Blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer found himself in an odd situation a few days back. Canoe & Kayak magazine is reporting that Erik was detained by locals in Peru while kayaking down the Marañón River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River. Weihenmayer is in South America with a group of 20 paddlers training for an attempt on the Grand Canyon next year and the team was mistaken for a group of scouts looking for suitable locations to build a dam on the Marañón. This is a highly controversial plan in Peru that has many of the locals up in arms.

According to the C&K report, the kayaking team was held overnight after being confronted by locals who warned them if they had proceeded further down river they would have been met by hostile villagers at the next location. Fortunately, the situation was resolved when it was revealed the paddling team's leader – James “Rocky” Contos – is a conservationist who is campaigning against damming efforts and has even made a film about the situation.

Weihenmayer is best known as the first blind person to summit Everest, but if you check out his website, you'll see that is just one of his many adventures. Erik has also climbed the rest of the Seven Summits, raced in the Leadville 100, competed in marathons and adventure races and a host of other activities.

After it was determined that the paddlers were not part of a dam survey team they were allowed to go on their way. But the situation underscores how passionate many Peruvians are about this topic. Commercial organizations have reportedly identified 20 locations to build a dam on the river, which will substantially alter its course and the landscapes around it.

These kinds of water rights issues are major points of contentions in South America at the moment. Chile is also facing similar resistance to several of it's rivers as well.

North Carolina's Green Narrows is one of the finest pieces of white water in the U.S. So why would anyone want to run it in a kayak? With apologies to George Mallory, because it's there. Recently pro kayaker David Fusilli did just that, taking his long and more ponderous boat into a stretch of the river that is meant for something short, fast and agile. The results can be seen below.

Demshitz sea kayaking the Green River narrows from David Fusilli on Vimeo.

It looks like December is shaping up to be quite a month for unique expeditions and adventures. Take for example the recently announced Peak 2 Peak 2013 expedition which is set to get underway on December 1. This impressive undertaking will send Kiwi Grant Rawlinson and Aussie Alan Silva on a human-powered odyssey across New Zealand that will have them climbing, paddling and cycling their way across both the North and South Islands.

The journey will begin with the two men first attempting to climb Mt. Ruapeahu (2797 meters/9177 ft), the tallest peak on the North Island. After that, they'll paddle 240 km (150 miles) down the Whanganui River before proceeding 60 km (37 miles) across the Cook Strait. Arriving on the South Island, they'll next get on their bikes for a 900 km (560 miles) ride to the foot of Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain on the island at 3754 meters (12,316 ft). They'll wrap up their journey with a climb to the summit, thus complete their Peak to Peak aspirations.

Grant and Alan will make this journey completely unsupported and on a small budget. They were both drawn to this unique challenge because of its grassroots nature and the fact that it could inspire others to undertake their own adventures that don't require a large time commitment or cost a lot of money.

Both of these men are experienced mountaineers, each with a successful summit of Everest under their belts. Alan climbed the world's tallest peak from the South Side back in 1998 while regular readers of this blog followed Grant's successful climb from the North Side back in 2012. That experience will come in handy as they push themselves to the limit on this particular expedition as well.

To follow along with the team's progress, visit Grant's website at axeoneverest.com. They'll get underway in just a couple of week. Good luck guys!

Yesterday the U.S. National Park Service announced three new national water trails, offering up some excellent options for paddlers looking for great routes to explore. The three new water trails each bring their own unique properties to the table which will likely make them popular options for kayakers.

The three new routes include the Island Loop Trail in St. Clair County, Michigan, which crosses two rivers, a canal and parts of Lake Huron. The Missouri National Recreation River Water Trail is a 147-mile stretch of river that passes through parts of South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa, while the Red Rock Water Trail is a very scenic 36-mile loop that falls on beautiful Lake Red Rock, which is also in Iowa.

The press release announcing these new water trails highlights more of what the have to offer. For instance, the Island Loop flows along the border of the U.S. and Canada, while the Missouri River route follows part of the route that Lewis and Clark took on their famous expedition to explore the western United States back in 1804. The Red River Trail, which I've actually been on, even passes by abandoned frontier towns that still stand today.

While we are starting to creep into late fall, the days are still plenty warm and the last of the autumn colors can make for a great time to go on a paddling excursion. Before too long, winter will be here and most of us will put away our kayaks and canoes until spring. If you've got the time, why not break out your boat for one last paddle this weekend. You may even find a national water trail near you.

The Bay of Fundy is a body of water found between the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It features some wild, fast moving water for bay, while also offering some amazing close encounters with whales. A new short film entitled "Bay of Fundy Fun" highlights this amazing paddling destination, and the video below is a short taste of what you can expect from the full blown movie. It gives you a great idea of what the Bay of Fundy is all about.

Last year a team of paddlers kayaked the length of the Amazon River, source to sea, covering 4200+ miles (6760 km ) in the process. The expedition was called The Amazon Express and we followed it very closely here on the Adventure Blog as the paddlers made their way through some incredibly difficult and challenging areas on their way to making history. It was the first time that anyone had managed to kayak the entire length of the river before.

Now, the team is hoping to produce a documentary about their adventure and they've launched a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds to do so. Unfortunately, I only just learned about their efforts in the past few days and since I've still been digging out from my travels over the weekend, I hadn't had a chance to post about this sooner. As I write this, there are only a few hours left on the clock for this to get kickstarted and they are well below the funding they were seeking. Perhaps they'll give it another go, but at the moment it looks like that barring a miracle of some kind, this documentary won't getting made. Still, the video below gives you an idea of what they have in mind. Hopefully they'll find the funding they need. I'd definitely like to see this film at some point and I can't be the only one.

In 1987, adventurers Richard Bangs and Christian Kallen led an expedition to paddle the Upper Yangtze River, a place that was about as remote and unexplored as anywhere on the planet at that time. Their journey was a challenging one to say the least, as several previous expeditions to the region had failed, sometimes resulting in the death of a member of the team. But the two men managed to complete their excursion and would later go on to write a book entitled Riding the Dragon's Back that recounted their tale as well as that of others who had tried before them.

A few days ago, Richard posted an excerpt from that book on the Huffington Post. The article has the ominous title of "A Death on the Yangtze," and it offers details of a previous expedition that set out to raft the river. This brief portion of the book offers insights into a major river expedition and gives us a glimpse of the challenges that teams faced when paddling the wild and untamed Yangtze at that time.

The members of the team faced any number of obstacles including difficult water conditions, weather that changed on a moments notice, logistical and supply problems and illness. It is the last of those that brings about the death of one of the members of the team who contracted pulmonary edema hundreds of miles away from a hospital and with no means of being evacuated.

The excerpt is an excellent read and offers some lessons for anyone planning a major expedition. But most of all, it'll probably inspire you to want to read the full book and get the entire story of the race to explore a wild river that wouldn't be conquered easily.

Here's a really cool article from Newsday.com about a group of explorers who are setting out to retrace Captain John Smith's historic voyage to explore the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding tributaries.

The crew set off in a ship that is an exact replica of the one that Smith used himself, and the 1500 mile journey is expected to take about 120 days. Their launch coincides with the opening of the Capt. John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, the first national historic water trail in the United States. It is also the 400th Anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown Colony, which you can find out more about over at National Geographic's Jamestown site.

This sounds like another cool adventure for the sailors heading out to recreate this expedition. However, this is an adventure that we can recreate too. The water trail sounds like it's tailor made for canoe and kayak camping. I'm also guessing it won't be too long before someone set off to paddle the entire length of the trail.

Thanks Jason!

Update: Interested in helping out the planning for this historic trail? Then head over to NPS.gov/cajo to see how you can lend a hand. It's a great opportunity for any of us to get involved with a very cool project.

Also, if you're in the area and want to check conditions on the James River, you can do so at The Interpretive Buoy Site or by calling 1-877-BUOYBAY.

Thanks to the anonymous poster in the comments section for these!