Paddling into 2013

[Codger_64]

Neat! Always time for your pictures! Sorry I don't have a lot more stills to show. I only have my cameraphone and it is fritzed at the moment. And my old river pictures, taken back in the day, are prints from a 110 instamatic. I haven't scanned any of them yet. We should have weather warm enough here in a few weeks for me to get back out on the river. I am certainly chomping at the bit to do so. And Jake likewise. I hope last year's PFD still fits him. I've sworn to buy myself a new one this year, but we shall see. I'll likely have to convert a few knives to dollars first.

More pictures any time you are so inclined!

 

[taldesta]

Perhaps more than a few weeks wait to get on the river here ...

A couple of stills here. Not much wild water but perhaps some local colour. Dialup is just blazing along here at 32 kbs; I just checked. Otherwise, I would be watching great videos posted in this thread too.

Last October's drive-to camps off the forest access roads nearby. First one is just above a substantial beaver dam that holds the water level. You can set in here to access a trail to another very small lake at a higher elevation. We moved along after a couple of overnights as camp was just inside the SE corner of a designated wilderness area.

On to set up another camp tucked about 500 ft off the forest access road. Here the way was easy and close to the lakes for pictures, yet nicely removed. On one jaunt my GPS showed that I was only 100 ft from the Black River where it winds through that area. I was not going to fight my way through that wet, wild, tag elder 'briar patch' on this trip! The river's oxbows are deceiving. Easy camping all the way.

Man, it's snowing again here.

 

[Codger_64]

Nice brilliant fall colors! Sorry you can't watch any of the videos. I was on dial-up for quite some time so I understand.

I still haven't gotten a tow hitch for my car and that leaves me only able to cartop the solo canoe. But I did get my truck running again and filled up both gas tanks. I was so happy that I celebrated by installing a new windshield wiper motor. It hadn't had working wipers since last July. But now, weather permitting, I'm ready to roll to the river. We are supposed to be sunny with a high near 70f on Saturday. And maybe I can figure out what is wrong with my camera phone. It just quit talking to my computer.

 

[paperairplane]

Not quite paddle time in WV yet for me... I have a KI Scout SS I use as a fishing boat. It's got a slight transom for a trolling motor, which works great for covering ground on local lakes. Got it last summer and haven't used it on a river yet. Tracks very well, does not exactly turn on a dime - but I can stand up and cast / fish all day.

I know this is more a paddling thread, but a canoe with an electric paddle, trolling 4 rods and a big, full cooler is a nice day on the lake. There are several close to me that have >10hp motor limits or electric only - so none of the big boat guys bother fishing those lakes.

FYI, a 35# trolling motor will move a canoe briskly.

 

[Codger_64]

I bought and modified a Minn Kota for my 169 Old Town, but haven't used it yet. I have to register the canoe and add gaudy stickers down both sides if I do. I mostly stick to flowing water anyway, though I do occasionally paddle local lakes. I used a trolling motor on my canoe in Arkansas quite a few times, but I understand they have gone to registration for motorized canoes now too.

 

[paperairplane]

WV is kind of grey area for a canoe with a trolling motor - since I use mine for lake fishing and want to stay on the DNR's nice side, I have it registered. Don't have to put numbers on it, but do have a 3*3" sticker on each side.

Here a jon boat always has to be registered, a canoe or kayak does not, but a boat with a motor does. Doesn't clarify if a trolling motor only counts. $4 a year, so why fight it...

I can totally outrun a jon boat with a 5hp motor.... with a marine battery I can go out sev

 

[Codger_64]

"Ain't Louie Fest" in the smokies took a tragic turn this weekend as a canoeist from Canada drowned after going over a drop. He was pinned underwater for thirty minutes while fellow boaters, WWR trained, used "live Bait" and every other method to free him from an arm entrapment. They administered CPR and he was transported to a nearby hospital where he later died. Since the water was so cold, there was some hope of his recovery. These were very experienced open boaters and well trained and equipped for both river running in OC-1s and river rescue. The incident just goes to point out that risk sports are called that for a reason.

http://www.wbir.com/news/article/259046/2/Crews-rescue-kayaker-trapped-underwater-in-Smokies-

 

[taldesta]

My whole heart and comfort goes to the family and those close ...

 

[Codger_64]

The buzz in the paddlesport community, as one might imagine, is all over the map. Every year we read about deaths of kayakers and canoeists in whitewater. While this might make it seem that such occurances are frequent, they really are not when one considers boater participation days as a whole. This particular event has been held for about ten years now with canoeists from all over participating, and has grown each year. And with advances in gear and skills, both kayakers and canoeists are making descents of rivers and creeks that were once thought impossible. As I said, it is a risk sport. As flows and technical runs increase, so does the risk.

As for the "Live Bait" rescue method, it entails lowering a person on a rope from above to the pinned boater's position in an attempt to reach and free them. It is a risky maneuver and not usually one of the first methods used in rescue attempts. The maxim "make no additional victims" is oft repeated. They were able to free him after many attempts, performed successful resucitation for transport, but the efforts were in vain. He did survive a while in the hospital before dying.

 

[mckrob]

Great photos... makes me homesick though, born and raised in Bracebridge (BMLSS class if 89')

 

[taldesta]

Codger, I followed the news link. It described the live bait rescue ... the fellow boaters throwing themselves literally into the rescue. The hope followed by the loss. This is not an experience anyone of them will be able to let go of. Yet, I understand the risk-taking.

 

[taldesta]

mckrob

You know your landscape! Teapot Lake in Muskoka, East.

How is the paddling inland around St. John's?

 

[mckrob]

mckrob

You know your landscape! Teapot Lake in Muskoka, East.

How is the paddling inland around St. John's?

It's been a few years since I was in Teapot LK, I used to work in Dorset at the MNDM, and at the Frost Centre. I did the St Nora/Sherbourne/Herb/Raven Lake route once or twice every year. I sort of lost interest canoeing in the Water Trails area once they started calling it the Water Trails, making you pay for wilderness camping, restricting where and when you can camp, and having a reservation system. They claim it was for conservation reasons which is untrue, just a money grab. 20 years ago I could canoe that route and not see anyone in a week, after the website and reservation system the place was overrun.

Unfortunately both my canoes are back in Bracebridge... it's too damn windy here in St Johns most of the time anyhow...

 

[taldesta]

Toss me if I am not staying within paddling ... but I mostly paddle to get to campsites unspoiled by others.

The Frost Centre was a very broadly attended educational facility, a prized natural resource destination ... abandoned to commercial interests during the political cuts of the 1990's. North Lake Junior Ranger Camp, another educational facility with kitchen/dining hall, bunkhouses - on a stunning point in Crown Land. Timbers all gone. No more youth wilderness training or lake levels taken ... it is now part of the Bigwind Wilderness Park - and with no camping though! * see my experience - last fall notes.

Yes, there were favourable times in these wild lands before the political cuts. Along the forest access roads it was not unusual to encounter the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) personnel releasing 'nuisance' bears into the wild or to watch logging teams
of clydesdales. Once, when I was canoeing out from a water access campsite, I photographed two MNR summer students coaxing an ancient (guess 8o yr) snapping turtle out of their truck into the waterway. It had been hanging out under the docks of some cottagers - making a scary nuisance of itself in Haliburton - watching wiggling toes from under the dock I suppose! An old soul worth saving and reflective of the conservation philosophy of the time.

Now MNR spotter planes looking for the fall 'weed harvest' provide directions to enforcement on the ground. * didn't I get dinged last fall camping on grounds that I had been cleaning of lazy camper garbage for over 30 years. Hefty fine ... but, mea culpa, I
paid without hesitation. I endorse the protection of the natural environment. The camp was clean enough for my dogs after all.

In fact, any unregulated campsite that is clean enough for dogs (you know, with their fabulous noses, they find every chicken bone in the bushes and every vestige of human habitation) is usually only accessed by water. Since the camping ban in the Wilderness Park, it is spotless and this was a joy to encounter. Somteimes I wonder why every recommendation to take TP into the wilderness is not bracketed by info re: cathole digging or of books such as "How to Sh_t In the Woods" or "Up Sh_ts Creek". When we enjoy the environment, we appreciate that those who follow deserve a clean path such as we have enjoyed.

Water access camper here, with pups in tow - avoiding the crowd! Respectful of all that go before, but sure do appreciate clean.

 

[Codger_64]

Another new GoPro video just posted. It is a good thing that "buttboats" weren't in vogue whe nI was a younger man. I might not have lived to have children and grandchildren! We got crazy enough more than once in canoes!

[video=vimeo;62009450]http://vimeo.com/62009450[/video]

 

[Woodrow F Call]

Perhaps more than a few weeks wait to get on the river here ...

A couple of stills here. Not much wild water but perhaps some local colour. Dialup is just blazing along here at 32 kbs; I just checked. Otherwise, I would be watching great videos posted in this thread too.

Last October's drive-to camps off the forest access roads nearby. First one is just above a substantial beaver dam that holds the water level. You can set in here to access a trail to another very small lake at a higher elevation. We moved along after a couple of overnights as camp was just inside the SE corner of a designated wilderness area.

On to set up another camp tucked about 500 ft off the forest access road. Here the way was easy and close to the lakes for pictures, yet nicely removed. On one jaunt my GPS showed that I was only 100 ft from the Black River where it winds through that area. I was not going to fight my way through that wet, wild, tag elder 'briar patch' on this trip! The river's oxbows are deceiving. Easy camping all the way.

Man, it's snowing again here.

Just beautiful.

 

[Codger_64]

Yet another whitewater kayaker video, this one on lower Richland Creek in Arkansas. As I have mentioned, I don't kayak myself, but I find these videos interesting. I have run most of these creeks and rivers in open canoes. They give some good illustrations of teamwork, maneuvering in the current and reading the water to choose routes. Note the frequent use of eddys to rest, wait on companions in case they need assistance, and preview obsticles downstream. Moving in and out of eddys is a little bit different in a bigger canoe, but the essentials are the same. I note they also do cross-stream ferries to change their line of approach. And frequently stop to play a feature rather than barreling downstream like it was a race.

[video=vimeo;62360230]http://vimeo.com/62360230[/video]

 

[taldesta]

That does it! I am going to have to take my laptop to town, park under the wifi at Tim Hortons ... and catch some of these videos.

taldesta

 

[Codger_64]

Been there and done that girl! I was on dial-up for years and hated the jerky load time for videos and even music. Even here, my internet goes down occasionally and I find myself parked in front of a wifi zone. For a while, I had to access from the public library but they had a cybernanny program that deemed BF.com to be a "weapons site". They would unblock it for me, but it was a hassle.

The dynamics of flowing water and boat control is very transferable to calmer flowing waters and different types of boats. I enjoy watching them and seeing the skills demonstrated as well as what happens when they "miss". Recovery skills are important too.

In this video, when the yakker makes a wet exit, we don't see his partner helping him to an eddy and shore, but we see others "shepherding" his swamped kayak into an eddy, and how to deal with a recovered paddle while still maneuvering in a current with your own paddle. Deck clips or bungee paddle parks would be one way, but this guy just paddles with both held together as one.

 

[Codger_64]

Back on the topic of gear, I am looking longingly at a new-tech paddle. Some of you may remember last year when I broke down and bought a Mitchell Seneca laminated wood paddle. WHile I could have bought three of the cheap livery-style Mohawk/Carslile paddles for what it cost (@$100), I have been very pleased with my purchase. So pleased in fact that I considered buying a second as a spare or loaner for an occasional bowman. So far I have been enlisting one of my old tried-and-true aluminum shaft plastic blades for these purposes. The mitchell has a blade guard on the tip which reduces wear from paddling in shallow rocky water, fending off boulders and logs, and it works better than I might have imagined it would. The lighter weight is also appreciated on long paddles to say nothing of the pleasing asthetics of the wood construction.

But now paddle gear hounds have brought a new player to my attention which is still in this lower-mid price range, the Aquabound "Edge", a full carbon fiber paddle. It is light at about 26 ounces, compared to the Seneca's 24 ounces, but has some flex in blade and shaft which supposedly reduces shoulder fatigue. A 54” Mohawk paddle weighs approx. 28 oz , so the difference in weight isn't significant. The 8x19 blade of the Edge is pretty close to the Mohawk, but the tip of the blade is nearly full flat as opposed to rounded. Some paddlers swear they are having good results with them in up to class IV water, as far as durability goes. And a few OC-1 boaters are buying them in two and three piece breakdown configurations for a spare that is stowable under the air bags in their short, highly rockered canoes.

Has anyone else here tried one of these?