Beaver River

Kevin likes paddling on lakes so he can go swimming. I prefer rivers because there is less wind and there are surprises around each bend. Since we moved here I have wanted to paddle the Beaver River. Kevin thought it was too shallow except early in the spring and we could never fit it into our schedules then so we never made it. This year he found it was navigable all year so we finally made it last Saturday! Here are the "kid's canoes" as seen from the bridge at the launch. In the boy's canoe are Connor and his shadow Marcus. In the girl's canoe are Tori and Toni, my right hand "man" for the last 3 years.Tori cutting it close under the bridge.
This canoe was given to us by a neighbour a few years ago. He is too old to use it and his kids don't want it. He is very happy it is valued again. It is a cedar strip he got when he was working at Sears many, many years ago. It was mispriced and he scooped it up. It needed a lot of work when we got it and has spent months in a local paddle maker's shop being restored by the two of them. Kevin was itching to get his heritage canoe in the water. This is it's inaugural trip. He was so excited to get it he forfeited the downpayment for the new vehicle he wants to pay for the repairs.

And here we go!
About halfway through our paddle we hit a submerged rock going through a swift and heard a crunch. So it has been christened. Then it got dinged being put back on the canoe trailer. Kevin spent several hours Sunday repairing it.

In case anybody is interested this brings our watercraft fleet to 7 (not counting the loaners and the unusable). We have the 3 red canoes shown here, 1 white tripping canoe, Kevin's bluish whitewater canoe, Connor's red whitewater kayak (and sometimes Dalton's whitewater kayak), an extra kayak and 2 kayaks and a canoe on sawhorses waiting for repairs. We also have one he picked up to find a home for from someone who doesn't want it and a mold to make your own.

Can you guess what we tell people who are coming to visit?

After the paddle we headed to nearby Walter's Falls. Here is the happy group on the bridge overlooking the falls. From left to right - Marcus, Connor, Tori, Toni and Kevin.And this is what they got to see!

Good Friday Paddle

Yesterday 10 of us went canoeing on the Nottawasaga River. It was our first paddle of the year and I think our earliest first paddle ever. Last year's April paddle was 9 days later, windy and 25 degrees colder! This day was warm and beautiful and only windy the last half hour.

Here is Connor fooling around in his brand new kayak. This was the first time he had been out in it and he capsized shortly after launching. He got the hang of it after that and no more problems - except him and Dalton carry on like a couple of teenage girls and were spending more time talking than paddling and making us wait.

Armin and Alec were ahead most of the way. Here they are waiting for us for lunch. After lunch they left us. They finished at least 45 minutes ahead and actually had gone to the put in to retrieve the truck and trailer before we caught up.

This isn't a great picture but it shows the high water line. I think it looks neat.

Paddling with Darcy

Yesterday was another beautiful, unseasonably warm day so we went for a paddle on the Nottawasaga River. At the last minute we decided to take Darcy with us.  She is the more timid of the dogs and not really happy unless Shasta is with her but she sits quietly in the canoe - sort of.  She is so nervous she shakes the whole time she is standing and  the whole canoe vibrates.  She doesn't want to lie down and relax as scary things like tree branches and splashes may attack.  But we keep hoping she will become more comfortable with the canoe.  She also suffers from travel anxiety (the fancy name for canine car sickness) so she drools like crazy when stressed and often throws up (she did on the way home). We don't like to take Shasta paddling - once was enough - she is too high strung and LOVES to swim.  She would be racing back and forth and throwing us off balance or jumping in. We didn't see as much wildlife as we usually do but we did see this duck.  I cannot identify him (her?) using my book or internet.  He is quite small and the eyes are red.  Anybody know what kind of duck it is? 
A large fungus. 
 NOTE - The waterbird has been identified as an American Coot.  Supposedly common - I guess I have been canoeing with my eyes closed previously.

Tiny Marsh

Connor, Kevin and I went canoeing at Tiny Marsh today.  Normally we are the only ones there but it was very busy today despite the cool temperature.  There are trails and observation towers, an education centre and of course the marsh.  The water was very high so we got to paddle in places we normally can't access.  We saw swans, a turtle, a muskrat who went right under our canoe, several beavers and fish, a few great blue herons, terns and red-wing blackbirds  and Connor found the 2 Northern Water Snakes shown below.  They weren't bothered at all by us sitting there taking pictures for 10 minutes.

After the paddle, we went for a brief walk on one of the trails.  All the mama Canada Geese were hiding there with their babies.  There must have been 50 goslings in 50 feet!

 

Sorry we didn't get any pictures of the other wildlife.  The camera is buried in a dry bag andKevin couldn't get it out fast enough when the swans took off nearby.

For supper we had quiche with asparagus and chives from our garden.  Yummy.  

Minesing Swamp

Today we went for a paddle at the Minesing Swamp.  It is an area about half an hour from us that has what used to be the largest Great Blue Heron rookery in North America until some of the trees blew over recently.  I have always wanted to go but it is easy to get lost so we went on a guided trip.  Most of the day we paddled through trees as shown below.  If you look very, very close you may be able to see a heron on a nest far, far away.   

One website referred to the Minesing as the northern Everglades and I could certainly see some similarities. "It is the largest and best example of fen bog in southern Ontario, one of the most diverse undisturbed wetland tracts in Canada and is a provincially-significant Area of Natural and Scientific Interest. The swamp’s hydrology provides for an interconnected network of swamps, fens, bogs and marshes".  Which means it was tough going.  Submerged logs everywhere.  There was one spot about an hour in that we had to pull the canoes through a shallow spot so our feet were wet until we got back to the truck 4 or 5 hours later.  It was only 4 or 5 degrees out today.  After lunch the wind really picked up and that made it even more difficult.

"It provides habitat to over 400 plant species, of which 11 are provincially rare. Minesing Swamp is an important staging area for thousands of migratory waterfowl and is the largest wintering ground for white-tailed deer. It supports numerous plant species which are at the extremities of their natural range, including those indigenous to the arctic tundra in the north and the Carolinian forests to the south and is home to the largest pure stand of silver maple in the province".   We saw 2 sandhill cranes, a swan waddling a fair distance away, a porcupine and a raccoon sleeping in trees and a dead crayfish, frog and muskrat.  Later in the year there would be more wildlife but it is harder to paddle and the Friends of the Minesing Swamp only do the guided trips early in the spring.

If I had to sum up the day in one word - that word would be brutal.  I am exhausted.  The muscles between my shoulder blades are sore and my tennis elbow is bugging me.  I thought I was in fairly good shape (because of my rebounding and gardening and dog walking I keep active) but I am embarrassed that we were almost always the stragglers on the tour so it looked like we couldn't keep up to the seniors.  Our group of nine (Kevin and I and 3 of our kids and Kevin's brother and his 3 kids) had 3 canoes and 2 kayaks.  We had to do some juggling to work out paddling partners.  Hopefully though they will all remember this as a great family experience in the years to come.