29-Apr-2007
Water Level: 150 cm according Shauna at Paddlers-Coop
We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. It was kind of hard to get motivated. The three stoves that Neil and Derek were using sounded like jet engines. The rest of the gang was eating hot oatmeal and other stuff. Val and I opted to eat in town as we need the extra grease factor and that we were also too lazy to cook. We arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes before opening but the cook let us in. We both had the number 5 special bacon, sausages, eggs, toast, coffee. Well Val had coffee as I can’t drink the crap.
The open boaters were AnnaLisa, Neil, Derek, Greg, Paul and Brenda in OC2, and myself. The kayakers were now down to Jess and Val. Greg, Paul, and Brenda decided to paddle up river. The rest of us took the easy route and drove over to the access point off Dam road.
We paddled up to the top river left chute for ferrying and surfing practice. After that we headed over and scouted the middle chute. Val, Derek, Greg, and Neil ran it first. Greg I thought ended up being the first swimmer of the day but he point out that he had already been swimming. Neil and I headed up for a run. Neil went first and Derek was on camera patrol. He was too busy taking pictures of Neil and did not realize that I was coming down “Ducky Style”. I went through th big standing wave fine and style it at the end by going down it backwards in fine form. It was at that point that Derek said he did not get very many pictures of me so I had to go for a second run and did it the whole way pointing in the right direction.
Paul and Brenda were sitting on the shore watching. They were not sure about running it. Derek and Paul ended up running it tandem. Derek also did a tandem run down with Brenda. It’s pretty amazing to see how much air the open boats can get. AnnaLisa had a great run. Jess finally decided to run it as well in fine form.
After that it was time to run the river right chute. Derek, Val, Greg, Jess, and Neil went first with no problems. Paul and Brenda did a tandem run and managed to catch a superb amount of air. I ended up doing two runs as I kept missing the big wave. Normally I get sucked into waves and holes but this one kept trying to avoid me for some reason. AnnaLisa had a great run down catching some air as well. After that some people decide to purposely swim the shoot in order to cool down as it was starting to get hot.
After that we head down river. I decided to just bomb down the river as I was getting kind of hungry as it was way past 1pm. I end up punching the first big hole at the bottom of river right only to end up side surfing in the second one. I ended up swimming and doing a self rescue after almost getting out of it a couple of times. After that I head to the car to start download the pictures onto the laptop and have something to eat. I was pretty bagged by this point and decided to pack it in. Shortly after Val and Jess did the same and soon the whole gang was there snacking and decided that was the end of days paddling.
After a quick slide show it was goodbyes until next time. I still had to go over to the Coop to get my tent and sleeping bag. After that it was a 90 minute drive to Pembroke where I splurged on a fish and chip dinner at the Irving Truck stop aka the “Pig Pit”. After that I headed over to Jenny’s how to hang out with her, Jeremy, Coop, Billy, and Carly until it was time to leave to head over to the opening ceremonies for the 2007 Worlds. I managed to upload the pictures using her high speed internet connection (Thanks Jen!!!). The opening ceremonies were fun to watch. It was nice to see some one the Great Britain team that I met last summer at River Run. I will be watching most of the competition and hopefully taking lots of pictures.
I finally made it to my dads around 10 pm and downed a cooler. It went down smooth. I then started to do up the trip report for today and finished the one from yesterday while waiting for the laundry to finish.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Click here for pictures
Monday, April 30, 2007
MKC Middle Madawaska
28-Apr-2007
Water Level: 15 according do Dirk from MKC.
We decided to do a trip to the Middle Madawaska at MKC. We were supposed to meet in the front parking lot at MKC at 9am. I did not make until 9:30 as I had to make sure I picked up my order of a dozen fruit tarts from Timmy Who’s. I also had to drop of a computer I fixed to some friends that own the trailer park in Head Lake.
I went into MKC office to say hi to Robyn. I also went over to talk to Dirk and Giff as they were working on some deck repairs. We told Dirk we were going to do a run down the river from the bridge. He asked if we would mind if the youngsters Stephanie, Alex, and Jackson could come down with us. We said sure no problem.
The weather was overcast but still ok.
Our group was now pretty split between different types of boats. The open boaters were AnnaLisa, Neil, Derek, and myself. The kayakers were Jess, Val, Stephanie, Alex, and Jackson. We were also expecting Dan and Erin to show up but he apparently bailed.
We headed up to the bridge after tieing on the extra boats. It took a few minutes to get organized at the putin and we were off. On the way down the river Alex asked Val if he was a hard core playboater. He said no and after watching Alex doing a bowstall Val (thirty something) was hoping to pick up tips from him (18ish).
I tried to take as many pictures as possible. Derek was backup photographer today.
We arrived at the top of staircase. Some of us got out to scout the rapids. The youngsters just went in and started to play. I watched Derek, Jess, and Val do their first runs and followed them with the camera. I then took my first run. It wasn’t elegant but I made it down rightside up without swimming. Derek managed to take pictures of me on my second run. I ended up doing one of the ledges backwards but spun the boat around for the rest of it.
My third run was ok for the first 2/3rds … I ended up sided surfing in the last sticky hole on river right. I ended up being the first swim victim of the day. I was standing on the rock an down stream of the hole and had to grab my boat as it was being sucked back into it. I then flipped it over my head, emptied the water, and shoved my paddle back into it. There was no way of getting back into my boat. I ended up just lining it up a pushing it down the river. It went down the river unscathed and caught the eddy at the end on river right all by itself. I then swam over to the shore and walked down to pickup my boat.
Val got in some good surf time where I picked up my boat. Derek, and Jess did multiple runs down staircase with no issues. AnnaLisa did only one run but had no problems at all. Neil also did multiple runs but ended up being the second swimmer of the day and he won the swimming for distance award. He ended up swimming the section of staircase that my boat did on its own.
After that we all headed down to Chalet rapids and took out for lunch break. There was an ORCA MW instructor’s course going on. We exchanged friendly greetings will all the people we new and it was a lot. We retrieved our vehicles from the putin and had lunch in the parking lot in front of MKC. It was a mixture of fruit tarts from Timmy Who’s, Tim Bits, Cheese, etc. After lunch we did the shuttle to the takeout at the bottom of Mud Bay.
Everyone started heading down Chalet. I was the last one to go down. I ended up out of my boat for a second time after side surfing another hole on river left. I was able to do a short self rescue and get back into my boat. I felt like a real idiot during that swim as it was in plain view of the ORCA course that was going on. I hope not one noticed. I thought at that point in time I was the leader for number of swims, but apparently Neil had a dumbass swim as well and we were tied at two.
After Chalet we head down to Claudia’s Roller for some surf time. Everyone was having a blast. Neil and Derek both tried to do 360 flat spins but it was too sticky for them and managed to only do about a 180. I managed to have an excellent side surf. Val was impressed as he never saw me surf anything in my open boat. I was also the only one who almost complete a complete 360 flat spin. AnnaLisa was the only one that swam while surfing at that was her first for the day.
After that we headed down river and ran Gravel Pit and Cottage rapids. I am not sure what the name of the one with the big hole where if you have to surf it at do three complete 360 overhead spins of your paddle to get on the MKC but the slide over the rock into the huge hole was fun.
We then had a leisurely paddle to the take out. Derek thought it would be ok to put two of the open boats on his vehicle with kayaks as bookends. He said it would be fine for out trip to Palmer Rapids. Well it didn’t work out and about half way to Barrys Bay the two kayaks started to hang down both sides of his vehicle. He finally stopped after noticing more orange hanging down in his window and pulled over. After that Val and Jess took their boats back and put them in their vehicles safe and sound.
We had dinner Balmoral Hotel. I download the pictures onto my laptop and we had a slideshow while waiting for dinner. There were many interesting conversations at dinner including how Colin liked to so and that he preferred wearing women’s size fleece underwear as they fit better. But the best comment during dinner was from Neil and AnnaLisa. Apparently earlier in the day above Staircase AnnaLisa asked Neil if the were going to do the run “Doggy Style” when she meant to say “Ducky Style”. Well that comment stuck for the rest of Saturday and Sunday. We also kept asking them if the “Wanted to get a room” as they were always late doing stuff when coming from the woods, etc. Their newlyweds … what else would you expect.
After dinner we headed down to Palmer Rapids. Some of us took a quick look at the river before setting up tents, etc. After that it was a nice relaxing sit around the fire where we met up with Greg, Paul, and Brenda who were also open boaters that were joining us for Sunday.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Click here for pictures
Water Level: 15 according do Dirk from MKC.
We decided to do a trip to the Middle Madawaska at MKC. We were supposed to meet in the front parking lot at MKC at 9am. I did not make until 9:30 as I had to make sure I picked up my order of a dozen fruit tarts from Timmy Who’s. I also had to drop of a computer I fixed to some friends that own the trailer park in Head Lake.
I went into MKC office to say hi to Robyn. I also went over to talk to Dirk and Giff as they were working on some deck repairs. We told Dirk we were going to do a run down the river from the bridge. He asked if we would mind if the youngsters Stephanie, Alex, and Jackson could come down with us. We said sure no problem.
The weather was overcast but still ok.
Our group was now pretty split between different types of boats. The open boaters were AnnaLisa, Neil, Derek, and myself. The kayakers were Jess, Val, Stephanie, Alex, and Jackson. We were also expecting Dan and Erin to show up but he apparently bailed.
We headed up to the bridge after tieing on the extra boats. It took a few minutes to get organized at the putin and we were off. On the way down the river Alex asked Val if he was a hard core playboater. He said no and after watching Alex doing a bowstall Val (thirty something) was hoping to pick up tips from him (18ish).
I tried to take as many pictures as possible. Derek was backup photographer today.
We arrived at the top of staircase. Some of us got out to scout the rapids. The youngsters just went in and started to play. I watched Derek, Jess, and Val do their first runs and followed them with the camera. I then took my first run. It wasn’t elegant but I made it down rightside up without swimming. Derek managed to take pictures of me on my second run. I ended up doing one of the ledges backwards but spun the boat around for the rest of it.
My third run was ok for the first 2/3rds … I ended up sided surfing in the last sticky hole on river right. I ended up being the first swim victim of the day. I was standing on the rock an down stream of the hole and had to grab my boat as it was being sucked back into it. I then flipped it over my head, emptied the water, and shoved my paddle back into it. There was no way of getting back into my boat. I ended up just lining it up a pushing it down the river. It went down the river unscathed and caught the eddy at the end on river right all by itself. I then swam over to the shore and walked down to pickup my boat.
Val got in some good surf time where I picked up my boat. Derek, and Jess did multiple runs down staircase with no issues. AnnaLisa did only one run but had no problems at all. Neil also did multiple runs but ended up being the second swimmer of the day and he won the swimming for distance award. He ended up swimming the section of staircase that my boat did on its own.
After that we all headed down to Chalet rapids and took out for lunch break. There was an ORCA MW instructor’s course going on. We exchanged friendly greetings will all the people we new and it was a lot. We retrieved our vehicles from the putin and had lunch in the parking lot in front of MKC. It was a mixture of fruit tarts from Timmy Who’s, Tim Bits, Cheese, etc. After lunch we did the shuttle to the takeout at the bottom of Mud Bay.
Everyone started heading down Chalet. I was the last one to go down. I ended up out of my boat for a second time after side surfing another hole on river left. I was able to do a short self rescue and get back into my boat. I felt like a real idiot during that swim as it was in plain view of the ORCA course that was going on. I hope not one noticed. I thought at that point in time I was the leader for number of swims, but apparently Neil had a dumbass swim as well and we were tied at two.
After Chalet we head down to Claudia’s Roller for some surf time. Everyone was having a blast. Neil and Derek both tried to do 360 flat spins but it was too sticky for them and managed to only do about a 180. I managed to have an excellent side surf. Val was impressed as he never saw me surf anything in my open boat. I was also the only one who almost complete a complete 360 flat spin. AnnaLisa was the only one that swam while surfing at that was her first for the day.
After that we headed down river and ran Gravel Pit and Cottage rapids. I am not sure what the name of the one with the big hole where if you have to surf it at do three complete 360 overhead spins of your paddle to get on the MKC but the slide over the rock into the huge hole was fun.
We then had a leisurely paddle to the take out. Derek thought it would be ok to put two of the open boats on his vehicle with kayaks as bookends. He said it would be fine for out trip to Palmer Rapids. Well it didn’t work out and about half way to Barrys Bay the two kayaks started to hang down both sides of his vehicle. He finally stopped after noticing more orange hanging down in his window and pulled over. After that Val and Jess took their boats back and put them in their vehicles safe and sound.
We had dinner Balmoral Hotel. I download the pictures onto my laptop and we had a slideshow while waiting for dinner. There were many interesting conversations at dinner including how Colin liked to so and that he preferred wearing women’s size fleece underwear as they fit better. But the best comment during dinner was from Neil and AnnaLisa. Apparently earlier in the day above Staircase AnnaLisa asked Neil if the were going to do the run “Doggy Style” when she meant to say “Ducky Style”. Well that comment stuck for the rest of Saturday and Sunday. We also kept asking them if the “Wanted to get a room” as they were always late doing stuff when coming from the woods, etc. Their newlyweds … what else would you expect.
After dinner we headed down to Palmer Rapids. Some of us took a quick look at the river before setting up tents, etc. After that it was a nice relaxing sit around the fire where we met up with Greg, Paul, and Brenda who were also open boaters that were joining us for Sunday.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Click here for pictures
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Working out in the yard
I have been neglecting the yard work since I have been paddling so much this spring.
I am in the process of starting a two week vacation. I had some use it or lose vacation days left over from 2006.
I have decided to use them.
I have spent the last couple of days cleaning up the yard, de-thatching the grass, and weeding the gardens. I painted the back of Kate's door this morning. My bro-inlaw Chuck was out in the afternoon helping out with the raking. We did burgers on the BBQ for lunch. Kate helped me weed the back gardens when she came home from school.
I have been collecting rocks from everywhere I go paddling and today I put some of them to good use by making:
I still have some more stuff to do outside tomorrow. After that I have to start packing my paddle gear up as I am going on a road trip to the Middle/Lower Madawaska River onto my way to watch the 2007 Worlds at the mighty Ottawa River.
I am in the process of starting a two week vacation. I had some use it or lose vacation days left over from 2006.
I have decided to use them.
I have spent the last couple of days cleaning up the yard, de-thatching the grass, and weeding the gardens. I painted the back of Kate's door this morning. My bro-inlaw Chuck was out in the afternoon helping out with the raking. We did burgers on the BBQ for lunch. Kate helped me weed the back gardens when she came home from school.
I have been collecting rocks from everywhere I go paddling and today I put some of them to good use by making:
I still have some more stuff to do outside tomorrow. After that I have to start packing my paddle gear up as I am going on a road trip to the Middle/Lower Madawaska River onto my way to watch the 2007 Worlds at the mighty Ottawa River.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
22-Apr-2007
Lower Head and Washago Black all in one day.
Water Level: 8.268 on Washago Black gauge
This report will be shorter than my previous ones as I am tired, sore, and almost falling asleep but I had to get it done or the others would have called me a slacker.
Well today the weather was frickin hot. We did two rivers trips in one day.
The open boaters in the group were Ryan who drove down from North Bay, Derek, Neil and myself.
The lonely kayaker in the group was Val … wait a minute I stand corrected … Val does not like to be referred to as the lonely kayaker as he stated he wasn’t lonely. He is now to be known as the Lone Ranger and his faithful sidekick (boat) Tonto.
We all met at Timmy Who’s and were on the water by 10am. We paddled up to Stone Wall rapids and worked it pretty hard as we were slowly going down the down the river.
We had a blast at the second chute below Husky Rapids. We were there for a while running the chute at different angles, surfing, and ferrying like mad. We had a great run down the rest of the river.
It was about 1pm by the time we were done and we were hungry. I made damn sure I paid Neil the 5 bucks I owed him for a previously made bet. We basically had a pigfest at Timmy Who’s. Between the five of us we had 6 fruit tarts, 6 butter tarts, feta cheese stuff hot peppers, 2 types of stuffed olives, and a big loaf of bread. Two of the guys still managed to put down sandwiches on top of that. I also had a small sandwich that I brought with me. All I can say is if you have never had the stuffed peppers or olives … try them … they are excellent.
We then head over to the Washago Black. I have never seen so many vehicles at the take out before … hmmmm …. Must be that the fair weather paddlers are back!
Neil decided to launch off the steep hill below the guard rail. He did not swim but he did take on a boat load of water when he played submarine. I offered him 20 bucks to seal launch of the bridge but he wimped out.
We had fun at baby ender. If was nice to see that the big chunk of the fallen tree was missing.
The surf wave above the lunch rock was fun.
Everyone ran Bell Ringer … some more than others. We also ran log splitter at the bottom of the middle channel. After that we headed down around the corner towards Pinkies … we finally caught up to some other boaters. I said hello to some OC1 boater chicks and kayaker chick on the way down to Pinkies. Most of us caught the first eddy on the right below the first wave. We did not even hit the local guy smoking pot and doing his dishes in the river. The Lone Ranger and his faithful sidekick Tonto had excellent surf time in on the second wave back.
After that is was off to the takeout. It was 5pm by the time we had the boats one their respective vehicles and changed. Everyone said that had a great day on the rivers. All I can say is that I will have no problem sleeping tonight.
Next weekend should be a blast as we are heading over to the Middle Mad. My trip report for next weekend will be delayed by at least a week as I will be also be up watching the 2007 Worlds at the Ottawa River cheering on my fellow RiverJunkie team mate Jenny-RightSide as she will most likely be competing in the SquirtBoat competition. And also due to the fact my dad is on frickin dialup. He would prefer high speed but the only problem is it ends on the road behind him.
We took 170 pictures on the Lower Head and 205 on the Washago Black. And I managed to be in some of them. It’s nice to have others that know how to use a digital SLR camera. I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Lower Head pictures:
Click here for Lower Head pictures
Washago Black pictures:
Click here for Washago Black pictures
p.s. Greg … all I can say is you missed a great day. Hope to see you next weekend.
Lower Head and Washago Black all in one day.
Water Level: 8.268 on Washago Black gauge
This report will be shorter than my previous ones as I am tired, sore, and almost falling asleep but I had to get it done or the others would have called me a slacker.
Well today the weather was frickin hot. We did two rivers trips in one day.
The open boaters in the group were Ryan who drove down from North Bay, Derek, Neil and myself.
The lonely kayaker in the group was Val … wait a minute I stand corrected … Val does not like to be referred to as the lonely kayaker as he stated he wasn’t lonely. He is now to be known as the Lone Ranger and his faithful sidekick (boat) Tonto.
We all met at Timmy Who’s and were on the water by 10am. We paddled up to Stone Wall rapids and worked it pretty hard as we were slowly going down the down the river.
We had a blast at the second chute below Husky Rapids. We were there for a while running the chute at different angles, surfing, and ferrying like mad. We had a great run down the rest of the river.
It was about 1pm by the time we were done and we were hungry. I made damn sure I paid Neil the 5 bucks I owed him for a previously made bet. We basically had a pigfest at Timmy Who’s. Between the five of us we had 6 fruit tarts, 6 butter tarts, feta cheese stuff hot peppers, 2 types of stuffed olives, and a big loaf of bread. Two of the guys still managed to put down sandwiches on top of that. I also had a small sandwich that I brought with me. All I can say is if you have never had the stuffed peppers or olives … try them … they are excellent.
We then head over to the Washago Black. I have never seen so many vehicles at the take out before … hmmmm …. Must be that the fair weather paddlers are back!
Neil decided to launch off the steep hill below the guard rail. He did not swim but he did take on a boat load of water when he played submarine. I offered him 20 bucks to seal launch of the bridge but he wimped out.
We had fun at baby ender. If was nice to see that the big chunk of the fallen tree was missing.
The surf wave above the lunch rock was fun.
Everyone ran Bell Ringer … some more than others. We also ran log splitter at the bottom of the middle channel. After that we headed down around the corner towards Pinkies … we finally caught up to some other boaters. I said hello to some OC1 boater chicks and kayaker chick on the way down to Pinkies. Most of us caught the first eddy on the right below the first wave. We did not even hit the local guy smoking pot and doing his dishes in the river. The Lone Ranger and his faithful sidekick Tonto had excellent surf time in on the second wave back.
After that is was off to the takeout. It was 5pm by the time we had the boats one their respective vehicles and changed. Everyone said that had a great day on the rivers. All I can say is that I will have no problem sleeping tonight.
Next weekend should be a blast as we are heading over to the Middle Mad. My trip report for next weekend will be delayed by at least a week as I will be also be up watching the 2007 Worlds at the Ottawa River cheering on my fellow RiverJunkie team mate Jenny-RightSide as she will most likely be competing in the SquirtBoat competition. And also due to the fact my dad is on frickin dialup. He would prefer high speed but the only problem is it ends on the road behind him.
We took 170 pictures on the Lower Head and 205 on the Washago Black. And I managed to be in some of them. It’s nice to have others that know how to use a digital SLR camera. I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Lower Head pictures:
Click here for Lower Head pictures
Washago Black pictures:
Click here for Washago Black pictures
p.s. Greg … all I can say is you missed a great day. Hope to see you next weekend.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Lower Head - BCKC - Solo MW 1 Open Canoe Course
21-Apr-2007
Water Level: 8.32 on Washago Black gauge
Today the Barrie Canoe and Kayak Club was running a Solo MW 1 Canoe course. I volunteered my services as a safety boater and photographer.
Today was the hottest day I have paddled this season. It reached a high of 22. Normally I get to paddle in rain, snow, and absolutely no sunshine.
The river was definitely low but fun. I had fun practicing ferrying, surfing, and catching eddies.
We started on the river around 09:30 and spent the morning up at Stone Wall rapids. We paddled down to the bottom of the second chute which is after Husky Rapids. We carried back up to Timmy Who’s for lunch on the grass.
The course consisted of John (instructor) and Helen and Ross as the students.
During lunch I met two boater chicks (Kelly and Luky) from Peterborough. They were wondering about the river and I gave them the virtual tour on from my laptop. After lunch we did a shuttle and offered the girls a ride as well.
Our group departed ways from the boater chicks as they headed up river in their OC1’s.
We had fun running the river practicing catching what we could on the way down.
Everyone agreed they had a great day. Everyone stopped in at Timmy Who's on the way out to buy goodies and gifts.
I never had so many people stop and either talk to me on the side of the road or leave stuff for me to pick up. Friends of mine left two computers for me to fix. Gary left me a WO poster to take to worlds. I talked Greg from our Salmon trip as he was on his way to the Gull to paddle with Neil. One of my friends driving a transport truck stopped and talked to me and to top it all of my sister and her husband tried to run me off the road. I noticed that Greg’s vehicle was at the takeout at the end of the day. I guess he and Neil decided to do the Lower Head as well.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Click for Pictures
Water Level: 8.32 on Washago Black gauge
Today the Barrie Canoe and Kayak Club was running a Solo MW 1 Canoe course. I volunteered my services as a safety boater and photographer.
Today was the hottest day I have paddled this season. It reached a high of 22. Normally I get to paddle in rain, snow, and absolutely no sunshine.
The river was definitely low but fun. I had fun practicing ferrying, surfing, and catching eddies.
We started on the river around 09:30 and spent the morning up at Stone Wall rapids. We paddled down to the bottom of the second chute which is after Husky Rapids. We carried back up to Timmy Who’s for lunch on the grass.
The course consisted of John (instructor) and Helen and Ross as the students.
During lunch I met two boater chicks (Kelly and Luky) from Peterborough. They were wondering about the river and I gave them the virtual tour on from my laptop. After lunch we did a shuttle and offered the girls a ride as well.
Our group departed ways from the boater chicks as they headed up river in their OC1’s.
We had fun running the river practicing catching what we could on the way down.
Everyone agreed they had a great day. Everyone stopped in at Timmy Who's on the way out to buy goodies and gifts.
I never had so many people stop and either talk to me on the side of the road or leave stuff for me to pick up. Friends of mine left two computers for me to fix. Gary left me a WO poster to take to worlds. I talked Greg from our Salmon trip as he was on his way to the Gull to paddle with Neil. One of my friends driving a transport truck stopped and talked to me and to top it all of my sister and her husband tried to run me off the road. I noticed that Greg’s vehicle was at the takeout at the end of the day. I guess he and Neil decided to do the Lower Head as well.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Click for Pictures
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Lower Black River - Highway 7
15-Apr-2007
Water Level:12.506 at the Black River Near Actinolite
Today would be my first descent down the Lower Black Highway 7 run.
I left Kingston around 7:15am. I was not sure how long it would take to drive up to highway 7 and Black River road. I was amazed to be in Kaladar around 08:20. I decided to have breakfast at the restaurant at the gas station as I was way to early to meet Pete at 09:45. Just for the record there is wireless internet access there. Not sure if it belong to the gas station but I checked the weather forecast and emails.
The weather was overcast and cool. It probably did everything from rain to snow and absolutely no sunshine.
I met Peter and Mitch almost at the right spot. We then drove up to the dam in Queensborough. We were the first ones there and then it began. The boats just kept coming and coming. I would guess by the time we left to do shuttle there had to be about 30 – 40 boats there easy. It was like a big high school reunion or something as people were getting re-aquainted. It turned out that there was a large contingent of boaters doing the Upper Black which is way out of my league and a couple of smaller groups doing the Lower Black.
Our group was all open boats except for one kayaker. Our group consisted of Peter, Mitch, Mike, Bonnie, Cline, Carole, Gerry, Stephan (he was the token kayaker), and myself. I think that was everybody. Hmm someone was missing … oh yes it was Peter’s son Stephen. He paddles one of those plastic beer coolers known as a CU-Fly and he WIMPED OUT BIG time by not wanting to paddle the big flat water sections of the river. All he wants to do is surf surf surf. He abandoned us to go paddle at the Crowe bridge with Chris.
We suited up at the putin and did the shuttle.
Please note that in between all the various swifts and rapids there are large sections of flatwater to paddle.
This was also the first trip down this river for a good part of the group. It was a very pretty river to paddle on.
I can’t remember everything about the river. I know the first swift/surf place was at the bridge in town. After that the first four foot drop was fun to run. I almost had the right line. I made it down without taking on much water.
There were a few spots that were fairly tame and all the good open boaters were going from eddy to eddy practicing their skills. I am not that good yet and just ran down where ever I could. But I did have to catch some of the eddies in order to boat scout.
Some of the runs were pretty narrow with the standard big waves, rocks, and holes with pretty strong current flow. I can’t remember where I swam … and for the record it was only once. It was down a long narrow run that had a couple of big holes in it. I got nailed at the second one. The water was definitely refreshing considering I don’t have a fully drysuit yet. There were swims by others but somehow I have magically forgotten who they were.
There was also one drop that looked about eight feet or so. I took a look at it and said nope not for me. Everyone walked it except for Carole, Gerry, and Stephan. I ended cutting my face near the bridge of my nose and eye on a branch while portaging my boat. It looks like I have been in a bar fight. The rest of the runs were fine for me except for the time I got stuck on a small rock at the bottom of one of the runs. I had to do the hip forward swoosh a few times to get off it.
My feet were kind of cold by the end. I forgot the wool socks again. The best part about taking Peter and Mike back to the putin was the local ladies auxiliary. They had a tent set out by the river. The burgers, etc were not started yet but I did have a piece of the coconut cream pie. It was still warm and hit the spot. After that it was back to the takeout to pack up. Mike showed up a few minutes later and said he had grabbed a slice of the same pie and said it hit the spot as well.
I have been quite happy with the spring paddling. I have been on four different rivers that I never paddled before and met more and more friends to go paddling with.
I personally had a great day and I am glad that I stayed overnight in Kingston to do the trip. Everyone said they had a great day. Thanks to all for making the long drive to come and paddle.
I stopped to stretch my legs in Havelock. And for the record the restaurant at the Train Station has free wireless internet. I was parked beside the north west corner of the building checking my email, etc. I had to have a catnap before I got to Port Perry. It has been a long and tiring weekend. I will be sleeping good tonight.
I will leave the pictures up for a few weeks. I still need to practice on moving targets as they are still a bit blurry. I will have to go to the highway and take pictures of moving cars. It could have also been the temperature.
Click here for pictures
Water Level:12.506 at the Black River Near Actinolite
Today would be my first descent down the Lower Black Highway 7 run.
I left Kingston around 7:15am. I was not sure how long it would take to drive up to highway 7 and Black River road. I was amazed to be in Kaladar around 08:20. I decided to have breakfast at the restaurant at the gas station as I was way to early to meet Pete at 09:45. Just for the record there is wireless internet access there. Not sure if it belong to the gas station but I checked the weather forecast and emails.
The weather was overcast and cool. It probably did everything from rain to snow and absolutely no sunshine.
I met Peter and Mitch almost at the right spot. We then drove up to the dam in Queensborough. We were the first ones there and then it began. The boats just kept coming and coming. I would guess by the time we left to do shuttle there had to be about 30 – 40 boats there easy. It was like a big high school reunion or something as people were getting re-aquainted. It turned out that there was a large contingent of boaters doing the Upper Black which is way out of my league and a couple of smaller groups doing the Lower Black.
Our group was all open boats except for one kayaker. Our group consisted of Peter, Mitch, Mike, Bonnie, Cline, Carole, Gerry, Stephan (he was the token kayaker), and myself. I think that was everybody. Hmm someone was missing … oh yes it was Peter’s son Stephen. He paddles one of those plastic beer coolers known as a CU-Fly and he WIMPED OUT BIG time by not wanting to paddle the big flat water sections of the river. All he wants to do is surf surf surf. He abandoned us to go paddle at the Crowe bridge with Chris.
We suited up at the putin and did the shuttle.
Please note that in between all the various swifts and rapids there are large sections of flatwater to paddle.
This was also the first trip down this river for a good part of the group. It was a very pretty river to paddle on.
I can’t remember everything about the river. I know the first swift/surf place was at the bridge in town. After that the first four foot drop was fun to run. I almost had the right line. I made it down without taking on much water.
There were a few spots that were fairly tame and all the good open boaters were going from eddy to eddy practicing their skills. I am not that good yet and just ran down where ever I could. But I did have to catch some of the eddies in order to boat scout.
Some of the runs were pretty narrow with the standard big waves, rocks, and holes with pretty strong current flow. I can’t remember where I swam … and for the record it was only once. It was down a long narrow run that had a couple of big holes in it. I got nailed at the second one. The water was definitely refreshing considering I don’t have a fully drysuit yet. There were swims by others but somehow I have magically forgotten who they were.
There was also one drop that looked about eight feet or so. I took a look at it and said nope not for me. Everyone walked it except for Carole, Gerry, and Stephan. I ended cutting my face near the bridge of my nose and eye on a branch while portaging my boat. It looks like I have been in a bar fight. The rest of the runs were fine for me except for the time I got stuck on a small rock at the bottom of one of the runs. I had to do the hip forward swoosh a few times to get off it.
My feet were kind of cold by the end. I forgot the wool socks again. The best part about taking Peter and Mike back to the putin was the local ladies auxiliary. They had a tent set out by the river. The burgers, etc were not started yet but I did have a piece of the coconut cream pie. It was still warm and hit the spot. After that it was back to the takeout to pack up. Mike showed up a few minutes later and said he had grabbed a slice of the same pie and said it hit the spot as well.
I have been quite happy with the spring paddling. I have been on four different rivers that I never paddled before and met more and more friends to go paddling with.
I personally had a great day and I am glad that I stayed overnight in Kingston to do the trip. Everyone said they had a great day. Thanks to all for making the long drive to come and paddle.
I stopped to stretch my legs in Havelock. And for the record the restaurant at the Train Station has free wireless internet. I was parked beside the north west corner of the building checking my email, etc. I had to have a catnap before I got to Port Perry. It has been a long and tiring weekend. I will be sleeping good tonight.
I will leave the pictures up for a few weeks. I still need to practice on moving targets as they are still a bit blurry. I will have to go to the highway and take pictures of moving cars. It could have also been the temperature.
Click here for pictures
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Salmon River
14-Apr-2007
Water Level: 5.11 on Salmon Tamworth gauge
Today was my second descent down the Upper Salmon River.
Left Barrie around 8am as a convoy of one. I met Neil at the Whitby GO Station and we became a convoy of two. Peter and Stephen Farr caught up to us around Belleville and then we were three.
We met some of the rest of the gang in Tamworth around 11:30.
The weather was overcast but nice.There were two main large groups with a various collection of Open Boats and Kayaks.
In my group there was Neil, Val, Greg, Jessica, Mark, Randall and myself.
The other group was Peter, Stephen, Cline, Sarah, Chris, Mitch, Bonnie, and three others (sorry did not get your names).
There was also a unofficial third group. This was kayaker Mike who flipped back and forth between the two main groups.
We stopped at the takeout first, suited up, moved boats around and headed to the putin. It was a nice warm up paddle down to the first set of moving current which was basically small. The next set had more flow and some rocks to dodge but nothing major to worry about.
Please note that in between all the various swifts and rapids there are large sections of flatwater to paddle.
The first big set was fun. I took lots of pictures of everyone. Everyone that ran it made it down in one piece.
We exited the boats to scout the second big set. It was a long canyon that was pretty pushy. You had to be careful as about half way down there was a big reactionary wave pushing of the left wall across the river to the right. It could easily push anyone into the right hand shelf ledge. Randall and Mark had no problem. Mike had no problem. Jessica walked it. Greg went next and then Neil. I think both of them met the wall on river right. I was the last to run it and I almost hit the same wall as Greg and Neil but turned my edge up at the last moment to miss it. Randall made a comment we should have started higher on the left as all the open boaters ended near the wall.
We exited the boats to scout the third and last big set. The top was straight forward. The only problem was the big a$$ hole at the bottom. The clean run was to stay tight between the left wall and the big rooster tail at the hole. Mike ran it first in his kayak. He almost was sucked back into the hole. Afterwards he said he should not have run it. Neil was the first open boat and made it down to the bottom and then set up safety on river left. Greg went next and made it through all the big stuff only to end up swimming after hit the wave at the bottom with a boat full of water. I know how that feels. I was the last to run and I tried to make the river left line but as normal I screwed it up when right into the big a$$ hole and then ended swimming. Good thing is I did my own self rescue. Val, Mark, Randall, and Jessica decided to walk that one.
Further on down the river everyone had fun surfing the last wave. Randall and Mark did a double side by side surf.
After that it was a short paddle to the takeout. I personally had a great day and I am glad that I made it back again to do the trip. Everyone said they had a great day. Thanks to all for making the long drive to come and paddle.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Click here for pictures
Water Level: 5.11 on Salmon Tamworth gauge
Today was my second descent down the Upper Salmon River.
Left Barrie around 8am as a convoy of one. I met Neil at the Whitby GO Station and we became a convoy of two. Peter and Stephen Farr caught up to us around Belleville and then we were three.
We met some of the rest of the gang in Tamworth around 11:30.
The weather was overcast but nice.There were two main large groups with a various collection of Open Boats and Kayaks.
In my group there was Neil, Val, Greg, Jessica, Mark, Randall and myself.
The other group was Peter, Stephen, Cline, Sarah, Chris, Mitch, Bonnie, and three others (sorry did not get your names).
There was also a unofficial third group. This was kayaker Mike who flipped back and forth between the two main groups.
We stopped at the takeout first, suited up, moved boats around and headed to the putin. It was a nice warm up paddle down to the first set of moving current which was basically small. The next set had more flow and some rocks to dodge but nothing major to worry about.
Please note that in between all the various swifts and rapids there are large sections of flatwater to paddle.
The first big set was fun. I took lots of pictures of everyone. Everyone that ran it made it down in one piece.
We exited the boats to scout the second big set. It was a long canyon that was pretty pushy. You had to be careful as about half way down there was a big reactionary wave pushing of the left wall across the river to the right. It could easily push anyone into the right hand shelf ledge. Randall and Mark had no problem. Mike had no problem. Jessica walked it. Greg went next and then Neil. I think both of them met the wall on river right. I was the last to run it and I almost hit the same wall as Greg and Neil but turned my edge up at the last moment to miss it. Randall made a comment we should have started higher on the left as all the open boaters ended near the wall.
We exited the boats to scout the third and last big set. The top was straight forward. The only problem was the big a$$ hole at the bottom. The clean run was to stay tight between the left wall and the big rooster tail at the hole. Mike ran it first in his kayak. He almost was sucked back into the hole. Afterwards he said he should not have run it. Neil was the first open boat and made it down to the bottom and then set up safety on river left. Greg went next and made it through all the big stuff only to end up swimming after hit the wave at the bottom with a boat full of water. I know how that feels. I was the last to run and I tried to make the river left line but as normal I screwed it up when right into the big a$$ hole and then ended swimming. Good thing is I did my own self rescue. Val, Mark, Randall, and Jessica decided to walk that one.
Further on down the river everyone had fun surfing the last wave. Randall and Mark did a double side by side surf.
After that it was a short paddle to the takeout. I personally had a great day and I am glad that I made it back again to do the trip. Everyone said they had a great day. Thanks to all for making the long drive to come and paddle.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Click here for pictures
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Beaver Creek
08-Apr-2007
Water Level: 18ish according to Gary George
Well today was an exciting day for me. It would be my first descent down the Beaver Creek.
I left Kingston around 8am and had breakfast in Marmora.
I met the gang at the Macs Milk around 10:15. It was just going to be three of us Cale, Eric, and myself. We found out later that Gary, Rich, and a bunch of others had just missed us at the Macs Milk and they were paddling on the river behind us. This was Eric’s first trip down the Beaver as well.
I apologize for not taking as many pictures as I wished to as we were on a tight schedule as the others had Easter dinners to attend.
The weather was kind of cool and overcast to start but not cold enough for me to wear gloves yet. We had some sunshine peek its head out at the end of the day.
We stopped at the takeout first, suited up, moved boats around and headed to the putin. It was a nice warm up paddle down to the first set of moving current which was basically small.
Please note that in between all the various swifts and rapids there are large sections of flatwater to paddle.
We arrived at the first big rapid. After scouting I elected to walk it. There were some holes that I was not comfortable running. The one at the bottom looked real nasty to me with the shoreline that had come down. There was also a tree with huge ice hanging from it which is not good for an open boater. I was also very worried that I would end up have my boat wedge into the shoreline and decide nope … not this time. Eric and Cale ran it clean.
They ran everything clean the entire day. I on the other hand was a different story.
As we paddled down the river Cale mentioned we would scout the biggest sets of rapids prior to running them and boat scout the rest.
The rest of this report is going to be a blur and might not be in proper order as it is hard to keep track of things in your head when you are swimming.
My first swim happened as we were going down this long canyon run. About halfway down there was this wave which was up to my shoulders in height and it pushed my open boat pushed me to river right wall. I ended up with a new dent in the front. I was only in the water for about 20 seconds. I self rescued the boat emptied it out and continued on. (mental note: save money for a full drysuit).
I decided to walk around the top part of a drop after scouting it. I did not feel comfortable running the river right as it had an ice shelf that might boat would most likely have been stuck under. The river left run was no better as there was a couple of very sharp flat rocks on edge that would have ripped my boat open like a can of beans.
We ran a couple of small canyon runs cleanly. I know I did a dumbass swim when I was not paying attention and hit a small rock in the middle of frickin nowhere after running a hole cleanly. I felt real stupid but hey crap happens. I put my gloves on after that swim.
My final swim happened when we ran a drop on river right. Cale and Eric went first and I followed. It had to be about a three and half foot drop onto a ledge that led to a two foot drop. All you heard after I went down the first drop was a loud bang. Cale turned around and looked at me right away. I hit some small rock under the water and it stopped me dead. All he saw was me be pushed forward by the force of me being stopped and a crap load of water coming up from behind and over my shoulders. I managed to tilt the boat a bit and get out and let it do the small drop by itself. I walked to the top of the small ledge and basically did a belly flop out far into the deep water to avoid the hole. I swam to shore and emptied out the boat. I noticed that I out another big dent in the front of my boat. It looks ok but it might be time to get a Kevlar skid plate on it. I blame Cale for that dent. We both thought that there was enough water flowing to make it down but I guess not. Apparently this Rapid is named "Ugly". Crap happens.
I decide to walk around the top part of the Bridge run. There was no way I could duck and get enough speed to make it safely to the bottom and have to deal with taking on lots of water. I put in just below the big stuff.
The rest of the runs were fine.
After that it was a short paddle to the takeout. Eric drove Cale and I back up to the putin to get our vehicles and that is when Rich came bombing into the parking lot with one of their group drivers.
I was kind of freaked out when I got back to the takeout. Gary asked me where my boat was. They said it was not there when they came on shore. Turns out that someone out of their group took it and hid it down by the water under the bridge. My guess is Gary or Rich.
I personally had a great day and I am glad that I stayed over in Kingston and was able to do this trip as well as the Salmon the day before. I would like to thank Cale and Eric for letting me tag along and being patient when I had to stop and drain water out of my boat and when I was swimming. I will definitely be back.
I learned a lot and had fun. The two things I learned this weekend were get my pump installed into the boat and get a full dry suit. I also learned what my limits were and walked around things I did not feel were safe for ME to run. After all I have only been in my open boat since August and really have not done to much shallow and steep creek runs (my opinion only).
Here is a link to the pictures. I will leave them up for a couple of weeks.
Link to pictures
Water Level: 18ish according to Gary George
Well today was an exciting day for me. It would be my first descent down the Beaver Creek.
I left Kingston around 8am and had breakfast in Marmora.
I met the gang at the Macs Milk around 10:15. It was just going to be three of us Cale, Eric, and myself. We found out later that Gary, Rich, and a bunch of others had just missed us at the Macs Milk and they were paddling on the river behind us. This was Eric’s first trip down the Beaver as well.
I apologize for not taking as many pictures as I wished to as we were on a tight schedule as the others had Easter dinners to attend.
The weather was kind of cool and overcast to start but not cold enough for me to wear gloves yet. We had some sunshine peek its head out at the end of the day.
We stopped at the takeout first, suited up, moved boats around and headed to the putin. It was a nice warm up paddle down to the first set of moving current which was basically small.
Please note that in between all the various swifts and rapids there are large sections of flatwater to paddle.
We arrived at the first big rapid. After scouting I elected to walk it. There were some holes that I was not comfortable running. The one at the bottom looked real nasty to me with the shoreline that had come down. There was also a tree with huge ice hanging from it which is not good for an open boater. I was also very worried that I would end up have my boat wedge into the shoreline and decide nope … not this time. Eric and Cale ran it clean.
They ran everything clean the entire day. I on the other hand was a different story.
As we paddled down the river Cale mentioned we would scout the biggest sets of rapids prior to running them and boat scout the rest.
The rest of this report is going to be a blur and might not be in proper order as it is hard to keep track of things in your head when you are swimming.
My first swim happened as we were going down this long canyon run. About halfway down there was this wave which was up to my shoulders in height and it pushed my open boat pushed me to river right wall. I ended up with a new dent in the front. I was only in the water for about 20 seconds. I self rescued the boat emptied it out and continued on. (mental note: save money for a full drysuit).
I decided to walk around the top part of a drop after scouting it. I did not feel comfortable running the river right as it had an ice shelf that might boat would most likely have been stuck under. The river left run was no better as there was a couple of very sharp flat rocks on edge that would have ripped my boat open like a can of beans.
We ran a couple of small canyon runs cleanly. I know I did a dumbass swim when I was not paying attention and hit a small rock in the middle of frickin nowhere after running a hole cleanly. I felt real stupid but hey crap happens. I put my gloves on after that swim.
My final swim happened when we ran a drop on river right. Cale and Eric went first and I followed. It had to be about a three and half foot drop onto a ledge that led to a two foot drop. All you heard after I went down the first drop was a loud bang. Cale turned around and looked at me right away. I hit some small rock under the water and it stopped me dead. All he saw was me be pushed forward by the force of me being stopped and a crap load of water coming up from behind and over my shoulders. I managed to tilt the boat a bit and get out and let it do the small drop by itself. I walked to the top of the small ledge and basically did a belly flop out far into the deep water to avoid the hole. I swam to shore and emptied out the boat. I noticed that I out another big dent in the front of my boat. It looks ok but it might be time to get a Kevlar skid plate on it. I blame Cale for that dent. We both thought that there was enough water flowing to make it down but I guess not. Apparently this Rapid is named "Ugly". Crap happens.
I decide to walk around the top part of the Bridge run. There was no way I could duck and get enough speed to make it safely to the bottom and have to deal with taking on lots of water. I put in just below the big stuff.
The rest of the runs were fine.
After that it was a short paddle to the takeout. Eric drove Cale and I back up to the putin to get our vehicles and that is when Rich came bombing into the parking lot with one of their group drivers.
I was kind of freaked out when I got back to the takeout. Gary asked me where my boat was. They said it was not there when they came on shore. Turns out that someone out of their group took it and hid it down by the water under the bridge. My guess is Gary or Rich.
I personally had a great day and I am glad that I stayed over in Kingston and was able to do this trip as well as the Salmon the day before. I would like to thank Cale and Eric for letting me tag along and being patient when I had to stop and drain water out of my boat and when I was swimming. I will definitely be back.
I learned a lot and had fun. The two things I learned this weekend were get my pump installed into the boat and get a full dry suit. I also learned what my limits were and walked around things I did not feel were safe for ME to run. After all I have only been in my open boat since August and really have not done to much shallow and steep creek runs (my opinion only).
Here is a link to the pictures. I will leave them up for a couple of weeks.
Link to pictures
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Salmon River - Tamworth Section
07-Apr-2007
Water Level: 5.029 on Salmon Tamworth gauge
Well today was an exciting day for me. It would be my first descent down the Salmon River Tamworth Section.
I left the Barrie area at 7am and was in Napanee to do some shopping by 10am. This was good a time for me considering I stopped twice.
I met the gang in Tamworth around 11:15 at to my surprise there was the Imaginary Boydo. Kind of bizarre as we only met at the Kip concert and he we are twice in one week.
The other paddlers in the group were Cale, Stephanie, Andrew, Jeff, Bryan and myself. I was the token open boater and I have never paddled with any of them before. Stephanie pointed out later that we actually met last year at Palmerfest in the Billy Harris Mountain Surf mobile.
The weather was kind of cool and overcast but not cold enough for me to wear gloves yet. I hate the frigging things.
We stopped at the takeout first, suited up, moved boats around and headed to the putin. It was a nice warm up paddle down to the first set of moving current which was basically small. The next set had more flow and some rocks to dodge but nothing major to worry about.
Please note that in between all the various swifts and rapids there are large sections of flatwater to paddle.
As we paddled down the river Cale and Stephanie mentioned we would scout the three biggest sets of rapids prior to running them.
The first big set was fun. I took lots of pictures of everyone. We even had a huge otter come down to the river only to take off back up the hill after seeing Andrew, Boydo, and Cale up above the rapids. Everyone made it down in one piece and Cale asked me if I was going to run it in. I said yep. I hit the hole in the bottom and took on lots of water. (mental note: get the parts for the pump and install in boat). I successfully paddled to shore with lots of water in my boat emptied it out and retrieved my camera back from Cale.
We exited the boats to scout the second big set. It was a long canyon that was pretty pushy. You had to be careful as about half way down there was a big reactionary wave pushing of the left wall across the river to the right. It could easily push anyone into the right hand shelf ledge. Once again I was the last to go down. I had a slight problem on the way down. I was pushed over to the right shelf ledge. I did what Boydo refer to as a “Rock Splat”. My whole body was laying on top of the ledge. I was still attached to the boat and had my paddle. I did a big push of the ledge and hip flick at the same time. I paddled the last half of this set with lots of water in my boat but made it right down to the end without swimming.
We exited the boats to scout the third and last big set. The top was straight forward. The only problem was the big ass hole at the bottom. The clean run was to stay tight between the left wall and the big rooster tail at the hole. Stephanie, Jeff, and Bryan decided to walk around. Andrew, Boydo, and Cale each had a clean run. I was still undecided as to what I was going to do. Luckily we caught up to a group that had a couple of open boaters. They all took the same run and made it clean and look easy.
I basically said I am either going to run it or swim it. I got into my boat and started heading down. My line was off. I hit the hole dead on. I almost made it through to the bottom. I did not have enough speed and I think I paused and stopped paddling for a few seconds. Bad mistake. I ended up catching air as I was literally starting to spiral my boat as I was going down river. I think it was a bad attempt at trying to do a helix or something to that effect. Bryan was taking pictures of me with my camera. They looked cool on the screen but were slightly out of focus but you could still see me before I swam. Boydo went after my boat and brought it back up. I asked Cale if I could run it again. I carried the boat back up. Took the exact same line but kept on paddling. The boat took on lots of water (mental note: pump) but I paddled it all the way to shore. I was happy that I decided to run it again and made it down.
After that it was a short paddle to the takeout. I personally had a great day and I am glad that I made the trip over. The good thing is that both Cale and Stephanie said I would have no problem running the Highway 7 Beaver Creek run. I might have to walk one fo the rapids but I should be good to go for the rest of them. Well we shall see about that tomorrow.
I would like to thank Cale and Stephanie for letting me tag along. Same goes to the others in the group. I really enjoyed myself.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Link to pictures
Water Level: 5.029 on Salmon Tamworth gauge
Well today was an exciting day for me. It would be my first descent down the Salmon River Tamworth Section.
I left the Barrie area at 7am and was in Napanee to do some shopping by 10am. This was good a time for me considering I stopped twice.
I met the gang in Tamworth around 11:15 at to my surprise there was the Imaginary Boydo. Kind of bizarre as we only met at the Kip concert and he we are twice in one week.
The other paddlers in the group were Cale, Stephanie, Andrew, Jeff, Bryan and myself. I was the token open boater and I have never paddled with any of them before. Stephanie pointed out later that we actually met last year at Palmerfest in the Billy Harris Mountain Surf mobile.
The weather was kind of cool and overcast but not cold enough for me to wear gloves yet. I hate the frigging things.
We stopped at the takeout first, suited up, moved boats around and headed to the putin. It was a nice warm up paddle down to the first set of moving current which was basically small. The next set had more flow and some rocks to dodge but nothing major to worry about.
Please note that in between all the various swifts and rapids there are large sections of flatwater to paddle.
As we paddled down the river Cale and Stephanie mentioned we would scout the three biggest sets of rapids prior to running them.
The first big set was fun. I took lots of pictures of everyone. We even had a huge otter come down to the river only to take off back up the hill after seeing Andrew, Boydo, and Cale up above the rapids. Everyone made it down in one piece and Cale asked me if I was going to run it in. I said yep. I hit the hole in the bottom and took on lots of water. (mental note: get the parts for the pump and install in boat). I successfully paddled to shore with lots of water in my boat emptied it out and retrieved my camera back from Cale.
We exited the boats to scout the second big set. It was a long canyon that was pretty pushy. You had to be careful as about half way down there was a big reactionary wave pushing of the left wall across the river to the right. It could easily push anyone into the right hand shelf ledge. Once again I was the last to go down. I had a slight problem on the way down. I was pushed over to the right shelf ledge. I did what Boydo refer to as a “Rock Splat”. My whole body was laying on top of the ledge. I was still attached to the boat and had my paddle. I did a big push of the ledge and hip flick at the same time. I paddled the last half of this set with lots of water in my boat but made it right down to the end without swimming.
We exited the boats to scout the third and last big set. The top was straight forward. The only problem was the big ass hole at the bottom. The clean run was to stay tight between the left wall and the big rooster tail at the hole. Stephanie, Jeff, and Bryan decided to walk around. Andrew, Boydo, and Cale each had a clean run. I was still undecided as to what I was going to do. Luckily we caught up to a group that had a couple of open boaters. They all took the same run and made it clean and look easy.
I basically said I am either going to run it or swim it. I got into my boat and started heading down. My line was off. I hit the hole dead on. I almost made it through to the bottom. I did not have enough speed and I think I paused and stopped paddling for a few seconds. Bad mistake. I ended up catching air as I was literally starting to spiral my boat as I was going down river. I think it was a bad attempt at trying to do a helix or something to that effect. Bryan was taking pictures of me with my camera. They looked cool on the screen but were slightly out of focus but you could still see me before I swam. Boydo went after my boat and brought it back up. I asked Cale if I could run it again. I carried the boat back up. Took the exact same line but kept on paddling. The boat took on lots of water (mental note: pump) but I paddled it all the way to shore. I was happy that I decided to run it again and made it down.
After that it was a short paddle to the takeout. I personally had a great day and I am glad that I made the trip over. The good thing is that both Cale and Stephanie said I would have no problem running the Highway 7 Beaver Creek run. I might have to walk one fo the rapids but I should be good to go for the rest of them. Well we shall see about that tomorrow.
I would like to thank Cale and Stephanie for letting me tag along. Same goes to the others in the group. I really enjoyed myself.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Link to pictures
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Lower Head River
01-Apr-2007
Water Level: 8.92 on Washago Black gauge
Well today was a stellar day. This was my first trip on the Lower Head after ice out.
Everyone made sure they stopped in at Timmy Who's to get permission to use the put in across the road. I pre-ordered my fruit tarts for desert at home.
There were three different groups of paddlers that showed up at the same time. Alot of the paddlers had never been there before.
The fleet consisted of 13 boats in total 5 kayakers, 5 OC1 ... 6 if you count Dan's After shock, 1 OC2, and Martin in is Shaggy C1.
Martin, Ozzie, and Gilles in group 1.
Maureen, Janice, Jim, Peter, and Mark in group 2.
Derek, Neal, Dan, Louis, Walt (I think), and myself.
The weather was overcast and of course it always rains at the putin and takeout. The level was probably the highest I ever paddled it. There was lots of play and fun.
Dan knows this is going to be posted so here goes for his stellar move of the day. He was carrying back up on river left of the second chute below Husky Rapids. All of a sudden you her a big crash into the water. It was Dan's boat without Dan. Turns out a tree branch supposedly got him in the eye. I was laughing and taking pictures of his empty boat running down the river by itself. He eveventually jumped in to swim for it (luckily he has a full drysuit) and only after making sure I had enough pics ... I chased down river after his boat.
There were a couple of other swimmers but at least they were paddling in their boats at the time and it doesn't really count as nobody took any pictures of them.
There were ice shelves at triple drop. Everyone made it down rightside up.
Dan's other stellar move was at the bottom of triple drop. He was trying to get out of his boat and ended up swimming. Before he said don't take a pick .... too late ... and then the next words out of his mouth were I guess your posting that on the BoatWerks as well .... yep.
Everyone agreed they had a great day. It would have been nice to have a little bit of sunshine but hey we were out paddling.
Everyone stopped in at Timmy Who's on the way out to buy goodies and gifts.
Link to pictures
Water Level: 8.92 on Washago Black gauge
Well today was a stellar day. This was my first trip on the Lower Head after ice out.
Everyone made sure they stopped in at Timmy Who's to get permission to use the put in across the road. I pre-ordered my fruit tarts for desert at home.
There were three different groups of paddlers that showed up at the same time. Alot of the paddlers had never been there before.
The fleet consisted of 13 boats in total 5 kayakers, 5 OC1 ... 6 if you count Dan's After shock, 1 OC2, and Martin in is Shaggy C1.
Martin, Ozzie, and Gilles in group 1.
Maureen, Janice, Jim, Peter, and Mark in group 2.
Derek, Neal, Dan, Louis, Walt (I think), and myself.
The weather was overcast and of course it always rains at the putin and takeout. The level was probably the highest I ever paddled it. There was lots of play and fun.
Dan knows this is going to be posted so here goes for his stellar move of the day. He was carrying back up on river left of the second chute below Husky Rapids. All of a sudden you her a big crash into the water. It was Dan's boat without Dan. Turns out a tree branch supposedly got him in the eye. I was laughing and taking pictures of his empty boat running down the river by itself. He eveventually jumped in to swim for it (luckily he has a full drysuit) and only after making sure I had enough pics ... I chased down river after his boat.
There were a couple of other swimmers but at least they were paddling in their boats at the time and it doesn't really count as nobody took any pictures of them.
There were ice shelves at triple drop. Everyone made it down rightside up.
Dan's other stellar move was at the bottom of triple drop. He was trying to get out of his boat and ended up swimming. Before he said don't take a pick .... too late ... and then the next words out of his mouth were I guess your posting that on the BoatWerks as well .... yep.
Everyone agreed they had a great day. It would have been nice to have a little bit of sunshine but hey we were out paddling.
Everyone stopped in at Timmy Who's on the way out to buy goodies and gifts.
Link to pictures
49th Credit River Downriver Race
Saturday 31-March-2007
I went down to Toronto today and volunteered as a safety boater for th 49th annual Credit River Downriver race.
I met lots of old friends and a whole bunch of new.
I had to do two runs of the river. The first was for a safety check for hazards and the second for the race itself.
Someone even managed to take a pic of me.
Link to pictures
I went down to Toronto today and volunteered as a safety boater for th 49th annual Credit River Downriver race.
I met lots of old friends and a whole bunch of new.
I had to do two runs of the river. The first was for a safety check for hazards and the second for the race itself.
Someone even managed to take a pic of me.
Link to pictures
Road Trip to Gull River
Friday 30-March-2007
It was a really nice day and and after hearing about how low the Gull River in Minden, Ontario it was time for a road trip to take pictures.
I could not believe how super low it was. You could basically walk across the river.
My brother-in-law Chuck came for the ride. He basically laughed and said you paddle in that. I had to show him where the real water line normally is.
This is looking up towards the dam
Further down river looking up towards the dam
Looking up towards the falls (which are way up at the top)
Look down towards the drop at the foot bridge
Lookup up towards pinning rock and tghe foot bridge.
All I can say is the river is frickin low. This is what happens when you have a lousy winter with no snow base. They are not releasing any water from any of the dams up above.
It was a really nice day and and after hearing about how low the Gull River in Minden, Ontario it was time for a road trip to take pictures.
I could not believe how super low it was. You could basically walk across the river.
My brother-in-law Chuck came for the ride. He basically laughed and said you paddle in that. I had to show him where the real water line normally is.
This is looking up towards the dam
Further down river looking up towards the dam
Looking up towards the falls (which are way up at the top)
Look down towards the drop at the foot bridge
Lookup up towards pinning rock and tghe foot bridge.
All I can say is the river is frickin low. This is what happens when you have a lousy winter with no snow base. They are not releasing any water from any of the dams up above.
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