Maddy Marquardt

2 days ago | paddlingmag.com | Maddy Marquardt

Michigan is home to crystal-clear blue waters, sandy beaches and wild rivers making it the perfect place to kayak for everything from a casual float to overnight wilderness trips. Whether you’re looking for a long-haul kayaking adventure on a river or a scenic day trip, here are some of the best rivers to kayak and canoe in Michigan. Michigan rivers are on the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Potowatami, Ottawa, and Chippewa tribes of the Algonquin Nation.

2 days ago | paddlingmag.com | Maddy Marquardt

Florida woman Cynthia Diekema, 61, was killed by an alligator on a canoe trip on Lake Kissimmee on May 6, 2025. While out canoeing near Tiger Creek with her husband, the couple drifted over an alligator. Paddling in about 2.5 feet of water the couple likely startled the large alligator who then capsized the canoe, sending both paddlers into the water. An eyewitness account states that Diemekma landed on top of the alligator; Diekema’s husband attempted, unsuccessfully, to fight it off.

4 days ago | hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt

There is nothing that beats the feeling of getting to the car after backpacking. Except maybe the first bite of a burger at a bar two towns over. After backpacking theNeedles District of Canyonlands,Sarah and I spent a few days exploring Moab. Here are my scattered and arbitrary thoughts from a few days bumming around the desert:There is something absolutely magic about water hikes in the desert. Red rock all around you, and then you get to put your feet in an ice-cold mountain run off? Unreal.

6 days ago | kayakanglermag.com | Maddy Marquardt

Home Videos Kayak Angler Attempts To Save Fish From Killer Dolphin (Video) FacebookTwitterPinterestEmailMix While fishing for red snapper, Alabama-based Southern Salt Bait Company found themselves as the only thing standing between an innocent snapper and a blood thirsty dolphin. “This is reason 955 while dolphins are a**holes,” the video opens as the angler pulled a snapper out of the water.

1 week ago | paddlingmag.com | Maddy Marquardt

At Peak Wildlife Park in the United Kingdom, two polar bears brushed up on their kayak-crushing skills, presumably in solidarity with their Arctic-resident cousins training for the arrival of the 2025 class of Arctic paddlers. In the viral video, the bears tested the kayak’s performance in categories such as tossibility, surfability, and of course resistance to repeated bouncing upon through the classic CPR-like approach.