Friday 27-Jul-2007:
I finally decided after two years of saying I have to stop and take some pictures of the gorgeous rocks at the river left bend near the take to just do it. I paddled up from the takeout and spent 2.5 hours taking pictures of all the really cool contrasting rocks.
Later that night I had dinner at the folks. Picked up the Aaron (Baby Padre) and headed off to Jenny’s for a bonfire, drinks, and marshmallows with Billy and Jeremy.
We had to wait a bit for the fire as Jeremy was in the process of taping Jenny’s squirt boat back together so they could do a float test down at the river. Jenny decided she needed to lose some volume out of her squirt boat and Jeremy is the king of all things fiber glass.
After good eats and drinks is was getting late and we had to part ways as most of us had early morning ahead of us.
Saturday 28-Jul-2007: Water Level: 1.75
I arrived at the putin at 11am. I dragged the girlfriend off the car down to the water to get her ready. There were a few people that recognized my paddling shirt and girlfriend and asked me if I was me. Gonzo was down at the water float testing his 9th boat as he just recently outfitted it. I took some pics of him so he could re-adjust things accordingly.
I went up top to see if Ryan showed up so we could do the shuttle before Neil and AnnaLisa showed up. Turns out Princess Leah and gang were also there. I believe some girl names Lucy was going around selling the new save the Kipawa River bumper stickers. Leah got the 1st two and I got the 3rd and 4th ones. They were going like hot cakes. Gonzo bought 4 himself. Neil and AnnaLisa finally showed up.
Everyone finally got their boating stuff together and it was off to do the shuttle. I brought all the drivers back to the putin which turned out to be a good thing (read on).
The plan was for Leah and Gonzo and gang to run the run the Main channel while Neil, AnnaLisa, Ryan, Fred (a double bladder who wishes to remain anonymous), and myself were to run the Middle channel. Everyone was siked up to go paddling. This was AnnaLisa’s first trip to the Ottawa ever and this would definitely be the big white water she ever paddled.
We paddled down to McKoy’s for a scouting session. Neil and Ryan had only paddled the Ottawa once before when it was 8.75. I made sure that everyone knew what the swimming consequences were and that you did not want to swim in Leftside or Rightside Horseshoe. I asked Ryan if he was going to take the left sneak route again and he basically said I did not just drive three hours and not run Phil’s.
I did my run right through the tongue on Phil’s and went around the back of the island to avoid Horseshoe altogether. I set up just below the island incase I had to chase boats. Neil ran Satler’s and ended up in a short swim into the eddy. AnnaLisa did the left sneak by boofing the ledge between Satler’s and river left like a pro.
Ryan did his run through Phil’s and made it through only to get nailed further down followed by a crappy swim through Leftside Horseshoe. I chased and retrieved his boat and brought it back up to him at the island. He asked me if I had a good stomach and said yep. He showed me a deep cut in his leg. Neil was still coming down as he had the firstaid and pin kit with him Between Neil’s and a unknown kayaker first aid kits he was patched back up and that was the end of his paddling.
We also had another injury on the island itself. Fred ended up twisting his knee while exiting his kayak and his day was also done. I told Neil I would be back soon and not leave without me as we were still running the river. I took Ryan and Fred back up to the putin by paddling up to Little Picky. I load the boats on the car and gave Ryan my keys. Ryan and Fred were off to River Run where Fred could relax and Ryan of to get seven stitches at the Renfrew hospital with no waiting.
I was gone about a half hour before getting back to the group. It had to be 2ish by this time and we were off. We head off to Iron Ring. Everyone made it down with no problems and we were off to S Bend hole for some play. It was there we ran into Boydo and kayak class from McMaster White Water club. I finally met Yuri for the first time as well as the others. After some un-successful surfs on my part, Geoff asked if he could give my girlfriend a ride. I said sure and immediately grabbed the camera. I am not sure what it is with double bladders but they seem really attracted to my girlfriend and want to take her for a ride. She is getting lots of action like a 2 dollar hooker on Bourbon Street.
Geoff definitely styled it. He could side and back surf no problem at all. It was then that he told us he used to teach white water canoeing at a kids camp for quite a few years. Neil got some sweet rides in as well. Time was ticking away and we headed off to Butteryfly. I ran it first and then set up for pictures. Neil ran it a couple of times. AnnaLisa surprised us by catching the river right eddy with no problem at all. I have not been able to catch that one yet.
We headed off to walk around Garvin’s at Elevator Shaft and headed off to Upper NoName for a fun ride down. Neil and AnnaLisa went to scope Lower NoName from river right. I had to go drop off a picture CD off in the Esprit lunch trailer and did a quick scout from river left before meating them on the other side. Neil had a clean run down. AnnaLisa had a clean run down and then it was my turn. I have swam this thing every time this year. I was 4 for 4 in swims. Well guess what. I finally made it clean. This also means I had my first perfect day of zero swims in one day which made me really happy. After that we headed off to Black Velvet and to the take out. It was getting really late. We still had to pick up Neil’s car and set up our tents and stuff.
We found Ryan and Fred in the camp ground. Ryan was in fine form with his leg up and a beer in his hand. The bugger didn’t even have the bbq setup, etc. He used the excuse that it was in my care. We setup camp and started getting ready for dinner. Neil forgot the wobbly pops. Fred informed the group they could go to Quebexico and still by them now. I was stuck with manning dinner while they headed off in search of refreshments.
After dinner it was socializing time. I headed over to Boydo’s group for a bit. I had on my fugly shirt on which definitely beat out Boydo’s fugly shirt. It was nice to re-meet everyone relaxing by the fire. More introductions were done and the beverage festivities started. Later on we all headed down below to the rafting campground as Downstream Dave was putting on his guitar show. It was pretty well a drunk fest for the young rafters. These two drunk girls came up and basically started feeling me up as they loved my shirt. Boydo came to the rescue when they wanted me to dance. He was feeling pretty good and started shaking his booty a bit. I don’t have a problem with being grabbed but I have to draw the line when I am old enough to be their father.
I sat with Neil and gang for a while. Neil scored and found a free beer. He was a good boy that night and only had a six pack. I met Chelsea earlier in the day when I told her she looked like an Esprit guide. She laughed and said she had done a six week course there earlier in the year. It turns out we have a lot in common and are now Facebook friends. We chatted for a bit during all the festivities. After that I was getting tired and headed off to bed just before midnight.
Sunday 29-Jul-2007: Water Level: 1.5
I got up around 7am. I was definitely surprised to not find Neil making breakfast considering we were supposed to be on the water by 08:30. We had a late breakfast and managed to add Delbert and Andy to our group for the day. This would be Andy’s first time down the Middle Channel. Ryan ended being the shuttle bunny as he was not paddling. He looked very extravagant in is purple house coat with pink slippers. We piled 5 open boats on his truck and were off. Well lets just say we were at the putin by 09:30.
Today would be my day for most swims. Three swims to be exact. I stopped and talked to Anna and Kate from WT. Kate wanted to watch me go through Phil’s. Great I was now jinxed and told her I would most likely blow my line. She said that it would be fun to watch either way. I was the first one to go down McKoys. I was off my line at Phil’s by about 1.5 feet to the right of the tongue. It was definitely my most interest swim ever. My boat went totally vertical and was sucked back into Phil’s and then started going back straight up. I ended up being sucked out of the boat and swimming. My boated still managed to stay straight up for a bit before doing a complete back flip. It was apparently and excellent show that I missed while swimming. I saw myself heading over to LeftSide Horsehoe and went holy crap and dropped my paddled and swam like crazy over to centre. I managed to hit a rock with my fat a$$. It didn’t hurt much but there was definitely a red scratch and bump which eventually turned bigger and blacker through out the day (see picture).
I managed to grab my boat and started swimming it to shore. Gonzo hooked on to her and headed off to the eddy. Princess Leah gave me a short tow. After that I had to look for my paddle which ended up in the eddy. Luckily I always care a spare. I head back over to the other side to set up for taking pictures of the others. It turns out I would not make the WT trip video as Sam had just got there as was not set up yet. But he and the photo guy definitely said it was my best swim ride yet. They have only seen me swim Phil’s twice as I normally make it.
Neil and AnnaLisa both took the left sneak. Delbert and Andy carried around and put in just below Phil’s I headed down to Corner wave to resume photo duties. I ran into Eric and Dane Jackson. EJ was teaching a clinic and Geoff Seaborn was in it. Billy Harris had come down with his clinic as well. I managed to get some excellent pics through out the day of EJ’s crew and some of Billy’s at Corner Wave.
After some feeble attempts at trying to surf a sort there BabyFace we headed down river to Iron Ring. The others in the group had clean runs. Delbert managed to get quite a few river left to right peel outs and in’s going. The man is a machine. Then it was my turn. This would be my first ever swim from an open boat at Iron Ring and subsequently my second swim of the day. I am not sure what happened by I ended out of my boat at river left and was being sucked towards the hole. I was under water looking up and all I could see is my boat going back and forth above me. I was finally able to come up and grab my boat, empty it out, and get back into it.
We met up with EJ and gang at S Bend. I managed to get a half decent front surf going (Geoff you missed it). It was pretty busy there so we head off to Butterfly. I ran it clean first and set up for pics. Everyone had clean runs. Some of the group ran it multiple times. Some of us were complaining of rumbly in the tumbly so we headed off to Elevator Shaft for lunch and pictures. It was definitely a pretty view checking out Garvin’s.
It was getting late and we headed off to some fun at Upper NoName. The group managed to have fun catching eddys all the way down on both sides of the river. Delbert and Andy scouted Lower NoName from river left where Neil, AnnaLisa, and I scouted from river right.
Delbert ran first and ended up swimming at the end. Andy paddled down to the left eddy below the ledge and waited for Delbert to com back up. AnnaLisa decide to walk around as she did not want to ruin a perfect day. Neil was next and all I can say is he had a freaking amazing side surf at the bottom and managed to some how get off it and roll back up.
And then there was me being siked up from a flawless run the day before. I made it all the way to the bottom only to get sucked back into the hole only to end up for my third swim of the day. Andy and Delbert came to the rescue and held my boat in the middle of the river while I climbed back in.
After that is was a float through Black Velvet to the takeout as we still had to get a vehicle from the putin and pack up. AnnaLisa made Neil’s day when she told him that they should come back and paddle the Ottawa every second weekend as she had a blast. All I can say is Neil had a big smile on his face. Delbert and Andy are now going to be added to our trip planning emails as they had fun paddling with us.
Neil, AnnaLisa, and I headed off to Bancroft for dinner before parting ways.
Val for the record it is 16 KM longer to go to Bancroft via Denbigh versus going thru Foymount and Quadville.
Until the next report …. SYOTR
Here is a link to the pictures but be warned there are pictures of my bruised a$$ and Ryan's stitches.
Link to pictures
