Tom Watson, Author at Guide Outdoors

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Tom Watson

Tom Watson is an award-winning writer who honed his outdoor skills while living in Minnesota and Kodiak, Al...

Tom Watson is an award-winning writer who honed his outdoor skills while living in Minnesota and Kodiak, Alaska. He is a frequent contributor to several outdoor magazines, author of four books: "Sixty Hikes within Sixty Miles of Minneapolis," "Best Tent Camping-Minnesota," "How to Think Like a Survivor," and "Kids Gone Paddlin' ." He's also an avid kayaker and canoer, camper, naturalist, writer/ photographer specializing in paddle sports, outdoor adventuring and self-reliance skills. He resides in western Minnesota. He writes a column on camping/outdoor adventure tips.

Try Soap In A Sock

It’s clean, handy, and a good abrasive … I’m talking about “Soap in a sock.” One of the many handy uses of a nylon stocking is as a camp soap bar holder. And there are many others.

Beachcombing With A Camera

The first beachcombers did so out of necessity. Driftwood became firewood, planking for shelters, and framing for canoes and kayaks. Few of us today rely on the beach for the necessities of life. It is illegal in some areas to remove anything from the beach — unless you do it with a camera!

Kayaking: Adrift In The Stars

There are times when the kayak is a starship — kayaking in the winter, at night and in Alaska. These are the darkest of nights when you are inside the inkbottle — black sky, black water. I was hoping to enjoy a moonrise over the Pacific, but the darkness was just as invigorating!

Kayaking Alaska’s Kodiak Island: Part 1

It’s the second largest island in the United States and part of a group of over 100 islands that make up the Kodiak archipelago in the Gulf of Alaska in the North Pacific Ocean. Situated near the northern tip of the gulf, Kodiak remains one of few “best kept secrets” in this ever-shrinking world of adventure travel opportunities. Learn more about this kayaking paradise.

Kayaking Alaska’s Kodiak Island: Part 2

There are no tidal glaciers on Kodiak, just fjord-like bays that cut up to a dozen miles into this long, narrow island 100 miles long and only 30 miles wide.

Sea Kayaking: A Great Family Sport

To the youngest of riders, it’s a fantasyland voyage of rainbow-colored critters and rocks shaped like castles. For inquisitive, older children it is an eye-opening journey over tide pools and along cliffs crowded with birds. And for the baby-boomer parents of the 90s, it’s a chance to take the entire family along on an adventure they have been enjoying themselves for years. Learn more about sea kayak touring — fast becoming for many the family-oriented activity of choice.