ok, this has nothing to do with knitting, but after the day we had I just had to blog about it.
DD and I spent the day with the dogs on
McCrae Lake with Eren & Jessie from
Dog Paddling Adventures, along with 7 other people and their puppies, for a
canoe & portage trip around the area. it was a good solid 2 hours from our house to get there, and the farther north we drove the worse the weather seemed to be looking. by the time we met up with everyone it had already started to drizzle. fortunately DD and I had purchased excellent canoe/hiking trousers, that for the most part were rather water resistant (thank goodness !!). DD has a good rain jacket, but I only had a pull-over style windbreaker & my running jacket (neither of which are great in the rain, but better than nothing). as luck would have it, Eren saved the day with some extra rain jackets (I wasn't the only one that needed to borrow one). we all got suited up in our canoeing gear, including life jackets for everyone, including all the dogs.
after our initial introduction chat, we all headed down thru a muddy path to the water's edge where the canoes were waiting. this was our first taste of how the day was going to be. as we got a quick introduction to canoeing, we were constantly being attacked by SWARMS of mosquitoes.
FIRST # 1 ~ apparently Hasia, and eventually Betty, bothered so much by the mosquitoes, decided to coat themselves in the black muck at the shoreline that we were standing at, while Eren was giving his instructional talk about the canoes. although DD and I had seen Hasia do this once before (and have pictures of the end result), apparently no one else had ..... everyone was EEEWWWWWing and YUCKing as Hasia did everything she could to get as coated in mud as possible
needless to say Eren gave his instructions as quickly as possible and when asked for volunteers to be the first in a canoe, DD and I quickly offered our hands up.
FIRST # 2 ~ it was decided that I would steer. now, I have been "in" a canoe a couple of times, and even tried War Canoeing once ..... but my paddling skills were VERY limited, and nor was I ever really interested in working that hard in the past. it always seems to be very hard work, and difficult to get anywhere quickly. this was my FIRST time to not only really be involved in paddling a canoe, but also in control of the steering of it
so I very gracefully (NOT) tried to make my way to the back of the canoe. once I was seated "comfortably" it was DDs turn to get in
FIRST # 3 ~ getting 2 VERY excited Labradors, COMPLETELY covered in mud and soaking wet, into a canoe, without all of us going for a swim.
it took a wee bit to cokes the dogs into the canoe, and then get them settled into their own "sections". unfortunately, they both seemed to want to sit on the same side, which got a wee bit tippy at times. then, of course, as each canoe was loaded with it's occupants of humans and dogs, and came near to another canoe ..... often times the dogs wanted to "visit" with each other (which did NOT amuse the humans they were sharing the canoes with !!) Hasia and Betty did REALLY well, and my only complaint was that every so often Betty would stand up to look around .... and would have to circle around 2 or 3 times before she'd settle back down again.
well, off we go. everyone is finally settled in our canoes and we're ready to head out. unfortunately, like myself, many of us had no idea what the heck we were doing. Eren was an awesome instructor, and very quickly we were padding our way thru the straight towards our portage spot.
FIRST # 4 ~ our first portage. although I've heard of this, I've never experienced it before ... and to be honest, it wasn't my favourite part. the terrain was hard enough for me to handle on my own, but with a canoe on my shoulders, or even being carried between 3 or 4 people, it was brutal. the one GOOD thing about the portage spot was that we pulled up on rocks & the water was clean ..... so we had Hasia & Betty in the water as soon as we stopped to try to get them cleaned up.
we (by that I mean Eren) hauled one of the canoes across the paths down to the lower part of the waterfall as we all followed. fortunately, there was another chap with us who had portaged before so was able to help with moving the canoes, and then a group of 3 also helped bring one over. DD and I stayed on the lower side, keeping watch over the dogs and our canoes. ours was the last canoe to come over, and before it was brought DD and I had a chat. although we were both wet, DD's hands were beat red and ICE cold. we seriously considered leaving the group and heading back to our starting location and going home. in the end, DD said she'd be ok, and our canoe was brought over with the rest.
FIRST # 5 ~ time to get back into the canoes. again, DD and I were first .... with Eren's assistance, I head in and towards the back of my canoe. just as I'm settled down I feel a tugging on my canoe. Eren is holding the front of the canoe steady, while Sophie (a yellow lab) is tugging with all her strength on the bailing bucket that attached to the back of my canoe, and was floating in the water. I seriously thought I was going over, between the tug-of-war of my canoe between Eren and Sophie. I was in hysterics laughing so hard. everyone was laughing, as we couldn't believe this was happening. finally, I was able to reach around back and grab the rope attached to the bailing bucket, and Sophie's "Mum" pulled her out of the water, and we were all ready to load up the rest of the canoes without incident. everyone piled back into their canoes and we head into McCrae Lake towards Georgian Bay.
the dogs were getting the concept of the canoes now, and it was much easier getting them in and settled down. I think all the swimming they were doing during the portage break helped tire them out *LOL*. the rain was coming on and off, sometimes drizzling, and then stopping for a wee bit, teasing us with how lovely this trip could be in nice weather !!! the one bit of wildlife we saw was a magnificent blue heron take off as we canoed past it thru a weedy section of channel. it was just beautiful to see !!
our first 2 planned locations for lunch were already in use by campers (what kind of crazy people would be out camping & canoeing in this type of weather ??!!). apparently 3rd time is a charm .... we landed in a great location (I actually thought it was the best, and flattest of the 3 choices). the weather was threatening to get worse. we tossed around setting up a tarp over the lunch are, but decided against it as it would take too long, and we "probably didn't need it". LOL ..... ok, so we set the lunch up, did Eren's "warm up dance" (thank GOODNESS no one was around to watch that !!), and then the clouds opened up.
I think Eren made record time in hanging a tarp over the lunch area .... it wasn't a GREAT job ... but it worked, and many of us used it to try to stay out of the rain. this final down-pour seemed to be what "Mother Nature" needed .... after that the skies seemed to brighten, and was much nicer. lunch was a good and bad thing ... by the time it was over we were all wet and chilled to the bone. it was time to go back, and as much as we enjoyed the chance to stretch our legs, at least while we were paddling we were warmer.
after a quick flip of the canoes to empty the rain water out of them, we all piled back in again (as we're all starting to look like we know what we're doing now ... including the dogs !!) head back to portage back upstream. the portage spot was lovely !!! it was a small waterfall so the water was calm enough that we were not afraid of the dogs being in the water. this was play time for the dogs, as sticks seemed to be constantly dropped at our feet to be thrown back into the water for them to fetch. again Eren, with the help of some of the others carried our 5 canoes across to the upper section. Kelsey took our paddles, and I carried one of our large group backpacks. the mosquitoes, again, were brutal, at the upper portage location. thank goodness for bug spray ..... and for the fact that there was no mud for Hasia to coat herself in !!!
after loading up for our final leg of the journey the sky was bright, but still overcast, but it was probably the quickest time we made for the entire day !!! as much fun as we all had, we were all looking forward to getting back to our vehicles and changing into dry clothes !! we pull up to shore, back where we started ... we're warmed up from paddling but still chilled from being wet, our feet are soaked, but we're all smiling and laughing.
FIRST # 6 ~ ok, maybe this "first" is a stretch, but as I've never done it before (picked up a canoe, and moved it), I'm counting it. DD and I picked up our canoe, and with the help of Sophie's "Mum" we hauled it up a SOAKED and MUDDY trail to the truck. I started out trying to avoid the mud, but with all the rain that had fallen while we were out, this was next to impossible .... and besides, I was already wet, and my running shoes soaked and squishing ... what's a little mud ??!! we handed in our canoe, paddles, all 4 lifejackets .. and before I was able to finish, DD had gotten my keys from the waterproof bag and was booking it to the truck. I turned in my loaner rain jacket (without which I think I would have been "oober" miserable), and after some "thankyous" and "goodbyes" I squished towards the truck myself. DD had already managed her change, and was WAY more comfortable ..... fortunately we were the last in a line of vehicles, and with the doors opened and the back seats flat it was very easy to get our of our wet soggy clothes and to change into the dry ones we brought with us. this change made for a much more enjoyable ride home.
warm and dry, we turned around and headed back to the 400. I think the dogs were asleep before we hit the highway. we made a stop in Barrie for a much needed pee-break (and a HOT coffee), then headed back to the 400. DD followed the example set by the dogs ... and she was very quickly asleep too. it was a wee bit more than a 2 hour drive home, because of traffic .... then baths for the dogs, and hot showers for DD and myself. the rest of the evening was VERY quiet, ending in us heading downstairs to watch "Bon Cop, Bad Cop" (well, only half of it ... we were too tired to watch the entire movie, and ended up going to bed early)
all in all .... we were wet, cold, muddy, tired, eaten alive my swarms of mosquitoes ..... and had a GREAT day !!! DD and I talked during the last leg of our journey .... weather aside, we had an awesome day, and are looking forward to doing it again (hopefully with nicer weather next time). our thanks to Eren & Jessie of
Dog Paddling Adventures for their great leadership and instructions, we couldn't have done it without you .... and to Kathryn; without your organizational skills, excellent lunch preparation and e-mail suggesting that we bring a dry set of clothes to drive home in; we would have been confused, hungry and had a miserable drive home !!
please check out the
pictures that Eren took during our day's adventures!!
.JPG)
