I spent last weekend in the Ottawa Valley.
It all started out last wednesday by making the drive from home over to Esprit's base camp in Davidson, QC. I had a great dinner with Jim and the gang followed by watching The Canoe Movie that I had brought with me. It was also great to see Gonzo aka Martin as I had not seen him since last august. After that I made the drive over to my dads place where I would be staying the rest of the weekend.
Thursday was 1st July aka Canada Day. I did not feel like paddling that day so I headed down to the local park to check out the celebrations. I shot some photos of the Petawawa River Rats. They had their complete fleet of kayaks for the general public to use out in the swimming area. There were little kids all the way to adults waiting in line for their turn.
There were lots of other thing going on for entertainment. I was only there for a couple hours as I was not feeling the greatest. I even missed the fireworks.
Friday was a workday for me. Luckily I have a job where I can do it remotely. I was able to heat over and hit the Ottawa River for a run down the Main Channel. I had to do it solo but saw lots of friends along the way. I had a great run through McCoys. I had my driest run ever by running the extreme right hand line at Phil's Hole. Hardly any water in my boat.
I spent some time shooting photos of friends at Push Button and they are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157624294767295/ and here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157624296534945/
After that I took relatively conservative lines for the rest of the river as I was on my own. After getting a ride up to get my car from the putin I decided to stay at River Run for the night as paddling would be starting early saturday. Plus who would want to miss the antics of the GKC and KWP being there as well. Lets just say it was a total shitshow around the fire and through the night.
Saturday was definitely an early day that started at 6:30 for me. I ran my boat and gear up to the top putin and had breakfast. After shuttle was set Brad and I headed back up to the putin. I did not have a great run through McCoys. I tried the same line as the day before but ended up bouncing off the wall and got pushed into rightside Phils. I quickly self rescued and swam with my boat into the first eddy. Brad was very surprised that I could swim that fast with one arm while towing my boat with the other.
We paddled down to Baby Face. I got out to shoot photos. Brad had the wave to himself for a good 30 minutes before Dave showed up and then another 15 minutes until Wayne showed up. It was a beauty of a day with the sun shining.
Soon Brad and I headed down to the dam to meet the gang from Esprit. Brad's wife Kim and her son Jamie were rafting with Esprit fo the day. Brad and i were going to paddle down with them and I was going to shoot photos. It was a great run down the middle channel before stopping for lunch. The Esprit gang were great as they allowed some of our fellow paddlers to shuttle back up with them. They added two open boats and five kayaks on the top of the bus along with all the rafts. You cannot beat that for hospitality.
The run down the main channel was fun. I had a dry run through Garb and Push Button. Brad said I style it through the Normans. I ended up having my second swim of the day when I droped into Kahuna sideways at Coliseum. It was a very tiring swim with my boat as the eddy had alot of current pushing different ways. My run through Center Slot was fine.
Here are some photos I took of other boaters http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157624295550679/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157624420473782/
Soon the day was over. I still was not feeling well so I decide to pack up my tent and gear. I gave Brad a ride back up to the top to get his truck and then I made the drive back home to the Barrie area.
Sunday was pretty much spent indoors napping and putting my stuff away. I also made up some DVD to mail the 459 photos to Esprit that I took of their raft trip down the river.
