Paddling into 2015

Codger_64

Codger_64

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Dead of winter here in Southeastern Idaho. At the Western base of the Tetons, the Sawtooths to the West. One big bowl of cold air. Night time temps as low as minus 16 below zero. A Jaguar frozen to the driveway. 6-8" of snow on the ground that is not going away. And all I can think about is going canoeing again.

I made a 1,800 mile move here from Tennessee back in August, one canoe on the paddle trailer and one in the moving van. A couple of stops at "ports of entry" to have the canoes inspected for invasive species.

After arriving I made one trip to a local lake with the family for a paddling session, my daughter and five year old granddaughter being the only ones besides myself who had ever been in a canoe before. My 24 year old daughter grew up in a canoe with me and handled the Bell Morningstar first tandem with me and then solo like a champ. The son-in-law and twelve year old granddaughter did well enough in the big Old Town Guide 169 with the five year old as a passenger. Yes I caught flack for refusing to let any of them go out on the lake without wearing a PFD. But they wore them.

Now winter has closed in and there are no odd warm days to get out and paddle a gentle stream. So I am getting prepped for cold water spring paddling, hopefully after the weather warms a bit but before the snow melt raises the reservoirs and rivers.
 
I had already bought a good PFD for myself last year, an Astral Buoyancy, and one for the five year old. The others had to share my old flat panel box store vests but this spring they are all going to have to get better ones, even if they are used ones from a local rafting outfitter. Of course my bow-wowman Jake has a good PFD of his own already.

I did splurge on a set of better rooftop foam blocks last fall. I sold my service truck in Tennessee when I left and my car doesn't have a trailer hitch yet. So first solo floats will have to be with the Morningstar cartopped. I hadn't realized the differences in the foam blocks on the market, until I bought this set. the cheaper brand was all I found in Tennessee but they were not very tall and tore up easily. These came from our local Sportsman's Warehouse in Idaho Falls and are beefier foam with anti-skid material on the bottoms.

I have plenty of wench straps to secure the canoes on trailer and roof top but will need to get more paracord to lace the floatation bags back into the Old Town. An ebay item in a wide variety of available colors. The gunnels are already drilled and hull strap anchors in place for these.

As I mentioned elsewhere my aluminum drybox has seen better days and a replacement is in order. I'll check the local (huge) military surplus store first, but if nothing appropriate surfaces there, I'll empty the aluminum Hardig electronics case I have used for years as a home first aid box and add footman loops to strap it into the canoe. I've eyed seat and thwart bags but never seen any that aI felt were really waterproof enough for the contents I carry including wallet and electronics.

I may have a line on a good drysuit, something I consider essential for the cold water here even in spring with the snowmelt. My Arkansas boater friends use them to canoe and kayak through the winter so one should do me in the spring here. They are hella expensive new, well beyond my means but I may be able to get one for very little. That would be a good thing since they cost almost as much as a good used canoe.

I'm checking out the local rivers in the meantime. The North Fork of the Snake River is just a few miles away from the house and looked very doable back in the fall at lower levels. The Teton river is smaller and might be good as well depending on the section and level. Henry's Fork and a Buffalo River are also nearby, like day trippable close. Odd that Arkansas and Tennessee both also have Buffalo Rivers that are good canoeing streams.
 
NO paddling yet. All the water is frozen around here. But I have been planning!!! I have 3 trips planned a booked so far for back country paddling. Two of them 3 nights and one 8 nights.

I also bought new pfd's for my girlfriend and my self! Cant wait to get back on the water. I did 30 or so nights last year of back country canoeing. Hoping to do the same, if not more this year!

Now im have the itch worse then before, good thing youtube has lots of good videos till the thaw this spring.
 
It's going to be 55 degrees here in a couple days. That's warm enough, but unfortunately there's a 90% chance of rain. If it were Spring and I were itching to paddle, I'd probably go. As it is, I can wait. I think I'm probably done until April.

As for sorta paddling content though, I just purchased 7 ounces of magnesium shavings (enough to fill a 1.5 liter bottle.) My paddling interest in magnesium shaving is as a starter for do-or-die-must-have-fire-now scenario. I do paddle in cooler temps in Class II water. Even with wetsuit, an extended swim can lead to hypothermia. Currently, in the Spring, I carry a road flare in a dry box. I'm not sure if a road flare deteriorates over time, though. Even if flares are stable, having a couple film canisters of magnesium shavings in my PFD pocket might be better than a road flare in a dry box that's tied into my canoe. When I get time to play with the magnesium, I'll post the results in their own thread. I just put this here because I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get in early on Codger's updated paddling thread for 2015. :)
 
If you decide to kayak a flume be sure you have good boat control.

[video]http://i.imgur.com/FePrNYI.gif[/video]
 
My friends at the ACC are still boating, though a bit more judiciously because of the cold weather. One just posted a link to his blog with a safety reminder of how to prep for a cold weather dunking. He omitted several things I would include in his drybag. One is a very absorbent towel and another is a space blanket or survival bag. Also not shown are a way to make a quick warm drink like hot cocoa or hot jello.

http://looknfishy.blogspot.com/2015/01/cold-weather-kayaking-being-prepared.html
 
I'm with you. Still cold here, and ice on the lake and streams here in WA.

Anyway, I still need to save the money to fix my canoe. I was thinking about ordering two piece ash gunnals for my canoe.

Had a friend who manages one of the local hardware stores tell me he can order in Ash planks long enough to cut them from. He also said he would cut them to the dimensions I needed, but I am not sure what dimensions.



Not sure I have skill to do it though.
 
Bigfattyt said:
I'm with you. Still cold here, and ice on the lake and streams here in WA.

Anyway, I still need to save the money to fix my canoe. I was thinking about ordering two piece ash gunnals for my canoe.

Had a friend who manages one of the local hardware stores tell me he can order in Ash planks long enough to cut them from. He also said he would cut them to the dimensions I needed, but I am not sure what dimensions.



Not sure I have skill to do it though.
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On the ash gunnels, I'd get my advice from Kent, "Mewolf1". I would think it would be far less work to buy them premade. After all, they aren't simply square edged ripped lumber. Companies that do sell the complete knockdown kits know the lengths you need.

I am going to be on the water somewhere around here first opportunity. And hopefully wearing a drysuit. Exactly when that will be I haven't a clue yet. Air and water temps are still very unpredictable to me here. And winds can be strong and persistent.
 
Scott Free said:
I thought I had everything covered until I saw this. A good towel seems so obvious yet I've never seen it mentioned anywhere else. It's something I'll definitely be adding.
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I carry a hi-tec microfiber sport towel, very compact and absorbent. But it is actually too small to dry a whole body dunking. I need to add a larger size.
 
Codger— you're gonna have to take this stuff into consideration even more than you usually do. Maybe you've thought of it already...maybe not, but you'll be dealing with snow melt into the summer now that you're in Idaho.
 
Codger_64 said:
On the ash gunnels, I'd get my advice from Kent, "Mewolf1". I would think it would be far less work to buy them premade. After all, they aren't simply square edged ripped lumber. Companies that do sell the complete knockdown kits know the lengths you need.

I am going to be on the water somewhere around here first opportunity. And hopefully wearing a drysuit. Exactly when that will be I haven't a clue yet. Air and water temps are still very unpredictable to me here. And winds can be strong and persistent.
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I lived in Rexburg, about 40 minutes from the Teatons, on the Grand Targee side. It can get COLD and windy there!
 
Scott Free said:
Codger— you're gonna have to take this stuff into consideration even more than you usually do. Maybe you've thought of it already...maybe not, but you'll be dealing with snow melt into the summer now that you're in Idaho.
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Absolutely. And that is an alien factor to me. However some rivers and sections of rivers are partially spring fed and so therefore more moderately tempered than ones which are entirely snow melt fed. It is going to be a whole new ballgame over the Southern streams I am accustomed to for sure.
Bigfattyt said:
I lived in Rexburg, about 40 minutes from the Teatons, on the Grand Targee side. It can get COLD and windy there!
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Rexburg is the next town North of me, 12 miles or so. I've already learned that a canoe will not stay on saw horses or the trailer in the yard without being strapped down. So far this winter it has only gotten down to -18 degrees. I tend to hibernate like the Yellowstone bears at those temps. I visited the Snake just to the East of me the other day, Heise Hot Springs area.
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Never ceasing to think about spring and canoeing, I was just perusing the online version of Canoe & Kayak magazine. An interesting article on the recent sale of the Deliverance canoe from Burt Reynolds' Florida museum. It brought a whopping $17,920. The article included some background information on the canoes used in the film. It seems that six identical green Old Town 16' wood and canvas canoes were delivered to Georgia for the movie. And The prop that just sold is a 11'6" reconstruction composed of two different canoes, each end having a different serial. Neat, interesting article if you are old enough that your early canoeing days were greatly influenced by this action adventure movie.

http://www.canoekayak.com/canoe/deliverance-canoe-sold-auction/

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The only influence that movie had on me was to stay out of the South.:eek: Cool boat though; maybe not 18,000 dollars cool, but cool.:cool:
 
mewolf1 said:
The only influence that movie had on me was to stay out of the South.:eek: Cool boat though; maybe not 18,000 dollars cool, but cool.:cool:
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One other prop canoe from the movie much more complete but needing restoration sold for less than $3,000 a couple of years ago.

Stay out of the South? :D We ran into some rather belligerent landowners back in the day but it never came to violence or forced sodomy. Of course that was in Arkansas, not Jawjuh. ;)

We were all "Burt Reynolds" back in the day, ten feet tall and waterproof. And we put the Blue Hole OCA rental canoes through the ringer (destroyed several aluminum and fiberglass beaters). None of us ever drowned or were even seriously injured though looking back on it, it was a miracle. No river was too rocky, no water too high. And equipment was minimal. What we lacked in skill we made up for with bravado and dumb luck. Today I am all for using some sound judgment and taking advantage of modern equipment. "The older I get, the better I was!" :D
 
Well here we go. Prep has begun. Considering big unknown waters here I intend to explore, I've decided to reinstall the air bags in the Old Town for my first trips. When I bought and outfitted the Sunburst a few years back I installed my Harmony floatation bags in it. But when I sold that canoe, I kept the bags. I just bought the paracord for the new bag cages. Black? Boring. Red to match the bags? Nah. Last lacing was a colorful pattern called Liberty". This year's selection is "Confederate"! Yee Haw!

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I'll get a picture of the install after the cage materials arrive.
 
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