On a trip upriver and we ran into a bunch of prime fiddleheads. These are the young shoots of the ostrich fern, and are a much sought after edible plant of spring. We ate well on this trip. #FullTangLifestyle #AroostookCounty

At high water levels there is a great small rip on the far side of Samsquanch Island, and we’re at that water level now. So we spent the afternoon building quickwater poling and snubbing skills. #FullTangLifestyle #AroostookCounty

Our knot curriculum includes a section on rescue knots, which could also be labeled as moving heavy things with a rope. We teach two methods for doing so that could help you recover a stuck canoe or other heavy item: one using mechanical advantage and another using a lever. The application using mechanical advantage is [...]

Out on the land seeding wild rice. #FullTangLifestyle #AroostookCounty

We were back out on a local Masardis stream yesterday, practicing poling and getting more comfortable on the water. I didn’t get any footage of the carnage (people falling out of boats), but a lot of growth took place and I had a lot of fun on the water. We’ve got three narrow streams, three [...]

This is the second morning in a row waking up to full sun. It’s been a cold, wet spring so far, and while it was below freezing this morning, once the sun came up the thermometer rose to the soft water zone. From Moonshine Hill I can see Mars Hill, which sits right along the [...]

We went out this morning planning on poling down a local stream, but ended up staying near the putin and working on canoe skills. Maybe tomorrow we’ll pole down the river. We paddled up and found a beaver lodge and a bunch of active beaver feeding sign. It was a solid day, maybe tomorrow for [...]

I made some sourdough bread in a frying pan the other day when I had some company (friends who were coming up to the county to canoe). I had a piece leftover, about 8” by 8” and two inches thick. After it sat out for a few days I grabbed it on my way out [...]

After a few wind, rain and cold delays, we finally made it out onto Scopan lake, the largest body of water in the entire greater Masardis metropolitan region. With newly carved and sealed paddles, our crew started learning the ins and outs of navigating large bodies of water by canoe. We start with a few [...]

When people think of wilderness canoeing they think of the excitement of exploration, interacting with the land on a meaningful level, and adventuring beyond the realm of day to day life. They don’t think about something as mundane as tying canoes safely onto a trailer or vehicle to transport them. But this is a foundational [...]

May 7th, 2026. Today is my personal holiday, for the story, see below. Yesterday was Wednesday, May 6th, and two things of consequence happened: it marked halfway day on the current semester, and the last bits of snow in the Masardis Glacier, the big pile of snow in the open that is always the last [...]

It’s week five of the spring Wilderness Bushcraft Semester and yesterday, May 4th, we put canoes on the water for the first time. In early spring the water and the air are cold. This, combined with learning to pole canoes, is often a recipe for people taking unplanned swims. So during years where the cold [...]

Our first day in canoes on the spring semester. Monday, May 4th. We worked on canoe lifts and carries, balance drills and basic poling. It was a great day and no one swam! #FullTangLifestyle

Tuesday of week four and we’re beginning the culminating exercise in our navigation curriculum; making a map. Students will be using a compass to take bearings and back bearings between marked points, pacing off distances, then using that information to create a map of the area. #FullTangLifestyle