2008 Goals in Review
Last year around this time I uploaded my goals for 2008. The wisdom was if you publicly state some of your goals you are more likely to take the steps to achieve them. I found this a good exercise last year and something I will do this year. Before I list my 2009 goals I thought I would take a minute to see how I did in achieving my 2008 goals.br /br /br /br /* Run a 1:30 half-marathon timebr /Getting closer with each race. Will have to try harder in 2009br /br /br /* Go on more OHOC outdoor adventuresbr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/spanbr /br /br /* Do more hiking tripsbr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved (OHOC trips, Catochins, Pretty Boy dam, etc.)/spanbr /br /br /* Climb more of the 46ers (46 highest peaks in the Adirondacks , NY)br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span. /spanClimbed a couple of more peaksbr /br /br /* Loose 10 lbs by May 30 (race date –National Capital half-marathon)br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved./spanbr /br /br /* Hike the West Coast Trail/Shenandoah National Park/Old Smoky National Parkbr /No. Shifted to 2009.br /br /br /* Run a faster Baltimore half-marathon ( 1:34 ) in October 2008br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span. Each year I run the race around a minute fasterbr /br /br /* Visit Brent ( Algonquin Park ) by canoeing and portaging and bring along a digital camerabr /No. But parents had two roofs and one patio deck rebuilt.br /br /br /* Reach 500,000 Babble point (now 350,000) a href=”http://www.playbabble.com/”www.playbabble.com/abr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved./span When I combine my babble scores and a href=”http://wordabble.com/”wordabble /ascores I achieved this goal.br /br /br /* Do more cycling (road and mountain biking)br /No. Ouchbr /br /br /* Geocaching goal 900-1000 finds by Dec 31 2008br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span in the spring and finished off the year with 949 finds.br /br /br /* Become more mobilebr /Nobr /br /br /* Complete an Olympic Distance triathlon (1500m swum/40km cycle/10km run)br /Nobr /br /br /* Swing dancing – Learn the Lindy Hopbr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span but more work to do.br /br /br /* Take the train to Baltimorebr /Goal for 2009 (Montreal to New York to Baltimore Penn Station)br /br /2008 was a good year for me. I did more than I expected an achieved other goals that I that I didn’t push up to my blog.
East Dix, South Dix, Hough Peaks
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://bp0.blogger.com/_5w5ZZWchEd4/RvgTYdx58II/AAAAAAAACA8/ygxtSTNDP7M/s1600-h/DSCF0665.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://bp0.blogger.com/_5w5ZZWchEd4/RvgTYdx58II/AAAAAAAACA8/ygxtSTNDP7M/s320/DSCF0665.JPG” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113858687910932610″ border=”0″ //abr /o:p /o:pOn the July long weekend I did an st1:place st=”on”Adirondacks/st1:place hike with a href=”http://ohoc.ncf.ca/”OHOC/a. As a group we hiked up a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Marcy_%28New_York%29″st1:place st=”on”st1:placetype st=”on”Mt./st1:placetype st1:placename st=”on”Marcy/st1:placename/st1:place/a at 5344 feet making it the tallest peak in the st1:place st=”on”Adirondacks/st1:place. I spent much of the time hiking with Kevin Woodley as were of comparable strengths. On the second day I climbed Table Top at 4427 feet and Phelps at 4161 feet. Kevin climbed Colden at 4714 feet. While catching up on email at the Atlanta airport I received a email from Chris McDonald one of the leaders of the July trip to see if I wanted to climb a couple of more peaks. I shot back a quick email to say I was eager to climb a couple of peaks in the a href=”http://www.keene-keenevalley.com/”st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Keene/st1:placename st1:placetype st=”on”Valley/st1:placetype/st1:place/a. Over the next couple of days we worked out the details of who would bring what gear. On Friday morning we started our journey to st1:place st=”on”Lake Placid/st1:place. We stopped in at a href=”http://www.ems.com/”st1:place st=”on”EMS/st1:place /ato rent a bear barrel which is now a requirement for overnight hiking. While waiting for ChrisMc and Kevin to sort out the barrel details I took a picture of st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Mirror/st1:placename st1:placetype st=”on”Lake/st1:placetype/st1:place and called a href=”http://jasonplancaster.com/”Jason /ato wish him a happy birthday on Saturday. Our next stop was to buy some last minute provisions. We would drive by the st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Heart/st1:placename st1:placetype st=”on”Lake/st1:placetype/st1:place –Adirondack Loj access road and head south for about ten miles. Since our hiking would be done on herd path or unmarked trails we stopped in at the a href=”http://www.mountaineer.com/”Mountaineer /astore to get some tips. p class=”MsoNormal”o:p /o:pbr /Once at the trailhead we loaded up Nalgene bottles and mounted our a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/AdirondacksSept2007EastDixSouthDixHoughPeak/photo#5113557868401520402″packs/a. (N44 06.729 W073 42.459) span style=”" /spanThe first part of the trail was easy going until we missed a fork in the trail. After searching for a while we walked across the river and found the trail continued on the other side. The guide book said to take note of the Rock of Gibraltar so I stopped and had a couple of a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/AdirondacksSept2007EastDixSouthDixHoughPeak/photo#5113557988660604738″picture/a of me next to it. We would like for the three hours running the risk of setting up camp in the dark as sunset was at st1:time minute=”0″ hour=”19″ st=”on”7:00 pm/st1:time. Much our time was spent hiking on either side of the st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Bouqeut/st1:placename st1:placetype st=”on”River/st1:placetype/st1:place and constantly looking for the next carron. We soon left the river and started our climb. As the sun was setting the trail came to a sudden end. There was some discussion was to where we were. We had missed a campsite that we were going to use a reference point. We quickly set up our tents and ate store-bought subs for supper. The debate about our location continued and we decided to talk about it in the morning./p p class=”MsoNormal”o:p /o:pWe were all up at st1:time minute=”30″ hour=”18″ st=”on”6:30/st1:time. After a hot breakfast of oatmeal and tea we packed our gear. The access to East Dix (4026 feet) is via a rock slide that is about 800 yards long. Water dribbles down the slide and gave us a couple of pools in which pump water. ChrisMc was absolutely certain we had made a mistake somewhere along the hike. Gazing up at the slide it appears to be to short. We hiked down for 30 minutes and met up with the river again. I fired up the GPS and set the coordinates to UTM, ChrisMc pulled his compass and map and we studied the map. After checking and rechecking we were quite sure of where we were on the map. ChrisMc had underestimated the distance we had hiked (7.5 km/4.66 m). We decided to chance it and head back up to the slide. Once back at the slide we loaded up our daypack (a href=”http://www.rei.com/product/747522″REI UL Flash pack /a+ a href=”http://www.rei.com/product/733683″100 oz camelback/a + Nalgene bottle) with the gear and lunch we would need for the remainder of the days. It was at this point I got to know my colors a little better. Dark brown/black on rock is quite slippery while gray and white surface give you good purchase. Each of us took a different route and eventually reached the sub-summit at which point we met a well used trail. We hiked for a while before reaching the summit of East Dix (4026 feet) (N44 03.990 W073 45.413). We took a couple of pictures (a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/AdirondacksSept2007EastDixSouthDixHoughPeak/photo#5113558181934133170″solo/a,span style=”" /spana href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/AdirondacksSept2007EastDixSouthDixHoughPeak/photo#5113558233473740770″group/a) and then hiked over to South Dix along a well traveled path for about a mile. The hike to South Dix was filled with many switch backs which makes it hard to build any hiking speed. Along the way we hiked through an area where they had a blow down a couple of years ago. We stopped for lunch at the summit of South Dix (4068) (N44 03.587 W073 46.485) (a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/AdirondacksSept2007EastDixSouthDixHoughPeak/photo#5113558254948577266″pic 1/a) Lunch took the form of bagels, packaged tuna, carrots and fig newtons. /p p class=”MsoNormal”After lunch we started our descent into the valley that separated South Dix from Hough. We met two girls at the campsite midway that had climbed three of the four peaks that we had hoped to climb. They looked tired and beat up. There hike had started at st1:time minute=”30″ hour=”7″ st=”on”7:30 am/st1:time from st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Elk/st1:placename st1:placetype st=”on”Lake/st1:placetype/st1:place in the south. Over the next hour we would gain 400 feet and a rapid rate. There was a cool part of the climb I really liked. You had to take your pack off and slide sideways between two rock faces and climb up 25 feet. Once on top you could feel the full force of the wind. It was cold. We would climb for another 20 minutes before reaching the summit, a large rock (4409 feet) (N44 04.172 W073 46.667) I was forced to take off my hat as it the wind was a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/AdirondacksSept2007EastDixSouthDixHoughPeak/photo#5113558306488184866″whipping/a. At this point we decided not to attempt a climb of st1:city st=”on”st1:place st=”on”Macomb/st1:place/st1:city as we were short for time and it would be easily accessed from st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Elk/st1:placename st1:placetype st=”on”Lake/st1:placetype/st1:place.span style=”" /spanRetracing our steps we hiked from Hough, to South Dix to East Dix. Before starting our descent of the slide we stopped for a Clif bar to rejuvenate. I was running low on water. I had drunk my camelback and half a nalgene bottle. Over in the distance there was some ominous black cloud. It looked like rain or snow. Just as we were starting our descent the cloud opened and it started to pore. ChrisMc and I sat underneath an overhang and waited out the rain. After clearing the sub-summit we each took a different route down to the base. I opted to head into the bush as soon as it was available. Trudging on brush gives you good traction as you hike down. This worked for a while until I mis-stepped a slipped on a black rock. I rolled as I was going down and landed on my bum and left pelvic. At a quick check over, I headed down the slide at a snails pace. Once back at camp I make some hot tea and munched on fig newtons. We were all relieved for a hot drink and something to stop the hunger pangs. Kevin and I cooked dinner which was combined three chili, bean and curry dishes. After dinner, I cut down a small maple and spruce tree. It was great to sit around the fire and reminisce about the day’s hike. /p p class=”MsoNormal”We were up at st1:time minute=”30″ hour=”19″ st=”on”7:30/st1:time to find that the weather had changed at it was a cool 40F. The hot tea and oatmeal were what was needed to warm us up. Once we were packed up we headed down the trail and were able to make good headway. I had set the GPS to count down the miles-to-the-car as reference marker and watched the distance diminish quickly. Before reaching the car we stop at a a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/AdirondacksSept2007EastDixSouthDixHoughPeak/photo#5113558431042236514″swimming hole/a and had a brisk swim. Once back at the car we changed into our street clothes and took aa href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/AdirondacksSept2007EastDixSouthDixHoughPeak/photo#5113558461107007602″ final picture/a. We stopped in at st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Keene/st1:placename st1:placetype st=”on”Valley/st1:placetype/st1:place for a late breakfast. /p
AP joint trip report
Day 1 Saturday August 25 2007br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”Left QR @1100 and stopped at a href=”http://www.sobeys.com/”Sobey’s/a for Q-cards, bananas and pop. Bought gas at Beamsville service station. Took the a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_407_%28Ontario%29″ETR 407 /aas far as we could then forced onto Highway 401. Took 410 back to ETR and thence onward. The traffic on highway 401 was exasperating. Uneventful trip to Huntsville and stopped at McDonalds for a late lunch. Arrived at the Portage Store at 4:30pm. The forecast was 70% chance of rain and at the Portage Store it did not disappoint. The rain came down as a deluge. While picking up the permit, the old biddy said, “I guess you folks didn’t pay the sunshine premium.” The a href=”http://www.portagestore.com/”Portage Store/a has a noteworthy change, they now have an outside area for canoe rental. Also, we saw Hispanics with a href=”http://www.maidofthemist.com/en/”Maid of the Mist/a blue slickers. Solo paddled the canoe with Sveti back to the car. Under the special wet mist of Algonquin, we loaded the canoe and headed north. The Joe Lake portage was virtually deserted. A few people we saw looked like drowned rats. As we continued the mist turned into rain and it began penetrate past our rain gear. A decision was made to take the first available campsite on Joe Lake. This was the site that Ryan’s church group had used last year and in short, it is not to be recommended. It was lacking in the most important essentials, no flat tent space and not a single tree branch on which to hoist the food pack. We arrived at the site at 6:30 pm. After the tent was up it started to rain more intensely and it started to grow dark. To boost morale we drank hot chocolate. The conditions grew worse by the minute. A number of attempts to light the fire proved futile. We hoisted one end of the canoe into a notch of a tree and ate steak sandwiches under the suspended canoe by the light of the candle lamp. Most romantic, but we were more concerned about keeping dry. CM’s new a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Algonquin_Park2007/photo#5104195414243310306″stove /aproved its mettle. Another attempt was made to start the fire but we gave up after burning all available paper. Around 9 pm we went into the tent. To our surprise, we were not alone. There was something small running around the tent and climbing up the walls. It was only when we shone with the light of the candle that we saw that a small mouse had entered the tent. After several attempts the critter was evicted.br //divbr /Day 2 Sunday August 26 2007br /br /Up @7:15 and spent a little while packing the sleeping bags and thermarest. The rain had stopped but it was overcast. Our attempt to secure the food pack from the local furry residences was unsuccessful as the evidence was clear. A line of milk powder dripped down the trunk of the tree. Our pack had been attacked by red squirrels! It was with some relief that the rucksack was undamaged and the food loss was minimal. Once again, we lit the stove and ate hot oatmeal and tea. With an ambitious day ahead we quickly mounted the canoe and started our trek north. Before lunch we had covered two of the eight portages between Big Joe Lake and Baby Joe Lake. Burnt Island Lake was a little choppy but with a little persistence we were able to reach the north end just in time for lunch hour. For lunch we had bagels, cheese and raisins all the while looking on the shimmering waters of the lake. As we were finishing lunch a couple of university students asked to borrow our park map and to take digital pictures of the campsites on Happy Isle, Merchant and Lake Opeongo. There map had blown away. Most of the afternoon was spent in the Otterslide family of lakes and portages. We arrived at the first Big Trout Lake campsite, the Smeyers campsite, at 5:30 pm. Once again we drank hot peach-flavoured ice tea upon our arrival. DM and SR setup the tent while CM cut down a tree. For supper we ate boiled carrots and yellow beans as starters and two boxes of Kraft Macroni and cheese for the main meal. For the record Kraft dinner prepared without milk is edible and somewhat palatable. This time we made doubly sure that the pack was suspended from the trees. When the coals reduced to embers we headed into the tent.br /br /Day 3 Monday August 27 2007br /br /The day started an hour earlier which helped combat the threat of strong winds that might be encountered on Big Trout and White Lakes. Our day started at 6:15 am. Breakfast took the form of hot oatmeal and hot ice tea. We were on the lake by 8:00 am. The lake was graced by smoky mist that hung above a glass-like surface. We were able to cross over the two bays before starting our southerly paddle down White Trout Lake. As we were passing the “Falcon cliffs” across from the log cabin homestead an osprey fly over the canoe. Once again we had favorable winds on White Trout Lake. We stopped for a a href=”http://www.clifbar.com/”Clif Bar/a break at the Island campsite near the entrance to Grassy Bay. One of the interesting aspects of the Grassy Bay paddle is the meanders grow ever shorter until you reach the Hawkins portage. At which point, the route starts to become less visible and one must rely more on intuition. They have a mini-portage direction sign hammered on a tree along the route. Of note, the reedy portions of the route is becoming smaller each year. To out surprise, the “Miss Mabel” beaver dam is visibly reduced and now can be surmounted without difficulty. The McIntosh Creek portage was a hive of activity. CM quickly recognized that two guys double-portaging a mountain of high quality gear that was adorned with decals from Burton snowboards and Ron Jon’s surf shop in Hawaii. The McIntosh island campsite was occupied and we opted to use the center of the three inline sites that point to the channel that leads to Ink Lake. We arrived at 12:30 pm and had a quick hot chocolate and a swim and then spent the afternoon relaxing. Of course, a oversize red pine had to be dealt with as this provided with more than enough wood for the day. As supper was constrained by the lack of powdered milk we combined the two Kraft dinners together with an added a can of Hunt’s tomato sauce. That evening a beaver swam within ten meters of the shoreline.br /br /Day 4 Tuesday August 28 2007br /br /We were up by 6:30 am and packed and away by 8:30 am. CM took the stern of the canoe and Svety in the bow. DM decided to assume the raj position and was guided through the twisting creek that led to Ink Lake. In ways, this is the highlight of the trip as this area is a tamarack swamp and contains many species that are unique to Algonquin Park. As we were completely rested we were able to appreciate the unusual surroundings. The McIntosh portage (2320 meters) was quickly disposed of. With light packs it was more like a walk in the woods. Tom Thomson, Little Doe, Fawn, Tepee and Joe Lake were traversed against a moderate head wind. The Joe Lake portage was a hive of activity with people coming and going. One group just did not fit into the canoeing mold. They had rented a cottage at the Canoe Lake entrance and paddled in for some sightseeing. Even against a constant headwind the paddle across Canoe Lake proceeded at 5.5 km/hr. This is compared with the average in the Tom Thomson lakes of 6.5 km/hr. The trip was rounded off with a trip to the visitor’s center for lunch.br /br /As a final note: the little foot stool equipped with a carabiner was a perfect solution for seating the middle paddler. A life jacket between the points of the yoke made this position completely comfortable. The other innovation was the candle lantern which we used to cook the steaks under the canoe in the rain. The third item was the MSR isobutane lightweight stove. This allowed for hot oatmeal and tea for breakfast.br /br /Canoeing distance:br /59 km or 36.6 milesbr /br /Portaging distance:br /7.5 km or 4.66 miles
Ap in brief
I’m back from a multi-day canoeing, camping and portaging trip to Algonquin Park. This is a quick summary as I’ll post a longer blog in a couple of days. The trip went well and started with rain and ended with a couple of days of bright sunshine. The rain on the first night forced us to cook steak sandwiches under a suspended canoe using my new a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Algonquin_Park2007/photo#5104195414243310306″stove/a. Our food bag was attacked by something and the attacker got covered by a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Algonquin_Park2007/photo#5104175678868584738″powdered milk/a with no damage to the backpack. On our first night, we had the fun experience of evicting a mouse that took refuge from the rain as we were heading to bed. The rest of the trek was uneventful as the warm sunny weather made paddling on the lakes effortlessly. We also what discovered what really a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Algonquin_Park2007/photo#5104197162294999938″killed /athe famous artist a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Thompson”Tom Thomson/a.br /br /Photo gallery:a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Algonquin_Park2007″br /http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Algonquin_Park2007/a
Ap here we come…
In about an hour my father, Bulgaria and I will head north to Algonquin Park for a three night canoe trip. Our goal today is to camp on Burnt Island Lake and Big Trout tomorrow. The final night we will camp on McIntosh Lake and do a 2500 yard portage which will take us in Little Doe/Fawn. (a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Algonquin_Park2007/photo#5100970477919565986″route map/a) The weather is a little spotty with the possibility of rain on the first day but temperatures in the 80s for the rest of the days. We spent $60 on groceries so there should be plenty of food. I bought 24 Clifbars for added energy boost while paddling. Back to the final packing…
Where’s the tent?
I was talking with my father the other night and we trying to figure out who has what camping gear. I have some of it in Ottawa and my father has the rest at my folk’s place. The topic of the tent came up. My father could only find the tent poles and not fly or the tent body. I scoured my place and couldn’t find the tent. This was odd. My father checked the garage again and discovered that he had done too good a job when putting away the gear from our last adventure. The tent was in a box labeled Christmas decorations. I’ll head over to a href=”http://www.mec.ca/”MEC /a at lunch hour to buy another a href=”http://www.thermarest.com/”thermarest /amattress and an awl but very slowly the chores are getting finished. The weather looks a little spotty with some rain to start off the time with hot sunny conditions for the remainder of the weekend.
Algonquin Park #1
This coming weekend I am going to do something that I haven’t done for two years and that is, go canoeing, camping and portaging in a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquin_Park”Algonquin Park/a. It is sort of a tradition for my father and I to do a canoeing trip just before school starts. Health reasons prevented us from going for the past two years. This year we will do the standard trip which will take from Canoe Lake in the south up to Burnt Island, Big Trout and then back by McIntosh Lake. (a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Algonquin_Park2007/photo#5100970477919565986″the route/a) We will have one of my father’s international chemist from Bulgaria with us this year. I’ll spend the next couple of days visiting a href=”http://www.mec.ca”MEC /abuying last minute gear before I head south to my parent’s place. The goal is to have four days and three nights in the park. A couple of days ago, I made the online park reservation and still have to reserve a 17′ superlite canoe. This year we will try out my new superlight stove to do some cooking otherwise most of our food will be prepared over a fire. I am looking for using my a href=”http://www.turtlepaddle.com/site_content/algonquin_guide.php”turtle algonquin guide paddle/a which hopes to redeem itself from it misadventure in the Ottawa River earlier this year. One day in the future, I hope to take JL either hiking or canoeing in Algonquin Park. Dang, time to go find the tent….Pack on…
Canoeing part 3
The past couple of days I have been thinking a little too much about my recent capsizing experiences. I have been canoeing since I was a small kid and have never capsized and here I was capsizing twice in one night. In the end it was fun using the skills I have picked over many years, how to swim with the canoe towards shore, and to do a canoe-to-canoe rescue. But the experience still bothers me. After talking to my father today, I think I know what might have happened on both occasions, we violated two tenets of canoeing, don’t stand in the canoe and never paddle on the same side. The second tenet is easily resolved as the sternman will change his paddle side when the bowman switches.br /br /After the course, I talked to Tim and they are offering white water canoeing course up the Ottawa River from where I live. This would involve paddling down a set of rapids using a canoe made about of a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile_butadiene_styrene”ABS /a-tradename a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royalex”Royalex/a. These canoes are so indestructible that if hit them with a rock and put a dent in the side of the canoe all you do is give it a kick and it regains its shape.
Canoeing II – I dunked!
Last night I went down to the Ottawa River for the second part of my canoeing course. It would be the practical, on-water portion. For some reason, I decided to come prepared, I had wired my keys into my shorts, dressed in quick dry clothing and added a polar fleece vest. I decided to leave anything of value at home and to zip all my pockets shut. Before we headed out on the water I asked Tim if he could take some pictures throughout the lesson to document the adventure.br /br /As promised, I took pictures of the two types of canoes that we would use, the a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Canoeing_Course/photo#5073716555750919298″quetico /acanoe sits lower in the water than the a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Canoeing_Course/photo#5073716568635821202″prospector/a. The prospector has a more pronounced rocker (front of the canoe) allowing it to carry heavier loads but is less stable when not weighted down. Here we see the first party getting ready to a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Canoeing_Course/photo#5073716581520723106″embark/a. While on the water, Tim explained that when you are paddling you are doing one of two motions pulling water (forward stroke) or pushing it (back stroke). The other strokes are known as corrective strokes. He demonstrated the “J” stroke, the draw (moving the paddle parallel to the canoe, drawing toward the side of the canoe), prying (moving the paddle parallel to the canoe, but pushing water away from the side of the canoe). It was time to try out these strokes. I should say first off, that it was Roger’s first time in the canoe and he was in the stern (back). We headed out onto the river and had fun paddling in circles for a while before we sorted our strokes out. I was a little nervous as the Ottawa River has a strong current and Roger wasn’t too concerned that we getting caught in the current leading towards the power dam. It took some aggressive paddling to get us back into the lee of the bay. After paddling around we headed into shore to change positions. I would be in the stern of the canoe. I careful working along the length of canoe and gently sat down in the canoe. When the canoe is partly on shore and it in the water it is unstable. As Roger got into the canoe backward and pushed used off shore somehow how is weight shifted. The canoe capsized. We were close to shore. The water waist deep but the experience was a little unsettling.br /br /We paddled for about an hour and did a stroke drills by paddling around a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Canoeing_Course/photo#5073716628765363426″triangle /a. This was fun but at the same time a little challenging as Roger wanted to constantly flip his paddle to either side of the canoe every minute. Using the forward stroke, the J-stroke and the pry stroke, I was able to sight a couple of landmarks and get a hang of paddling in a straight line. This is an art. After a while you sort of become one with the canoe and get a feel how it responds to certain actions. Most of the motions are gradual. It was time to let Roger take the stern again. We headed out from port without event. I explained to Roger that if we wanted to head right, to use the J stroke and to head left, he would have to do a pry stroke. He started to get the knack of the stroke and we were able to head in a straight line to towards some trees on shore. Roger decided that we be a little more aggressive with the canoe. As we were heading through a confluence in the river he tried an aggressive J stroke. It didn’t go well, as moments later, we were both in the water. The Ottawa River was cold. In the nick of time, I grabbed my hat but wasn’t so lucky with my sunglasses. We were able to swim with the canoe towards another one nearby and to do a on-the-water canoe rescue. This involves pushing the upended canoe across the center point of another canoe. We hauled ourselves back into the canoe. For more reason, I packed my normal glasses in my vest and was able to see again. We paddled toward shore and emptied the canoe and to catch our breath and dry out a bit. At this point, there was an hour left in the lesson so Roger and I worked on canoe drills close to shore.br /br /- a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Canoeing_Course/photo#5073716680304971042″Chris and his paddle/a.br /- a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Canoeing_Course/photo#5073716615880461522″Chris in the shadows/a
Canoeing – part 1
In one of my earlier entries, I mentioned that I had signed up for a canoeing course to work on my paddling skills. The goal is gain enough skills to be able to paddle a canoe in a straight line under varying conditions. Later this summer, we will be taking two canoes into Algonquin Park for a long weekend canoeing trip. My father has two chemists visiting one from Akron and the other, from Sofia, Bulgaria. I will be the sternman in on canoe and my father in the other. Paddling in the stern position is not something I normally do, as I’m usually up front applying all the power to the canoe. The canoe course has been rescheduled a couple of times so we had our first session last night.br /br /I’ll set the stage, it was 6C/42F and light continuous rain was falling and a brisk wind was coming off the Ottawa River and there was the threat of frost overnight. I was wearing my goretex jacket, a polar fleece jacket and a pair of goretex pants. If we were going out on the water it would be crisp. Tim had the moved the canoes down to the shore by the time I had arrived. There were three cars sitting in the parking lot with engines idling and fogged up windows. I was comfortable standing around in the elements waiting for the final folks to show up. It was sort of funny as Tim was in shorts and most folks thought I was the instructor.br /br /Tim took the six of us down to the shore and started with the dry land portion of the course. He reviewed the parts of a paddle, grip-butt, shaft, throat, blade and tip. We would be using two types of canoes, a prospector and a quetico. The prospector has a more pronounced rocker which improves maneuverability and stability. (Curvature of the hull profile that rises up at the bow and stern) He talked about the parts of the canoe, bow, thwart, yoke, hull, gunwales and the stern. At this point, the wind started to whip up and it grew colder. Someone suggested that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to go paddling tonight. Further up river, we could see a kayaking course doing Eskimo rolls in their kayaks and they were outfitted in wetsuits. They did not look comfortable.br /br /The weather forecast for Thursday was 24C/75F, so we decided to wait a couple of days before hitting the water. We finished off the night by learning how to carry the canoe. The most common technique is called, “lunch boxing,” one person on the opposite side at either end of the canoe. The last thing we did was to review how to throw the canoe on top of your head.br /br /In my next entry, I will post some links to pictures taken at both lessons.
