Killarney - Grace, Nellie, Murray

Sunset on Grace Lake

Day 0 Pinewood Motor Inn Espanola
Julie arrived on Monday July 19th and we set off for Espanola on Tuesday morning of July 20th. We had both honda civics loaded up with camping gear for the 6 of us. Julie, Ian and Alison and Jackie, Sarah and Alan. We had a pleasant drive up to Espanola, although it is quite long from Waterloo ... about 6 hours. Upon arrival we met the Walsh's, Megan is my new sister-in-law and David and Marg are her parents. They were recently in North Bay while Marg was in a Dragon Boat challenge so their drive wasn't as long as ours. We had a wonderful meal at the Pinewood Motor Inn before packing our gear up to get ready to leave early the next morning.


Evening at Pinewood Motor Inn

Day 1 Journey to Grace Lake
We awoke at around 7 am for a wonderful breakfast at the Pinewood Motor Inn. This was the last meal that we would be served for a few days so we enjoyed it very much. We gathered our gear and set off south on Hwy 6 to Widgawa Lodge. This was going to be our put in location for Grace Lake. Most of the members of our group were experienced canoeists. Alison and Sarah have canoed on a number of these family canoe trips. However this was the first canoe trip for Ian Mills. My nephew and Julie's son. I was hoping he would be okay with a couple of hour canoe trip to get to the portage into Grace Lake.

We quickly loaded up the gear and set off down the little river that leaves Widgawa lodge and empties into Charlton Lake. We had a nice tail wind so before long we were passing the little village of Willisville which has a small marina and then we were onto Frood Lake. Frood Lake had a number of pretty sections that were full of lilly pads. Frood is a beautiful gateway to Killarney. After canoeing for 2 hours we made it to the portage point into Grace Lake by about noon. So we decided to have lunch in order to build up our strength for the 1 3/4 km portage. We met a couple who was coming the other way. They had been camping on Grace Lake and mentioned that there was noone left when they left which was a good sign and meant that we had a good shot at getting site 179 (my favourite on Grace).


Loading canoes at Dock's at Widgawa Lodge


Tatoo Tuesday

After lunch we started the portage, pretty gruelling but with the number of adults and Megan's exuberance at portaging again after a long hiatus we managed to complete the portage relatively quickly. I was excited to have the Walsh's and Julie see Grace Lake which is the most beautiful of the Killarney lakes from my experience.

We arrived on Grace and quickly set off for site 179 which was completely vacant.

We unloaded our gear and quickly set off to explore the quartzite bluffs above our campsite. From previous years we'd discovered that these hills are some of the best wild blueberries you can imagine. This year was no exception. The blueberries were out in full force. Those that basked in the sunlight were very sweet whereas the ones that were in the shade were tart but bursting with flavour. Alison and I picked 2 containers full and returned with them for desert.


Group shot while blueberry picking above Grace Lake


More blueberry picking

Day 2 Rest day on Grace Lake

The second day we enjoyed a relaxing day of more blueberry picking and exploring around the lake. In front of our site was a beautiful island which the kids easily swam out to and basked in the sunlight on the rocky point of the island. Ian and Julie set up the fishing rod and Ian spent a good part of his day fishing but unfortunately didn't manage to catch any dinner for us.


Ian catching dinner?


Grace Lake campsite 179

Megan taught us all how to right a canoe from the water which looked so easy. She got under the canoe and did a whip kick and righted the canoe with little to no water in it. It looked very easy but I'm sure in panic mode of attempting to do this in a real situation, it would be much more difficult.


Swimming to the island

After a day full of activities, I fed the group a recipe that Jacques Barrette had given me. It was mango curie vegetable sauce on top of couscous. Couscous is an awesome starch for camping. It was well received by the group.


Tents on Grace


Moonrise on Grace Lake

Day 3 Off to Nellie

We awoke to a wonderful breakfast courtesy of the Walshes which was crepes and nice fillings. Julie had her usual early morning swim. As much as Julie loves Alberta she can't get enough of the swimming in Ontario's pristine lakes. We were regretting the departure from Grace Lake and not really looking forward to the huge portage into Nellie Lake. We packed up our gear and said good-bye to this beautiful campsite while also looking forward to seeing Nellie Lake.


Albertan goes for a swim

On our portage into Nellie we met 2 older women who had just stayed on Nellie. They were doing the same route as we were doing only in reverse. They comforted us by saying that the reverse route was much worse than the way we were going. This made me feel a bit better since David had read the opposite in a book by Hap Wilson.

The portage was tough but luckily not too many hills to climb. Jackie incredibly lugged the "dreaded" CCM bag the full 2.2 kilometers. This was filled to the brim with cooking pots and pans and other heavy items. She certainly doesn't wimp out when it comes to portaging the gear. David and Marg as well were very capable portagers. Megan wouldn't let me take a second canoe. We happily made it through this portage which would be our longest of the trip. We camped out at site 142 which is a beautiful site on a point which separates Carmichael Lake from Nellie Lake. As much as we wanted to stay at this site it was probably not big enough for our 3 tents so we moved on to site 144.

Nellie Lake is known for its incredibly clear water with a visibility of 60 feet. It gives it a rather eerie shipwreck like feeling when looking down to the bottom of the water. The 2 women on the portage mentioned something about one of the campsites on Nellie having a series of signals below the water. On a shelf about 20 feet below the water the people who had camped there had placed white rocks on the bottom signifying the years that they had camped there ... 06,08,10. We canoed to this campsite and found the signals below the water. Megan spotted the lumninescent numbers shining up from the bottom of the lake. It was quite a thing to see.

At campsite 144 we had a great time. David showed us his skill at frisbee by managing to catch a spinning ring on his head. The Walshes made dinner which was another fantastic meal (can't remember what it was though). I attempted to put a tarp up but was put to shame by David's tarping skills and I decided to take mine down and keep David's as the tarp for shelter. We managed to rope up the barrels in a perfect spot off a tree limb about 15 feet off the ground. No bears would crack open our food supplies! This site was the nicest so far in terms of accomodating all 3 tents. Even David with his sleep-apnea couldn't be heard in the evening.


Leaving Nellie Lake Campsite 144

Day 4 Nellie to Murray

We had a wonderful stay at the Nellie Lake campsite but unfortunately the sun didn't come out for most of our time there so we were unable to capture the raw beauty of the clear lake on film (hence the lack of Nellie photos). We ate a nice breakfast and ventured on for our next adventure... the portage to Murray Lake. Murray Lake I'd heard was the most Muskokian of the lakes that we were visiting. I'd also heard that the portage was a killer.

For this portage and most of the portages on the trip, I rigged up the paddles under the front seat and thwart. It gives the portager the ability to bring his/her hands closer to the shoulder while controlling the canoe. Julie enjoyed this as well. We did this again for the Murray portage. This portage was our most challenging. We started off marching up a hill and when we arrived at the top we were alerted by Jackie to some very slippery rocks which were difficult to navigate with a canoe on our shoulders. Then towards the end of the portage the descent was very difficult. You had to avoid having the canoe touch the group while descending the steep bank. At one point I was trying to wedge my canoe in a poorly place V tree and managed to topple over. The canoe hammered the side of my head. While lying still to catch my bearings, my daughter Sarah came back from having unloaded her packs and saw her father pinned under the canoe. It was quite a sight and I think she was quite worried about her poor father who was actually pretty good but just catching his breath.

At the end of the Murray portage we met a group from camp Eco. Out for a 10 day Killarney trip. They weren't too well organized however. The tripper, a smoker, lead the way but a while later we heard some of the campers ask for some help and directions. They had attempted to ascend the portage route beside the water fall rather than on the trail and were thoroughly exhausted.

Upon arriving at Murray we explored the 3 available sites and settled on the only one which would accomodate 3 tents (148). We had a fine meal considering it was our last and had a beautiful evening of swimming and had some family photos in the sunset. We were incredibly amazed at how alive Murray Lake was relative to the acid lake peacefulness of Nellie lake. We were treated to raw nature as we watched a hog snake devour a salamander called a Mud Puppy. This was morbidly fascinating. The mud puppy was about twice the size of the snake's jaws initially but we watched the snake's jaws unhinge to accomodate the much bigger mud puppy. We also saw the mud puppy do a macabre dance as the snake must have been hitting various nerves as he proceeded steadily down the body of the mud puppy. After watching the snake eat the mud puppy we were greeted by a snapping turtle which poked its head out of the water as if to say "Happy Birthday Ian". Oh yes... it was Ian's 6 the birthday. He was quite happy to have all these things occur on his birthday.


Hog snake devours Mud Puppy


Snapper greets Ian for his birthday

On top of these activities, Megan managed to bake an awesome cake. Creating a hearth out of the fireplace she patiently baked the cake using one of my camping frying pans.


Happy 6th bday Ian


Ian holds birthday cake


Sparklers for Ian's birthday (Can you tell Meg was a counselor)

We watched the sunset on Murray. After having a cloudy day the sun poked its head out of the clouds to give us a brilliant sun soaked hill view as seen in the photo below.


Sun-soaked hill tops on Murray Lake

The final night on Murray was spent with some sadness and happiness. Sadness that this was our last day in Killarney and happiness with our accomplishments. This was the longest portage trip of David and Marg's lifetime. Jackie and Julie had also not portaged this much so it was a very physical trip but thoroughly enjoying. Hopefully Jackie doesn't have to continue to take IBU for too long after the holidays!

Day 5 Murray to take out

The next morning we awoke to a beautiful sunrise on Murray. Megan was eager to try some white water canoeing and was hoping that the marked water fall at the end of Murray was runnable which it wasn't ... thank-god or else I would have had to do it with her.


Sunrise on Murray


Misty Murray


Murray to Howry Creek

We had a small portage at the end of Murray and then had a great canoe through Howry Creek. This creek meanders its way into Charlton Lake.

Howry Creek into Charlton Lake

We had to manouever over a few beaver dams which was a lot of fun. The beavers were quite busy on Howry Creek. There were at least 2 beaver dams. The damns were very strong and we could easily step on them without getting our feet wet. We lugged the fully loaded canoes over the dams which really wasn't as hard as it looks.


Lugging loaded canoes over beaver dams of Howry Creek

We continued on into Charlton Lake which was a sea of lilly pads. This was a bit annoying to paddle through but quite a beautiful site to see.


Charlton lilly pads


Lilly pad Sarah

We continued down Charlton all the while looking for a suitable spot to have a final swim before exiting our journey in Killarney. We found a beautiful island without cottages on it for our lunch spot and a nice point for swimming.

Pine tree on Charlton


The last swim


Lilly pad lake Charlton

We had a final canoe into the Widgawa river. We unloaded the canoes and said our good-byes. It was a wonderful trip! A great way to get to know your in-laws. Both families are very compatible. I hope we'll be able to do another canoe trip such as this. So until next year over and out!

For a full set of photos click on the following link

2010 Killarney

Algonquin Trip May 24 Weekend 2009

Canoeing on Rock Lake


Rock Wall on Rock Lake


Day 0 Rock Lake
We drove up late after work on Thursday and arrived at Rock Lake at around 11:00. Andy's truck was on empty as we drove into the campsite. This was problematic as there was no gas station within 30 k of where we were. However we put this behind us and setup camp at Rock Lake. It was a beautiful cold night about -2 and clear. There was a full moon out and it glittered off of Rock Lake.

Day 1 Journey to Welcome Lake
Brad cooked us up a nice breakfast the next morning on the small 1 person camping pot set that Eric brought along for the 4 of us :). We sifted through our gear determined to only take what we absolutely needed. Eric suggested we share a tube of tooth paste which I promptly forgot and so we were left without toothpaste for the entire 4 day trip.


Put in on Little Madawaska River

We put in at little Madawaska River (not the white water one). This meandering river flows into Rock Lake. The weather to rise to a beautiful 18 degrees. We paddled past the pristine rock walls of Rock Lake, everyone enjoyed their first paddle of 2009. Brad and I had travelled on Rock lake many times before and were pretty familiar with the route so we were easily able to find the first portage to Penn Lake. For this trip we had to do a large number of long portages so we decided to practice doing the portage in one trip. This meant carrying a big pack on the front and on the back which the guy with the canoe had to take a pack on their back.


Brad studying his Rocks on Rock Lake

After the portage we entered Penn Lake. This is a familiar lake to Brad and I since we had canoed here to camp with the kids twice before. We paddled past some of our favourite campsites until we go to the Galligeo River. This is more like a marsh with a small channel nestled in the middle of it. The challenge is to find your way through to the portage location. Because the water was higher in the springtime we had no problem getting through the stream. The portage was beside the Galligeo Falls. These were the same falls that Sarah had dunked her head in while we were here previously. Had she done it this time around, she would have been swept into the falls as the flow of water was much greater than it had been prevously. We had lunch at the top of the falls.


Portage at Penn Lake


Favourite Penn Lake Campsite

After lunch we portaged to Welcome Lake. This was a killer 2.5 km portage. We packed our gear up so that we could make it in 1 trip. Eric and Bradley (beavertail) were loaded up with canoes and 1 pack each while Andy and I did the double pack. This was quite a challenge. To top it off, there was huge amounts of deadfall trees blocking the path. Eric and Brad managed to manouvre with the canoes around the deadfall and managed to portage the canoes the whole way to Welcome Lake which was quite a feat but I'm sure it crushed their C9 vertebrae.

At Welcome Lake we were so hot from the portaging that we disrobed and went for a swim in the frigid but refreshing water. This was enough to scare the other portagers away from the beautiful beach area. We all managed to get under for a brief second before getting out of the water and drying off.



Welcome Lake Beach Campsite

We then paddled to a beautiful beach site on Welcome Lake where Eric setup his tunes and we sat and talked out on a nice granite table rock that split 2 sandy beaches.



Listening to tunes on Welcome Lake Rock


Day 2 Welcome to Frank Lake

We awoke the next morning to rain. We got in the canoes and paddled through Harry Lake. From Harry we passed through a beautiful river brimming with Speckled Brook trout. We were canoeing against the current so we could see them all swimming beneath us as we canoed by. This brought out the angler in Brad and we vowed to return after setting up camp on Frank Lake. We paddled through Rence Lake to Frank where we had the only campsite on the lake. This was beautiful but just large enough for 2 tents and pretty exposed to the wind which howled through the site. After setting up camp Brad and I headed back to the river with Brad's fishing rod to try to catch dinner. On arriving at Rence river, Brad cast his rod in 3 times and then nailed a beautiful Speckled trout. The problem was bringing it into the boat as we had no net. Brad attempted to bring the trout into the boat without the net but of course the fish was too heavy and broke the line. After that we spent 3 more hours without any single nibble. We headed back to Frank Lake without dinner :(.



Rence Lake just after Speckled Trout River


When we arrived back, Eric and Andy had setup an amazing tarp which was perfect for blocking the wind. We had a nice meal and went to sleep. That night it got quite cold as it dropped to -5.



Andy Fischer "Tarp Master"


We woke the next morning and set off to Louisa. We had a 1.7 km portage which Andy and I did and Brad and Eric took the packs. We made it to Lake Louisa where the wind was howling at aroun 50-60 kms. We got out on the lake and the waves were challenging to canoe with but thankfully they were at our back. When we got out into the open, we had to make a point to point crossing. This was difficult with the waves at our back. Brad and I made the point to point crossing as did Andy and Eric with the wind at our backs. We continued on until we found a campsite that was sheltered from the wind. Because the water was so cold and the wind was so strong, I was more nervous on this lake than I'd been on any of our white water trips.



Sunrise on Lake Louisa

We found a beautiful site on Louisa and setup camp there. We then went on a hike up the hill from the campsite and saw some evidence of Algonquin clearcutting which is a shame.



Clearcutting in Algonquin

Day 3 Louisa Lake to Rock Lake



Nirvana

The next morning we awoke to another frigid but beautiful morning. The water was like glass and the sun was out and steam was rising off Lake Louisa. We journeyed to the portage which was our longest yet. It was 2.7 km distance portage. Thankfully we'd eaten our food. Eric and Brad ... the work horses ... took the canoes again and we did the portage in one trip. This was another challenging portage. We got to Rock Lake and then continued on to our car.



Rippling Water

We loaded up Andy's truck and then prayed for gas fumes to take us to the closest gas station. We saw a moose along the way and thankfully made it to the gas station at canoe lake.

All in all it was a wonderful experience.



Group shot after Louisa to Rock portage

Petawawa River Trip


Day 1 Lake Travers to Crooked Chute

The Petawawa River starts at Butt Lake in northern Algonquin Park and flows east, emptying into the Ottawa River at the Town of Petawawa. The river is 187 kilometers (116 mi) in length with numerous challenging rapids and beautiful views.

The river's name comes from the Algonquian language, meaning "where one hears a noise like this", which refers to its many rapids. From the late 1800s until the 1960s, the river was used for log driving of the timber from the forested areas surrounding the river.

This year's crew welcomed a few new members to the group. The first was Jeff Duffield, a childhood friend of Andy's who traveled back from Calgary to join Andy in his canoe. Two other new members joined us. These were Chris Goldrick who worked at the CBC with Steve and Juan Van Heerden, a Bombardier private jet pilot from Montreal who had recently emigrated to Canada from South Africa where he had flown throughout Africa.


Chris Goldrick


Steve Fischer

With this group the trip promised to be an interesting one and it did not disappoint. Andy, Jimmy, Jeff and I had a relatively uneventful drive up on the Thursday May 22nd. We got to Lake Travers at around 12 midnight and proceeded to look for the Ottawa contingent with no luck and so we pitched our tents on a point near the ruins of an old farm house. It was pretty chilly and I got nestled into my Mummy bag pretty quickly. I slept like a baby until the next morning when Steve dropped by at around 8 am to wake us up.

We were looking forward to a wonderful breakfast since Steve and Jacques were on the hook for breakfast. Instead we were offered some hard boiled eggs and black coffee. This didn't bother us as we were itching to get on the river and to be honest Steve really didn't have enough time to put his culinary skills to the test. At this point we met Chris and Juan and heard about their fishing excitement from the previous evening. Juan was fishing near the camp when he thought he'd snagged his line. Instead he realized that he'd hooked a biggy and after a good fight he pulled in the biggest pike he'd ever seen. Juan who had never been to Algonquinn before was suitably impressed with the quality of the Canadian wildlife.


Juan catches a pike


Andy and Jeff Portaging

We packed up our gear and headed out by about 9:30 as the weather started to warm up a bit from the chilly 0c it was during the evening. It was quite a paddle to the first set of rapids and we seemed to be battling a cross current for a good part of the 8K that it took to get to Big Thompson Rapids. Big Thompson rapids is a class III in high water.


Scouting Big Thompson Rapids

By the time we reached Big Thompson Rapids and were scouting it, Juan and Chris had already succeeded without dumping. This made Juan very happy as this was his first white water canoeing experience. He'd had some white water experience in Africa when he went white water rafting and managed to break his leg when he got his foot caught in between 2 rocks when the raft he was in capsized. My nerves were somewhat on edge as they always are when we start the first serious rapid of the trip. We scouted for a while and portaged the majority of our gear and then headed down the rapid while Juan took some pics from the shoreline. The rapid is long but not super treacherous and after about 250M of fun rapids we all made it through.


Steve and Jacques running Big Thompson Rapids


Alan and Jim running Big Thompson Rapids

Next we came to the sister of Big Thompson Rapids known as Little Thompson Rapids. Don't let the name fool you on this one. It is named little because it is shorter than the Big Thompson rapids but the waves were more ferocious. It was also rated a class III. On this one we had the opportunity to watch a pair of canoeists who were just ahead of us. They were 2 cops from Oshawa. We stood on a point overlooking the rapids as they attempted it. They made it most the way through this rapid before the canoe went side ways and they went swimming. They weren't wearing wet suits but other than that there were no other repercussions to them going in such as exposed rocks. Due to the high water, the chances of us getting rolled around in the rapids were non-existant so this gave us all the courage to try this tough rapid.

Andy and Jeff went first and made it through the rapid before attempting to eddy out with a full canoe. This was their only mistake. As the canoe spun around the water sloshed to one side of the canoe and over they went. Next came Juan and Chris, they suffered a similar fate to Andy and Jeff. Steve and Jacques tried next and they made it through. Lastly Jimmy and I came down and we also made it through with a boat full of water. After the rapids where some succeed and others don't there was the usual trading of insults. Jimmy indicated that he and I would be giving lessons after dinner for those that wanted to join.


Andy and Jeff Go For a Swim

Next rapid up was Crooked Chute. This is a nasty class 5 rapid in high water. Steve indicated that there were 3 separate take outs prior to the chute. Each takeout offering a trade off between increasing the level of risk and decreasing the amount of sweat on the portage. We assessed the risk of getting to the 3rd and final takeout before heading over the chute. The river was moving fast and if you didn't manage to get out at the 3rd takeout you likely would be running (or swimming) the chute. The approach to the 3rd takeout was tricky because you had to keep your stern to the shore in order to avoid being pushed out into the faster flowing water. Then had to execute a perfectly timed eddy out. We had picked up some gear and portaged it to takeout 3. At this point I see Juan and Chris coming down the shoreline with Steve sprinting down the trail beside them. Steve had advised Chris and Juan that he was going for the 3rd takeout and so they decided to go for this one. Steve the caretaker of the group had wanted to make sure that they didn't have any troubles getting out at the 3rd takeout remembering what had happened on the Coulange just 2 years earlier. Chris and Juan managed to eddy out at the 3rd takeout but it did look tricky.

Andy and Jeff also managed to pull in at takeout 3 with no mishaps. Then Steve and Jacques pulled in a little earlier than takeout 3 just in case they missed they didn't want to have no other option. Jimmy and I decided to follow Steve and Jacques lead. Next came the Crooked Chute portage. This was a long one. As we were portaging our gear I was reminded of the last time that we'd done the Petawawa in 2003. We had a campsite up on the bluff above the Crooked Chute. I remember it being sooo cold when I woke up the next morning the remaining tea from the night before was frozen solid. As we portaged the canoe and gear to the end I noticed Steve, Jacques, Juan and Chris with their canoes parked about 100 M before the end of Crooked Chute. I couldn't believe that they were planning to do it. This part of the rapid while doable was still very treacherous.


Chris and Juan attempted this one but went in very early on. They were in a precarious position of having the canoe upstream of them. Since canoes move faster in rapids than people, Chris and Juan had to avoid the canoe at all costs. At the same time they were getting hammered against some sharp rocks. After a rough ride, both Chris and Juan were luckily not injured. Jimmy and I picked up Juan after he'd finished rolling down the rapids. He was pretty shaken up with some bruises. If not for his wetsuit he would have had more cuts and bumps. We paddled with our gear and Juan to our campsite where Chris had gotten back into the canoe after the rapid and paddled over to a campsite at the bottom of the Crooked Chute. He was okay as well. This disuaded Jacques and Steve from trying this part of the Crooked Chute.

We setup camp that at about 4:30 that evening. Jacques prepared an Indian Chicken dish with rice for dinner and we all enjoyed this very much.

Jacques Resting

Day 2 Rollaway rapids to 5 mile rapids

The next morning we awoke to a wonderful breakfast of some rolled up feta cheese pancakes made by Andy and Jeff. We packed up our bags and headed on our way.

First up was Rollaway rapids. Beside this rapid is a memorial for Blair Fraser who was a MacLeans writer who drowned on this rapid in May 1968. The rapid is rated class IV with a class II down the middle if you can find it. It looked pretty treacherous to us. Chris had made it through this rapid on a previous canoe trip running part of the rapid backwards. This year with the water levels higher, it looked pretty difficult so we all portaged it.


Bottom of Rollaway Rapids


Next up were the upper and lower Natch Rapids. The upper Natch is rated a Class 3 and the lower Natch is a Class 2. The Natch portages are very rough so we didn't want to portage the whole way. The first part of the Upper Natch was a ledge which looked pretty tricky. Jeff and Andy managed to run this one perfectly. Chris and Juan ran it as well but dumped and went swimming and managed to get out before hitting the second part of the Upper Natch. We studied the second part of the upper Natch. There was a large rock that we had to keep just to the left of and avoid some rather turbulent water on the right side. We all made it through the second part of the upper Natch rapid.

At this point we stopped at a beautiful campsite before the lower Natch rapids for lunch. The river meandered through some steep rock banks and we had our lunch at a campsite overlooking the water.


Parking For Lunch


Lunch At Lower Natch Rapids

The lower Natch Rapid’s ledge ended up being nothing to speak of, we had swifts harder than this. We got waved right through by Steve and Chris so we ran it fully loaded.


Juan and Chris Conquer the Natch Rapids

The landscape at the bottom Natch Rapids is breathtaking, 100m cliffs loomed ahead of us as we wound though this twisting portion of the river, absolutely spectacular. I think the rapids get their name from the cliffs which are known as the Natch. As we were looking at the cliffs Andy suggested we climb it. I figured this would be an exercise in futility but in true Fischer Fashion Steve and Andy managed to find a route up to the top of the Natch. This involved clambering up some very steep portions on all fours.



The Natch From Canoe


Andy Climbing the Natch


On Top of the Natch


View From the Natch


Another View From the Natch



We were rewarded for our efforts when we got to the top. From the top was a panoramic view of the river. Especially from the top of the rock wall where there was a boulder overhanging the cliff itself. As we got closer to the tip of this boulder my morbid fear of heights seemed to kick in. Jacques and I stayed well back of the boulder while both Fischers looked out over the edge. The video below is from the top of the Natch.



For the trip down, we were lucky enough to find a path that must have come from a campsite just before the Natch. This path made it much easier to get back down to the bottom.

We continued from here through Schooner rapids which were fun and a long stretch of very runnable rapids. We stopped at a beautiful campsite about 2.5 miles into 5 mile rapids. After setting up camp, Jim heated up his beef stew and we all had a well-deserved meal.

Jim's Stew


Sunset At 5 Mile Rapids

After dinner we played a Jeff Duffield drinking game where the penalty for missing was to drink some Tequila straight. We finished the bottle in record time and then someone brought out a second bottle. This could have gone on all evening but thankfully Chris diverted the group towards having a sauna. The idea was to prop a tarp up with a paddle and have 3 guys get under the tarp while the others brought in a hot rock from the fire. Steam was generated by pooring water on the hot rock. After thoroughly heating up we ran out into the nearby river for a shockingly cold swim. This got the body just tingling and managed to soothe some of the bug bites that we'd aquired. Thanks for the idea Chris!

Heating Rocks For The Sauna

The Sauna

Campsites At 5 Mile Rapids

Day 3 - 5 mile rapids to takeout at McManus Lake

We awoke the next morning bright and early. We had to make it to McManus Lake takeout in time to shuttle the cars and get Jeff to the airport by 6:30 pm. It was a beautiful morning after a nice cold evening for sleeping. We had a brief breakfast and were on our way. The first part of the paddling was about 2.5 miles of the remainder of the 5 mile rapids. We paddled fairly steadily towards McManus Lake. I kept thinking that I'd seen our campsite from 2003. It was marked by the foliage which had been destroyed shortly before 2003 by a tornado. The paddle seemed to take much longer than I thought it would to get to McManus lake. It turned out that this was because we'd overshot the takeout point.

We ended up getting out at the Petawawa military area and realizing our mistake. So we got in the canoes to paddle back. This time we had to go upstream which was a real challenge in some parts. We ended up making it to the proper takeout location. Juan prepared lunch as a few of the group shuttled cars. It was an incredible weekend weather-wise and even bug-wise. We had warm days and cool nights which seem to freeze the bugs. I can't wait for next year's trip already!

The Last Supper


Tall Pines on the Petawawa


Water Cascades over Rock


Trillium

Alan's Petawawa photos

Juan's Facebook Album