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
