re:[Paddlewise] [PaddleWise] Who we are

I'm a 60-year-old retired physicist (one of the pore people -- pissed off,
retired early). I live near Deep River, Ontario, which is just east of
Algonquin Park and on the Ottawa River, although I'm not on the river.
Bought my first canoe in '61, my first (WW) kayak sometime in the early
70's, my first sea kayak, the original Mariner, in '83. Built my first
stripper in the mid 70's. Still have all of them. Mostly I paddle the
Mariner (on the Ottawa River) or one of my "little boats", light, fast,
double-paddle strip canoes that I've developed for wandering around in the
local small watercourses. I've mentioned them before on this list. Partly
because of developing the double-paddle canoes, I have several canoes and
kayaks, twenty if my mental count is correct.  (I don't like throwing things
away.) Whitewater is not as essential since I retired (no stress to get rid
of), but our local WW club paddles on the Petawawa River near here on
Wednesdays after work, and I go if the weather's warm enough.. Most of my
outings are local day trips, and it is not uncommon for me to be out for the
day, paddling, walking, (XC) skiing, or snowshoeing, and not see anyone else
all day. A cleared ski trail runs from my house, past our XC club's ski hut
(which I am more-or-less in charge of) into Algonquin Park. I have paddled a
bit on Lake Superior and Georgian Bay, and in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia,
Maine, Florida, and Louisiana. 

Right now I'm tired: we just got some fresh snow, and it is unlikely to last
long, with rain in the forecast for Thursday. Four of us were practicing
(them) or trying to learn (me) telemark technique on a nearby Hydro cut,
locally known as the Rolphton Rockies, for a couple of hours this afternoon.
Yesterday I went out to the ski hut, lit the wood stove, and continued on
another couple of hours, then back to the ski hut, a one-hour break for a
cup of hot chocolate and general recuperation, then back to the car:
probably 25 km total, about 10 of it breaking trail. Saturday it snowed so I
broke the ski trails in my back yard for nearly two hours. Friday was before
the new snow, the old snow was heavily metamorphosed from thawing and
refreezing, so I snowshoed for much of the day and found a heronry that I
hadn't known of before. A few more weeks of this and I should be starting to
get fit. Yes, I'll be glad to get back to paddling in the spring, but I'm
not suffering withdrawal. 

Bruce
Bruce Winterbon
bwinterb_at_intranet.ca
http://intranet.ca:80/~bwinterb

Prudery is immoral.

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