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Pastimes : Canoes, Hiking, the Great Outdoors -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (193)	9/22/1999 8:32:00 AM
From: Crocodile	Respond to of 325

Sounds like a great place to do some paddling...especially the clear water, coral and abundant marine life...although, being a bit of a swamper, I'd enjoy the mangroves too. Unfortunately, I haven't been out paddling in at least 3 weeks. I had a work-related injury to one shoulder during early August and I'm still getting over it. A couple of times, I've decided that I was probably fit enough to go out paddling, but ended up paying for my impatience. I don't know if I'll get out on the water many more times this year, but I'm hoping to enjoy the fall colours along a couple of my favourite rivers before the snow flies. To compensate for the lack of paddling, I've been doing a lot of hiking. Last weekend we hiked in Gatineau Park which is just north of Ottawa in the Gatineau Hills -- they are a low range of glacially-worn mountains which form part of the Canadian Shield. It's an area that is similar to the low mountain ranges in Vermont which are heavily wooded with maple, birch, ash and beech with some conifers, but with exposed granite faces here and there. We chose the 5+ mile Wolf Trail, a rugged but popular circuit which winds along through a wooded valley and eventually leads up over the top of a mountain with several open granite faces which afford a great lookout over the Ottawa River and the Ottawa Valley. We decided to do the trail in reverse... I'm not actually sure why... That would have been a very serious mistake if we hadn't have been in fairly good shape because the elevation climbs about 700+ feet from the lower part of the trail to the mountaintop. If you walk the trail in the "usual direction", the ascent is fairly gradual and not really too demanding. Done in reverse, you are climbing upwards almost constantly and have to do a few scrambles up rocky trails. We realized our "mistake" about a half hour into our hike when we began to meet the odd hiker coming towards us in the "normal" direction. A couple of them seemed quite familiar with the trail and commented, "Doing it the hard way, eh?" as they passed by...(-: The weather was amazing... one of those last days of summer...the perfect ones with dry, warm air and a clear blue sky that goes on forever when you stand on a mountaintop looking off to the horizon. But there was that smoky scent of fall in the breeze... just enough to remind you that this really is the end of summer. BTW, one note of interest: Dried-out fallen beech leaves have to be about the slipperiest thing I can remember walking on. I'm kind of a renegade when it comes to hiking... I like to wear low-cut, very light moccasin-type boots. I'm very accustomed to wearing them while climbing and scrambling on trails...but on those beech leaves... Aaiiiiieeeee!!! Suffice to say that I had a few very exciting moments slipping along down steep beech-leaf strewn trails... But then again, perhaps I've just invented a new sport... Leaf Surfing...(-: Next trip: This coming weekend is out 25th anniversary and we're planning a good hiking trip for the occasion...longer but slightly less rugged... Probably pack a small gourmet picnic lunch and a bottle of very good wine... The weather is supposed to be fantastic... should be an excellent day...

To: Dayuhan who wrote (193)	8/4/2001 8:09:37 PM
From: Crocodile	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 325

Steve, Been quite awhile, since I wrote a report about a paddling trip, but I'll do so today. There were a few notable things about today's trip. This was my First (!!!) paddling trip of 2001. Rather shocking but true. I had a very bad fall on some ice back in February and it did some major damage to my shoulder. So, I've been out of commission for 6 months. (BTW, that registered a giant GRRRRHHH on the Annoyance Meter this year). Anyhow, where was I? Back to the good stuff. Went exploring on a little creek (Morton Creek), which flows between Whitefish Lake and Lower Beverley Lake in Leeds-Grenville County in eastern Ontario. Found a super put-in spot where I could leave the truck shaded by maples. A couple of Eastern Garter Snakes slithered into the undergrowth as we came down the sandy bank of the put-in. Some Painted Turtles were sunning themselves on logs nearby. The creek banks have lengthy areas of heavy vegetation and many large colonies of Pickerelweed. You probably know it if you've paddled in the N.E. states as I think it has a large range. There were dragonflies flitting all around and perching on the purple flower clusters. While the creek edges are shallow and somewhat sandy, they quickly drop off into a reasonably deep center channel. However, there are quite a number of deadheads and snags along the way, so it seems that the creek does not see much use by powerboats which is a big plus in my opinion. Most notable sighting for today was a rather spectacular Snapping Turtle which swam up from the bottom of the creek with its mouth open really wide. It came up alongside my canoe, but quickly turned and descended into the center channel. It was, by far, the largest snapping turtle that I've ever seen. Much larger than one that we picked up off the highway and released up in the Bonnechere River while out for a drive a couple of months ago. I don't know if this is possible, but taking into account the distortion of the water, etc... I would estimate the length of its shell to be close to that of the blade part of my paddle which is about 22 in. long. The head of the turtle was about the size of a man's fist. And the tail was pretty phenomenal. If you know snapping turtles, you'll know what I mean.. Like a big 2 foot long dinosaur tail with big "saw-teeth" on top. As it turned to dive again, muck and weedy incrustations drifted off in a large cloud around it. Unfortunately, it just happened that I was in the middle of taking a GPS reading and couldn't get my camera out quick enough to take a pic.... sigh (BTW, I have to admit that my initial reaction to the first glimpse of this big turtle ascending next to my canoe was a slight jolt as the size of its jaws were really kind of awesome. They're such powerful biters. The one that we moved off the highway was much smaller, but weighed about 20 pounds and seized a shovel blade in its jaws and hung on for all it was worth when we were trying to rescue it from certain death in the traffic. I have A LOT of respect for what these guys can do when they decide to take a chomp out of something... :-) A little further along the creek, we sighted a porcupine sitting on a piece of dead wood which extended out from the bank. It was drinking from the creek and slowly turned to retreat when we came up alongside of it. The weather is unusually hot here this summer... high 90s most afternoons, and I would have to attribute that to the reason for seeing a porcupine out by the river at that time of day (around noon). Anyhow, it was a wonderful trip... lots of young fish in the water... And it was especially wonderful because my shoulder seems to be working right and held up for over 2 hours of easy paddling...and I loaded the canoe onto the truck my own this morning which means that solo adventures will probably be possible some time in the near future. I think I may be on the mend.. (o: Other sightings today, just for my own notes: Great Blue Heron (in flight) Kingfisher (in flight) Kingbird (catching flies from its perch on a snag branch in the creek) Redwing Blackbird (pairs flying along bank) Turkey Vultures (3 circling over creek) Large numbers of dragonflies around the Pickerelweed Cicadas (buzzing in the trees along creek banks) Many young L.M. Bass about 10 cm. long