Sunday 21-Oct-2007
Ottawa River – Main Channel
Water level: -3.5 according to others
It was a great day for paddling. The weather was sunny and absolutely gorgeous.
There would only be four of us in our group today. Wayne, Jason, Anna, and myself. Wayne managed to scrounge some gear for Anna as her boating stuff was still in Colorado. I stopped on the way to borrow a drytop from Jen which was very much appreciated.
We started to get ready and did a quick shuttle. We ended up giving Jennifer a ride back to the putin as she was just sitting in her vehicle at the takeout hoping someone would be coming soon. Anna ended paddling in Jason’s boat as it was more her size. They were very creative in re-outfitting the boat to make her tight in the boat. Anna found it difficult to move in the PFD she had on but would live with it as she was happy to be boating as it has been eight months since she had done it last.
We headed off to McKoys. We ran into Luke who was heading back to the putin as he was done playing for the day. I looked at his PFD and asked him if we could borrow it for the day. He agreed he swapped with Anna who was now very happy and comfortable. Wayne did the thread the needle. Jason ran the right hand line to show Anna where to go. She decided to walk this one. I did my run through McKoys down the right side and I did it with the bow of my boat pointing in the right direction. Jason played at Centre Horseshoe while I took pictures of him and the fall colours.
He headed of to the Lorne. I ended up swimming after getting side swiped at the third wave at Garb. I did a quick self rescue and paddled back up in the eddy to the boof ledge. Jason and Anna ended up run the ledge. Jason did a couple of rides at Garb and headed down river. I peeled out above Moby Dick and ran right through Garb with no problems at all. I am not quite sure how I can swim the first run and not swim doing the peel out.
Push Button wasn’t too busy. There were maybe eight people or so. Wayne, Jason, and Anna managed to get in a few good rides before we headed down river. Everyone made it down through Butchers Knife no problem at all.
I ended up swimming at the top of the Normans at the last wave before the boils. I decided to run the middle left line as I had never done that before. I self rescued in a nice little alcove, got back in my boat, and peeled out. It wasn’t until after we all ran the left side of Coliseum that Anna found out I swam. She thought I stopped to take pictures again. Everyone in the group were quite surprised at how fast I can self rescue and swim with my boat and get back into it with out losing any of my gear. I learnt a new expression today. I was not swimming … I was just out of my boat going pee!
We all ran Dogs Leg with no problem and headed off to Blacks. Jason spent a bit of time playing there. I was busy taking pictures of him and the fall colours. I took some pictures just before the takeout on the small rocky shoal islands that would normally be under water. The little green bushes were now a brilliant yellow. I don’t know how she did it but Anna managed to be able to float in her boat over the very little water there was flowing over the rocky shoals. The rest of us had to get out and walk.
We headed back to Little Picky lodge after we changed and loaded up the vehicles. I was hoping to transfer my pictures of the camera and give them to Anna and Jason but I did not have my cable. Anna is quite the tightrope walker. She started walking across the line they had strung up between the deck and tree. I said my goodbyes and it was time for me to go back to my dads. I had to drop off the drytop and the PFD we had borrowed earlier.
Pictures:
Part 01
Part 02
Part 03
Fall Colours
