A Gathering Place for a Community of Paddlers

MilesPaddled.com is a robust website for the paddlesports community that documents, rates, and writes about experiences on the water – mostly on rivers in Wisconsin but also spilling over into neighboring states or onto the Great Lakes – complemented with photographs, maps, and video of individual trips. More than a journal, it also offers its audience advice on how to dress safely for cold weather, how to read water level gauges, boat-access camping options, and other special features. Begun with much humbler intentions in 2008, we caught up with its creator and curator, Barry Kalpinski, in Madison, WI, to learn more about the blog’s back story. (And in the interest of transparency, this author has been a contributing member of the website for the past 15 years.)

Q: What is MilesPaddled.com?
When did you start it – and why?

Miles Paddled started in 2008 as a planning site for a small group of friends, once we’d discovered a passion for kayaking. After a few river trips on one of our favorite streams, I noticed that each experience was different – usually because of water levels. By nature, I don’t love surprises, so I thought, “let’s take the surprise element out of the equation.” So, I started taking notes on things like water levels, weather, changes in the environment, etc., to help us remember what we did or didn’t love about it and what we’d do differently, all to plan our next trip. And those notes became the foundation of the site.

What became a planning site, where I’d lay out “next paddles,” soon became a traditional blog where we shared our documented experiences. Slowly but surely, people found it outside of our small group. At the time, there wasn’t much online for recent paddling reports. This new-to-me hobby became somewhat popular and, for quite some time, a (nonpaying) job – but a fun one. Today, it’s an archive of all the miles we’ve documented throughout the years. The trips are first-person accounts, but we draw inspiration from guidebooks and strive to be objective. We still add new content, just not at the pace we once did.

Q: We live in an age of big data – smart devices measuring our steps, heartbeats, how many calories we’ve burned, etc. Some people keep spreadsheets of all the places they’ve been and how many times they’ve been to each one. Did you have that in mind when you created the website?

I’m a collector, and this hobby is an example of collecting experiences. Each post on our site is a snapshot of personal experiences, and I really enjoy revisiting them – especially those of other paddlers who have contributed throughout the years. The best ones entertain and inspire.

But “Miles Paddled” is the least creative name I could have landed on! I planned on changing it a few times, but after a while, it felt like a comfortable old t-shirt I couldn’t part with. Despite the name and the fact that we noted our total mileage, there was no specific idea behind that. “Miles” became a symbol of all our hours on the water together.

Q: Do you have any concerns about your content being misused or even stolen by AI?

When you post content publicly, you give up a lot; it comes with the territory. If you put something authentic out there, someone will use it. We’ve been plagiarized, scraped, etc., for years, but now AI does this on steroids. We’ve been scraped by A.I – I’ve tested this. The results used very specific language drawn from our obscure reports, which only we would use or know. Anyone can create a fake paddle report, but it wouldn’t be accurate and would likely be called out as inauthentic.

Oh, this has definitely grown out of control! But it’s almost all positive. There have been some downsides – like negative feedback about trips we enjoyed that others struggled with, or vice versa. Obviously, we have no control over conditions that change constantly. These are to be expected. Other headaches have been technical hiccups with hosting site, funding it, finding the time and passion for it, etc.

In the last few years, I purposely returned to paddling again without feeling obliged to later document every nook and cranny. It was an intentional break to be present and enjoy those moments without the burden of delivering content – it was about just being on the water again. It made paddling fun again, which has made me appreciate the document we’ve created even more.

Q: Recreation runs the gamut from racing and competition to never returning to the same place twice and only exploring new prospects. Do you identify with any of these modes?

I think it depends on what your soul needs right now. There’s nothing like visiting a place you’ve never been before, but at the same time, there’s nothing like comfort with an “old friend.” I’ve only been paddling the go-tos the last couple of years, but I am looking to visit some new miles in the coming year to balance both loves.

Q: You created a series of very thoughtful and often really funny “best of’s” when the website celebrated its 10th birthday. Are there any moments that still stick with you today?

I probably couldn’t pick one specific moment in all these years of paddling; there’ve been too many! Every trip comes with a story, from the paddle that checked every box to the painful ones. The ones where I laughed the most will always stick with me – even the ones where I’ve laughed-cried in some awful conditions and precarious situations during some ridiculous portages! Those memories will stick with me forever.

Q: Will there be a 20th anniversary celebration in 2028? If so, do you care to tease us with an idea up your sleeve?

If we make it to 20, that would be cool as hell – and we’d definitely celebrate that milestone! But, to be honest, I have more important hopes and wishes for 2028 (we do care about politics).

Q: For anyone interested in starting their own recreational blog, is there anything you’d like to share with them that you wish someone had told you back in the beginning?

I am not an expert on blogging by any means, but I question how many people want to start a blog to archive their memories. Most blogs are promotional vehicles for influencers and link-revenue. The gamification of documenting recreational trips on app platforms seems more useful, but that technology wasn’t around when Miles Paddled started, like it is today.

Q: What does community mean to you, relative to the website you created?

I studied graphic design and have been working as a designer/creative director for 24 years. In that time, I’ve bookmarked thousands of inspirational print ads, posters, commercials, etc. I love creative ideas and thrive on that inspiration! I revisit those bookmarks religiously and find it crazy how many of those artists don’t have websites or online footprints anymore. When I see that, I think about Miles Paddled and the void it would cause in my own heart when/if we close shop the same way those have.

We have a lot of fans. Why? No idea! Do we love that? Heck Yeah! There are some hardcore folks who were likely just like me, looking for paddling info and came across this niche website with a solid overview of what they can expect on their next adventure. We’re adventurers. That’s the community.

I’m not great at keeping up with the social community – I certainly could do better there – but I do love our community. There’s nothing like paddling with people – especially after a day on the water with people you didn’t know when you put in and then maybe met some new friends by the time you get to the takeout. It’s also why I love paddling rivers: there’s something about beginning at A and ending at B that feels like I accomplished something.