Chillfest 2011

Well last weekend there were ten of us paddling on the Lower Madawaska River.

It was close to freezing but at least the sun was out ... well mostly out.

I spent the day taking conservative lines down the river as I did not want to go for a swim even though I had my drysuit on. Had to rescue some boats buts thats par for the course.

The evening or shitshow as I like to refer to it was a great dinner and lots of drinks at the famous Wilno Tavern. I am glad we did not get kicked out when the private party started as it would have meant going back to a motel room to party.

I have to admit I was moving pretty slow on the sunday.

Brrr ... it's cold out ... what the hell happened to summer

I can't believe that I had not posted anything since June.

My summer ... aka paddling season has been super busy!

I managed to to get in a 11 day and 12 paddling roadtrips to the south eastern USA on rivers in TN, GA, NC. SC.

I bought a new white water canoe and gave my old one to a friend of mind in North Bay for his girls to use.

It was a sad moment as I had 228 river days with her but I know she will be well loved.

Also paddled for a few days in WV for Gauleyfest which is a sad time for me as it means the end of my paddling season until spring.

I plan on spending the winter months doing more studio photography and working on my sisysers house.

I have managed to lose 27 pounds since february which is a good thing.

Another great weekend of paddling on the Lower Yough

Life is back to normal with photography and paddling pretty much in full on mode for the rest of the summer.

I managed to get two great days of paddling in on the Lower Yough last weekend with my friends from North Carolina.

There were six of us in our group (4 open boats 2 kayakers) to start as we tended to be like magnets collecting more and more people as we paddled down the river.

The weather managed to hold out during the day for paddling on the saturday. But ... sometime during the middle of the night we had a crazy assed thunder and lightening storm. I enjoyed watching the light show but made sure I was totally on top of my air mattress.

Sunday morning was a mixed bag for weather but turned out to be a great day. I am glad the crew convinced me to bring the camera that morning as I go some amazing nature and paddling shots.

The food was amazing ... never seen so many great meals made in a dutch oven before ... definitely something I am going to look into.

Can't wait to get out paddling again ... hopefully soon on the Ottawa and if not that then Week of River in Western North Carolina beginning of July.

Holy crap ... what happend to may

May was pretty much a blur.

I managed to get out paddling on the Middle Channel of the Ottawa River once at +20 on the gauge.

Also got in a Lower Madawaska River run at 100ish on the gauge.

Other then that it was study study study for my CIsco re-certification exam which I passed!

Now the paddling season can reall get going!