Discussion about Trips, Events, etc.

So here's the link to a post I made about a recent trip to the Black River: http://kayakingforwomen.com/?p=94

And here's the link to the Black River slideshow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX8ZbHun0VU

So I've started a community site for women paddlers. I'm trying to find other women to paddle with. The site is a place for women to share videos, stories, photos, recent trips, upcoming trips, etc.

I am not a very experienced web designer so the site isn't hugely functional now. If anyone would like to work with me on it that would be great. I'm considering hiring a web designer. Ultimately I don't want to be the only one running the site - so looking for another partner. If you like blogging, kayaking, canoeing (even though it's called kayakingforwomen.com "we" are open to all paddlers of all experience level) come check it out!

It's www.kayakingforwomen.com
On Twitter: @kayakforwomen
On YouTube @KayakingForWomen

Happy Paddling everyone!

On Saturday I drove with Derek Vink and Ellen Lin to Walkerton.
We met up with James Fitton on Hw 9 and drove behind each other.
Arriving in Lobies Park, we met up with Eugene Furchner who was already there.
and Gary and Luanne Wolfe and Jaromir Zubicek came soon after.
Unloading the cars and loading the canoe for Ellen and Derek, who left before us, we drove up to South Hampton to Denny's Dam.
Gary was kind enough to shuttle us back. The shuttle is about 1 hour and a half up and down. But because we did it ourselves it was faster then the usual Thorncrest outfitter I use for the shuttle.
Back at Lobies park we waited for Karonne Lansel to arrive and we got ready to leave.

It was a gorgeous day, water level was higher then usual for this month, which encountered for fast floating.We were on the water very fast.
Within the first hour we encounter a little rapid.
As some of our team had not any or little experience with moving water, I decided we pull out before the rapid and scout it out.
Due to the high water levels, both rocks that could create hazards were completely submerged in water and just creating high waves, for a lot of fun.
Jaromir went down with no problem at all and tried to eddy out with expert skill, but there is not really an eddy.
Jim went after him, and he did really well until he tried to turn in the waves too and tipped his canoe.
Without a life jacket on, he hang on to his canoe instead, and got some scratches.
Jaromir was luckily quickly there to help him out.
In the mean time Eugene came down, easy and relaxed
Gary and Luanne did a great job hitting the waves, for their trip down the rapids.
I went up and joined Karonne and we both hit the waves full and had a nice cooling splash.

We stopped on the banks and dried up and had some lunch or snack, while enjoying the groups coming down floating and tripping the canoes with big coolers and lots of beer cans, barbeques etc.
It was quite funny, but luckily no serious incidents as the water level was high enough to be safe.

After this excitement, there are only swifts, that is just fun to go through and play in.
The Saugeen is a rural river flowing throught the scenic country side of Huron county.
We canoed the river from Lobies Park in Walkerton to Denny's Dam in Southampton in 3 days. It is about 90 km. This is a great river for beginners to be done in a nice relaxed way. Short days, time to enjoy the country side, eating ice cream, checking the floats out, camping on crown land and at the Saugeen Conservation Area where there is a great look out point on the Saugeen River and the bluffs.

For keeping track of where you are on the river you can use your GPS, but I am used to just count the bridges, as these are the access points on the river.
Nowadays the signing on where the access points are from the road are excellent signed by the local community.
But there is also great signs on the bridges as to how far the next bridge is and how long it will take approximately to get there. Please note that most people float the river.
So for paddlers it is about half the time.

We arrived at our intended campsite quite early already. The beach was wet and muddy, but the camp on the edge of the farmers field with a great view of the river was ideal.
And even though it was early and only a relative short paddle, we all enjoyed the afternoon/evening, with a great dinner provided by Jim and a relaxing campfire.
The bugs were not that bad and I enjoyed just sitting on the shore and writing my journal.
The river was less busy then usual as not many groups passed by.

Sunday, after a great sleep, Luanne woke us up as breakfast was ready to go, bacon and eggs.
We took our time and enjoyed each other company.
For lunch we stopped at the dr. Milne Park, first stop in Paisley, close by the water tower and Gibby's Grub where we went first for ice cream
Jaromir and Jim had met up with Derek and Ellen at the 3rd stop in Paisley near the light house. So luckily for cellphones and texts, they joined us at Gibby's Grub for ice cream.
It was only a 10 minute walk for them
A small ice cream was big enough and delicious in this warm weather.
A nice tradition that I do every year with groups I take on the Saugeen.
Then Luanne and Gary had organized the lunch for that day, great dried sausage, cheese, pita's and bread

For our second night we stayed at Saugeen Bluffs, this year we got a campsite further on the river, which was actually quite nice as landing was much easier then the steep muddy hill near the canoe sites. Plus it was closer to the Outlook point for a hike.
And sitting on the grassy shore and leaving our canoes there was also very nice.
We had 2 campsites next to each other.

I was in charge of dinner. I had prepared a big pot of chili, hamburger meat, variety of beans, salsa sauce, tomatoes, applesauce and vegetables and all dehydrated. So for dinner I only had to boil water, add the dried chili and boil and hydrate it again.
A nice relaxing evening with lots of trilliums on our campsite.
I even found a Jack-in-the-pulpit on our campsite and March violets.
Some people took a shower and/or went for a hike to the look out point.
I enjoyed a glass of wine and the sunset on the grassy shore line writing in my journal and seeing other canoers come by.

Monday after a great pancake with fruits (and some peanuts and chocolate) breakfast organized by Eugene, we packed up for our last day on the river.
We noticed several float along the shores that went on Saturday on the river.
The new bridge is completely ready now and the old bridge was taken down completely just passed Saugeen Conservation Area.

We were pretty fast, even with our relaxed paddling and floating, and exploring the delta of the river at our lunch area at the Port Elgin Bridge.
River right was quite muddy and there was a lot of debris from the floaters still, so we ferried over to river left and had lunch there under the bridge in the shade.
Karonne had fish, bread and cheese for lunch for us and a ginger drink.
Jaromir finally opened his snack bag with carrots, tomatoes, paprika and sausage that we could snack on too.
Derek made hotdog chicken noodle soup, that I got a cup from too.
It was very entertaining seeing a group of 10 people moving a boat/float back in the water to pull it up again on to the shore a bit further where they loaded it up on a trailer to move it away.

I knew there was a eagle's nest on the shore, but thought it was between Paisley and Saugeen Bluffs, so by the time we arrived at Port Elgin bridge I thought that I had missed it, or maybe it was not there any more. Plus Derek had teased me that he had seen it and that I had missed it.

But just past Port Elgin bridge we found the eagle's nest on river left.
Gary had binoculars and it was amazing to see the bald eagle hopping out the nest on the branch and partly spreading its wings to make itself bigger.
It was muddy to climb out of the canoe, but it was so worth it, to get closer to the nest and enjoy this magnificent bird and its young in the nest.
It was definitely a highlight of this trip to see this bird again.

As we passed the double bridge, I felt sad to leave, enjoying the last couple of bluffs and nature and this awesome river.
Even though I come here year after year, it is very nice river to relax on for a weekend.
This year was special with fellow paddlers of the Wilderness Canoe Association.

Thank you Karonne for the use of your canoe, while my son took my canoe,
Thank you Eugene, Jim, Jaromir, Gary and Luanne for joining me on this trip.

The link has all my pictures of our trip.

https://picasaweb.google.com/104477673238900710374/SaugeenRiverMay18192…

A nice warm day, I drove up to Washago with Janet to go paddling.
At the bridge where more paddlers were, we got immediately attacked by a lot of black flies and that was at 10.30 am in a nice sunny spot.

Bill Ness had organized this trip to play in the water.
There were about 20 WCA members and some paddlers from Peterborough and Kawartha Canoe Club.
It was hard to believe but last week it was cancelled due to extreme high levels of the water, what caused a lot of flooding in this area.
While the water this week wasn't that high or dangerous.

Both Janet and I decided we would not put on a wetsuit or any special gear as we would not go swimming. We are both strong paddlers. :)
But once everyone was in the water, it looked like we were really 'underdressed', but the weather was nice and sunny, so with confidence we paddled on.
The river is flat with a few rapids in it, where we played in the waves, surfed and had fun.
Most of the participants were in play boats and kayaks, only a few tandem canoes were here.

The river meanders through different arms with different opportunities to play. We would go in circles and find other areas with a nice rapid to have fun in.
It was at times busy at a rapid and we had quite a large canoe. So my apologies if we 'pushed' you aside, but we for sure had a good time.

At one time we surfed on a wave, but either didn't had the right angle or tried to hard to push us in the right angle. A big wave under the boat pushed us over and we went swimming.
and what a relief it was, we were both okay, and the water was actually quite refreshing.
We laughed, came out okay and tried to figure out, how in the heck that happened.

After a nice lunch on a rock in the middle of the river, sunbathing and drying and enjoying the groups company, we paddled and played some more.

There was another tricky rapid, and we were worried that our boat was too long to make the turn and not hit the rocks on the side. After removing a big tree that was partly blocking the stream, the guys discussed the rapid and the angle and went in their boats. I enjoyed seeing the play boats from Scott, Brian and Jon going down the rapid and maneuvering their boats in it.

Going around the corner was another fun rapid. After a great explanation from Jon, and the camera trusted to Eugene, Janet and I went to the top of the rapid, taking it slowly and enjoying the ride and turning into an eddie. High fiving with our paddles, we decided to do it again.
Portaging and pulling our canoe back to the top of the river, we went down the rapid again with a bit more confidence.

What an awesome experience.
It was a great time to be with other fellow paddlers, playing and enjoying the river and the nature around it.
Everybody was in kind of a hurry to leave, so Janet and I decided to go for an ice cream and head back home too.
I realized that my canoe is hard to balance sitting in the bow, either it is too pointed or the seat is too far to the front, but spreading your knees or reaching was not easy in this position.

The understanding link are pictures that were taken with my camera during this trip.
Thank you Janet for being my paddling buddy
Thank you Bill for organizing this trip.
Thanks to Jon, Eugene, Sarah, for your support and guidance
Thanks to all the other paddlers that I forgot the name from.

https://plus.google.com/photos/104477673238900710374/albums/58782219789…

Emmy

This is a real pic heavy report.
Here is a link to myccr
http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=108&t=41395&p=380981#p3…

Jeff

On a rainy, wet snow but warm morning I left to Inglewood near the Credit River to meet up with other adventurers of the WCA to participate in a 4 hour trip down the upper Credit River.
With help from others we unloaded my canoe and met with Dave and Barb, who organized this trip.
The group existed in about 23 paddlers varying in age from 8 to quite a bit older. We had a kayaker, a playboat, 2 solo canoers and all kinds of canoes, white water canoes, Kevlar with and without airbags and/or knee pads.

I met with Elizabeth who was going to be my paddle partner for the day.
The weather had cleared up and it was very comfortable and warm especially in the sun.
After sorting out my equipment, and deciding yes or no helmet, yes or no sweater or raincoat, we left in a convoy for our shuttle to the end.
A nice scenic little half hour trip near the Cheltenham Badlands hills (red hills with blue stripes), the scenic village of Terra Cotta, and the enormous nurseries of Sheridan and ending in Glen Williams where we parked our cars.

From there we went with 11 people in one van and some in another car back to the beginning where we slipped into the water for our trip. The weather was much warmer and dry. I paddled in my wet suit and my canoe shirt and felt very comfortable with it. Extra clothing and a rain jacket were close by in case the weather would shift suddenly.

The Credit River was quite small in width, shallow in certain points and very curvy, there was a constant current. I had to get used to paddling again in white water this early in the year.
It was awesome to see snow and sometimes huge ice blocks on the banks of the river, as if they had opened up for us to paddle in the river. At the sunny places I saw the odd dandelion popping up their yellow heads to let us know spring had started.

I had my camera in a waterproof otter box but it was awkward to open and close every time and the river didn’t give me much opportunity to take leisurely pictures. So I took my camera out and put it in my camera bag attached to my thwart for easier access.

There were regular trees on the river that caused nice sweepers. It was not always easy to avoid as the current was fast, the wind would get quite strong sometimes and I had to get used again to steering and controlling the boat.

And here our Adventure started within the first half hour of the trip. There was a tree blocking about 2/3 of the river. We paddled as far around as possible, but the strong current and a strong wind gust blew us very close to the tree, which resulted in leaning over and avoiding the tree and instead tipping our canoe and get soaked in the water.
Luckily both Liz and I were okay except of some bruises where either the canoe or the tree hit us. Decorated with our warrior wounds we waddled to the chore of the river. Our equipment was all attached to the boat so nothing was lost. But it wasn’t easy to turn a completely swamped canoe in waist deep water.
So I pulled the canoe to the other shore where it was shallower and other canoers were there to help us. We turned the canoe and emptied out the water. That is where Rick and Diane noticed that my face was bleeding and beside the bruise I had also a cut just above the eye. Luckily Rick had a First Aid kit where he with expertise cleaned my wound, put antibiotics on it and a little stitch strip to reduce the scar tissue.
Through this fall my camera had a dive and therefore I have no pictures of any further of the trip.
I hope there will be others that have taken some and are willing to share it here with us.

Even though I was a bit shaken, Liz and I decided to continue. A little further was a small ledge/rapid but I chose to portage around it and take a little breather. It was nice that the rest of the group was waiting there and making sure we were okay.

After that it was easier and we took it slower with wider curves around the trees and rocks.
There was another area where some paddlers played in the rapids. It was near a little park with picnic benches. We took some snacks and paddled further.
Richard took some amazing pictures with his huge camera that he had with him when we came down a small rapid where Dave stood to guide us and making sure we went the right way down.

At lunch time I changed my socks as my feet were getting cold of the constant bit of water that was still in the canoe. But the sun was nice and toes were in no time toasty. Even though Diane asked for the sun it was not warm enough to dry off my wet socks quickly. Matthew? and Ed? had occupied the 2 lawn chairs that were sitting on the little shore where we had lunch.
Dave shared some of his warm milk with some good stuff to warm us up.
There was some nice chatter going on and it was quite comfortable for an April morning outside.

After lunch it seemed that the river was wider, not as fast and less sweepers, or I was more comfortable turning the boat and keep us away from the obstacles. The wind though was getting quite annoying at times. And especially our solo canoers and our mini kayaker had a hard time with it to fight with the wind. But once in a while even the double canoers were just blown to the side by the strong gusts of winds.
The rocks were at 11, 12 and at 1 and all around the clock as Liz said and sometimes they were under us, when we saw them too late.
At about 3.30 we arrived in Glen Williams where I changed my socks again to warm dry socks and shoes and drove up to load my canoe. Where I was almost hit by another car, but luckily a loud scream avoided any incidents.
I was very happy with the help of strong men to pull the boat up to the shore and load it up on my car.

Some people went directly home because of the long distance they had to drive to go home.
While most of us went to Janet and her mom Kathleen house where we were welcomed and had a potluck supper with some amazing appetizers, soups, salads, warm entrees and a variety of pies for desert.
It was nice for everyone to introduce themselves and getting to know them all a bit more.

Thank you Dave Y, Barb, Liz, Diane, Rick, Bruce, Beth, Richard, Susan, Matthew, Ed , Mary, Daniel, Eugene, Dave W., Dorothee, Janet, Scott, Jasper, Seamus, for an AWESOME trip.

Interesting article covering a lot of things but what stood out to me was the importance of realising that what happens to one of the group happens to the whole group.
http://www.paddling.net/sameboat/archives/sameboat699.html - The article "Early and Provident Fear"

UDORA & LEASKDALE LIONS CLUB 28th Annual Canoe River Run to be held on May 4, 2013

Start/ Registration will be at the Pefferlaw Brook on Zephyr Road - Uxbridge Township
2 Km west of Durham 1 starting at 8:00 am and running until 10:00 am

In the 28 years we have been running this event over $70,000 has been pledged by paddlers and used for Community Service. Pledges this year will be going to support the renovation of the Paediatric Ophthalmology Ward at The Hospital for Sick Children

IMPORTANT INFORMATION - There will be a minimum of $20.00 in pledges per paddler

$ 200 gift card for the canoe with the highest total pledges, $100 for second in pledges and other random draws for participating canoes/kayaks. Hot dog lunch served at the finish point in Pefferlaw

A shuttle service will be running at regular intervals returning to the starting point.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES TO THIS EVENT.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Chris Brunne @ 905-862-0040

SERVICE IN OUR COMMUNITY

 Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipjKLtnkRM8

In stead of reposting here is just a link to the report on myccr.
If you go back you can find reports of my other years trips.
And I would be happy to pass any info on to those who may want to either paddle or try to winter camp.
Even If you don't think you could try this by either canoe or winter camping you can still access the area by the Agawa Tour train (go in the fall,) tour of the Passenger line, or take the Snow train in winter, this one give you a much better perspective on how rugged the area is.
Jeff

Winter camping story and pics now up!
http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=41040&p=377890#p37…

Other images are available on my album.
https://picasaweb.google.com/114224116055024928868/AgawaWinter?authuser…

I am planning a kayak trip for the first week of July on Georgian Bay. It is still in the early planning stages, but the idea is to start at Tobermory and paddle the outer islands along Manitoulin Island and up to Killarney. Experienced kayakers with rough water experience and a solid roll are a must. If you are interested in this trip, let me know.

Here are several reference blogs of trips in the area to give you an idea of what to expect:
http://caskaorg.typepad.com/caska/2009/10/exploring-the-lonely-islands-…

http://caskaorg.typepad.com/caska/2009/10/exploring-the-lonely-islands-…