THE YORK RIVER - 'Hunt Camp on York' to Slabtown

Slabtown Ontario is home to approximately three-fifths of one one-millionth of the population of Canada, so it is unmarked on any maps, and the average person has a better chance of winning the Lotto Max Jackpot than of ever accidentally wandering into this little town.

Rudi, Alexander, and I found it by following the old 517 from Combermere, the Boulter Road, Rivercrest Drive, and finally an old MNR track barely suitable for passage by the van. A few hundred metres from where we parked, we found a suitable put-in at a clearing with a small hunt cabin, and then headed east along the York to the Boulter Road Bridge in Slabtown.

Gearing up after parking on the old MNR forest track.

Passing a cottage located in Slabtown, on the south side of the York

The Boulter Road bridge at Slabtown

Returning past our put-in at the hunt camp on the York River

A SIMPLE AND POIGNANT OBITUARY

I came across this in the Waterloo Region Record a couple of days ago. It struck me not only for the theme, but also the beautiful simplicity in which the notice was written. And yes, it brought a few tears to my eyes. Why not select "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight" (The Beatles), song number 6 on the Popup player above, and read the following quote...

"With one silent Canadian J - stroke, Barb has propelled her canoe away from the shore and is paddling off on her next journey guided by another hand."

For the full obituary, please click here.
Barbara Lynn MacDonald 1954 - 2010

MAY TWO FOUR

Got to the cottage Friday evening after a fairly efficient drive via the 407, Port Perry, Lindsay, Bobcaygeon and bypassing Bancroft on South Baptiste Lake Road. I have never actually been through Bobcaygeon before! Didn't see much, probably a bit overhyped like many of these rustic little "cottage country old money" towns (of which Barry's Bay is not one!). The next day I assembled the bunk beds, mowed the lawn, had fun with an Eastern Milksnake and inspected the shoreline for a washed up body.

Michael Hinsperger Missing on Carson Lake (CBC.CA)

AND THE "LAKE OF DEATH"

This one hits close to home, as the search is being conducted as I type this on the lake our cottage is located on, Carson Lake, 'our' lake if you will. Please don't think I am callous for suggesting the missing man is dead, but if a canoeist goes missing like that, it is more than likely he has ended up drowning:

Canoeist Missing on Carson Lake (CBC.CA)

THE "RIVER OF LIFE"

Alexander ('number last', our two year old) booted me out of bed about 4 am, I couldn't sleep, so did a bit of surfing and found this documentary, a magnificent and honest portrayal of the challanges faced by a group of women (breast cancer survivors) participating in an epic canoe race. Skip that silly re-run of 'The Mentalist' and instead watch this:

CANOOZ IN THE NOOZ

From today's edition of our pretty gosh-darn-good mid-market circulation daily, The Record (formerly the Waterloo Region Record, the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, etc.) comes this nice article about what students do!

Large Lessons From a Small Canoe

Link will open in this window, click the return arrow to get back to The Accidental Canoeist. Read and enjoy!

A HAPPY RESULT OF WINTER CLEANING - A $700, 42lb CARBON FIBRE ALCHEMIST CANOE

There were a few abandoned canoe shells in some kind of potentially recoverable condition stored outside the 'factory' when I started helping out last year, so when Jeff did an 'inventory' of all the canoes that never made it out of the shop for some reason or other last fall - mostly 'cosmetic defects', a few 'demonstrator boats', and the odd prototype, we decided to salvage as much as we could to avoid taking anything to the dump.

Here is a perfect example. A three year old carbon kevlar shell that had blown away just after the top was cut off, and suffered from some minor structural and major cosmetic damage. I found a buyer, a friend who absolutely needed a half decent canoe that was as light as reasonably possible, yet didn't want to drop the two to three grand typically spent on a lightweight canoe. A fantastic structural repair and interior paint job by Jeff, a decent set of used gunwales, and all new interior fittings installed by me, resulted in a tough, durable carbon/kevlar boat with a final price tag of $700 and a weight of just 42.5lbs. Sweet!

A DAY IN THE LIFE

I battle the symptoms of depression and post traumatic stress disorder by doing many things to exercise both my mind and body, generally (but not always) with reasonably successful results. Twenty years ago my doctor prescribed Tricyclic Antidepressants and a copy of a book titled 'Feeling Good' by Dr. David Burns. The drugs busted me out of my erratic sleep wake cycles, and the book gave me great ideas for self-treatment using cognitive therapy. But winters can be pretty brutal, and dealing with complete raving idiots (a former employer, no one mentioned in this blog, at least not yet!) can make it even worse. I sometimes have a bit of fun playing with new lyrics to songs that for some reason jump to mind.

A DAY IN THE LIFE
(With apologies to Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr)


I rode my bike today oh boy,
Down a long abandoned railway track,
And then a quiet country road,
To the place I honed my craft.
Still figuring bow from aft.
Pulling boats out from the moulds,
With long sleek lines the way the're meant to be.
The wake cuts mirrored glass in two,
A gorgeous place seen before,
I wasnt really sure if I would ever see it anymore.


I caught a clip today, oh boy,
A Princess Pat killed by an IED.
A crowd of people lined the bridge,
But I couldn't bear to stay,
Having watched the play.
I'd love to turn you on...


Woke up, got out of bed.
Chose not to drag a comb across my head.
Found my way downstairs and brewed a cup.
And looking up, I heard a baby chirp.
Found an outfit, a cute little hat, changed his bum, in seconds flat.
Fixed number one a lunch with healthy snacks,
And took the little one for a run across the town.


Ahhhh ahh ahh ahhhh ahh ahh ahhhhhhhh...
Ahhhh ahh ahh ahhhh ahh ahh ahhhhhhhh...


I read the news today, oh boy,
Four thousand hectares to print The Post this year.
And though the trees were rather small,
They had to pulp them all.
Now they know how many trees it takes to print no news at all.
I'd love to turn you on...

SCREWED BY CHINA!

I got in to help Jeff with some work this week, and he brought me up to date on some new developments and situations that he gets to 'look forward' to dealing with. One of these is the fact that the supplier of his aluminum gunwales went bankrupt in November, and now he has to find a new supplier. Fortunately, of the three gunwales he uses, he has enough stock to build about seventy boats or more, but he is running low on the light profile gunwales for our superlight kevlar, carbon, and helium canoes.

The dies to produce each gunwale cost roughly $3000 each, and even though he pays for them to be made, he never actually owns or possesses them, and now they are sitting in a closed factory in London, in bankrupty proceedings, and shut down by the CAW. So not much to be done except bite the bullet and go to a new supplier, pony up the cash, and get the 'dies' rolling again.

I told Jeff I would do a bit of investigating, to see if I could find out if the dies could be bought off the bankrupt company, and provided to the new manufacturer, so as to save the expense of another ten grand, as no one other than us has any use for them. In starting my research, I found a couple of little tidbits of information, which once again pissed me off, and if there is one thing sure to do that, it is the 'business practices' (I use the term loosely) of the People's Republic of China.

Recently the Canada Border Services Agency issued a report concerning the Dumping of aluminum extrusions exported from the People's Republic of China. Essentially, virtually all the Chinese exporters of aluminum extrusions were found to be dumping (selling significantly below the actual cost of production) their product on the Canadian Market. Unfortunately, this is typical business practice for the Chinese, as there is probably nothing that you can buy that at one point or another has been dumped into our Country, from bicycles to toasters, to shoes and underwear, and now aluminum extrusions!

To keep it brief, China is a country rife with corruption, which endorses unethical and immoral business practices, supports widespread industrial espionage, illegally subsidizes and dumps goods on other countries, unfairly manipulates its own currency (not to mention supports the murder of its own citezens to supply demand for organ transplants to wealthy westerners). And they even help put Canadian manufacturers of top quality aluminum gunwales out of business.

If you have a choice, buy Canadian; If you can't do that, buy North American; If that is impossible, buy from the EU; failing that, try the emerging Eastern European nations, South America, the Caribbean, Pacific Rim countries like Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia; and finally, if you can't get what you want made anywhere else in the world, buy Chinese.

THIS IS CANOEING

I found the link to this video a short while back on the Canadian Canoe Routes Forums website. You can click play and watch it here, or visit the This Is Canoeing 'YouTube' web page. I think it's plain to see why I am eager to get back in the shop working for Jeff (H20 Composites Inc.) and can't wait for the arrival of spring! There is some incredible photography here, and for those who thought canoing just meant one thing, here is an example of the incredible diversity of Canoeing styles!

COTTAGE FOR RENT

So if you are ever interested in spending a week at a really great little cottage near several of the more underused gateways to Algonquin Park, just check out the following link:

KIJIJI.CA: Private Lakefront Cottage - Barry's Bay Ontario

For some of you, it might look familar, for others, it is our cottage near Barry's Bay. If you are interested in helping us cope with a 145% municipal tax increase over a four year period, just let me know!

SERENDIPITY STRIKES AGAIN

Two weeks ago I was invested as a Scouts Canada Beaver leader. That's right, for one hour each week I am responsible for a gang of highly energized, slightly looney 5 to 7 year olds, including my own son. Rudi started in Beavers last year, and was interested in returning if his dad became a leader. With Sunshine and Rainbow moving up to cubs, leaving only Hawkeye in charge, I was asked by Jen (Sunshine) if I would like to volunteer. My usual take on volunteering is simple: Call me as your last resort, and I will happily help out. So two weeks ago Grey Owl officially joined the crew. We meet every Monday evening for an hour of games, crafts, and other fun. In the past few months we have gone on a nature hike, built bird seed feeders out of reclaimed building materials, and last week cooked up a batch of suet bird feed, which we will eventually pour into little log suet feeders so the kids can hang them in their backyards.

Which leads me to the purpose of this post. Rusty is a Venturer helping us out this year, to get his community service hours for High School graduation. As I had already planned to take Rudi on a short (3 or 4 day) canoe camping trip to the Interior of Algonquin Park, I had thought that going with a few others might be a good idea, so Rusty has signed up for the trip. I think I will hand off some of the planning to him, kind of let him take charge of route planning, and equipment selection, and other stuff. So over the next few months I will provide updates on the planning for our big wilderness adventure in summer 2010!

H20 COMPOSITES 2009 FACTORY CLEARANCE SALE!

I finally received the Excel inventory file from Jeff, and can now begin posting information on the boats that will be offered in the first ever "H20 Composites Factory Clearance".  The list Jeff compiled includes absolutely everything that we will have available for sale, and includes prototypes, demonstrators, brand new cosmetic defects, and used, as well as a small selection of boats from other top quality manufacturers (how else does one do research sometimes?)

As this represents pretty much all existing inventory from over four years of operation, there is quite a flotilla available! There are over a dozen canoes, a few kayaks and some recreational rowing shells, and about fifteen lightweight performance racing shells available. The boats are presently either finished and ready for sale, or unfinished requireing some work prior to sale. My plan is to offer the boats for sale starting with the ones that require little finishing, or are ready to go, and as we sell those, work on finishing and selling the rest of them.

Here is a short list of the first boats to be included in the sale:

CANOES

H20 Canadian 16-6' 2009 Superlight Kevlar red/white, 46lb, new, cosmetic blem and repair, retail $2695 now $2195.

H20 Canadian 16-6' 2008, Carbon Kevlar clear/white, 43lb, lightly used, two minor repairs, retail $2995 now $2100.

H20 Cottage Classic 14' 2009, shot fibreglass red, 58lb, new, retail $1095 now $745.

H20 Cottage Classic 15' 2009, shot fibreglass white, 65lb, new, retail $1145 now $795.

H20 Cottage Classic 16' 2009, shot fibreglass red, 70lb, new, retail $1195 now $845.

Alchemist (by H20) Saga 17' 2009, Carbon Fibre clear/white, 44lb, new perfect cond, retail $3095 now $2795.

ROWING SHELLS

H20 Offshore 21' 2009, Carbon/Fibreglass white/white, 40lb, new blem thin paint, retail $4495 now $3495.

H20 Offshore 16' 2008, Fibreglass lime/white, 45lb, used good cond, retail $3495 now $2200.

RACING SHELLS

MISSION/FISA Rec Racer 22' 2007, Fibreglass red/white, 55lb, used trade-in good cond, retail $3795 now $2400.

MISSION ROWING Rocket LT 25' 2008, Carbon black/carbon, 35lb, rentd 2008, excellent cond, retail $6995 now $4200.

KAYAKS

CURRENT DESIGN Kestrel 14' 2009, Kevlar orange/white, 40lb, demo excellent cond, retail $2995 now $2200.

PELICAN SOT 9' 2007, Polyethylene orange, 35lb, used excellent cond, retail $495 now $350.

Please email me at theaccidentalcanoeist@live.com if interested in any of these boats, or others that may be available. Payment may be made by MasterCard, Visa, Cheque or Cash, payable directly to H20 Composites. Retail sales taxes will apply to all new boats and those purchased using payment other than cash. For used boats and paying with cash payment can be made directly to me, and we can consider the transaction a private sale, as I am not a retailer.

AFTER SALE FEEDBACK

I recently emailed the purchaser of my H20 Composites Canadian 16-6 demonstrator, to ask how the canoe has been working for him, and to give him tips on winter storage of a canoe, having found how simple and quickly four grown men each with a beer can construct indoor winter storage in a basement or a garage. A few days later I heard back:

Thank you for the storage tips and the link to your blog. The canoe is seeing lots of activity and the feedback is all positive. For most of us it has been twenty years or more since going out for a paddle and now we realize what we were missing.

That's the kind of stuff I like to hear!

THANKSGIVING

Made it to the cottage for Thanksgiving weekend, and the wonderful occurrence of a meeting of the entire family! Mom and Dad; John, my sister Susan, and daughters Rachel and Natalie; Jeff, my sister Pamela, and their daughter Sophie; and Katherine and I with Alexander and Rudi.

Thanksgiving weekend also generally means 'closing' the cottage, although being a four season home, what it really means is storing everything used in the summer that you cannot leave outside over the winter. The paddleboat and wooden stairs come up from the lake, and for the first time this year, I built indoor canoe storage! There was no way I would be leaving an H20 composite canoe on blocks and under a tarp outdoors over the winter.

Building the canoe storage system was a four person operation. My dad Roger offered engineering advice while enjoying a Sleeman Honey Brown Lager. Jeff assisted with experiential advice and opinion while enjoying a Unibrou Chambly Maudite, a beautiful strong amber ale. John cut the support hangers and made tools available while sipping a Honey Brown, and I measured and installed the brackets while also enjoying a Sleeman. Then John and I raised the canoe and slung it in postion!

An unexpected bonus is the fact that there is enough room to store a second full size canoe (16' or more) underneath the first, and even a 15' solo underneath the first two!

FALL CLEANING

Well Autumn is almost upon us, and Jeff and I are taking stock of what is left over from the year. This year, H20 Composites Inc. produced a few hundred canoes and rowing shells (can't tell you exact numbers), and it goes without saying that a couple of duds got in the mix. These boats are considered 'defective' in some manner or another, mostly due to some kind of cosmetic defect, usually gelcoat shrinking back during infusion, or sometimes incomplete infusion, where small areas had to have the catalysed resin rolled on by hand, and the occasional structural defect which has been repaired with the appropriate cloth. What is certain about these boats is that, apart from some apparent defect in the finished appearance, they are as tough, as durable, as light, and as good quality as all of the boats that end up at retailers, but they can be had for anywhere from a 20% to as much as a 40% savings or more off of the retail price. There aren't many, so stay tuned as I will put a list of these boats up here next week, and links to any ads I might have posted on Kijiji.ca

THE BARRON CANYON (PART 4)

THE BARRON CANYON AS WE EXPERIENCED IT

TYPE: Day Trip, half-day minimum to full day. Our trip including two portages, at an easy pace was 4.5 hours, plus an extra half hour for the hike.

LOCATION: East side Algonquin Park, Sand Lake Access Gate.

DRIVING DISTANCE: Two hours from Ottawa, six hours from Toronto.

COST: Vehicle Day Permit, $13 at the gate.

RESERVATIONS: Generally not necessary, first come first served.

SUITABLE FOR: Canoeists or Kayakers of any level of Experience.

FITNESS LEVEL REQUIRED: A moderate level of fitness is necessary due to the one or two portages, (depending on direction, about 500m long).

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: Beginner to intermediate, with the ability to handle the canoe if a wind comes up the canyon.

REASONS TO GO: Incredible scenery, lack of crowds, bonus hiking trail to the top of the Canyon.


OVERALL RATING: 9.0/10



Dont drown needlessly, wear a PFD!

THE BARRON CANYON (PART 3)

Well, seeing as I have five thousand words worth of pictures here, I will let them tell the story, click on any of them to enlarge (try to find the other canoe hidden in one of the photos - first correct answer posted gets a free nights stay at the Field House Bed and Breakfast in beautiful Tavistock Ontario!):

THE BARRON CANYON (PART 2)

After hiking the trail above the Barron Canyon, Rudi and I got back to the van and drove to the Brigham Lake parking lot, about 5km further up the road. Within a few minutes the canoe was offloaded, and we were heading down a fairly steep little trail toward the water, Rudi carrying the backpack and paddles, and me the canoe. We arrived at the put in, just below a small rapid, where a couple were relaxing, their canoe tucked just out of the way. By the time we loaded up and got in the water (and I returned to the van for my camera!) they were also getting ready to go. What then followed was a low speed canoe chase, which Rudi and I eventually lost! The first picture is a view looking East, downstream toward the canyon, with the couple who just passed us about fifty yards ahead. Here the canyon walls rise about 200 feet, but are well back from the river, and are simply steep, tree covered slopes. This small river section is about 1km long, and empties into Brigham lake, which is quite small, the far end of which is the first portage. The second photograph is a view looking back to the West, and Brigham Lake, where we had just landed at the take out for the first portage. The portage was only a hundred metres, and led us past some rapids, into a very small lake, which we crossed to find the takeout for the second portage. We paddled across the front of the outlet of this little lake, taking a peek over the steep set of rapids that led to Brigham falls. This portage was 440m in length, and It was a fair bit of effort raising the canoe, as it was the Fibreglass Prospector, and weighed just under 60lbs. The third photograph was taken with the canoe on my shoulders (look carefully at the strange dark part of the top of the photo, it is the inside of the canoe.) and is looking down Brigham chute, again toward the East. After this final portage, it was just some easy flatwater canoeing right into the heart of the Canyon.

THE BARRON CANYON (PART 1)

On Tuesday, Rudi and I headed for the Barron Canyon in Algonquin Park. I was thinking of a not too difficult or long day trip, maybe four hours or so of canoeing including portages, and this trip fit the bill perfectly. We were also able to get in a short hike to the top of the Canyon for a simply spectacular view.

We started early, dropping Alexander off at my Sister's house in Barry's Bay just after 8 in the morning, and drove to the Sand Lake Access gate, using Station Hill Road out of Alice as a shortcut. We arrived at the gate to buy our Day Pass ($13) just after 10am, and talking with the Park Employee, determined that putting in at the Brigham lake access provided a shorter paddle (8km round trip, versus 14km) than going upstream from Squirrel Rapids. It also enabled us to check out the short hiking loop that takes one to the lookout at the top of the Canyon.

The loop is a short, fairly easy 1.5km trail that takes you from the parking lot just off the access road, up a steep hillside to the clifftop over the canyon, giving a spectacular view in both directions. The canyon here is roughly 350' deep, and has nothing to stop one from falling over the edge... Apparently, this does happen occasionally, as a person fell and died just a few years ago.