From Lake Travers to McManus
The Crew:
Sarah
Nora
Josh
Steve
Ian
Nick
Steve
And Bri and Judy
Day 1 (July 13): Rocked! It all started for most at 7 in the morning when Rachel left from the Toronto pick up location! Suckers!! Especially compared to Kevin whose pick up was at a much more reasonable 10:30. Lots of hippie talk made the ride go by quickly – tell us Ian, what exactly is a hippie?
Meanwhile the Montreal pick up was packed with magazine quizzes – fake tans, stilettos, smokey eyes, Mohawks and mullets – what fashion do you want to see out of fashion?
Yummy mango cheese for lunch!
Then back in the van for: a long ride? Or barrels of fun?
Goods and bads game, readings from the Algonquin info books, we saw two moose and The Obnoxious Worms singing the Dead song interrupted those trying to sleep.
Finally we arrived at put in and were off to sea after a quick photo and some goodbyes. We paddled “very, very, very, very far!” to get to THE PADDLEFOOT HEAT ZONE.
Tofu stir fry for diner – yum, and it was a first tofu tasting for some! We even had time for a swim and some chats about washing dishes and hygiene. I think we even caught the first glimpses of Ian and Steve’s gunwale bobby games And then it was off to bed – or should we say the the sauna, which somehow still managed to be full of bugs. Dead racoons haunted Ian all night, but other than that it was a nice sleep for all after a long fist day!
Day 2: French toast for breaky – with much leftover eggies. Stroke lessons made up our morning fun (we also can’t forget that the boys Kevin, Ian, Nico and Steve won the speed game…or did they?). Most of us became sharks, but Sarah and Nora decided that they’d rather be dead minnow than be converted over to the dark side! and then guess what? Egg sammies for lunch!! And we still had trouble finishing it off – but our new friend “take one for the team” managed to make it disappear. The afternoon brought out the riddles as we paddled all the way across the lake. We were not granted safe and dry passage however, as a crazy cool sheet of rain swept over us from behind. “We could have escaped it…but we stopped paddling!” It rained and then the mist came out, but cleared enough for us to spot some beaver dams – uh, I mean lodges.
We hit the first rapid – which was “horrible”, but only because we got eaten alive during the scouting session! Judy went first – the Steve and Nico – who decided on a different route which went like this: step 1. far side of the first rock: water poured into the boat. Step 2. hit a rock: water poured into the boat. Step 3. hit a wave: water poured into the boat. Step 4. Grab some gunwales and….sink! but the boys and the boat floated to a safe eddy. The third boat down was Josh and Bri – who hit some waves and eddied out as everyone around started going down – then helped with the rescue. Boat number four was Ian and Kevin – be prepared for a shocking tale!… They chose another new route – which got them stuck on a rock with Ian paddling like mad to get unstuck while sitting in a foot of water. Kevin hoped out to try to pull the boat off, but with no luck. Ian then gets out to help, and finally the boat comes free just as Ian jumps back in for his first solo experience – as Kevin looks on and realizes that he’s stranded without a boat in the middle of a raging rapid on his tiny rock! Ian's first reaction was a face of excitement – a smile so big it was as epic as Zoolander’s derelict. His paddle then turned into a swim – over a ledge into a nice hole which washed him out into the pool below the rapid where Judy could collect him and bring him the shore. Assistant Rescuer Josh bolted off with Bri and Judy to pick up boats, paddles, packs… and any else in the yard sale down stream. Meanwhile upstream: Kevin still on the rock, ladies still at he top, and Steve and Nico pointing and laughing at the stranded Kevin who was feeling forgotten on a stranded rock island. Bri soon returned to sort out Kevin’s predicament, while Judy paddled Nora through her first whitewater experience, while Sarah gracefully offered to walk around this one!
The talk over the exciting day continued until Chilli and water-rice was served for dinner at our new site: RECOVERY GROVE. It was still raining, but Nico saved the fire. It cleared up later on for us to go for a swim below the rapids – Ian became a booey in Bri’s lifer.
Day 3: It’s the Tuna day! Yay. But first – Oaters for breaky with apples and brown sugar made it delicious for some but not so great for others – so “takin’ it for the team” came into play again. It helped out during our first portage though! We even squeezed in a little ferry lesson at the end of the portage. It was a gorgeous paddle and Josh decided that he was brave enough to try out the solo boat – which started a trend for NICO and Kevin to be next (Nico even soloed some rapids!!), and finally Steve and Ian during that night’s swim session. We got to paddle more rapids today, and some swifts. But we had to live through the buggiest lunch – well it turned into only a tuna draining session before we ran back to our boats and ate a floating lunch away from the maddening woods. The afternoon brought more rapids…then Crooked chutes! Sarah sterned her first rapids through the first part!! We then had to portage the falls – which was nice and long and buggy! “We don’t want to talk about it” was the report when asked how it went! Bri and Judy sterned the last part of the rapids with some luck bowspeople – BIG waves!! Lots of collected water and one hole in a boat later, and we were back to the flats. But the paddle was slowed by Josh who wanted to touch everything – from lily pads to dead logs! So Bri took him down the next rapid backwards and everyone followed suit. Kevin’s hat broke –boo, but our campsite was gorgeous!! So nice that it was named THE TAJ MAHAL/PALACE. We set up, collected wet wood and were ready to start making mac and cheese with Tuna, but the fire didn’t want to start! We’re pretty resourceful, and managed to get it cooked while some were swimming and sinking boats. Ian, Nico, Steve and Kevin played tons of games and all got into the solo boat before the mal was ready. Even Josh ate tuna!! Way to ‘take one for the team’!!
The night brought tent games and a jubejube eating journal session.
Day 4: Chocolate Banana pancakes for breakfast – need I say more? They prepared us excellently for the first portage - which wasn’t even that buggy! Then a short paddle brought us to a carry over and some more really fun rapids –where we had no dumps, but one loss of a camera and one finding of a camera! With lunch came the bugs back again, but we set out again to get to our site early for lots of play time as we ran along our boats under cloudy skies. In fact he site became known as THE PLAYGROUND WITH A VIEW. Couscous and veggies for dinner – with Rice Crispies for dessert!! Bed time – is it really or is it morning “ can’t you hear the alarm?”
Day 5: EARLY morning! With a half pack up so that we could climb the cliff to the top which offered: a gorgeous view, some throwing of rocks, Ian, Nico and Kevin’s point, pictures, jubejubes, sleepy times, and finally a hike down. We finished the packing up and left for rapids galore. We did spot the rare species of ‘half- grumond- canoe’ and some other paddlers that Judy knew from school.
Crazy rapids came in the afternoon – a few water filled boats, but no carnage. We had a floating lunch and a rapid swimming session in the afternoon – where Josh discovered his race-car seat. During the afternoon a few of us went a little loopy – and our names began to change! Is it Judy or Julie? Bri or Ri? Josh Osh or Josy? Who knows…We arrived at our site SUGAR MOUNTAIN for lazy perogies for dinner- but they were especially good cause the campers set up camp and made the meal! With a specialty of “candy land” for dessert – delicious. Cards and broken telephone tired us out before our heads hit the pillow.
Day 6: Muffins for breakfast got us prepped for our last two swifts. It was a SLOW paddle today – everyone was lazy from the heat. And it meant that we couldn’t get the campsite that we wanted – well we had a nice lunch spot – where we ate soup and swam. We continued to paddle in the afternoon to find our fishy smelling site – with some bear poo too!! Today was the camper’s day off – they played in the boats while Judy and Bri set up and made spag for dinner. Robb arrived just in time to finish off the rest of the food - with Ice cream for dessert!! Yum… That helped us sleep nicely so that we could be fresh for the next day’s early morning…
Day 7: Cereal for breakfast and then off to the van so that we could hit the lower Petawawa for some river boarding fun before the goodbyes and the loading of the vans back home!