Image © Reid McLachlan

Researching Your Trip
There are endless resources for researching a trip, from blogs and websites to books and magazines the information out there is astonishing. But I do have my favourites and the following is a very, very short list of a few that I find myself returning to regularly.

On line resources
When I want to get inspired about where to go or search out a route I first go to the Canadian Canoe Routes. I can spend hours happily puttering around reading the forums on trips people have taken and what's happening in the Canadian canoeing community.

For trips overseas I think the Song of the Paddle in the Uk is swell. And for the USA Paddlenet is good too. Here are some Canadian ones that are fun to pour over too. Here are a few.
Outdoor Adventure Canada
Canoeing Rendezvous

The king of canoe blogging
Kevin Callan tells me that his tripping and camping blog hosted by Explore magazine gets approximately 30,000 hits a day. It's an on going story about Kevin's trips and musings. He sure doesn't have moss growing under his feet! .

Some great guide books
After I've narrowed my choice down to where I'm going, the next stop is getting a handy dandy routes guide book. I love tripping on lakes and rivers and I plan my trips around that wish. I know it sounds old fashioned to want to have a book but it is really nice to have it along to read in the evening in the tent. I usually go to Kevin Callan's site to see what book titles he has available on the specific trip.

Before my trip I always review what Hap Wilson's guide books I have in my collection. He's been producing guide books for many years. For many of his books he does beautiful drawings for each route and they are fun to follow.

I do like travelling with the Chrismar's Adventure Maps®  too because along with the map they put lots of wonderful notes to enjoy on their waterproof maps.

Route reference books and mags
For historical and extra info I'll dig through my library of paddling books and magazines to see what I can find. 

Canoeing North into the Unknown by Gwyneth Hoyle and  Bruce Hodgins is an excellent historical reference for northern trips as it details those who have gone before us on these rivers that flow to the Arctic. It's remarkable to see how much traffic these remote wilderness rivers have seen over the years.

The book Canoe Atlas of The Little North is an excellent choice for route planning because it is a one of the kind reference tool for a vast area. Jon Berger one of the authors of Canoe Atlas of The Little North  read my picks above and he had some helpful comments, he says " - we have had years of feed back on the markings- and folks on so called routes- way off the so called "beaten track" are very pleased with the results. Apart from the overview- and the art work- the Atlas has no subjective slant - as is the case with the many trip reports on the sites you cite.- Narratives - inevitably - let the bias of the observer creep in - and this is no help for folks looking for a route - or scouting moving water- in both situations- the senses of the scout have to be tuned in - not affected by other's accounts- invariably inaccurate- . 

Good point Jon, but I still like to cross reference various people's opinions and experiences on a specific route. I suppose it sounds rather shallow of me but I really do like to hear where the raspberry and blueberry patches are and do look forward to finding them on a trip. I find it interesting to read about various mishaps that have gone before me and when I'm on the spot where they have occurred I try to puzzle out why they happened and then try to avoid the same mistake. There are places in the wilderness that have an unexplainable bad vibe to them. I suppose for a lack of a better word cursed. It's happened more times I can remember that I've probably avoided a  bad experience because I've read beforehand that something repeatedly has happened in a specific area. Something to think about.........

Magazines are great too though I find that I read them when they arrive at my door and then file them haphazardly making it a long but interesting search when I try to relocate a particular piece. One of my favourites is Chemun , a quarterly magazine devoted to the wilderness tripper and slanted towards extended northern trips. Kanawa is another good paddling and trip resource as is the newer Canoeroots and Rapid and, of course, if it's history you are looking for nothing beats the institution known as The Beaver

Free paddling classifieds to list your old gear or get a deal
Some paddling websites make it easy to pick up some much coveted gear on your wish list. There are many website out there that list free paddling classifieds, where paddlers can buy and sell equipment and directories that also list paddling schools, outfitters, liveries, rentals, clubs, watersheds, paddling websites, equipment manufacturers and more.

Some of my favs are:

Canadian Canoe Routes

USA Paddle net

Break old habits
I find that experienced canoeists may have to overcome muscle memory when learning new strokes. Try changing to your less familiar paddling side. This way the strokes feel brand new and there are not as many old habits to slip into.