I decided last year that I wanted to do a roadtrip to the island of Newfoundland as I never been there before. After some discussions with some of my friends that had been there on vacation or actually still lived on the island I was convinced. My main goal for the trip was photography only.
Time slowly passed by first it was months and then it was days away. Things were pretty hectic all around and I had to get things packed, ferry booked, bill pre-paid, and then it was time to hit the road.
I decided that I would spend a night at my dads place first as it made for a more quick direct route and avoided the rush hour traffic in the big cities.
My journey started on Saturday 20-Jun-2009 when I left my dads at 6am. After a 15 hour drive I managed to drive 1300 km and ended up in Moncton, New Brunswick where I grabbed a room for the night. I never really thought I would get that far in one day as the weather was pretty crappy once I left Quebec and you always have that fear in the back of your head of running into a big ass moose.
Sunday 21-Jun
I slept in the next morning and thought about different options for the day. I was only about three hours from Halifax, Nova Scotia or three and and half to my friends sister and moms place in Canning, Nova Scotia. I had not seen them in quite a long time so I headed off to Canning. Colleen was quite surprised when I rang the doorbell. She was only going to be home for a bit before heading off to a function for the night. Joan was off in Vancouver visiting friends so I missed her. I went for a drive around the area before head back to the house for the night.
Monday 22-Jun
I left the house around 9:30 the next morning to head up to North Sydney, Nova Scotia in order to catch the ferry. I had lots of time and was in no rush plus as usual on all my vacations it was crappy weather. I took the slower route on the eastern side of Cape Breton Island towards Sydney Nova Scotia. It was a very beautiful drive up despite the rain and fog. I hope that one my trip back it will be nicer for photos as i never really had a chance to take any. I picked up some Gravol at the Walmart in Sydney as I get motion sickness and I was just about to spend 15 hours on the ferry to the east side of Newfoundland.
I arrived at the ferry with lots of time to spare only to be delayed getting into the terminal due to all transport trucks that were blocking entrance as they could not get into the parking lot quick enough to allow the cars in. It turns out there were only going to be about 200 passengers on this big boat. Not sure how they made money on that trip but hey more space to spread out and relax. I ended up having a bunk space in a dorm room that would have had 60 people in it all to myself. I pretty much slept the whole trip as I was drugged up on Gravol.
Tuesday 23-Jun
Finally ... I was on the Island of Newfoundland in Argentia complete with the rain and fog. I headed down south from the ferry terminal to Placentia and then off to the Ecological Reserve at Cape St Marys. The weather was still crappy and not the best for taking photos but I went to the bird reserve regardless. It is definitely a spectacular place to visit and was hoping to maybe go back on a better weather days but that did not materialize at all before I left the area. I headed up to St John's for the night and took some spectacular night shots of Cabot Tower at Signal Hill. I spent the night sleeping in my Motel Ford Taurus at the local Walmart. Wasn't the most comfortable sleep I had but considering I did not roll into the parking lot until well after midnight I didn't care as I was super tired.
Wednesday 24-Jun
I spent the morning touring around the St John's area visiting Petty Harbour, Cape Spear, Kiddie Viddy, and ended up back at Signal to take pictures of the information boards, etc. I started talking to the commsionaire that was working on site. I exchanged one of my Bell Beavers for a couple of St John's city pins. Fair trade all around. To my delight the summer students were having their first outdoor practice for the up and coming Canada Day Tattoo. It was great to watch with the Fife and Drums band with soldiers in period costumes. After that I headed into town for the best fish and chips I have ever had at the Sundance. I spent some time walking around the downtown core before continuing my journey down the eastern coast. I grabbed a camp site at La Manche Provincial Park. Great value at 15 bucks for the night and I was looking forward to my first shower the next morning since the last sunday at the hotel. I ended up next door at the neighbours campsite for drinks before heading off to bed for the night. I ended up having a great sleep considering it poured rained the whole night and my tent was totally dry inside.
Thursday 25-Jun
I managed to sleep in the next morning which felt great compared to the night I spent in the car. Had a shower and a great breakfast before continuing the journey south. The weather still wasn't the greatest but I still wanted to drive down the coast. Definitely a beautiful drive. The weather on the coast was still going to be crap for the next couple of days so I decided to head further west on the island to the Burin Penisula to spend a couple of days visiting my friends Martine ans Isaac. Martine was out and about doing video shoot for work. I sepnt some time catching up with isaac when he asked me if I knew anything about routers for networking. I had to earn my keep so I re-configured the router and voila wireless internet for the house was born. And then after catching up on some emails it was bed time.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Ottawa river 06-07 June 2009
Saturday: level 15.75
I dropped my boat and gear off earlier then expected at the OWL putin before heading off to River Run to find the N.O.P.E (Northern Ontario Paddling Explorers) Crew which consisted of Andrew, Ryan, and Wade. The plan was to meet there, gear up, and set the shuttle. We left my car at the bottom of the River Run parking lot before heading off for a morning paddle on the Middle Channel.
This would be my first trip down the river this season which turned out to be the same for Ryan and Wade as well. It wasn't long before we were staring at McKoys (me with the standard sick feel in my stomach). It was one of those holy crap which line do you want to take. After ten minutes of looking at it Andrew was first followed by me, Ryan, and Wade. I know I went down the tongue on Phils and then to the left to avoid the boily crap. Not sure about the others.
After the long paddle across the flats we finally came to Iron Ring. We all got out to scout it ... well maybe look at it ... Ryan never saw it at that level and basically said holy crap that really nasty. We all decided that nobody was going to run that and headed off to scout Little Trickle. I remember Andrew making it clean ... not sure about Ryan ... and Wade hade the interesting I think I will flip upside down and roll back up half-way down the run but managed to come up face and skin still intact.
Then there was my run .. Andrew was sitting in the first eddy below waiting for me. I ended up trying to carve into the eddy too soon and drop my edge too much and ended up going for a swim. I managed to swim with my boat to the big rock island on the other side of the eddy. The only problem I had now was how was I going to empty out my boat and get back into it as the water was pushing me all around and I was over waist deep in water. I managed to push the open side of my boat against the rock wall and lift it up enough to get most of the water out before rolling it up the wall to get out the rest of it. That was the easy part. I know had to figure out how I was going to stand on a small rock and jump 6 feet forward into my boat without tipping over. Somehow I managed to do it and ran the remaining drop not using my outfitting to the big eddy further down river. Andrew did make a comment about how this was going to be a very interesting to watch as he was pretty sure i was going to swim again.
Next stop would be Angel's Kiss. Some of the others played there for a bit as I was taking a break exploring the shore line. I found a complete skeleton of a deer about ten feet from shore. I put the skull with antlers attached on top of a stump. We stopped at Butterfly for a bit before heading off to Garvins for lunch.
I spent some time scouting ST Chute but decided against it as the left side of one of the holes I would have to go through was munchier then my previous run last summer at a lower level. We spent some time having a nice lunch before heading down to the Garvin's Waves. I somehow ended getting knocked over on the third wave which resulted in my second and final swim for the day.
I did not feel like running Upper No Name and took the left hand channel around the island. Not sure what happened with the others when they ran Upper No Name.
I took the far right line on Lower No Name which was a very dry run for me. Ryan followed Andrew down the left side. I think Wade went down the middle.
We were soon at River Run takeout. I had to run Andrew back up to the top to get his truck and thats when we ran into Sarah D from the CDB Crew. We talked for a bit before heading back for a quick beer and munchies before our game plan for the afternoon of heading of to Trick or Treat Falls for some more fun. We made the 40 minute drive there and all of us looked at the falls but Andrew was the only one that geared up for four runs before calling it quits. It was getting late and we had already decided that we were going out for dinner. We ended up at the Rocky Mountain House in Renfrew. The food was pretty good (well i thought so). Some of the CDB Crew ended up at the same restaurant and I spent some time chatting with them before catching up with the N.O.P.E Crew out in the parking lot.
Ryan and I ended up going to the Tours for a visit and email check as he had never been there. Andrew and Ryan were heading over to check out Bussy.
After that it was back to the campground for and evening of a nice fire with drinks, followed by more drinks, SQUIRREL, followed by more drinks with Cale, Steph, Leah, Gonzo, and many others. It was a very late night for everyone. I think I packed it in just before midnight. I am not sure who the last person standing was as it wasn't me.
Sunday: Level 15.75
I wolk up around 06:30 and my head was going swoosh swoosh swoosh ... I don't think that was a good thing but at least I was alive ... barley. Soon it was breakfast time. The plan for the day was to meet Carly and Billy at the put in for 9am. We ended up being a few minutes late by the time we set up the shuttle but were not too worried about that.
Everyone was pretty much geared up and we headed down to the river. Ryan was not sure whether he was going to paddle his Prelude or his C1 Nomad. After a wet exit check he decided on the Nomad which would be an interesting day for him as he had never been in moving water with it.
Sarah D and Pat also joined our motly crew on the river. Along the way to McKoys Carly and Billy were busy shooting video while paddling their Dynamic Duo. Everyone made it fine through McKoys.
Soon we were at Little Trickle. Pat helped Sarah with her run as she was a bit nervous about running it. She made it fine as did I and all the others. We spent some time at Angel's Kiss and Butterfly where I managed to get an amazing back surf in the left hand hole.
Soon we were off to Garvin's. We headed over to Elevator Shaft. Carly and Billy wanted to run the Duo down for part of their video. I think Andrew ran it as well after the rest of us headed over to the other side of the river to the lunch spot for a quick bite to eat.
I ended up having a swim at the 2nd wave on the bottom Garvin's wave which basically sucked. Ryan also ended up having an out of boat experience after me. My run through Upper and Lower No Name were fine.
I watched Carly and Billy do their run throigh Lower No Name. They were almost vertical on some of the waves before they dissappeared around the corner. I did not realize that Ryan was out of his boat and it had gone down the right hand channel after Upper No Name. Luckily he did not swim down there as it is pretty crappy in there. Everyone else made it down fine. Ryan was re-united with with boat and Carly and Billy carried back up for another Lower No Name run for their video. Ryan played video guy.
After that is was off to the takeout for a beer before doing the shuttle. I picked up the Duo and threw it up on my car. Carly was quite surprised that I could pick the thing up. Apparently Billy can't do that by himself :p.
I dropped Andrew, Carly, Billy, and Pat off at the putin and I put the DUO on Carly's vehicle as I did not want Billy to hurt himself. I had to head back to River run for my gear before heading off to my dads to drop of my paddling gear into their garage followed by the ling drive home.
I dropped my boat and gear off earlier then expected at the OWL putin before heading off to River Run to find the N.O.P.E (Northern Ontario Paddling Explorers) Crew which consisted of Andrew, Ryan, and Wade. The plan was to meet there, gear up, and set the shuttle. We left my car at the bottom of the River Run parking lot before heading off for a morning paddle on the Middle Channel.
This would be my first trip down the river this season which turned out to be the same for Ryan and Wade as well. It wasn't long before we were staring at McKoys (me with the standard sick feel in my stomach). It was one of those holy crap which line do you want to take. After ten minutes of looking at it Andrew was first followed by me, Ryan, and Wade. I know I went down the tongue on Phils and then to the left to avoid the boily crap. Not sure about the others.
After the long paddle across the flats we finally came to Iron Ring. We all got out to scout it ... well maybe look at it ... Ryan never saw it at that level and basically said holy crap that really nasty. We all decided that nobody was going to run that and headed off to scout Little Trickle. I remember Andrew making it clean ... not sure about Ryan ... and Wade hade the interesting I think I will flip upside down and roll back up half-way down the run but managed to come up face and skin still intact.
Then there was my run .. Andrew was sitting in the first eddy below waiting for me. I ended up trying to carve into the eddy too soon and drop my edge too much and ended up going for a swim. I managed to swim with my boat to the big rock island on the other side of the eddy. The only problem I had now was how was I going to empty out my boat and get back into it as the water was pushing me all around and I was over waist deep in water. I managed to push the open side of my boat against the rock wall and lift it up enough to get most of the water out before rolling it up the wall to get out the rest of it. That was the easy part. I know had to figure out how I was going to stand on a small rock and jump 6 feet forward into my boat without tipping over. Somehow I managed to do it and ran the remaining drop not using my outfitting to the big eddy further down river. Andrew did make a comment about how this was going to be a very interesting to watch as he was pretty sure i was going to swim again.
Next stop would be Angel's Kiss. Some of the others played there for a bit as I was taking a break exploring the shore line. I found a complete skeleton of a deer about ten feet from shore. I put the skull with antlers attached on top of a stump. We stopped at Butterfly for a bit before heading off to Garvins for lunch.
I spent some time scouting ST Chute but decided against it as the left side of one of the holes I would have to go through was munchier then my previous run last summer at a lower level. We spent some time having a nice lunch before heading down to the Garvin's Waves. I somehow ended getting knocked over on the third wave which resulted in my second and final swim for the day.
I did not feel like running Upper No Name and took the left hand channel around the island. Not sure what happened with the others when they ran Upper No Name.
I took the far right line on Lower No Name which was a very dry run for me. Ryan followed Andrew down the left side. I think Wade went down the middle.
We were soon at River Run takeout. I had to run Andrew back up to the top to get his truck and thats when we ran into Sarah D from the CDB Crew. We talked for a bit before heading back for a quick beer and munchies before our game plan for the afternoon of heading of to Trick or Treat Falls for some more fun. We made the 40 minute drive there and all of us looked at the falls but Andrew was the only one that geared up for four runs before calling it quits. It was getting late and we had already decided that we were going out for dinner. We ended up at the Rocky Mountain House in Renfrew. The food was pretty good (well i thought so). Some of the CDB Crew ended up at the same restaurant and I spent some time chatting with them before catching up with the N.O.P.E Crew out in the parking lot.
Ryan and I ended up going to the Tours for a visit and email check as he had never been there. Andrew and Ryan were heading over to check out Bussy.
After that it was back to the campground for and evening of a nice fire with drinks, followed by more drinks, SQUIRREL, followed by more drinks with Cale, Steph, Leah, Gonzo, and many others. It was a very late night for everyone. I think I packed it in just before midnight. I am not sure who the last person standing was as it wasn't me.
Sunday: Level 15.75
I wolk up around 06:30 and my head was going swoosh swoosh swoosh ... I don't think that was a good thing but at least I was alive ... barley. Soon it was breakfast time. The plan for the day was to meet Carly and Billy at the put in for 9am. We ended up being a few minutes late by the time we set up the shuttle but were not too worried about that.
Everyone was pretty much geared up and we headed down to the river. Ryan was not sure whether he was going to paddle his Prelude or his C1 Nomad. After a wet exit check he decided on the Nomad which would be an interesting day for him as he had never been in moving water with it.
Sarah D and Pat also joined our motly crew on the river. Along the way to McKoys Carly and Billy were busy shooting video while paddling their Dynamic Duo. Everyone made it fine through McKoys.
Soon we were at Little Trickle. Pat helped Sarah with her run as she was a bit nervous about running it. She made it fine as did I and all the others. We spent some time at Angel's Kiss and Butterfly where I managed to get an amazing back surf in the left hand hole.
Soon we were off to Garvin's. We headed over to Elevator Shaft. Carly and Billy wanted to run the Duo down for part of their video. I think Andrew ran it as well after the rest of us headed over to the other side of the river to the lunch spot for a quick bite to eat.
I ended up having a swim at the 2nd wave on the bottom Garvin's wave which basically sucked. Ryan also ended up having an out of boat experience after me. My run through Upper and Lower No Name were fine.
I watched Carly and Billy do their run throigh Lower No Name. They were almost vertical on some of the waves before they dissappeared around the corner. I did not realize that Ryan was out of his boat and it had gone down the right hand channel after Upper No Name. Luckily he did not swim down there as it is pretty crappy in there. Everyone else made it down fine. Ryan was re-united with with boat and Carly and Billy carried back up for another Lower No Name run for their video. Ryan played video guy.
After that is was off to the takeout for a beer before doing the shuttle. I picked up the Duo and threw it up on my car. Carly was quite surprised that I could pick the thing up. Apparently Billy can't do that by himself :p.
I dropped Andrew, Carly, Billy, and Pat off at the putin and I put the DUO on Carly's vehicle as I did not want Billy to hurt himself. I had to head back to River run for my gear before heading off to my dads to drop of my paddling gear into their garage followed by the ling drive home.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Palmer Rapids and Lower Mad Trip
I managed to get out paddling last weekend 30-31 May.
Spent the saturday paddling around Jessups and the Lower Set for the day. The weather was actually nice for a change. There were about 100 Scouts on the river taking courses. I paddled with my friend Keith Watson who finally decided to show up before lunch time but at least he made it.
Sunday was an interesting day on the Lower Mad. We ended up paddling in rain -> sleet -> snow -> and then sun at the end of the day.
The level was not that great for playing at Hass Hole in an open boat but fun for running the river. Keith and I met up with another couple after the Scouts decided to cancel their trip due to the crappy weather.
The best run of the day had to be at Split Rock. Keith and I spent about 10 minutes looking at the channel running through split rock. The right channel there was boney but the left channel was doable if you were able to make the line as the moves were tight. I never hit one rock and ended up in the eddy as planned.
My other best run of the day was at Raquette. Normally you would have to go to the left of the island but there was enough water to run the right hand side. The only problem would be to figure out where to run the river wide drop. Keith scouted the right hand side and said no go.
My line was from right to left and then over the six foot drop. I had to do a few braces and sweeps to keep from going over and getting sucked back into the hole but made. I was full of water but I made it.
Keith saw me disappear and decided to take the far left line which was kind of boney with no drop on it.
All in all it was a great weekend for paddling.
Spent the saturday paddling around Jessups and the Lower Set for the day. The weather was actually nice for a change. There were about 100 Scouts on the river taking courses. I paddled with my friend Keith Watson who finally decided to show up before lunch time but at least he made it.
Sunday was an interesting day on the Lower Mad. We ended up paddling in rain -> sleet -> snow -> and then sun at the end of the day.
The level was not that great for playing at Hass Hole in an open boat but fun for running the river. Keith and I met up with another couple after the Scouts decided to cancel their trip due to the crappy weather.
The best run of the day had to be at Split Rock. Keith and I spent about 10 minutes looking at the channel running through split rock. The right channel there was boney but the left channel was doable if you were able to make the line as the moves were tight. I never hit one rock and ended up in the eddy as planned.
My other best run of the day was at Raquette. Normally you would have to go to the left of the island but there was enough water to run the right hand side. The only problem would be to figure out where to run the river wide drop. Keith scouted the right hand side and said no go.
My line was from right to left and then over the six foot drop. I had to do a few braces and sweeps to keep from going over and getting sucked back into the hole but made. I was full of water but I made it.
Keith saw me disappear and decided to take the far left line which was kind of boney with no drop on it.
All in all it was a great weekend for paddling.
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