Canoeing June 9 2008

Having acquired new glasses, I returned to the river for a short trip and to stash the canoe better. The wind was against me but the sun breaking the clouds was beautiful.

Epic Fail June 7 2008

June 7 2008 was my first decent canoe trip. I left the house at 4:30 AM, paddled the canoe a few hundred yards parallel to 3' wakes and a overcast sky towards the mouth of the river. Once I floated under the bridge, I beached the canoe on the sandy eroded shore next to the large concrete base of the bridge.

The mosquitoes were terrible. I ran up the highway embankment, over the railing and ran down the highway home. I went back inside to get some bug repellent and a bottle of water, then into the garage where I rode my bike back to the river. I set the bike on the canoe, put a 30lb rock in the bow and began paddling down the cold river still swelling from the spring run off.

Paddling efficiently was difficult while being swarmed. The insects weren't completely affected by the bug spray. The sun was rising, ducks were flying across the meadows and the river was glassy with a light breeze.

I intended to paddle a few kilometers down the river to an old mining road where I would stash the canoe nearby, and bike home from that point. I was nearing the road, and had put on headphones, playing Mike Oldfield's Incantations Part 4. I was sitting on the edge of the canoe and it was beautiful. A mosquito landed on my temple and delivered a particularly startling bite. I freaked and hit myself in the side of the head, causing my $400 prescription glasses to be knocked into the river.

My vision without glasses is worthless, I can discern little more than giant blobs of homogenous color of what is around me. I managed to get the canoe to the road, hid it in a noneffective manner and was able to bike home without sight. Scary experience.


Setting off around 5 AM

Canoeing in Ice April 20 2008

Went out again in the aluminum on April 20, used an electric motor this time. Less ice, river was navigable and flooded substantially. Wind and the wetness in the early spring air made for a chilled ride.

Hundreds of twittering birds occupied a patch of forest and there were plenty of ducks and geese.



Canoe & flooded river


Birds


Sunset

Life-Risking Behaviour April 17 2008

April 17th I took out my less than ideal aluminum canoe out onto the river, which still had 1-2 inches of ice in areas. I neglected to bring a PFD, and was down the river in short order stuck on ice using body momentum to move the canoe. Dumb as shit! The canoe almost turned over with a breaking panel of ice.







Dusk - Deathly cold water

Canoeing July 14 2007

On July 14, I took the longest voyage down the river since I did the 28 mile journey in May. Still only 6 or 7 miles, but it was much harder without the denial-sourced adrenalin I had on the 28 mile trip. Thought I was lost many times.

Summer was definitely starting to show it's face, and the dead silence with the unique cloud's above set my mind wandering. Is it healthy to have a conversation with yourself without saying a word? I was in deep thought about the legendary LSD chemist and Dead sound man, Augustus Owsley Stanley III, and how he had been eating meat EXCLUSIVELY for 40+ years.. in his seventies and is as intelligent as they come. I find it hard to believe how his body can flourish with the apparent lack of vitamins? An interesting story.


Unidentified Spruce Fungi


Family of ducks. Saw several along the way.


Twilight over the calm




Boreal Sunset

Canoeing June 2 2007

On June 2nd, I took a little trip down the Porcupine, to the slime dam about 3 miles up. Calm, beautiful day with a blue sky and the occasional puffy white cloud. A couple of assholes on fucking jet-skis ripped by me, what a bunch of fucking dummies. STAY ON THE FUCKING LAKE, GOD DAMNED MORONS!


My friend the red winged blackbird


This is why I love spring.

Afternoon Canoe, May 13 2007

On May 13 I took a little trip down the Porcupine, 4 miles. The water level was going down, and there were a couple of iffy spots. Nothing particularly interesting of note here.


My most common company, a beautiful red winged blackbird.


The biggest "rapids" you're going to find around here.

Canoe Trip to the Creek May 2, 07

On May 2, 07, I went and crossed the lake in a windy afternoon, and canoed a few kilometers up, until it got too shallow. Went home.

Click to Enlarge.

Down the creek


Mine Tailings


Fire

Canoeing June 17 2007

Took out the motor, clamped it onto the side of the canoe.. Won't do again in the future because it pretty much shifted the whole framework of the canoe and scared me a little. Really deafeningly quiet, the humidity and the heat of summer resulted in pretty much total silence, and the sky above was covered in a dull but luminous grey. Saw a weird formation beside the sun, kind of like a smaller version caused by some kind of reflection.




Weird sun thing

Sunset

Second Power Line May 26 2007

I took out the sportspal and the electric motor for a 3-4 hour ride down the river. The increase in activity compared to a couple weeks ago is great. Vegetation is growing on the banks, hundreds and hundreds of various species of waterfowl, a fuckload of songbirds, 4 or 5 beaver, and a scary encounter with four adult black bears. I need a tripod for my cameras badly.



A Local high school made wooden duck boxes in their woodshop, to attempt to help the wildlife scene and work with the ministry trying to make the river a canoe route.. I think it's great they're doing this, but theres one part of it that is really unnessecary and unfortunate.. They pounded 8 feet lengths of 2" iron tubing to hold the duck boxes. This means that when the wood of the box rots away, there will be rusty old fucking iron poles sticking out of the ground everywhere.

Here's an older duckbox, put in about 25 years ago.

I'd say they had the right idea here, work with the wilderness to make it easier on the eyes for the humans and less depreciating to the forest.


Fresh river greens


Two ducks in flight.


The indifferent beaver. I had to swing the bow sharply with the motor to avoid smacking him right in the head.


One of the bears. This guy stood up, at least 8'. The others were laying down behind the growth.

Porcupine River 05/03/07

Went for a trip 5:30-9:30 today, first I went to the first power line and cooked up some soup and tea. Went a little further down, tried fishing, I floated into a small hip where an old beaver dam used to be, and there is a little current.. first cast and I caught a 16 inch walleye. Let it go, they're spawning right now. Was approached and examined by an otter in close proximity, heard some assholes blasting geese/duck out of season, another fucking dick came down the power line on a ATV. Got a few nice shots today.

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Cloudular turbulence!



16 inch Walleye

The hip where I caught it





Little birdie under the bridge

Hoyle 04/30/07

On Monday I took my longest Canoe trip so far, starting at the lake and eventually ending up on the highway crossing 28 miles down river. 8 hours of paddling, and I few times I thought I had taken a wrong turn. (There are a few different creeks down there) It started raining about half an hour out, and continued in shifts for about 4 hours. The wind was really, really powerful and inconvenient particularly in the first few hours. 100's of ducks, 3 close encounters with beavers, a few more beavers and otters, and what I beleive was a Whooping Crane, which are now an endangered species. The wingspan of the thing was atleast 6 feet. It followed m down the river for quite a ways. I remember it swooping down after being spooked quite near me, and I yelled out loud "Holy fuck".

It was a great trip but pretty long and tiring. Will do it again.

6:30 AM Sunrise shot


The only set of "rapids" on the whole river.


After a second river runs into it, the river turned very wide and nice.


8 hours and 30 miles later (Got a new canoe by the way)

Porcupine River Canoe Trip 4/26/07

Today i went a bit further, a total distance of 10 miles. The wind was not a problem at all today and paddling downstream was completely silent aside from the birds. Saw 2, beaver, quite a few geese and duck, and twice heard a moose snapping large branches nearby. Runoff is still in progress and the current is quite strong. The canoe took in about a gallon of water from the leak in the back, though i only had to bail twice and the leak is small.

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Brewing tea in my Hobo Stove while drifting in the current.





Sunset on Shallow lake

First Canoe Trip of the Year 4/24/07

Yesterday I took the bathtub-like craft on a 7 mile paddle, nearly to the train crossing and back. The paddle downstream was great, although the wind pushed around the bow quite a bit. The way back was brutal, took me three times as long fighting the current, thankfully the wind was at my back. Ran out of water mid trip and had to fill the cooler with a patch of snow i found to eat on the way back. Total paddling time was 5 hours. I saw 100's of geese, loon and duck, & 3 Otters/Beavers. On Saturday or Sunday I'll hopefully be heading to Fredrickhouse Road crossing (about 30 miles).

Click image to enlarge

Need to stop to stretch legs and eat


Otter


When the wind went home and the going got good

The Addition of a New Hurtin' Watercraft

Although this Sportspal aluminum canoe is in rough shape, with some fixing up it should be an excellent craft. Length is 13 feet 4 inches & a width of 38 inches. Unfortunately it's a transom model, but under 40 lbs and a total cost of $0.00 I can't complain. I'm planning my maiden voyage for Saturday, to at least the second power line (about 4.5 mile trip)

The front bow support is ripped, handle torn off, leaky seams, water-logged transom boards, dirty foam and dented aluminum, but with a bit of fixing it will look and perform excellent.

Click image for larger view

Profile


Front View


Bottom

Improvements to be implemented as follows:

1. Drill out the aluminum sheet on top of the bow, add a varnished plywood board with carrying handle
2. Replace water-logged stern board with varnished thick plywood
3. Replace rivets on thwarts
4. Remove outer foam, clean, dry and replace hardware
5. Remove tar, re-apply clean and concise repairs
6. Sand and paint thwarts & gunwales