Videos from Down the Bloodvein and Back
- Thread starter Alan Gage
- Start date
Real nice. Poor Sadie needed goggles, but I enjoyed those rapids very much. "Here goes nothin!"
Garter snakes is all we have in Manitoba, but we do get a few... http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/140626-narcisse-snake-dens-vin
Very interesting. Made me remember this U-haul I saw a few years ago:
Bad ads by Alan, on Flickr
Didn't seem like very good advertising. Most states and provinces are depicted by a beautiful landscape or cute and cuddly mammal or bird. Then the Manitoba U-haul rolls by with a bunch of snakes staring you down.
Alan
Bad ads by Alan, on FlickrDidn't seem like very good advertising. Most states and provinces are depicted by a beautiful landscape or cute and cuddly mammal or bird. Then the Manitoba U-haul rolls by with a bunch of snakes staring you down.
Alan
Nicely done on the lining ! I'm sure all the rocks and current didn't make it easy. I'll have to show you my graphite bottomed canoes. They do slide over rocks without a lot of damage.
My old rat terrier would have had a hay day killing those snakes !
Thanks again for sharing ! Nice camera work too !
Jim
My old rat terrier would have had a hay day killing those snakes !
Thanks again for sharing ! Nice camera work too !
Jim
We live about 40 miles due South of Narcisse but rarely see a snake. We do see them up in Atikaki and it is a good thing Christy doesn't carry a gun 'cause she would shoot every snake she saw.
Video #7 is up. It's a long one but should give a good idea of the most difficult parts of upstream travel. Long class I with a class II at the top. A mix of paddling, pulling, losing ground, and dragging.
*WARNING* - Includes canoe abuse towards the end.
Alan
*WARNING* - Includes canoe abuse towards the end.
Alan
I woke from a restless sleep at 2:AM. What better way to spend the next half hour, before crawling back in ! Thanks Alan !
I think I would name that "Wise Man Rapids" . I'm sure you learned a lot from it .
Thanks ! I can go to bed now, and hope to sleep.
Oh I watched your clip in silent mod, so as not to wake up the wife.
Again thanks !
Jim
I think I would name that "Wise Man Rapids" . I'm sure you learned a lot from it .
Thanks ! I can go to bed now, and hope to sleep.
Oh I watched your clip in silent mod, so as not to wake up the wife.
Again thanks !
Jim
Very interesting. Made me remember this U-haul I saw a few years ago:
Didn't seem like very good advertising. Most states and provinces are depicted by a beautiful landscape or cute and cuddly mammal or bird. Then the Manitoba U-haul rolls by with a bunch of snakes staring you down.
Alan
Enough of the anti-snake prejudice! Snakes are beautiful. I love seeing snakes doing their stuff. I might think differently if we had rattlers though!.
Actually we have five species of snake in Manitoba, two kinds of garter snake plus the northern redbelly, smooth green snake and the western hognose snake.
No snake hating from me. I find them very interesting and have no aversions to them other than when I'm startled by a group coiled under a rock I pick up or else one perched on the light switch in my shop:
Hel-lo! by Alan, on FlickrWe've got a fair number in Iowa but all I ever see are Garter and Red Bellied snakes. A friend who lives a few hours south has seen a couple Milk snakes on his property, which are harmless but would surely give you pause when seen for the first time.
Milk Snake:
Alan
I did learn a lot but probably not what you're thinking. If I had to paddle up it again tomorrow the only thing I'd do differently would be to push harder to try and make that last eddy when I crossed over. Rather than dropping downstream first to avoid crossing through those standing waves maybe I could have surfed one on my way across to keep me from getting washed downstream. I'd also try to do it before portaging my gear. But I'm stubborn that way.
Great! Now I know my time adding subtitles wasn't wasted. Glad you're enjoying them.
Alan
Stubborn is putting it mildly, lol. You could have portaged the whole thing and been on your way in less time, but, you did go for the full experience!
Yes, that happened a few times. Other times it went in my favor. Unfortunately you don't know which it will be ahead of time.
Alan
Video #8 is up. The end of a long portage and running up a hard swift just as the battery dies.
Videos #7 and #8 were shot as I was climbing up this section:
20150828_004 by Alan, on Flickr
It was two days of very hard work but after that upstream travel was pretty easy, as you'll see tomorrow in video #9.
Alan
Videos #7 and #8 were shot as I was climbing up this section:
20150828_004 by Alan, on FlickrIt was two days of very hard work but after that upstream travel was pretty easy, as you'll see tomorrow in video #9.
Alan
You gotta be young and strong to do what you are doing fer sure.
The Bloodvein is technically almost in our backyard but we have never had the desire to go out and do it, it hasn't ever made it onto a list of possible trips. I have heard the fishing is supposed to be fantastic and having seen how it is mostly serene and slow between the many rapids/falls, very much a pool and drop river, it might be worth taking a few weeks to fish going down. Still though, for us it would still mostly be the 80 odd portages from Artery to the lake.
The Bloodvein is technically almost in our backyard but we have never had the desire to go out and do it, it hasn't ever made it onto a list of possible trips. I have heard the fishing is supposed to be fantastic and having seen how it is mostly serene and slow between the many rapids/falls, very much a pool and drop river, it might be worth taking a few weeks to fish going down. Still though, for us it would still mostly be the 80 odd portages from Artery to the lake.
It was all operator error. It should have been such an easy one. There was a shallow rock ledge above the rapids so all I had to do was wade into the water and pull it straight up.
The stern had drifted towards shore, out of the current, so instead of the canoe coming up straight it was at an angle. I figured no problem because after the canoe is pulled up a little ways the stern would be forced to come in line. Unfortunately the stern hung up on a rock as it started to do just that. By this time my feet had reached the edge of the rock ledge I was walking on. I was also holding the bow of the canoe up out of the water because of the shallow water ledge it was coming over.
So that's where I was stuck. I couldn't pull the canoe upstream any farther without stepping into a black hole of unknown depth. I couldn't walk it back downstream because the stern was hung up. If I could have set the bow of the canoe down in the water it would have allowed to stern to raise off the rock but since the canoe was at an angle every time I tried to lower it water would come over the gunwale. And every time water washed over the gunwale it would flow to the stern, sticking it ever harder on the rock and making the canoe list to the upstream side, making it harder to keep the gunwale from taking a drink. I was stuck and couldn't hold it much longer so I gave one last hard push backwards hoping to free the stern. It didn't come loose and the gunwale dipped well into the water, filling the canoe about halfway. At that point there was nothing I could do to stop it from being pulled away by the current. I was just happy it remained upright.
Alan
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