23/24-Jun-2007
Water Level: Both days 8 ¾ according to visual on gauge.
Well I crawled out of a nice warm bed at 05:00 at my dads place. After all I was a bad boy the night before and did not file my previous trip report. I spent about 2 hours uploading the pics and doing the write up.
After that it was what do I have to do now. Oh yeah get groceries, fill Jenny’s propane tank, take pictures of my step-moms quilts and wait for Ryan to show up from North Bay.
So Ryan finally showed up. We headed down to the lovely town of Beachburg and made a quick stop to drop off the propane tank. After that is was off to the putin. I dropped my girlfriend off and told her to let Neil and Val know that were we doing the shuttle just incase they showed up early.
Today was a big group of paddlers. Hopefully I have the names right … let me know if I goofed up or not.
There was the standard, Neil, Ryan, Val, my girlfriend and I.
We met James and Tim from Montreal in the parking lot. They decided to chow down in the parking lot and hook up with us later,
We also met Joe who I paddled with one Friday. Luckily he did show up as I left some of my crap in his car the day before.
Along the way we met John, Marty, and another girl kayaker (sorry forgot your name).
Ok back to the fun stuff. Today would definitely be an interesting day as Neil and Ryan have never been to the Ottawa before and this would be the biggest white water they have each paddle to date. Neil looked real excited and I am pretty sure Ryan had the oh crap you want me to go through that look on his face. I told Ryan he was going down it whether he swam it or not it did not matter as it would be fun.
Neil and Ryan went first. They clipped the left side of Satlers. Neil made it down find but Ryan ended up going for the swim but at this level there were really no consequences. Joe and Val went next. As usual Joe had no problems. Val went upside down but he made it back up without swimming. I was the last to go as I the photo guy. I decide to run right side Phils. It looked more open boat friendly. I punched through it no problem at all which was way better than what I did yesterday.
We met up Jess, Steve, and Geoff at the bottom of McKoys.
We headed down river to check out the gauge and on to Iron Ring. Jess and Geoff went over and ran little trickle. We took their newbie Steve with us to walk around Iron Ring. Neil said it looked fine to run until I pointed out the big eddy lines, boils, and whirlpools. After about a 20 minute discussion on the pros/cons he decided to walk it. I think this is where James and Tim met up with us.
We putin just below the nasty part of Iron Ring and ran down to S-Bend hole for some fun surfing in the sun. There were some good side surfing action from the open boaters and some swims by a few of us. Poor Steve ended up pearling bigtime and all your heard was crunch and over for the big swim.
After that we headed down Butterfly and paddled back up to Angels Kiss. Man that place was busy. We hung out there for a while. I managed to take some great shots of the gang surfing up a storm. Jess and Joe went in without paddles. Jess wanted me to get some of her hand surfing and I told her the best shot I got of her was when she was hand surfing upsidedown … lol. More and more people started to show up and we just headed down river. This was when we met John and Marty.
We paddled down to Garvins and walked around the WT lunch spot path. Some of the kayakers were thinking about running the left chute. It looked a bit more scarier than yesterday as what was once a wall you could push off the day before was now an under cut. John decided to run down. He was doing pretty good at the top but was getting concerned about the undercut that he ran into a big a$$ hole and got really worked for a real long time before he went for the swimming for distance award. After John’s workout the other people contemplating running it went … uh …. No and did the same walk I did.
We then headed down through Upper NoName. It was a really big fun wave train with a smattering of holes. And then off to scout Lower NoName which is one the rapids I really hate as I get nailed by Vampire every frickin time. We spent some time scouting from both river left and right. I know Ryan took the sneak route. Joe did the big juicy run and I did not see where Val and the rest went. Neil and decided to try the river right run. He made it through fine. I managed to be out of my boat before Vampire. My paddle was ripped out of my hand. I had to push my boat way ahead of me as we were going into the hole together. I grabbed my boat and gave her a big hug and held on until the big swimming for distance award was over. After that Neil did a canoe over canoe and I got back into the boat. I thought I blew one of my pumps as it wasn’t working but it turned out to be nothing as a few minutes later it started fine.
After that it was a float through Black Velvet and onto the takeout. We really had to get our buts in gear as some people had to hit the beer store before it closed. Neil said the guy was literally locking the front door but let him in. We setup camp and wait for Jess and gang to come down and meet us. Geoff had to take off but Alex finally showed up. Ryan gave Neil and me our ugly shirts and all I can say is UGLY. We crammed everyone into Jess truck to head over to Jenny’s BDay Ugly Shirt Party.
I ended up taking one for the team and being the designated driver. After the introductions were over, ugly shirt presented to Jenny, and the BBQ was going … I decided to have my two drinks now. Even though I look like a beer drinker I am not. I prefer girly drinks. Jenny made me a couple of really good strawberry daquiris and they went down smooth. After dinner it was hang around the campfire with Jenny and her friends from work. They did a rafting trip with WT. I definitely had the ugliest shirt thanks to Ryan. I am waiting for a copy of the pic that Jenny took. There is no way to verbally describe the shirt.
Ok so at this point the names have been changed to protect the innocent … hee hee hee …
There were various people taking turns with the guitar and singing. The best entertainment of the night had to be when Brent Cooper showed up shortly followed by Cory. Coop is by far one of the most interesting paddler that anyone could ever meet. Cory resembled the carrot top guy with his big fluffy head and looks. It ended up being the Coop and Cory joke fest for a very long time. I almost wet my pants laughing so hard. Sometime during the night there were smores made over the fire, lots of bottled beverage consumed, as well as great BBQ and pizza.
Neil … I mean Joe passed out sitting upright in his chair. I know Jenny’s friends were looking for the sharpie mark but good not find it. I could only manage what they would have drawn on him. It was quite interesting how Joe never spilled anything from his can of beer. Val actually took it out of his hand and put it back a few times and he didn’t even flinch.
By this time it was real late and our regular crew wanted to be on the water by 8am. I think it was about 1:30AM by the time we got back to the camp ground. I was wiped. I basically crashed. You knew it was time to get up when you heard the after burners of Neils dragonfly stove wind up. All I could think was holy crap am I tired. I still had my head cold from Friday. We managed to eat some stuff for breakfast but we all looked like crap and moving slow. We managed to get most of our stuff packed before it started raining for a little bit.
We actually made it on the water by 8:30 which is way better than expected. I can honestly say I was probably the whiner of the group for the day. I felt like crap. I am sure I coughed up half my lung into the Ottawa River today. I decided not to bring the camera today as I knew it would be a quick run through.
I decided that I did not feel like doing Phils today. I ran the right chute that leads down to Dale Curtis house. (Jenny just told me it was called Initiation). I was doing fine until the rock wall got real close to my boat and I decided to lean a bit to avoid it and then I got munched by the hole. My paddled got ripped out of my hand. I managed to grab my boat and haul it to shore. Neil, Ryan and Val went and ran Phil’s. Ryans claim to fame for today was side surfing in Phils for about 20 – 30 seconds and then he went upside down. Val though Ryan was already flushed down river when he realized that he was till in his boat after it got flushed off. Way to go Ryan. Ryan is now ready for GatFest! We spent 10 minutes looking for my paddle. Luckily we open boater always carry a spare. I finally found it down by Keeners cabins. Luckily I had the reflective red safety tape on it as the water was smooth as glass and if it wasn’t for the sun shining on it I would have lost it until returned later (always write your name and number on your stuff). I paddled back up and spoke to Dale for a couple of minutes before heading down river.
We floated down to Iron Ring. I tell you everyone was tired. We walked around Iron Ring. Played at S-Bend for a bit and ran Butteryfly. I end up doing two canoe over canoe rescues today. One for Neil and One for Ryan. After that we paddled up to Angels Kiss for a little while before heading down for the walk around Garvins.
I booted down Upper NoName. I decided not to temp fate as Vampire was 3 versus Colin 0 for this year. I ran the right hand chute around the island. It was fun at the top followed by trashy holes at the bottom but at least I stayed in my boat. Neil and gang ran Lower NoName. I think Ryan did the sneak route and the other two ran the big stuff.
After that Ryan and I headed down river as we were wipe. He took me up to the top to get my car. Val and Neil were heading up river to Farmer Blacks. I gave them a ride up to the top afterward.
Goodbyes were said. I headed off to Jenny’s to get my cooler and chair. After that is was the long drive back to Stroud. I think this head cold is doing me in. I had to stop for a 10 minute power snooze before Barrys Bay. I ended up passed out on top of my tent fly on the ground at a rest just before Kinmount. I passed out for 30 minutes. I could have been raped and mugged and would not have known it. It took me six hours to get home. I can honestly say this is the worst I have felt in a long time. My car pool buddy was sick last week and the bugger passed it on to me.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Link to pictures
Monday, June 25, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Ottawa River
22-Jun-2007
Water Level: Just below 8 and dropping according to visual on gauge.
Well today was a great day for paddling. The weather was slightly overcast but warm. I only needed my polypro and short semi dry top.
Hopefully I have the names right … let me know if I goofed up or not.
I met up with Joe Stubbs at the Mckoys putin just before 10:30. This would have been the first time we actually met and paddled together. My daughter thinks it is weird for me to meet people online and paddle with them as she thinks I may get abducted or something along that line. It seems that we never practice what we preach as we tell our kids to be careful with their online encounters. All I can say is thank you BoatWerks for allowing me to meet so many new friendly people to paddle with!
I dropped my girlfriend off at the river and we did the shuttle.
Shortly after doing the shuttle Skippy (aka Janice) showed up. She apparently was the one that passed me in Eganville on the way up while I was getting some stuff at the Freshmart. It turns out the Gary, Milton, and herself were also running the middle channel today and they would most likely catch up to us at Angels Kiss.
Joe had never paddled with an open boater before. I guess he was a little bit concerned when he asked the question of how/what to do if I ended up swimming. I basically told him not to worry too much and as long as I am floating down the river I am ok and my girlfriend knows how to go down by herself just nicely.
We paddled down to McKoys and just ran it without scouting. I was off my line to the right by quite a bit. I managed to hit the meat of Phil’s dead on and ended up swimming down to the island where Leftside would normally be at lower water. I jumped on top of my boat during my refreshing swim. Hey it would not be a day on the river if I didn’t swim at least once. (note: make Ryan go down this for confidence booster … hee hee hee).
After that we paddled down at looked at the gauge. It was just under 8.
We headed down to Little Trickle. This was the first time I had ever been their. I took some pics. Janice and gang showed up. We all watched Joe run Little Trickle. After that they decided to head back over to Iron Ring. Janice told me she walked Iron Ring while the other ran it but she ran the rest of the set. I opted to walk around Little Trickle as there was not enough water for me and my girlfriend to make it down safetly.
I met up a little while later with Joe at Angels Kiss. There were already some others there playing. I hopped out and started taking pictures of everyone. I managed to get some surfs in. It was harder for me to get on the wave due to the angle I had to set my boat up with in order to ferry over to the middle. I managed to get quite a few jet ferries in and was catching eddys pretty good by that point in time.
Janice and her crew showed up a little while later. They paddled up from Butterfly. She said it was a bit trashy. I took some great shots of her and the gang. I even managed to get one of her smiling as she always has this deep in though look on her face.
I was getting some nice side surfing action in when Farmer Dave and his friend Jeremy showed up. Dave said my side surf looked good. After a high five they jumped onto the wave. I ended up doing another side surf and got window shaded. Apparently Dave asked Joe do we go and get him or is he ok? Dave figured that by the time he got to me I would have already made it to shore as he know I can swim towing my boat to shore pretty quickly. I am a very strong white water swimmer and have lots of practice with self rescue.
I paddled back up as was talking to Dave in the eddy. I was quite surprised to find out he actually has had the same girlfriend for two years and apparently she is a real person as opposed to my girlfriend. He said lets have a race to see who can jump on the wave first. I said sure. He said ok … starting … now as he grabs my boat and pushed it back while he took off. I wasn’t worried as my boat has lots of hull speed when I pour on the power. He got on the wave just before I did. I jumped on and headed over to where he was. We played bumper boats for a bit when the little bugger decided to gunwale grab me to make me window shade me and I have witnesses on shore who will vouch for me. I got back into my boat after my lovely refreshing swim and poured on the power. I jumped back onto the wave, ferried over, and did a big side surf bumper boats. All I heard from Dave was oh $h1t and I pushed him off the wave …. Wooo hoo … score 1 to 1!
Dave and Jeremy headed down river. It was nice to see a C1 dude show up as I thought I was the token single blader on the river.
After that we all headed down to Garvins. Janice and I walked around the left. I took pics of Joe, Gary, and Milton running the river left chute. All I can say was technical bump and grind but they did very well. After that we never saw Janice and gang the rest of the day.
Joe and I headed down to Upper No-Name. All I can say is woo hoo big a$$ wave train on the left. Lower No-Name was fun. We got out to take a quick look and all I can say is holy crap. We headed down river. I made it through all the big stuff at the top. I was too far to the right when I hit the last big hole at the wrong angle. I ended up getting stern squirted. I managed to throw all my body weight forward which brought the front of the boat down. I started paddling as hard as I could to try and get out of the hole (god I hope Ryan isn’t reading this yet) and got sucked back in and then boom … window shade. I grabbed onto my boat and went for my real second swim of the day. I turned my boat right side up. Joe came by and He held onto my boat and I jumped back into while floating down the river. I paddled it back to shore backward to empty out the water.
After that it was a float through Black Velvet and onto the takeout.
All I can say is I had a great day on the river. My confidence level is getting better when attempting to run the big stuff. Joe was glad he was able to make it and will be coming out with the gang on Saturday.
I only posted a few of the pictures I took today. I can provide a DVD with all of them on it. Just send me your snail mail address.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Click here for pictures
Water Level: Just below 8 and dropping according to visual on gauge.
Well today was a great day for paddling. The weather was slightly overcast but warm. I only needed my polypro and short semi dry top.
Hopefully I have the names right … let me know if I goofed up or not.
I met up with Joe Stubbs at the Mckoys putin just before 10:30. This would have been the first time we actually met and paddled together. My daughter thinks it is weird for me to meet people online and paddle with them as she thinks I may get abducted or something along that line. It seems that we never practice what we preach as we tell our kids to be careful with their online encounters. All I can say is thank you BoatWerks for allowing me to meet so many new friendly people to paddle with!
I dropped my girlfriend off at the river and we did the shuttle.
Shortly after doing the shuttle Skippy (aka Janice) showed up. She apparently was the one that passed me in Eganville on the way up while I was getting some stuff at the Freshmart. It turns out the Gary, Milton, and herself were also running the middle channel today and they would most likely catch up to us at Angels Kiss.
Joe had never paddled with an open boater before. I guess he was a little bit concerned when he asked the question of how/what to do if I ended up swimming. I basically told him not to worry too much and as long as I am floating down the river I am ok and my girlfriend knows how to go down by herself just nicely.
We paddled down to McKoys and just ran it without scouting. I was off my line to the right by quite a bit. I managed to hit the meat of Phil’s dead on and ended up swimming down to the island where Leftside would normally be at lower water. I jumped on top of my boat during my refreshing swim. Hey it would not be a day on the river if I didn’t swim at least once. (note: make Ryan go down this for confidence booster … hee hee hee).
After that we paddled down at looked at the gauge. It was just under 8.
We headed down to Little Trickle. This was the first time I had ever been their. I took some pics. Janice and gang showed up. We all watched Joe run Little Trickle. After that they decided to head back over to Iron Ring. Janice told me she walked Iron Ring while the other ran it but she ran the rest of the set. I opted to walk around Little Trickle as there was not enough water for me and my girlfriend to make it down safetly.
I met up a little while later with Joe at Angels Kiss. There were already some others there playing. I hopped out and started taking pictures of everyone. I managed to get some surfs in. It was harder for me to get on the wave due to the angle I had to set my boat up with in order to ferry over to the middle. I managed to get quite a few jet ferries in and was catching eddys pretty good by that point in time.
Janice and her crew showed up a little while later. They paddled up from Butterfly. She said it was a bit trashy. I took some great shots of her and the gang. I even managed to get one of her smiling as she always has this deep in though look on her face.
I was getting some nice side surfing action in when Farmer Dave and his friend Jeremy showed up. Dave said my side surf looked good. After a high five they jumped onto the wave. I ended up doing another side surf and got window shaded. Apparently Dave asked Joe do we go and get him or is he ok? Dave figured that by the time he got to me I would have already made it to shore as he know I can swim towing my boat to shore pretty quickly. I am a very strong white water swimmer and have lots of practice with self rescue.
I paddled back up as was talking to Dave in the eddy. I was quite surprised to find out he actually has had the same girlfriend for two years and apparently she is a real person as opposed to my girlfriend. He said lets have a race to see who can jump on the wave first. I said sure. He said ok … starting … now as he grabs my boat and pushed it back while he took off. I wasn’t worried as my boat has lots of hull speed when I pour on the power. He got on the wave just before I did. I jumped on and headed over to where he was. We played bumper boats for a bit when the little bugger decided to gunwale grab me to make me window shade me and I have witnesses on shore who will vouch for me. I got back into my boat after my lovely refreshing swim and poured on the power. I jumped back onto the wave, ferried over, and did a big side surf bumper boats. All I heard from Dave was oh $h1t and I pushed him off the wave …. Wooo hoo … score 1 to 1!
Dave and Jeremy headed down river. It was nice to see a C1 dude show up as I thought I was the token single blader on the river.
After that we all headed down to Garvins. Janice and I walked around the left. I took pics of Joe, Gary, and Milton running the river left chute. All I can say was technical bump and grind but they did very well. After that we never saw Janice and gang the rest of the day.
Joe and I headed down to Upper No-Name. All I can say is woo hoo big a$$ wave train on the left. Lower No-Name was fun. We got out to take a quick look and all I can say is holy crap. We headed down river. I made it through all the big stuff at the top. I was too far to the right when I hit the last big hole at the wrong angle. I ended up getting stern squirted. I managed to throw all my body weight forward which brought the front of the boat down. I started paddling as hard as I could to try and get out of the hole (god I hope Ryan isn’t reading this yet) and got sucked back in and then boom … window shade. I grabbed onto my boat and went for my real second swim of the day. I turned my boat right side up. Joe came by and He held onto my boat and I jumped back into while floating down the river. I paddled it back to shore backward to empty out the water.
After that it was a float through Black Velvet and onto the takeout.
All I can say is I had a great day on the river. My confidence level is getting better when attempting to run the big stuff. Joe was glad he was able to make it and will be coming out with the gang on Saturday.
I only posted a few of the pictures I took today. I can provide a DVD with all of them on it. Just send me your snail mail address.
I will leave the pictures up for a couple of weeks.
Click here for pictures
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Post Palmerfest / Lower Madawaska River Weekend
16/17 June 2007
Water Level: 93ish
Saturday:
The weather was gorgeous.
This is a combined two day trip report from the Post Palmerfest and the run down Lower Madawaska river.
So lets get the info straight. Yes I did not have my throw bag Saturday morning and yes I did not wear my PFD on part of the Lower Mad flat water paddle. There. Its done … get over it.
Ok where do we start. Oh yes … the participants for the Saturday portion of the Post Palmerfest Paddling weekend was Neil and his younger brother Noel (first day in white water), Stylz, Dan, Greg, My girlfriend and I.
I finally got my butt up to Palmer around 11:30ish. I was on my way across from Bancroft where I ended up getting delayed by a OPP Ride Program check at the intersection where you would go to the Pancake House on the way to Hass Hole. There had to be at least eight cop cars there. I guess they must have been cracking down on the locals as this was just before lunch time and not a donut shop in site.
I met up with the gang at the chutes. The place was not as busy as the previous weekend. There were a few courses going on. We played around a lot before taking a run down river. I managed to unexpectly get some excellent side surfing in at the last hole and I did not even swim. I was busy setting up my tent while the others chowed down and partaked in lunch and a few various forms of bud related products.
After that it was back up to the chutes for more fun in the sun. I managed to take a few different boats out for some spins and had a blast. I also managed to test the new pump system in my boat. All I can say is thank you Geoff Kee and your right there is no going back. I like running all the juicy wet lines now … wooo hooo!
Dan and Neil teamed up for some tandem action. It was pretty amazing to watch them roll a tandem boat together and still paddle it to shore while totally submerged (see picture). After that the place just became a big boat swap. I tried Dan’s Zephy. I got about 3 feet from shore and said no frickin way …. Tooooooo tippy for me. I managed to try a Caption and a Mad River Canoe of some type. I had lots of fun considering the were big tandem boats and I was paddling from behind the middle thwart with now straps, etc. I swam once and Dan emptied my boat and I hopped back into in while in the river.
Greg, although he always looks so dam serious, looked like he was having fun. I think everyone I saw today had big smiles on their faces.
Scotty B put on a good show while executing some loops in his kayak (I will make you guys up a DVD email me your snail mail address).
It was getting late in the day. Dan and Greg already bailed on us. Greg even remember to take his Guiness out of Neil’s cooler (Neil looked like a sad puppy dog as he was looking forward to it). Before heading down we all took runs down the river right top chute. I was getting some excellent air and ran it four times. After that is was our final run down the river for diner.
The fire was started and hot dogs were roasted. Some of us had key lime pie for dessert. Out of the blue this little girl comes up to us with a container of cooked sausages. They were leftovers. All I can say is they were frickin awesome. They got them at “Royal Meat Products” in Mississauga (905) 279-3261. I have to check out that place some day at lunch. I also spent time during dinner transferring todays pictures onto my laptop. It was a slow day only 330ish pictures were taken.
During the evening festivities I played a slideshow of todays pictures and the best 500 pictures out of all the ones I took at worlds. People seemed to enjoy them. During the slide show this real big guy comes up to me and says “Are you Colin”. All I could think of was uh oh I am going to get the crap kicked out of me. But as it turns out it was another Val and his friend Ivan. They wanted to run the Lower Mad with us on Sunday and we said sure the more the merrier. We did however warn them about the take out road and the 4km flatwater paddle from the putin to the first set of rapids at Hass Hole.
I crashed around 10ish after a long day.
Sunday Lower Madawaska River:
I managed to sleep in until 06:30 which is an extra two hours for me. I waited for Neil and the gang to start moving. I decided to have breakfast in town with the standard “Number 5”. We started to break down camp after breakfast as we still had to wait for Val and his faithful sidekick Tonto to show up. Val was on a work release program from the “Fun Sherriff” for the day.
So todays participants were Neil and his younger brother Noel (first day in white water), Stylz, Dan, Greg, Val R, Val number 2, Ivan, My girlfriend and I. I piled all my crap into the back of Neils truck (I refuse to take my POS car down the logging roads as I would ground out). Unfortunately my girlfriend had to ride up top as there was no room in the vehicle (in case you have not figured it out yet my girlfriend is my boat). We all headed down to the putin. The putin road is way better than it used to be. It is actually quite nice with the new culverts and grading of the road. You just have to be careful dodging the cutup logs that are all over the place. It looks like there was another storm and someone was busy unblocking the roads.
Ivan and I headed down river once most of the boats were taken down to the shoreline. It took us about an hour to do the 4 KM paddle down to Hass Hole. I jumped out and started taking pictures of Ivan. We met up with the Outward Bound Instructors group. All I can say is open boat carnage, I took lots of pictures of that and will try and post them later on.
The rest of the gang finally showed up. We spent some time playing around and it was a blast. I took the wet juicy line right through Hass. It was a blast. Most of us started heading down river. I asked Neil if he told Val that we were leaving (nope). We looked way up river and all we can see is Val hopping into another boat. It turned out that Thom had a Fluid Nemesis with him and Val could not turn down a free ride in a new boat. We waited and waited and waited and finally I paddled back up to get him. I decided to see if I could get on the first wave. It looked pretty steep. I turned the pumps on, slide on, and immediately slide right down the foam pile and the first six feet of my boat were submerged and all I could see when I looked back was water gushing out of the boat via the pumps. I managed to slide back up and off the wave. It was definitely interest fun.
I forget what happened the rest of the day. I know we got some good runs in at Rifle Chute (I took the juicy wet line and got some air). Neil and Noel took a run down and got nailed at the hole. Neil was quite used to having to roll up the tandem boat after Noel went for a swim. He managed to do roll the boat back up while going through the hole upside down.
I also managed to catch a nice eddy on the way down of some other rapid, peel out and do a semi jet ferry peel in to the other side ( Greg see the cross forward stroke in the picture … no changing of hands) before peeling back onto a big wave and heading down through the hole. Neil was taking pictures of me and told me to try and surf the hole. I got on it a bit before peeling off. I also had to rescue Stylz boat after she tried to get on and surf the hole as well. It was the first time in a long time where I had to do a canoe over canoe rescue while floating down in the middle of the river. I towed her boat back to shore. Everyone saddle back up and head down river.
Val, Ivan, Val, and I took the river left route through can opener (or canoe eater) at raquette. Neil pointed out that the river right route was the chicken route. Well it turns out that it wasn’t and they realized that about half way down when Neil and Noel got semi-pinned.
After that is of off to the bug infested takeout … back to the Paddle Coop for final pack up and goodbyes.
I think everyone had a great run down the river.
I managed to get home around 8pm. I offloaded the car and started the trip report.
I will leave the pictures up for a few weeks.
Link to pictures at Palmer Rapids
Link to pictures at Lower Madawaska
Water Level: 93ish
Saturday:
The weather was gorgeous.
This is a combined two day trip report from the Post Palmerfest and the run down Lower Madawaska river.
So lets get the info straight. Yes I did not have my throw bag Saturday morning and yes I did not wear my PFD on part of the Lower Mad flat water paddle. There. Its done … get over it.
Ok where do we start. Oh yes … the participants for the Saturday portion of the Post Palmerfest Paddling weekend was Neil and his younger brother Noel (first day in white water), Stylz, Dan, Greg, My girlfriend and I.
I finally got my butt up to Palmer around 11:30ish. I was on my way across from Bancroft where I ended up getting delayed by a OPP Ride Program check at the intersection where you would go to the Pancake House on the way to Hass Hole. There had to be at least eight cop cars there. I guess they must have been cracking down on the locals as this was just before lunch time and not a donut shop in site.
I met up with the gang at the chutes. The place was not as busy as the previous weekend. There were a few courses going on. We played around a lot before taking a run down river. I managed to unexpectly get some excellent side surfing in at the last hole and I did not even swim. I was busy setting up my tent while the others chowed down and partaked in lunch and a few various forms of bud related products.
After that it was back up to the chutes for more fun in the sun. I managed to take a few different boats out for some spins and had a blast. I also managed to test the new pump system in my boat. All I can say is thank you Geoff Kee and your right there is no going back. I like running all the juicy wet lines now … wooo hooo!
Dan and Neil teamed up for some tandem action. It was pretty amazing to watch them roll a tandem boat together and still paddle it to shore while totally submerged (see picture). After that the place just became a big boat swap. I tried Dan’s Zephy. I got about 3 feet from shore and said no frickin way …. Tooooooo tippy for me. I managed to try a Caption and a Mad River Canoe of some type. I had lots of fun considering the were big tandem boats and I was paddling from behind the middle thwart with now straps, etc. I swam once and Dan emptied my boat and I hopped back into in while in the river.
Greg, although he always looks so dam serious, looked like he was having fun. I think everyone I saw today had big smiles on their faces.
Scotty B put on a good show while executing some loops in his kayak (I will make you guys up a DVD email me your snail mail address).
It was getting late in the day. Dan and Greg already bailed on us. Greg even remember to take his Guiness out of Neil’s cooler (Neil looked like a sad puppy dog as he was looking forward to it). Before heading down we all took runs down the river right top chute. I was getting some excellent air and ran it four times. After that is was our final run down the river for diner.
The fire was started and hot dogs were roasted. Some of us had key lime pie for dessert. Out of the blue this little girl comes up to us with a container of cooked sausages. They were leftovers. All I can say is they were frickin awesome. They got them at “Royal Meat Products” in Mississauga (905) 279-3261. I have to check out that place some day at lunch. I also spent time during dinner transferring todays pictures onto my laptop. It was a slow day only 330ish pictures were taken.
During the evening festivities I played a slideshow of todays pictures and the best 500 pictures out of all the ones I took at worlds. People seemed to enjoy them. During the slide show this real big guy comes up to me and says “Are you Colin”. All I could think of was uh oh I am going to get the crap kicked out of me. But as it turns out it was another Val and his friend Ivan. They wanted to run the Lower Mad with us on Sunday and we said sure the more the merrier. We did however warn them about the take out road and the 4km flatwater paddle from the putin to the first set of rapids at Hass Hole.
I crashed around 10ish after a long day.
Sunday Lower Madawaska River:
I managed to sleep in until 06:30 which is an extra two hours for me. I waited for Neil and the gang to start moving. I decided to have breakfast in town with the standard “Number 5”. We started to break down camp after breakfast as we still had to wait for Val and his faithful sidekick Tonto to show up. Val was on a work release program from the “Fun Sherriff” for the day.
So todays participants were Neil and his younger brother Noel (first day in white water), Stylz, Dan, Greg, Val R, Val number 2, Ivan, My girlfriend and I. I piled all my crap into the back of Neils truck (I refuse to take my POS car down the logging roads as I would ground out). Unfortunately my girlfriend had to ride up top as there was no room in the vehicle (in case you have not figured it out yet my girlfriend is my boat). We all headed down to the putin. The putin road is way better than it used to be. It is actually quite nice with the new culverts and grading of the road. You just have to be careful dodging the cutup logs that are all over the place. It looks like there was another storm and someone was busy unblocking the roads.
Ivan and I headed down river once most of the boats were taken down to the shoreline. It took us about an hour to do the 4 KM paddle down to Hass Hole. I jumped out and started taking pictures of Ivan. We met up with the Outward Bound Instructors group. All I can say is open boat carnage, I took lots of pictures of that and will try and post them later on.
The rest of the gang finally showed up. We spent some time playing around and it was a blast. I took the wet juicy line right through Hass. It was a blast. Most of us started heading down river. I asked Neil if he told Val that we were leaving (nope). We looked way up river and all we can see is Val hopping into another boat. It turned out that Thom had a Fluid Nemesis with him and Val could not turn down a free ride in a new boat. We waited and waited and waited and finally I paddled back up to get him. I decided to see if I could get on the first wave. It looked pretty steep. I turned the pumps on, slide on, and immediately slide right down the foam pile and the first six feet of my boat were submerged and all I could see when I looked back was water gushing out of the boat via the pumps. I managed to slide back up and off the wave. It was definitely interest fun.
I forget what happened the rest of the day. I know we got some good runs in at Rifle Chute (I took the juicy wet line and got some air). Neil and Noel took a run down and got nailed at the hole. Neil was quite used to having to roll up the tandem boat after Noel went for a swim. He managed to do roll the boat back up while going through the hole upside down.
I also managed to catch a nice eddy on the way down of some other rapid, peel out and do a semi jet ferry peel in to the other side ( Greg see the cross forward stroke in the picture … no changing of hands) before peeling back onto a big wave and heading down through the hole. Neil was taking pictures of me and told me to try and surf the hole. I got on it a bit before peeling off. I also had to rescue Stylz boat after she tried to get on and surf the hole as well. It was the first time in a long time where I had to do a canoe over canoe rescue while floating down in the middle of the river. I towed her boat back to shore. Everyone saddle back up and head down river.
Val, Ivan, Val, and I took the river left route through can opener (or canoe eater) at raquette. Neil pointed out that the river right route was the chicken route. Well it turns out that it wasn’t and they realized that about half way down when Neil and Noel got semi-pinned.
After that is of off to the bug infested takeout … back to the Paddle Coop for final pack up and goodbyes.
I think everyone had a great run down the river.
I managed to get home around 8pm. I offloaded the car and started the trip report.
I will leave the pictures up for a few weeks.
Link to pictures at Palmer Rapids
Link to pictures at Lower Madawaska
Thursday, June 14, 2007
I finally got my pumps installed into my boat
Well ... it's finally done.
It took me six hours over three days.
I went from this:
to this:
which pumps water out of my boat like this:
I will be doing a full functional test at Palmer Rapids this weekend.
I can't wait for the fun to begin. Now I won't have to pull over as much and empty my boat.
It took me six hours over three days.
I went from this:
to this:
which pumps water out of my boat like this:
I will be doing a full functional test at Palmer Rapids this weekend.
I can't wait for the fun to begin. Now I won't have to pull over as much and empty my boat.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Palmer Rapids - Slalom Race
09-10 June 2007
Water Level: 90 – 100ish
Saturday:
The weather was gorgeous.
This is a combined two day trip report from paddling at Palmer Rapids this weekend.
I haven’t paddled since Palmerfest. I have been in a really do nothing mode. I did not feel like going out this weekend. I decided to put my girlfriend on the car Friday night just incase we decided to do a road trip. I always have my paddle and camping stuff ready to go. I set the alarm for 6am which is sleeping in for me. I basically rolled back over and went to sleep when the alarm went off. I got out of bed at 8am and puttered around a bit. I decided what the hell … road trip to Palmer Rapids … lets go and we were off at 9am.
We rolled into Palmer around 12ish. I ran into Al, Gail and Steward. I was still not motivated to paddle as it took me about 45 minutes to actually get my girlfriend off the car and suited up.
Well I must say I had fun on Saturday. The place was packed with various boats (mostly open boats). There were lots of different courses going on in between all the recreation and slalom paddlers.
I managed to get a lot of sweet surfs at the bottom of the left chute. I also had to chase a couple of open boats down the river and push them to shore. I even had to push a big open boat off a rock that it was stuck on. I was in a Esquif Caption at the time doing a test drive. I took about a 40 foot run right at the pinned boat and knocked it off and followed it down the river until it met its owner.
All and all I had a blast and I am glad I got my sorry butt out of bed to paddle.
I took lots of random pictures (around 76) of people and they can be found at:
Palmer Rapids
I decided at the end of the day I would head over to Petawawa and visit my dad and step-mom.
Sunday:
The weather was still gorgeous. I had to stop on the side of the road and help a huge turtle across the road. I had to stop traffic until he finally made it across to the other side. I didn’t want to see him or her get flattened.
I opted dropped the shorty top and just had on shorts and a polypro top. Today was the slalom race. I played around at the top chutes for a while and then headed down river to take pictures of the slalom race. I had a primo spot all to myself. I took over 500 pictures of the race.
After lunch I headed for a run down the river and went back up to the chutes. All I can say is whoo hoo … had lots of fun.
I had to post the pictures in two batches. I have them ordered by bib number:
Palmer Rapids Slalom Race Part1
Palmer Rapids Slalom Race Part2
It was nice to see all the people that I have met over the years. It is nice to be part of a friendly extended family.
Water Level: 90 – 100ish
Saturday:
The weather was gorgeous.
This is a combined two day trip report from paddling at Palmer Rapids this weekend.
I haven’t paddled since Palmerfest. I have been in a really do nothing mode. I did not feel like going out this weekend. I decided to put my girlfriend on the car Friday night just incase we decided to do a road trip. I always have my paddle and camping stuff ready to go. I set the alarm for 6am which is sleeping in for me. I basically rolled back over and went to sleep when the alarm went off. I got out of bed at 8am and puttered around a bit. I decided what the hell … road trip to Palmer Rapids … lets go and we were off at 9am.
We rolled into Palmer around 12ish. I ran into Al, Gail and Steward. I was still not motivated to paddle as it took me about 45 minutes to actually get my girlfriend off the car and suited up.
Well I must say I had fun on Saturday. The place was packed with various boats (mostly open boats). There were lots of different courses going on in between all the recreation and slalom paddlers.
I managed to get a lot of sweet surfs at the bottom of the left chute. I also had to chase a couple of open boats down the river and push them to shore. I even had to push a big open boat off a rock that it was stuck on. I was in a Esquif Caption at the time doing a test drive. I took about a 40 foot run right at the pinned boat and knocked it off and followed it down the river until it met its owner.
All and all I had a blast and I am glad I got my sorry butt out of bed to paddle.
I took lots of random pictures (around 76) of people and they can be found at:
Palmer Rapids
I decided at the end of the day I would head over to Petawawa and visit my dad and step-mom.
Sunday:
The weather was still gorgeous. I had to stop on the side of the road and help a huge turtle across the road. I had to stop traffic until he finally made it across to the other side. I didn’t want to see him or her get flattened.
I opted dropped the shorty top and just had on shorts and a polypro top. Today was the slalom race. I played around at the top chutes for a while and then headed down river to take pictures of the slalom race. I had a primo spot all to myself. I took over 500 pictures of the race.
After lunch I headed for a run down the river and went back up to the chutes. All I can say is whoo hoo … had lots of fun.
I had to post the pictures in two batches. I have them ordered by bib number:
Palmer Rapids Slalom Race Part1
Palmer Rapids Slalom Race Part2
It was nice to see all the people that I have met over the years. It is nice to be part of a friendly extended family.
Petawawa River Town Run
09-Jun-2007
Online Gauge: 3.25
No I did not run the river but it is at spring levels.
I was going to go down to the Catwalk for surfing after spending the afternoon paddling at Palmer Rapids and changed my mind when I saw the level.
I took a whole bunch of pictures. It was pretty neat to see it at this level without the snow and ice.
I will leave the pictures up for a few weeks.
Click here for the pictures
Petawawa River Town Run
Online Gauge: 3.25
No I did not run the river but it is at spring levels.
I was going to go down to the Catwalk for surfing after spending the afternoon paddling at Palmer Rapids and changed my mind when I saw the level.
I took a whole bunch of pictures. It was pretty neat to see it at this level without the snow and ice.
I will leave the pictures up for a few weeks.
Click here for the pictures
Petawawa River Town Run
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