[Paddlewise] Discovery vs. GPS vs. guidebooks rant

I'm firmly in the same camp as Dave Kruger when it comes to sharing camping 
spots.  Specifically I hate becoming a slave to some guidebook authors 
recommendations.

This happened to me on a recent trip to the west coast of BC.  One of the 
people on the trip brought along a guidebook.  We had to paddle like mad to 
make the recommended camping spot to ensure we got it over another 
group.  Now that may be ok, but I kind of like the idea of making the 
journey the focal point of the trip.  When I'm in a new area I want to poke 
my bow into every nook and cranny.  I want to play in the rocks, take my 
time and enjoy discovering someplace new.  It's hard to do that when your 
standing off shore and focused on that distant island just at the edge of 
your perception or watching the GPS to make ensure you're at the right way 
point.

Besides I don't trust a lot of these so called guidebook epics.  I suspect 
the recommended and "ideal" sites to camp at are simply the places where 
the author pitched the tent.  There may be lots of other sites just as good 
or better that didn't make the book because the author couldn't camp at all 
of them.  Another problem is what might have been a great camp site one 
year can be burnt out, logged over, developed,or just overgrown with 
undergrowth the next year.  More likely it'll already have someone camping 
there when you finally reach it.

I really don't like those omnibus books that cover great swaths of 
territory.  You know the ones: "A Guide to kayaking all the way around 
Vancouver Island," or "Alaska to Baja."  Guide books of this nature should 
really be called -  "Kayak Glimpses with Snippets of Information that I 
picked up While Paddling Like Mad to Get Back Before I Ran Out of Time and 
Had to Go Back to the Day Job."

Even worse is the epiphany book.  The type where the author meets god or 
has a religious experience that they are compelled to share with 
everyone.  Very few writers do this well.  Rev. Bob is one of the few and I 
suspect it's because he was not converted or saved by the sunset, whale 
encounter or near death episode, but because his convictions where packed 
into his being long before he loaded up the kayak.  To me your personal 
epiphany should be just that.

After spending a pile of money on guidebooks I now borrow them form the 
library, read up on an area,  then return the books to the library.  When I 
paddle the area I rely on charts and local advice and whatever information 
my brain has retained.  This enables me to sustain the illusion of discovery.

One piece of advice I was given on a trip was, at the end of the day, never 
pass on a good looking camping site (or lunch site) for one that you think 
is just ahead or just a few miles more.  I call this the Rum Rule.  "You've 
got your known known versus your known unknowns."

Sorting the good guidebooks from the bad may take just as long as paddling 
into an area, setting up a comfortable base camp, and spending the rest of 
the time discovering all you can about the area on your own.  That's my 
ideal kayak trip. This works for me on the west coast where access has not 
yet become a problem - I wish it was like this everywhere else.

Have I written about the profound and life changing trip I recently made 
while kayaking from.....You'll be fascinated how my ordinary and mundane 
life has been changed into an even more ordinary and mundane life.  With 
just a little encouragement I can bore you to tears with the details.

That's it I'm going kayaking.

Gordin Warner
Victoria BC
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