FALL CANOEING 2007: Paul Fischer and George Maserkevitch

Months before, I was tweeked by George Maserkavitch with a casual comment that he was looking forward to a sabbatical and a chance to do some fall canoeing when the leaves were showing their colors and the bugs were not around. Would I be interested? About the end of August, after he had returned from a trip to Tibet and China in connection with his passion for martial arts I found out it was no casual remark. He actually meant it.

I hadn’t done this kind of canoe camping for about five years and I’me no spring chicken. Could I handle it and carry my weight? But this did’nt phase George in the least. Also when you can go with a guy like George how could I refuse? So I said yes with some trepidation.

The next question was where to go. George suggested Quetico where the fishing is good and there are bald eagles to eat the leftovers. I mentioned the Rideau Canal or Obabica Lake in the Temagami area. He came back with “lets do both the Rideau and the Obabika”. We agreed. All we needed was a starting date which became Monday Sept. 17th.

THE REWARDING RIDEAU

The Rideau Canal caught my attention when we were visiting son Steve and family for a few days at a cottage they had rented on Wolff Island on the July 1st weekend. The Whig Standard had an interesting supplement about the canal on the occasion of its 175th anniversary and its being declared a world heritage site, which I shared with George. We really did’nt know what to expect. However it did mention the fishing was good, which perked George’s interest.

Leaving early Monday morning we arrived at Kingston mid morning, took the hwy 401 exit at hwy 15, and very quickly pulled in at the locks at Kingston Mills. It was exciting to see the beauty and historic atmosphere of the place. There are lovely sweeping lawns to enhance the four locks here as well as the solid stone buildings and a very busy railroad bridge overhead on the busy Montreal Toronto line. Of course George engaged the lock master in a conversation about the fishing prospects and the best kind of lures to use. This was followed by asking to no avail for what we could do to get my car up to Newboro, our destination. Undaunted George managed to persuade an elderly gentleman who happened to be walking by to do us the favour (for a price), but not till after lunch with the result that we did’nt get our paddles into the water until 2PM.

We passed through Colonel By lake and on through the river Styx which is more like a lake and arrived at the Lower Brewer lock about 5PM closing time. Although the wind had been at our back as it was to be during most of the trip as the prevailing wind is to the NW (a good reason to start at the Kingston end) and we had planned to go on to Upper Brewers locks, this was such a delightful spot we decided to camp there on the lawn beside the dock on the upper end. There was an interesting little one lane swing bridge manually operated over top of the lock, as well as a lockmaster’s house and dam. The thick planks on the bridge tended to rattle like thunder when cars passed over it during the night. After the portage, I made a meal of saurkraut and sausage, while George did some fishing. I mistakenly brought along an extra supply of kraut which Gretel wanted to keep back, but which came in handy raw during the balance of the trip.

Our first campsite with the evening sunlight was stunningly beautiful and we shared it with a young couple from Germany on their honeymoon and their rented camper. I persuaded them to go for a paddle in the sunset, took a picture and sent it to them later on, a very nice happenstance meeting.


Next morning after a breakfast of bacon and eggs we continued on to Upper Brewers . There are two locks and George graciously gave me a pole to try fishing while he did most of the portaging. Much to my surprise I latched on to a good sized bass that jumped and dove. However I lost him when he went under the dock for which I take full responsibility due to lack of experience. It was quite warm so George went snorkeling to cool off and have a look at the fish.


We continued on a long paddle through Cranberry lake to the interesting Brass Point Bridge, the only swing bridge with a bridgemaster and his house on the canal. I should also mention that this whole slack water canal system was built by backbreaking manual labour by Colonel By and his Royal engineers in only six years from 1826-1832. Most of the army of labourers were either French Canadians or recent immigrants from Ireland and stone masons from Scotland. It is estimated there were about a thousand deaths due to disease and workplace accidents, and about 500 of those were from malaria, although they did’nt know it at the time. It had likely been brought in by officers who had served in India and spread by hordes of mosquitoes in the swampy land. They tried to remedy it by denuding the countryside to allow the wind to blow the stench from the swamps away thinking it was to blame. The whole enterprise, which was one of the biggest for its time was for the purpose of defending Canada from the Americans by providing an alternate route between Ottawa and Kingston instead of the St. Lawrence. Although never used for the purpose for which it was built, it did open up the area to development, served for a while as a commercial transportation route until the railway put it out of business and now as a world class recreational waterway.


Because it was off season we pretty well had this beautiful waterway to ourselves, and because it is operated and maintained by Parks Canada, everything was in tip top shape. Think camping on manicured lawns with picnic tables, washrooms, picturesque landscaping for only 5.95 per person per night. We were also both wonderfully impressed that the whole route retains a natural beauty and ruggedness that pleasantly surprised us. We seemed to be almost the only canoeists, but we would highly recommend it.


After Brass Point Bridge there is a long stretch of paddling through Whitefish lake so we enjoyed pulling in at a marina for a coffee and were encouraged to take a side trip and visit Morton’s Bay on the way to Jones Falls where we tried some fishing along a beautiful rocky cliff without any luck.


We had heard that the four locks at Jones Falls are the show piece. of the Rideau and we soon had to agree. There is a lengthy portage up hill along beautifully groomed lawns and well-kept paths. Here I must admit that George made three trips while I only did one with my aching body and he didn’t seem to mind it at all. The camping beside the fourth lock was especially picturesque including a perfect dock for the canoe. After a 20 + KM paddle and a delicious meal of pork and beans, it was great to get my aching body into the sack early for a good night’s sleep.



After breakfast a sturdy, energetic and cheerful man showed up with a fishing pole in his hand. He turned out to be the lockmaster. George immediately got into quite a technical conversation about fishing, but eventually we were told we had to pay a fee for camping, which was news to us. However we were happy to pay the 4.95 fee, and then to top it off he offered and we accepted a very nice sized bass which he had on a chain hanging from the dock. We were also very happy to accept an invitation to a private tour of the blacksmith shop that was the main one used during the construction of the canal. It had only two windows opposite each other so that long pieces of steel could stick out the windows while they worked on them. Also they did’nt want much light in the shop so they could see the color of the hot metal for bending and shaping. He also opened up the “defensible” lockmaster’s house up on the top of the hill overlooking the route of the canal. . .


Just around the corner to the right from the locks we pulled in to look at the amazing dam at Jones falls. It is a sixty-foot high arch dam and is something like 300 feet wide and one of the largest for its time. The stones were cut in such a way that when the water was let in behind it the stones automatically tightened up from the pressure. A couple of penstocks have been added in order to generate hydro electricity.


We then proceeded into the large Sand Lake, and on towards Davis Lock. At this point we seemed to have lost sight of the channel markers and so we managed to hail a fisherman who was passing by. In response to our question about the whereabouts of Davis Lock he pointed way across the lake at a white boat house and told us in his Yankee accent that we would find it a little to the left. Unbelievably when we got there and pulled in at the dock we found that there was no Davis Lock, but instead the name on the cottage was David Lock. Go Figure. We continued to the left and eventually got to the lock station. It is a very isolated but beautiful spot to stop and fry up the bass that George had expertly filleted for lunch. Sitting on comfortable lawn chairs we watched our first boat going through the locks amazed at the perfectly working crank our friendly lockmaster used to do it.


A couple of things we couldn’t help noticing along the way was the predominance of Americans. They apparently own at least half the properties along the Rideau. Also very noticeable was the abundance of Zebra muscles everywhere we went. They are changing the ecology by probably eliminating some of the feed chain on which the fish and other species depend.


From Davis lock we entered the good sized Opinicon Lake. As we approached Chaffey’s lock we tried some fishing but without any luck. This also is a very attractive place with spacious lawns for camping, Chaffey’s Mill which was confiscated by Colonel By for the Canal, the lockmaster’s house museum, and another swing bridge. We decided to take a break from cooking supper and have dinner at the Opinicon Lodge, run by an octogenarian woman from Ohio whose family has operated it for several generations, and therefore is well known and has a reputation as being rather quaint as for example only cash or cheque can be used for payment. No alcoholic beverages are served, but we noticed that there were wine bottles on the tables for a contingent of Priests from the diocese of Kingston who apparently come there annually


Chaffey’s is an interesting community with a number of stores and places to stay, a liquor store, a marina, and a small tour boat business that looked inviting for possible future visits. And very important, a world class bass fishing hole. George got me doing some Chi after breakfast the next morning before taking off into Indian Lake on the last day of our trip on the Rideau.


We ate lunch at an unoccupied island where George found a nice fishing lure and a bobber that he presented to me as a trophy for the fish that got away. At Newboro we were again impressed with the facilities and another great campsite. The weather was an unbelievable 28 C and we asked ourselves, “What did we do to deserve this?” The energetic George did a lot of snorkeling around the docks. He then asked me to get some rice ready because he was sure he could catch enough blue gill catfish for supper. Which is what happened. What a great way to end our summer on the Rideau on the 21st of September.


There was a perfect example of a blockhouse on the hill at Newboro, another community with stores, restaurants, gift shops and interesting buildings. Blockhouses were constructed to a definite pattern, 24 ft by 24. From up here the water flows south to the St Lawrence, and north to the Ottawa. It was an important position of defense since if attacked it could severely damage the whole system if destroyed. The upper story of the Blockhouse overhung so the twenty soldiers housed there could fire their rifles through slits at the invaders below. There are only four blockhouses in the system although Colonel By wanted about twenty of them. And by the way he got in trouble with the British Parliament for going over budget by about 500 percent However it was very difficult for his engineers to make any kind of accurate estimate of the cost of such an enterprise.


George has been a great conversationalist and shared a treasure trove of fishing lore along the way. His kind consideration and positive outlook was very much appreciated by me.


We picked up the car from the parking lot and headed for Waterloo on Friday getting home in good time and very thankful for a great experience on the rewarding Rideau.




TEMAGAMI/OBABIKA


After a brief stopover back at Waterloo, George and I left for Temagami early Monday morning eating breakfast in Barrie at 7 and arriving at Temagami about noon. Both of us had canoed in the area before and were keen to get on the water. But first let me share a bit of background on the area.


Temagami is a descriptive Indian name that means “deep water by the shore”. It is an extensive area of natural rugged scenery and numerous lakes and rivers covering about 10000sq mi. It is the largest and most extensive network of trails and canoe routes in Canada. It is a watershed bounded by three rivers, the Montreal, the Sturgeon and the Ottawa. It is home to the Temagami Indians for at least 6000 years, a band of the Algonguin tribe composed of 12 family groups, who for the most part have been treated as squatters on their own land. They believed strongly in magic, myth, and the manitous of good and evil spirits. Their social life was based on the principles of equality and conservation and they practiced democracy by electing their chief.


There was no white settlement in the area until the 1850’s and the establishment of a HB Co. post. Travel into the area was solely by canoe via the Ottawa and Matabitchuan rivers. The RR arrived in 1902 opening up the clay belt around New Liskeard to agriculture. It was designated a forest preserve and so it wasn’t until the twenties when that was changed to allow vast stands of old growth pines to be cut down. There are still a few scattered small stands of 300-year-old pines on Temagami Island and in the Lady Evelyn area to the north. Mining also took place since the late 1800’s for gold, silver and iron ore. Ive seen the remains of a very rich abandoned copper mine on the south end of Temagami Island accessible from the mining road canoe access point south of Temagami.


The Temagami and Gowganda area was also the main stamping ground for the famous Archie Belaney also known as Grey Owl. He legitimately married a native woman who was considered the belle of Temagami. Her name was Angele and she was the one who taught him the ways of the Indians, their values, customs, and hunting, fishing and trapping skills that enabled him to transform himself as a credible Indian inspite of his English upbringing. So she was the one who made him what he was, and though he eventually abandoned her and their children, she never spoke of him judgmentally nor revealed his true identity even though he had several other illegitimate wives in the area. As our native woman guide told us at the Grey Owl display in Temagami, there has never been “anyone else who could do what he did.”


Because of the astonishing beauty, excellent fishing and hunting and myriad of canoe routes that go back thousands of years, Temagami soon became a mecca for the outdoor adventurer. Many well-known camps devoted to the art of canoeing and wilderness camping were established, such as the Camp Wanapitie and the Keewaydin Camp of which more will be said later.


The traditional canoe routes of the Teme augama Anishinabay Bear Island band were called Nastawaganama. The name for the portage trails was called Onigum. And Bob-ka-nah is the name for the winter trails for snowshoeing and sleds. This is the kind of thing that for me gives Temagami some of its mystique and romance for canoeing. The trails and portages and magnificent campsites remain as they have been for many centuries and command one’s deepest respect. They maintained the onigum and marked them with blazes on the trees. Break up and freeze up were dangerous times for these people. Bob-ka-nah often followed the geological fault lines. We are indebted to the native peoples of Temagami for the largest concentrated and interconnected system of canoe routes in Canada. The Lady Evelyn smooth water-canoeing park drains into the Montreal River and thence into the Ottawa Obabika and environs; Temagami and Anima Nipissing take the Sturgeon River route to Lake Nippissing and down the French River to Georgian Bay. There are many beautiful sandy beaches on the large lakes and although there is a predominance of evergreens, there is a sprinkling of hardwoods, aspen and birches to add some color in the fall. Rugged cliffs and shorelines and prominent rock knob uplands such as Maple and Devil mountains add to the beauty of the area.


There are recently several park areas designated, and so you should check at the information center or one of the outfitters to register and pay the fee. The fishing is good and they are fine and healthy specimens but you should check the regulations for the area. The prevailing winds are from the SW. The mean temperature from May to September is 60F, and the mean rainfall is 3 inches per month. October can bring very uncertain weather, and November some nasty storms. I think it is essential to have a topo map. You need to hang up your food out of reach of bears. Although there is very little visible evidence, there was a major fire in the Obabika area in 1977. Usually there is an abundance of blue berries in the area, but none this year because of the extreme dryness.


TO CONTINUE


We used the old Red Squirrel road off Highway 11 10km north of Temagami planning to access Ferguson Bay of the N Arm of Lake Tegamani from Camp Wanapitie where we had arranged to park the car. At KM26 there is a very inconspicuous sign that directs you to turn left towards the camp. After awhile you arrive at the end of the road and are required to do a 1km hike to the camp. Although it seemed to be deserted, we eventually found the owner Bruce Hodgins, his wife and a young woman employee in the kitchen attached to the dining room. It so happens that I had attended Waterloo college with Bruce in the early 50’s and had an authors signing for him at WLU bookstore when his very thorough text called the Temagami Experience came out. It seems that whoever took my message didn’t pass it on, and so our presence was a complete surprise and it took a while for Bruce to connect. We wandered over to an impressive wooden building, which was called the great hall and had a brief visit and used their services to register and pay a fee of $30 dollars to make use of the park. We then decided to go back to the car and continue to a marked access to Temagami Lake, which required taking a very rough off road that could be a problem in wet weather. From the parking lot at the end of the road it was portage of about 300 or so M to a lovely beach for the beginning of our Temagami trip on Ferguson Bay.


We Finally got on the lake at about 3PM and had a hard paddle against a stiff wind for a couple of hours heading for the portage into the N Arm of Lake Temagami. We tried fishing without luck and had a difficult time finding a campsite until we pulled in to the south end of an island at what seemed to be an unmarked site but which turned out to be very adequate. We had a lovely evening and sunset.


Very soon after breakfast we came to the portage, a very steep one and rocky path for 825 M during which I encountered a proud male roughed grouse and a couple of mink chasing each other. My duck headed walking stick, which I brought along, came in very handy as it did many times throughout the trip. As usual George did the heavy work and we made our way through to the North Arm of Lake Temagami and a scenic trip to Sharp Rock Inlet where we had another portage, but an easy 100M or so. It was along side a jack ladder, a remnant of the logging era and brought us to Diamond Lake.


It has been said that every park seems to have its jewel and possibly that is why they called it Diamond Lake. We continued paddling against a head wind, saw an eagle (a good sign) and stopped at an island for lunch, explored and enjoyed the scenery, and also did some fishing without luck. By about 5.30 or so we pulled in at a beautiful site, and while George persisted in doing some more fishing I got a meal ready with the last can of pork and beans. We built a campfire and enjoyed a very quiet and beautiful evening.


After breakfast we made our way through some islands trolling for fish and marveling at the rugged landscape, the islands and bays until we arrived at the group of seven-type rocky end of Diamond Lake and weaved our way to the rough landing at the next portage. It was over some rough terrain for about 450M until we arrived at an old logging road and a tiny lake if my memory is correct and another 450 M when we arrived at the narrow arm of Wakimika Lake. Again my good friend George did the lifting and I was feeling guilty, but not because he complained. “It’s all training for the next step in my martial arts program,” he says.


When we got into Wakimika we began trolling for fish and to my amazement I soon had something big on my line. When it surfaced near the canoe we recognized a healthy good sized Pike, and I was able to reel it in for George to net. I honestly felt grateful to the fish for letting me catch it. My past experience at fishing has not been very successful. It was near noon so we stopped at a picturesque island; George filleted it and cooked it for a superb fish shore dinner. Somehow he does it such a way that there isn’t a bone in it. The remains were placed on a rock for some lucky seagulls.


At the south end of Wakimika you have to look pretty sharply to find the entrance to the winding picturesque Wakimika River. We hit it right away to the right of some lightly colored reeds. We had to push a bit over some sand bars and do a couple of lift over of some beaver dams, one of which was about 4ft high constructed by these clever animals between the abutments of an old abandoned bridge. It was a somewhat lengthy paddle through marshlands until we came through grasses and shallow waters to get into the big Obabika Lake.


Here for the first time we did see some other canoeists over on the other shore as we traveled down the right side of the lake trolling and fishing along the way. We passed many long and inviting sandy beaches. Late afternoon we pulled in at a great campsite at a point on the far side of a bay. We had dinner and were grateful for another fine day.


Next morning we took off to explore some of the south end of Obabika before tackling the portage to Obabika inlet. George wanted to do some fishing around some of the rugged interesting islands. There was one outcropping that was whitewashed with seagull poop and is apparently a noisy rookery in the summer time. Before long we had a nice black bass, which we kept for lunch, then another dandy big one that jumped and dove until landed in the net. It was too big for just the two of us so we let it go. A couple more were caught and released.


By noon we arrived back at the portage to Obabika Inlet and once again enjoyed a delicious shore lunch of very fresh fish. While George took the first load over the 625m portage I was to get some rice ready and was dumbfounded when he was back in 20 minutes before I even got started. The end of this portage was a very muddy launch and it was hot and humid as we paddled through a marshy area.


From here we made our way toward Devil’s Bay which involved another portage of 825m followed by another long paddle as we made our way to Seal Rock Point and an excellent camp site recommended to us by Mark at Bent’s cameras of Waterloo. We were blessed with a warm beautiful evening with a full moon to boot and a great view towards Devil’s mountain


Friday, day five started out with a light rain as we paddled across to a large island by the name of Keewaydin where there is a camp by the same name. As we approached we decided to investigate. I became quite excited as I recalled stories by my friend Doug Shaw of Walkerton about a Temagami camp that he attended for a number of years. He spoke about the rigorous routine and tough discipline and about the use of tumplines to portage their heavy loads. Shortly after docking and a brief walk around the impressive buildings and facilities we were met by a young man by the name of Jason Piqueau who made us feel welcome and who just happened to be the full time caretaker. When I told him about Doug’s stories he said this must be the place. They run a very traditional camp using nothing but cedar strip canoes, tumplines for portaging them and the wanigans and they have been in the business since 1893, the longest of any camp in North America. Although most of the clientele are from the USA, Canadians are also welcome. Jason also spoke about his Algonkian heritage through his grandmother and as we enjoyed some gorp and coffee on one of the cabin porches he articulated some of his thoughts on the difference between Indian and white cultures. As I recall it seemed basically to boil down to money for which they have no appreciation in their tradition while for whites it is the be all and end all He prefers to work for his own sustenance and for the common good without being enslaved to anyone else. (My son Joel is inclined to agree him being self-employed.) That is at least partly what I thought he was saying. Jason lives there on this beautiful island year around with his wife and two small children. The children go to school in New Liskeard two days a week in addition to being home schooled. I gather he is a follower of the Roman Catholic tradition. We talked a bit about our men’s group and our study of Markus Borg. Both of us enjoyed our happenchance meeting with Jason very much.


Of course George got some information on where we might be able to catch some Walleye and we set off for some islands near by. It was just off Devil’s point and we tried but without luck. We then went down the wrong bay thinking it was Ferguson bay, backtracked and got back on course. Along the way we caught another bass, which we enjoyed with our supper later on. After a good paddle we pulled in at another beautiful campsite with a difficult landing on the south side of Pickerel bay. Both of us slipped on the rocks and got wet feet. From here we could see Franklin Island and Camp Wanapitie .


Next morning after a good brisk paddle of about an hour we arrived back at the lovely sand beach from which we had started. We made the treck back to the car, loaded up and headed out the rough road to the Red Squirrel and back to Temagami about noon where we spent a little time at a Gey Owl display in two rail cars at the Temagami station. I picked up a decal for the canoe and we headed for home. We both agreed it had been a great trip and how fortunate we are for this kind of wilderness experience.

Dumoine River Trip

This year we decided to head back to the Dumoine River for our annual canoe trip. We'd been to the Dumoine back in 2001 during Jim's first year whitewater canoeing so it was time to try this beautiful river again. The river has numerous challenging class 2 and class 3 rapids but your chances of a mishap are not as high if you make a mistake and given last year's challenges on the Coulange we were interested in tackling something a little more forgiving.

Jim and I drove up Wednesday May 30th night to Driftwood Park minus Andy who was staying home in order to have arthroscopic knee surgery. Just as we got into Driftwood we noticed it looked as though they'd had a bad storm. As always Steve left directions on the park office door and we managed to find them at a beautiful spot right on the beach overlooking the Ottawa river. When we got there Steve asked how the driving was through the bad storm they'd had. Luckily, we'd missed the whole thing on the drive up.

View From Driftwood Campsite

As soon as they had arrived up at Driftwood Steve started putting up his tent and then they saw the bad weather coming in over the Ottawa river. Steve managed to finish putting up his tent and they decided to head for the car and watch the storm come in. They decided it was a good thing they made it to the car as the storm was pretty violent bending trees and actually tossing a canoe across the road near their site. Steve feared for his tent which managed to weather the storm okay but took a fairly good pounding in the process.

Jim and I were introduced to the 2 new canoe trippers Charles Hodgson and Steve Todd both from Ottawa. Steve T. was a cub scout leader with Steve F. and had displayed some fantastic camping skills on one of their beaver trips so when Steve F. asked Steve T. if he'd done white water canoeing before and Steve T. indicated that he had, it seemed like a match made in heaven. Steve T. had been whitewater canoeing many time and regaled us with some harrowing stories of mishaps. Steve T. brought along his partner Charles Hodgson who had been his partner on many previous white water trips and also had much white water canoeing experience.

Steve T. and Charles Getting Gear Ready

Getting another tandem canoe group for our trips is very important in case we have an accident where we lose a canoe as we almost did last year plus Charles is known for having an excellent Wannigan :). More important is the fact that you get along and work as a team. Steve T. and Charles fit in really well with the group.

The next morning we awoke bright and early at 6 am to a porridge breakfast and coffee made by Steve F. who is usually one of the first up to make sure everyone starts their day off right. We began weeding out the duplicate items. I even convinced Jim to go with only 2 pairs of socks which I regretted for the rest of the trip.

Day 1 - Getting Acclimatized Again

After breakfast and preparing our gear, we met a friend of Jacques who was going to shuttle us up the Dumoine this year. We picked up Jim and my canoe up at the Air Swisha base. This base will shuttle you up the Dumoine in a float plane. We'd done this previously but this year we were going to try the shuttle in a van.

Once the van was all loaded we ventured into the logging roads to get up to our drop off point which was just above Lac Benoit. Thankfully Steve T. had his GPS with him as we attempted to find our way to the dropoff point. This is not easy as logging roads aren't well marked.

The road was very bumpy and thankfully we hadn't attempted to do this in our cars as they would have bottomed out. Especially my Honda Civic! We arrived at the dropoff spot which was Bridge rapids. This is a nice Class 2 rapids that travels beneath a railway bridge. It is an excellent rapid to practice your skills on before venturing into tougher rapids downstream. We had chosen this spot wisely as just up the river is Triple Play, a nasty mixture of C3-C4 rapids which would have been quite a challenging start to the trip.

Even with the Bridge rapids, my experience from last year was still fresh in my memory and hence I was fairly uncomfortable to begin with. The adrenalin began surging through my veins at the site and sound of this rapid. We surveyed the rapid from the bridge and it wasn't too bad. The flow was fairly fast but there were no major obstacles to avoid. We loaded up the boats with the gear and then all of us did this rapid with no problems. Thankfully as having a spill this early on would have been an ominous start to the trip.

Bridge Rapids C2

After Bridge rapids we played in some C1 rapids practicing our eddying and other techniques before getting to Lac Benoit. We canoed across Lac Benoit and saw the float plane bringing in another group. We were thankful for the shuttle since the float plane could only take 2 people at a time. This would have meant the good part of a day shuttling up the group since it would have been 3 trips.

Below Lac Benoit we had a C1 and then all managed to get through a C2 rapid called "Tight 'Round the Bend". The main danger to this was the set of falls after a fairly calm finish so we were thankful not to dump on this one. We portaged the falls and got to the next rapid "Canoe Eater" close to the end of the day.

Lookout From End of Canoe Eater Rapids

"Canoe Eater" is an ominous sounding C3 rapid. After taking one look at the boulders in this rapid we decided that we didn't want to walk the rest of the way out so we portaged the rapid and we set up camp at a nice site at the bottom of this rapid.

Try This At Your Peril

At the end of the day, we attempted a swim in the cold but wonderfully refreshing river. It was nice to let the body go numb after being bug bait for a good part of the day. The water is beautifully clean and after swimming we felt very rejuvenated.

Day 2 - Lots Of Fun Rapids

We started the next day with a wonderful breakfast of authentic bannoc cooked up in Charles fabulous camping wok which was produced from the wannigan. We got going at around 8:30 am and immediately confronted with rapids with ominous sounding names such as "The Sleeper", "The Snake", and "Thread The Needle". Each of these were C2 rapids with lots of technical challenges. With my new-found training from the previous year, Jim and I practiced giving more control to the bow person and this enabled us to miss some of the more dangerous aspects of these rapids. We still had a few mistakes, on rapid "Double Choice" we missed the recommended path through 2 boulders and thankfully were able to take a second route through closer to the middle using an active paddling approach which means we paddled faster than the rapid flow and this kept us in control.

Steve T. and Charles proficiently paddled through each of these rapids using techniques such as backferrying to get out of harms way in a very controlled fashion. Something Jimmy and I can learn from.

Towards the end of the day we did a mandatory portage around "Little Steel Falls" and then put in at the bottom of this rapid and continued on through "S" rapids which as its name sounds was quite tricky and finished the day off running a series of swifts that finished a challenging but thoroughly enjoyable day. Finally I was starting to get my gumption back!!

Jim with Little Steel Falls In The Background

We bypassed a campsite called "Hobbit Campsite" and continued on and found a fantastic campsite on a peninsula. The route to the campsite ascended up a steep bank to a plateau at the top with spots along the plateau for 4-5 tents single file. This was easily the most picturesque campsite of the trip.

Steve and Jacques Surveying The Campsite


Tough Getting the Gear Up The Steep Bank


View From The Top

The only problem with this campsite was that there wasn't a lot of wood so Jim volunteered to canoe over to the campsite just across the strait and pick up their wood. Steve F. also noticed a nice grill so he scooted over and picked it up. No sooner had we depleted the site of its provisions when a tired crew of canoeists pulled in at this campsite. Needless to say we kept pretty quiet as we enjoyed our nice fire-cooked meal on a stable grill.

Before dinner a few of us went for a refreshing swim in the bay beside our peninsula. Because the bay was sheltered the water was much warmer. Then we went to explore some scenic chutes that were tucked away in the forest in a creek that was a short canoe paddle from the campsite. It was a pretty set of chutes and well worth getting a little wet by climbing through the forest.

After a thoroughly enjoyable meal of Jacques' Thai Green Chicken Steve T. brought out an orange bag. I'd seen him portaging the bag and figured that it was an elaborate fishing pole of some sort. Instead of pulling out a fishing pole, he pulled out an acoustic guitar. He then proceeded to tune it. He explained that he'd gotten it for $10 at a garage sale. While tuning it he managed to separate the string bridge from the body of the guitar which had been previously glued together by its previous owner. I thought this was the end but not for this group. Steve T. asked if anyone had a screw driver and drill and to my surprise Jacques produced both. They then proceeded to repair the guitar by bolting the bridge into the body of the guitar.

Steve T. Repairing the Guitar While Jim is Drying his Good Pair of Socks

After a couple of hours Steve T. and Jacques had repaired the guitar. Then out came the song sheets much to the chagrin of the guys in the campsite on the island across from ours. Jim Kerr picked up one of Jacques harmonica's and we belted out campfire songs. Including a lively rendition of "The Blackfly" by Charles. Jacques who surprised us all with his amazing guitar playing and singing did a beautiful rendition of Claude Dubois' "Labrador" song.

Day 3 - Big Steel

After a pea meal bacon and egg breakfast we headed off the next morning through some flat water paddling. That was until we got to "Big Steel" rapids. This is a challenging C3 rapid. Most of us decided to take a pass on this one. It looked like it was very tough technically as you had to pick your way through a boulder garden at the top and then get through some haystack waves without swamping the boat. Steve T. and Charles decided to run it so the rest of us portaged the gear and waited below prepared for the worsed with throw bags and Steve F and Jim ready in the canoe in case of a mishap. Well Steve T. and Charles manouevered through "Big Steel" in fine fashion eddying out at the bottom of the C3 to wild applause from the shoreline as we were happy not have to stage a river rescue. At the bottom of "Big Steel" we all put our boats in to finish off the remaining rapids which were C1 and C2.

We ate a floating lunch which was very comfortable after our portage at "Big Steel". The bugs were nasty on the portage and we were happy to bring the boats together and just float down the river during lunch. The wannigan served as a wonderful table and Charles brought out a huge bag of pitas and we ate brie cheese and sausage slices on the pitas.

Floating Lunch

After our floating lunch we paddled some more flat water until we got to the Margaret Spry Shelter. We visited this public shelter and each of us carved our names and the date in the walls of the shelter as many canoeists before us had done.

We began to see more cottages around this stretch of the Dumoine because this area has good road access along the Eastern shore. We paddled through a final rapids for the day and all managed to get through successfully at the "Shoreway" rapids. Just after this we decided to check out the campsite on a point. Even though it was early in the day we decided not to pass this one up. After surveying the campsite we saw that it had an ample supply of firewood, picnic tables, a shelter and a beautiful breezey peninsula to put the tents. To top it off, the campsite had a johnny on the spot which was a luxury given what we encountered earlier. Jim remembered this site from the first trip. We'd seen a pile of Merganzer eggs in the tall grass and heard the howling of wolves when we went to bed. We put up our tents and dried out most of our gear and I went for a swim out to a nearby island and did a loop around it. Perhaps a little too long of a swim as I felt like I had hypothermia on the way back.

The Luxury Campsite

Day 4 - La Grand Chute

Because we had made camp early the previous day we knew we had a lot of paddling the next day to keep on our schedule so we were up bright and early and had a light breakfast in order to get on the river by 8. We knew we had the portage at the Grande Chute ahead of us. The portage is 1.5 kms and is really tough if you hit it mid-day. As we approached the Grande Chute, there was no mistaking this rapid for anything else as we could hear the thundering roar from far off in the distance. We arrived at the rapid by 10 and immediately took the canoes on the portage to get the worsed part over with.

After first portaging the canoes along the road trail we planned on coming back on the scenic route which goes along the shoreline but we had a tough time finding the scenic route back along the shoreline. After enquiring at the Zec office, we found out that this area had been heavily hit by last summer's July tornado which had devestated that area. The Zec office lost a big garage and there were many trees down along the scenic route beside the river and they were still attempting to clear the backlog of trees. We had seen much of this devestation during our portage.

The Bridge Overlooking "La Grande Chute"

Zec Office at "La Grande Chute"

After finishing the portage, we decided to have another floating lunch to get some breeze and get away from the bugs. We canoed mostly flat water until we reached a series of rapids called the "Red Pine Rapids". The first part of these rapids was runnable and we all made it down to the middle section called "The Ledge". This was a nasty C3 with lots of souse holes. We portaged most of our gear down most of the portage route known as "Fat Man's Misery". This really was no fun (even for skinny men) as the terrain was rough and the forest was very dense and we were portaging on a high bluff beside the river. This followed our tough portage of the Grande Chute so I think most of us were sick of portaging at this point. We did have enough sense to put in after "The Ledge" and we ran a challenging C2 where we had to hug the left bank and then brace through some rather rough water before eddying out in a pool to give us time to figure out the next section of the rapid. The next section of this rapid titled "Keyhole" had an ominous ledge on the right side so we stuck hard to the left side of the river which was a little shallow but better than venturing over the ledge.

Thankful to be passed the "Red Pine" rapids we continued on through some simpler C1 swifts. After finishing the swifts we came around a bend and saw the Bald Eagle Cliff rising out of the water. This is a 500ft granite cliff that seems to rise to the sky. Last time we attempted to do some novice rock climbing up the cliff face but this time we were a little more sensible and decided to stay in the canoes and admire from afar.

Jacques And Steve Beside Bald Eagle Cliff

We continued on until we came to the Bowman falls campsite. This was a fantastic spot for our final campsite on this incredible river. There were many flat cleared locations to pitch a tent beside the falls. The hypnotic roar of the falls served to drown out any other noise making it much easier to sleep. It threatened to rain so we all pitched in and got camp setup and dinner ready. I really noticed how the group was beginning to gel as a team as some people were putting up tarps, others preparing the dinner and others getting a fire going. We had a nice meal of mushroom soup mixed with vegetables and pasta. A recipe that I had stolen from Dave Hunsberger from previous canoe trips.

Mealtime at Bowman Falls

After eating the meal, it appeared as though as storm was coming. We were on a point so the wind came howling through. We decided to take down the tarps before they flew off like kites. We had an early night which was fine with all of us as this had been our longest day on the river.

Bowman Falls

Pink Lady Slippers

Day 5 - Crossing the Ottawa River

The next morning we had a light breakfast of porridge and then set off to reach the Ottawa River in the morning. The wind is known to get stronger and stronger as the day progresses and the Ottawa river can also produce some heavy rolling waves which can make it dangerous to cross. Thankfully the wind wasn't too strong although it was raining fairly hard as we crossed the river. We all stuck closely together and Steve Todd's GPS came in handy as we were able to take the shortest route across the river to Driftwood Park.

We arrived at the park at around 11 am and gathered the cars. We then kept our tradition of heading out for a wonderful breakfast before saying good-bye to everyone. It was another great canoe experience for us all. Hopefully the start of many more with our 2 new members Steve T. and Charles.

For all the Dumoine pictures click on the following link:

Dumoine 2007

Dumoine Action Shots

Mexico Shots

The family went to the Bahia Principe which is an all inclusive resort near Tulum on the Mayan Riviera. Here is a link to the web album of these shots.

Mexico 2007 - Pump it up Baby

Sarah and I did some fantastic snorkeling in the Cenotes which are fresh water caves located in the jungle. I was very proud of Sarah's bravery as some of these caves were pitch black. All we had for light were hand torches and there were stallagmites over our heads.

Mexico 2007 - Cenotes

Storm Mountain Wedding - Julie & Gavin

Sat May 5, 2007

In early February we heard that Julie and Gavin were planning on tying the knot. They had booked the location for the wedding and it was Storm Mountain Lodge. This lodge is a beautiful lodge located overlooking Storm Mountain. Thanks to Sheila Copps who protected it from being torn down in the late 1990s we still have these historic little cabins and main lodge. The food was exquisite and all the cabins have been upgraded and insulated and are very comfortable. The lodge is located in Banff National Park on the way to Radium hotsprings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sue, Peter and baby Jacqueline and I drove up with Jackie and Reinhard on Friday and go there at about 4:00 pm. It was a lot colder at the lodge which was already at a few thousand feet above sea level. Jackie, Reinhard and I set off on a snowshoe down a trail near the lodge but it was very difficult as we kept sinking into the snow.

The Wedding Ceremony

The wedding ceremony was very relaxed and informal with around 30-40 people and we all fit very comfortably in the main lodge. We met all of Gavin's family members who were very diverse and interesting people. There were a few speeches. Gavin's brother Darren welcomed Julie into their family and Tara and Corin welcomed Gavin into our family. After the speeches we were treated to some wonderful Buffalo sandwiches and everyone mingled. Even though I'm Julie's brother I have to say that she looked very stunning in the red and white dress with a black lacey shawl which Susan had worn for her wedding. The whole ceremony was so relaxed and fun. The wedding felt much like it does when one visits Julie at her house where you feel instantly relaxed and at home. Also nice to have Jacqueline and Ian at the ceremony. Jacqueline was in a smock dress that was made by our Aunt mary and had been worn by Alison.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside Shots

Gourgeous Couple!!!

 

 

 

Boom Lake Hike

The morning of the wedding Corin and I went on a hike up to Boom Lake which was 1 km from the lodge.

 

We thankfully brought along the snowshoes and I had most of the clothing that I had brought along on my body in order to make sure I didn't freeze to death. We walked for quite a while as I underestimated the distance.

 

It was 5 km in and 5km out. When we got to the lake it was frozen over but a beautiful lake nonetheless. The lake was in a bowl surrounded on all sides by mountains and a glacier at the far end. It was absolutely beautiful and I'm sure would be more stunning once the ice melts in the summer. Makes me yearn to go back during the summer months.

 

 

Sunrise in the Mountains

 

 

Lake Louise

After the wedding we were restless and wanting to work off the Buffalo sandwiches. Gavin's family was having a get together for everyone at Lake Louise lodge
in the town of Lake Louise so we decided to tack on a hike to this beautiful area before heading to the gathering.

 

 

 

Johnson Canyon

We had a wonderful get together at Gavin's brother's hotel room and then headed back later in the evening to the cottages at storm mountain. The younger family members (I still consider myself young) played scategories and Tara had us all hooting with her New Type of Triscuit invention called "Roasted Red Pooper". The next day we arose to a wonderful Storm Mountain breakfast and then managed to coordinate the troops for a spectacular hike up to Johnson's Canyon. The last shot below is of a lookout just off Highway 1a which is a highway full of wonderful views a must drive the next time we're in that area.

We arrived back in Calgary and went for a run. Brad managed to beat me up the last hill but did himself an injury. That'll teach him!

Julie and Gavin, what a wonderful wedding and fantastic weekend.