sea kayak. From left to right are two lux items, a chair and a drone. The orange bag is kitchen, the green is camp with things like tools, cordage, bug repellent and 1st aid. The clear IKEA bags are food (12 lbs) and personal/electronics. Next is the air mattress, tent, and fly. Yellow is clothes. The heavy duty orange bag holds my sleeping bag. All of it fits in the two blue IKEA bags for schlepping. The big metal thermos container is my beer cooler, another lux item. On the right is gear that goes in the day hatch or that I wear including pfd, water, filter, camera, charts and spray skirt.
u/Kevburg — 2 months ago
▲ 5 r/isleroyale
Circumnavigate by kayak?
Has anyone paddled around the island? We have gone out and back from Rock Harbor as far as Chickenbone and Chippewa but not to Wendigo. The north coast from Little Todd to Huginnin looks forbidding - are there places you can take out along that stretch? A fifteen mile morning is no problem but without being able to get out and stretch it is not doable.
u/Kevburg — 3 months ago