Getting Outdoors 2021

Been a while since I posted. What can I say, I have been busy, sorta.

Spring came early here in Northwest Wisconsin.  Ice has been off lakes in my area for a month.  I’ve already had my Old Town Guide 119 in the water a few times to explore some new lake property and do some pan fishing.  Sadly the Old Town Guide 119 (from Dick’s Sporting Goods) is no longer being manufactured!  Old Town has a ‘newer’ version of the Guide 119 which you can buy most anywhere Old Town Canoes and Kayaks are sold.

Getting Outdoors In 2021

Most of my outings this year are going to be local in my section of the area of Wisconsin.  I do have a few travel trips planned, but mostly I intend to canoe, hike, and fish in Wisconsin close to where I live this year.

Next month in May I am heading back into the BWCA region for some canoeing and fishing.  Hopefully I will find some lake trout.  It will not be a solo trip.  I am renting a primitive cabin with my sister, mother, and my wife on an entry lake into the BWCA.

Other trips being planned include a vehicle overland trip or two, with one trail being the Seven Hour Plane Crash Trail that starts in Wisconsin and goes up into Michigan’s U.P..  I may do the southern half of the Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail as well.  My wife is interested in overlanding. . . in fact she is HIGHLY interested in overlanding.  I will post more about this curious turn of events soon.

Other trips I plan on making this year are on a handful of Wisconsin Rivers.

Wisconsin Rivers

There are many excellent rivers in Wisconsin ideal for canoe tripping.  Sadly I have never paddled on any of them other than a few sections along the middle region of the St Croix River.

I really am feeling a strong pull towards exploring via canoe a handful of rivers in the state I live.  Here are the the rivers on my list: the Namekagon, the Wisconsin, and the Chippewa.

Local Camping, Hiking, And Fishing

For the most part the remainder of the Spring and the coming Summer and Fall will be spent locally camping at smaller campsites, on the new lake property, short hikes, and lots of local fishing as well.

I’ve never much liked car camping at organized camp grounds.  I much rather prefer isolated camping like in the BWCA or boondocking in a National Forest.  However I think since I am getting older and have gotten into overlanding, I don’t seem to mind car camping as much.  I’ll be doing more of that this year, I am sure.

Getting out to fish has been on my mind a lot lately.  In particular trout streams  (both fly-fishing and spin-casting) and hitting some of the small locally stocked trout ponds.  I’ve never been one to spend much of any time fishing stocked trout ponds, but for some reason the idea of just relaxing a day away fishing from shore on a small pond seems like fun.

Kayak or Jon Boat?

Over the past month since I put my Old Town Guide 119 in the water for the first time this year, I have been seriously thinking about getting a sit on top fishing kayak.  There are lots of smaller bodies of flat water in my area that are ideal for such a fishing platform.  While I love my solo canoe, the sit on top Old Town Sportsman 120 is comfortable for sitting and standing while fishing.  I think it would be a lot of fun to have one.

While I have been seriously considering buying a fishing kayak this year, the thought of s comfy Jon Boat is also appealing, as I could easily bring the wife and our pet dog Asgard along as well.  For $1000 more I could get a 14 foot Jon Boat with a trailer.

To be honest I am leaning towards the Jon Boat.  Even if my wife does not go along, I can easily fish in comfort on those smaller lakes.  I already have an excellent electric trolling motor and ores.  I just would need to go buy the boat… and there is a place not far away that sells the Bass Tracker version.

New Vehicle!

My Jeep Renegade Trailhawk lease is up at the end of this year.  The Renegade is a small SUV, no doubt about that.  Since most of my outings are just me, it has been the perfect size for everything I have done.  With the larger A/T tires I had put on and the various transmission 4×4 terrain modes, my little Jeep has been like a little tank.  Of course it has its limitations, it’s not a Bronco or a Wrangler, but for hitting the two-tracks, fire lanes, forest roads… it has been excellent and surprised me at how capable really is off road.

With all that said I am actually looking at going back to a larger vehicle.  My eyes are set on a Ford Ranger FX4 or the Jeep Gladiator.  The reason for this is that I suspect I will be doing more overlanding in the future (maybe a lot more!) and want a larger vehicle with more space.

Stay tuned.  6-7 months down the road I will be getting ready to get into that new Adventure Vehicle!

TD

TD

TD is the owner and publisher of TD All Outdoors. He has been enjoying the outdoors since since he was a child. Over the years he has spent as much time as he can solo wilderness canoe tripping, overlanding, hiking, fishing, bushcrafting, hunting, hammock camping, and more. Aside from this blog, he also own his own coffee brand, www.folklore-coffee.com.

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