This trip report is being written by the two oldest broads on the trip today. We may be old, but we're mighty! Unfortunately, we missed one of the registrants of the trip at the launch area. Note: Make sure you know where the launch area is, and use the driving directions which have been added to the TAPC website by the webmaster and the outings chair.
The group consisted of Jocelyn, Lois, Bob M, Paul & Irene, and Linda P. Before our very late lunch break, we encountered a wide variety of beaver dams and several downed trees. Some were high, some were low, and some required major semi-portaging. There were no mishaps, and everybody worked well as a team. One member got out of her boat to do some sawing and then complained later that there was mud in her boat. She was glad she had a sponge along, so that problem got solved quickly.
We were very glad to reach the confluence of the main stream and the tributary that flows in from the left, but one person was busy texting and paddling at the time, and made a wrong turn so that she was heading upstream. After contacting the trip leader via walkie-talkie, we sent a search party back and found the missing person already headed back downstream. You know those commercials that tell you not to text and drive? They should also be applied to paddling on rivers, although most of us are aware that heading downstream is the normal direction.
OK, confession time: A neighbor texted me for help, and I wanted to let her know how to get into my locked house and where the baking powder was kept! Never noticed the confluence, and I have no idea how I ended up paddling UP it. But I did start paddling back downstream and called Lois to alert her I was somewhere in unknown territory. Once home again, I found a little variation on carrot cake in my fridge. Jocelyn
The weather for the day was generally lovely, beginning in the mid 60s and ending in the mid 70s, with some sunshine, some clouds and a little bit of rain during the first hour. At the launch area, there was a suggestion to take along rain gear, since leaving it in the car does no good. Likewise with leaving your sunscreen in the car. And your chairs to use at lunch time. Special thanks to the shuttle team, with Jocelyn leading the way, and Bob and Linda taking care of returning drivers and the shuttle driver back to the put-in. While they were gone, Irene and Lois lined a couple of boats down the grassy slope to set them up for launching just below the culverts.
We did have some lumberjack work where Lois' canoe would not bend into two different directions, and later she was eternally grateful to everyone for widening a spot that was between a cutoff birch and the shoreline. Later in the afternoon Bob took over as lumberjack so that we left the river a little more navigable than we found it.
It took 4 hours to get to our usual lunch stop at Deward, and by then lunch was snarfed down by everyone. Some people conversed while others simply stuffed their faces. Jocelyn did a mini slideshow, and Irene passed around her homemade dried fruit. The remaining hour and a half of paddling down to the takeout went smoothly, and there were no mishaps at all during the day. It was a fine group, with lots of cooperation, and several wildlife sightings including two large deer running in front of the lead boat about 10 minutes after we began, several families of ducklings, and a nest of tiny king birds.
At the takeout, Bob noticed a deer tick on the back of his hand, and asked if anyone had a tweezer handy. Lois produced a "tick remover tool" that she'd been carrying around for years; it worked like a charm! See photos below.
Thanks for the cooperation of everyone!
Photos by Jocelyn
Bob heading over one of many beaver dams
Lois climbed out onto a massive dam and hauled her canoe over
Irene ... and Bob in the water with Linda behind
Blue Flag Iris, Indian Paintbrush, Marsh Marigolds
Yellow Lady Slippers, Canada Anemone, native grass above Buttercup
Linda ... and Paul
Jocelyn atop a dam doing a straddle to pull her canoe along. (photo by Irene)
Bob ... and Lois ... having made it across
Kingbird chicks in a nest about five feet above the river ... and a nearby parent.
Paul ... and Irene
Linda
Paul passing a beaver lodge, of which there were a number
Lunch time -- standers outnumbered sitters -- perhaps because they didn't bring chairs?
The mother duck had at least eight of these little guys to keep track of
Blacklegged (deer) tick extraction from the back of Bob's hand
