Plans for 2013?

[yellowcanoe]

My New Years Resolution is to try and not count tankfuls of gas but to crash as much as possible at friends enroute. We leave tomorrow (in a forecasted snowstorm) for Connecticut..supposed to be a five hour drive. Then to Harrisonburg VA. Then to Anderson SC. A motel is required in VA. Ten years ago I could have left CT in the early AM and driven a trailer load of boats straight through to South Carolina. That ain't happening any more. Its better to split the 16 hour drive up..plus I get to visit Campmor and Blue Mountain Outfitters for no good reason other than I can....

Then to Cedar Key FL and the next night we will be camped near the Everglades..and the next ten days on the water in the Glades. Coming home route reversed. Its OK for me if we have four motel nights in three weeks. I used to sleep in the truck.. now I'm not so keen on climbing over the tailgate at a rest area.

In my dotage, I find pictures quite helpful. Especially helpful this time was the pic of the canoe at launch fully loaded. I had forgotten what size barrel to take and resorted to the picture to figure it out. Also did I have all the gear.. these senior moments are getting annoying.. again I almost forgot the tp despite the help of an Excel spread sheet.

This is a paired solo trip..the we. Solo boats are to me essential if you have to be with someone else for that long. At least we can pretend we are alone a bit.

 

[Guest]

.plus I get to visit Campmor and Blue Mountain Outfitters for no good reason other than I can....

I just returned from a roadtrip to Eastern Mountain Sports and BMO.

I haven’t been in an EMS for 20+ years and the nearest one (in Lancaster) is in a huge mall, and I haven’t been inside a mall in 20+ years either. But we have a very old (circa 1988-1991 by the logo design) EMS internal frame backpack that suffered catastrophic malfunction – all of the pliable plastic fittings and adjustments turned to peanut brittle, including the one that held the shoulder straps in place. I could literally snap them into wee shards of flying plastic shrapnel with my fingers (one of which flew past my head at the counter when I demonstrated).

I wasn’t expecting much given the age and use that pack has seen, but EMS will send it in for repairs and have it shipped to my home when finished for $26. Given the price of a comparable new pack I couldn’t argue with that.

BMO though, dang I like that paddleshop. I needed a single Werner foot peg. They got me one. I needed a half dozen 2” stainless steel D-rings (just the naked metal ring, no vinyl pad). Try finding those. A handful of SS eye pads. One inch double-D ring anchor pads. Got ‘em, got ‘em, got ‘em.

I like the staff, like the building and am constantly amazed at the depth and breadth of what they carry. There are some unusual and unique items there.

http://www.bluemountainoutfitters.net/

 

[yellowcanoe]

tomorrow. tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow. Outdoor store day! I am sure I will find something I don't need. But I have a husband who will shoot me if I even LOOK at another paddle.

Now booties.. I need booties for my too big Goretex socks..I will have two sizes of booties..one for normal paddling and one for those oversized socks in my Kokotat drysuit.. I will think of other needs overnight

 

[Guest]

tomorrow. tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow. Outdoor store day! I am sure I will find something I don't need. But I have a husband who will shoot me if I even LOOK at another paddle.

I like to find old paddles and refurbish them and we so have a stupid number of paddles, especially considering we use the same favorites nearly every time.

But I still have a look through BMO’s paddle racks every trip, if only for ideas about the next paddle I want to work on.

Come on Kim, ya gotta at least look.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I...uh was ..riding shotgun.. and asleep.. I woke up just as we passed by on the wrong side of the Joisey barrier that was between us and the Marysville exit. That darn Harrisburg construction that never seems to end.

There is always a return trip..

 

[Guest]

Going to run up a river in western Ontario about 50 miles and then ride the river back to the vehicles. There's a waterfall one can see through Google Earth and below that waterfall, there's an island. I want to reach that island and fish that waterfall. There are some rapids I can't see between where we'll park the vehicles and the island, but I know they're there because the river is squished and water's gotta hurry to squeeze through the squishing. Going with three others and likely going the first week of June.

 

[Mihun09]

I/we really only get out on long weekends and one big trip each year... Not sure yet where on the long weekends but we do want to explore the Rice River further than last year, there is so much more river unexplored. The big trip in July/August will be back into Atikaki in an area we have done a few times but with a new lake to get into and explore, hopefully with a friend who will fly up from Washington State for her first visit to Manitoba. Sometime in August will be meeting up with Robin at WCPP to not only pick up his 100 year old Morris canoe, which we are buying, but to paddle my Chestnut with him a couple of days.

Too much undiscovered water, too little time.

Karin

 

[Guest]

I/we really only get out on long weekends and one big trip each year... Not sure yet where on the long weekends but we do want to explore the Rice River further than last year, there is so much more river unexplored. The big trip in July/August will be back into Atikaki in an area we have done a few times but with a new lake to get into and explore, hopefully with a friend who will fly up from Washington State for her first visit to Manitoba. Sometime in August will be meeting up with Robin at WCPP to not only pick up his 100 year old Morris canoe, which we are buying, but to paddle my Chestnut with him a couple of days.

Too much undiscovered water, too little time.

Karin

"Too much undiscovered water, too little time." is too true. We'll all die having paddled here and there, but in the end, hardly anywhere.

 

[Shearwater]

Home is where the tent is.

Home is where the tent is.

Plans are now finalized with flights and shuttles booked for the big trips.
Late May - La Vérendrye to find my north-south route - canoe one week
Mid-June - lower half of the Rideau Canal - sea kayaking 6 days
June weekend tbd - Lower Madawaska WW canoe
July 1st - Petawawa long weekend WW canoe
Early July - Philip Edward Island and surroundings - sea kayaking 10 days
August - based out of Whitehorse - Teslin River, Yukon River and the Nesutlin River - just over a week each with the Teslin and Nesutlin solo canoe
September - Bustard Islands Georgian Bay - sea kayaking 10 days
October - I have been told by #1 wife that I will be at home in Ottawa for the entire month!

Cheers Ted

 

[Robin]

A week in downeast Maine this spring.
Then I'm going to Woodland Caribou Provincial Park for 2 weeks in August. That will be 3 weeks away from home with the drive time and selling a canoe on the way out, plus a stop in the Ottawa Valley to see old friends
Back to the Adirondacks 3rd week of October for a week in the wall tent/with wood stove hunting/canoeing Lows Lake.
If your in the area, Lows Lake is a quiet place that time of year.

 

[stripperguy]

My 2013 paddling plans have changed already! Rather than a Cedar River - Rock River loop, recent land acquisitions will enable me (and other foolish masochists) to do a Rock River - Cedar River - Hudson River trip, all downstream, with a take out above the Indian - Hudson confluence.
Or... a Rock River - Essex Chain trip, down the Rock and up First Lake Outlet, with a take out somewhere on the Essex Chain.
And a Hudson River primer, from Newcomb to the Goodnow confluence.

And then I dream...soon I'll be paddling Boreas Pond and Follensby Pond, but for now, I wait, and dream some more.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I'm not making plans. I made plans last year - and the weather, water flows, and life conspired against me. This year, I'm gonna just be ready to hit it when I get the chance and see what comes of it. Several possibilities...upper or lower Owyhee river...Middle Fork Boise...south Fork Boise...maybe SF Payette again. Trying to keep some time open too in case I get a visitor from the East....

 

[Seeker]

Back to the Adirondacks 3rd week of October for a week in the wall tent/with wood stove hunting/canoeing Lows Lake.
If your in the area, Lows Lake is a quiet place that time of year.

One of my best trips was in the middle of Oct, there, a couple years back... great fall colors, no leaf-peepers, and I met Conk (i think it was that trip) and his folding sail.

 

[Waterdog]

Robin,

I did my annual Fall ADK trip the same weekend you were there last year I think. Friday was wind and rain (quite expected for Long Lake in Fall) and Saturday was a sunny T-shirt kind of day. Didn't have a t-shirt though. Sunday was cold, wind, and rain again. There's some talk of going up to ADK and combining Moose Fest with the annual canoe trip this coming fall but nothing set in stone yet. I usually don't get up there until the ranger station at Raquette Falls is closed for the season and the leaves are gone from the trees.

Barry

 

[Guest]

My first fishing trip in May ( better pack extra food). An August trip with my sons and brothers (better pack extra Scotch), and finally a September trip with my bow paddling/portage packing/camp cooking/ wife (better pack waaay more extra chocolate). Brad

 

[Guest]

My trip in May will be to Temagami, where I'll visit the town afterwards. I heard recently that the "Busy Bee Restaurant" is being torn down. I have so many happy memories of that small northern diner, from when my aunt and uncle ran it in the 60's up to the 80's. Temagami was a playground for me and my brothers, and we still trade stories of childhood adventures.
My summer "fathers & sons" get together will involve base camping in Algonquin PP. My brothers and I are trying to pass on our goofy boyhood bonds to our next generation; our sons are usually far too mature to stand too much of that. My tendancy for late night skinny dips have likely scarred them all for life.
Our September trip is up for grabs, either back to Temagami, or to my bucket list #1 destination Missinaibe. Using Hap Wilson's book, I want to visit and photograph some Ojibway rock art in the area. I also want to "feel" some of the history for myself.