drawings by Gordon Allen
AS YOU PADDLE from the pool of water to the block of ice, get up speed and as the nose of the canoe hits, lean far backward. The nose slides up and the bowman hops out quickly, the stern still paddling to keep up momentum. One foot, however, always stays in the boat, so that if the ice unexpectedly gives way, your weight can be shifted back to safety. The stern likewise hops out when his end is on ice, and both men push the canoe along scooter style until the next pool of water is reached...In a few places where the ice was unquestionably solid, Joe and Rug made a harness out of their bow painter and hauled the canoe like an Eskimo dog team. Do this only when you are utterly sure about the ice—a mistake could have fatal consequences.
   As the lake's ice melts, it breaks down vertically—that is, it becomes a honeycomb of water and ice daggers. Since the water penetrates it, the color of the ice becomes dark, and on a sunny day, whole fields of ice will glisten like black diamonds. In some places, the canoe can be "paddle-poled" along, with the ice providing enough resistance to give the blade leverage, but not enough to stop the bow from breaking through...
"LIVELY IN STYLE AND FAR-RANGING...a paradigm of the how-to book, touching all the other kinds of gear and skills that pertain to the camping aspects of wilderness canoeing."
—The Wall Street Journal

"A CORKER—the best 'how-to' canoe book I have seen...It reads like an adventure yarn."
--Appalachia magazine
"The best damn book out on canoeing. Period.
And a permanent contribution to outdoor literature." 
--Canoe magazine (1976)