Rogue

I purchased a well used rental Rogue from an outfitter on the Buffalo River in Arkansas in May of 2017. I am a reasonably experienced canoeist but it has been a long time since I have paddled. I started at the age of 10 paddling a 17' Grumman on many of the Ozark rivers and spent three summer trips of three weeks each in the Boundary Waters in the same boat from age 8 (passenger) to age 17. Two friends talked me into joining them on an 8 day trip on the Buffalo from Steel Creek to the White River. They wanted to do it in Sea Kayaks and did. I tried a kayak in a friends swimming pool and decided that my canoe experience was going to get me down the river. After pricing rentals I set out to buy a canoe and got the Rogue for $30 less than a rental canoe would have cost me and at the end of the trip I would have a boat! Not knowing a Rogue from a john boat I listened to the outfitter tell me about it and how it would be way different than a 17' Grumman. I paddled the boat from the bow seat facing aft with a single blade 63" Carlisle. (I am 6'3" 245 lbs. and trimmed the boat with my gear forward.) He was right. I fell in love with the boat on the upper Buffalo where the chutes were close together and many were Class II to maybe III. It was just plain nimble. We floated the river between two episodes of flood stage, the first we knew about and the second occurred while we were on the river. On the middle part of the river with long pools and two days of 15 to 25 mph winds the boat was a different story. Employing all of the techniques that I had learned and honed paddling across long open stretches of Basswood, Kashapiwi and Agnes lakes in the Quetico I still found myself pinned against the down wind shore of the river several times, the wind the master of the boat and not I. Extreme physical exertion and profanity were the only tools that allowed me to continue downstream to the next chute. I did prevail however until Day 5 and South Maumee where we camped, weathered the arrival of the storm front that precipitated the second flood stage and where the Red Rogue and a friend's Blue Hole OCA were stolen off the gravel bar, effectively ending the trip. The river subsequently came up 15' in ten hours so it was just as well. Kenny's Blue Hole remains missing, my Red Rogue was found by a Game Warden 28 miles downstream in a tree 12' above the river. I just picked it up two days before Thanksgiving. I guess the Rogues do thrive on fast water. She will spend the rest of the winter here in Florida getting the bottom scratches repaired with West System G Flex and painted with Krylon Fusion Red. I am even going to get new WE.NO.NAH decals for the gunwales before we go back to the Buffalo to finish what we started.

When paddled by 2 experienced canoeists it handles very well indeed. You can even get some decent play in. As you would expect it doesn’t track or glide as well as a conventional canoe, but it’s not for that. For WW I prefer it to a prospector. The only boats that compare to it that I’ve tried are the Esquif Canyon, which is longer, but has more rocker and is better for carrying gear and the Mohawk XL15 with seats which I don’t like as well as the Rogue. For were I spend most of my time (Class I- III WW) the Rogue is the perfect boat for me.

I did have to lower the seats and I will put some thigh bracing in, but other than that it’s excellent.