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.
