Bigfattyt
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2007
- Messages
- 19,272
I posted these pics in another thread, but figured I would start a thread of my own, just to share.
These pics were taken on the upper Winchester, in central Washington. The upper stretch is a nice overnight paddle, if you leave in the afternoon, and spend some time playing in the water, or fishing.
We stopped for the night, and my first cast caught this guy. One of the boys cleaned and cooked this catfish (even though we had already had dinner about an hour earlier).
I am not wearing the jacket because it was cool. It was hot, but the mosquitoes were so stinking bad! I had repellent on that did not work at all. Then I put on some 100% deet repellent! Still, they followed me around and I got plenty of bites.
There were 10 scouts and two leaders (though technically two of the "boys" were 18+ so they counted as leaders/adults.
Scouts ranged from 12 years old on up.
Not me, but the yellow canoe is mine.
Here is a favorite spot to stop on the 2nd day. The current takes a lazy turn, and the bottom is soft and sandy.
Here is one of the reasons we stopped here.
Here is the pull out spot. At this point, the current becomes much swifter, and the overhanging russian olive get worse. A little further down stream is where the water fall is. I found out another group of scouts actually tried to go over the waterfall. They saved the two boys in the canoe, but the canoe was pinned, and even with 6 guys on the rope, they could not budge it. They had to leave it, and call it a loss.
When I was a kid, 20+ years ago, we took the lower stretch by accident. The trip ended badly, but luckily no one was hurt. Took a search plane to find the canoes again, because we had to leave them and hike out.
The leaders took us on the wrong waterway entirely, and then tried to tell us to go over a waterfall (after I kept telling them we were on the wrong waterway). That waterfall kills hunters and fishers every year. I got out and scouted it, and prevented the other scouts from going over, once I saw how big it was.
I did not take as many pictures this year (the phone camera is handy, but is more expensive than my normal camera, but I kept it double wrapped most of the trip).
Here are some pics from last years trip as well. (you can see more of the russian olive that make the turns a bit more interesting. If you don't pick a good line, or loose your forward momentum, you get the dreaded "Duck, Scrape and Poke")
This was a particularly tricky stretch (trick for this little waterway, but nothing scary on this whole trip, especially compared to a canoe on a class III in bad weather at flood stage). The waterway took a funny dogleg, but most of the water pushed through the trees, where a canoe could not get through. The boys had to make a 120 degree turn, with the water pushing them sideways into trees, and move against the current and trough a gap no wider than the canoe (dead tree just below the surface).
My self, and one of the boys dads sat and watched the group go through shouting directions. (I am a scout leader with the 12 year olds, although I am supposed to be in charge of the 14 year olds, but most have aged up to the older group). Some of the kids were stuck and had to work at it for 15+ minutes.
For some reason, he and I threaded the needle with no issues (might have had something to do with sitting watching all the boys go through and coming up with a strategy.
Or it might have been the fact that there were two grown men paddling hard!
little Gap to the right with the trees in the water is where we had to go. The bulk of the water just pushed straight through the stand of trees on the left.
One of the reasons it is a great paddle, is that it really teaches the new kids how to turn a canoe! They end up sideways, and backwards lots, but it is pretty low risk in most spots.
Feel free to share any other pics you have of canoeing, kayaking
These pics were taken on the upper Winchester, in central Washington. The upper stretch is a nice overnight paddle, if you leave in the afternoon, and spend some time playing in the water, or fishing.
We stopped for the night, and my first cast caught this guy. One of the boys cleaned and cooked this catfish (even though we had already had dinner about an hour earlier).
I am not wearing the jacket because it was cool. It was hot, but the mosquitoes were so stinking bad! I had repellent on that did not work at all. Then I put on some 100% deet repellent! Still, they followed me around and I got plenty of bites.
There were 10 scouts and two leaders (though technically two of the "boys" were 18+ so they counted as leaders/adults.
Scouts ranged from 12 years old on up.
Not me, but the yellow canoe is mine.
Here is a favorite spot to stop on the 2nd day. The current takes a lazy turn, and the bottom is soft and sandy.
Here is one of the reasons we stopped here.
Here is the pull out spot. At this point, the current becomes much swifter, and the overhanging russian olive get worse. A little further down stream is where the water fall is. I found out another group of scouts actually tried to go over the waterfall. They saved the two boys in the canoe, but the canoe was pinned, and even with 6 guys on the rope, they could not budge it. They had to leave it, and call it a loss.
When I was a kid, 20+ years ago, we took the lower stretch by accident. The trip ended badly, but luckily no one was hurt. Took a search plane to find the canoes again, because we had to leave them and hike out.
The leaders took us on the wrong waterway entirely, and then tried to tell us to go over a waterfall (after I kept telling them we were on the wrong waterway). That waterfall kills hunters and fishers every year. I got out and scouted it, and prevented the other scouts from going over, once I saw how big it was.
I did not take as many pictures this year (the phone camera is handy, but is more expensive than my normal camera, but I kept it double wrapped most of the trip).
Here are some pics from last years trip as well. (you can see more of the russian olive that make the turns a bit more interesting. If you don't pick a good line, or loose your forward momentum, you get the dreaded "Duck, Scrape and Poke")
This was a particularly tricky stretch (trick for this little waterway, but nothing scary on this whole trip, especially compared to a canoe on a class III in bad weather at flood stage). The waterway took a funny dogleg, but most of the water pushed through the trees, where a canoe could not get through. The boys had to make a 120 degree turn, with the water pushing them sideways into trees, and move against the current and trough a gap no wider than the canoe (dead tree just below the surface).
My self, and one of the boys dads sat and watched the group go through shouting directions. (I am a scout leader with the 12 year olds, although I am supposed to be in charge of the 14 year olds, but most have aged up to the older group). Some of the kids were stuck and had to work at it for 15+ minutes.
For some reason, he and I threaded the needle with no issues (might have had something to do with sitting watching all the boys go through and coming up with a strategy.
Or it might have been the fact that there were two grown men paddling hard!
little Gap to the right with the trees in the water is where we had to go. The bulk of the water just pushed straight through the stand of trees on the left.
One of the reasons it is a great paddle, is that it really teaches the new kids how to turn a canoe! They end up sideways, and backwards lots, but it is pretty low risk in most spots.
Feel free to share any other pics you have of canoeing, kayaking
