[Paddlewise] 27 April 2004 Correspondence from Northern Ontario

27 April 2004 Correspondence from Northern Ontario

Dear Paddlewisers:

Last Sunday four of us wound our way up to a river near Lake Nipigon to scout for routes for
an outdoor adventure race (a raid) being held in a few weeks.  We were to met at 6:30 a.m.
for breakfast at my paddling partner?s home on Superior, but the other two paddlers arrived
quite late, so we didn?t head out until mid-morning.

Usually the drive would be a couple of hours, but we were delayed by a fallen log.  Having
only an axe and some small saws with us, it took quite a while to clear the way.  Shortly
after that, we came across a fair bit of snow, so we had to put on chains.  After leaving our
companions? vehicle at the take-out, we made our way back with the two canoes to the put-in,
arriving at 2:30 p.m.

There had been a huge burn in the area in the last few years, so the landscape was desolate.
 The sky was overcast, it was snowing/sleeting, and it was cold.  Being a whimp, I suggested
that we come back another day, and my paddling partner agreed.   Our two companions decided
to paddle the river, so we waved them goodbye, and drove home.  When they returned to town,
they had a tale of woe to tell, the central point of which is that we now have to go back to
recover their canoe from a pin.

The sad part of the story is that the pinned boat was a nice new canoe that had never seen
water before.  It had the name of the sternsman?s outdoor adventure business deckled on the
sides upside down so people would be able to read it when seeing it on his roof racks.  Now
it is advertising his business on the river, but not exactly the way he wants his business to
be advertised.

In as much as it would be a bit embarrassing to have the raid participants race by the pinned
boat with the organizer?s advertising on it, we?ll do our best to recover it prior to the
event.  Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), there is a plan in place, which involves a
crawling out into the current along a fallen tree upon which the boat is pinned, and then
cutting the tree in half with a semi-submerged chain saw.  I?m going to bring along lots
triangulars and duct tape for obvious reasons.

So I can?t call this a trip report, for there has not exactly been a trip, and I?m not
certain if there will be a trip.  I thought, however, that you fine folks from the U.S. of A.
who have had occasion to watch Bob and Doug McKenzie or Red Green on television might be
interested to learn that these characters are pretty much compilations of normal folks going
about their daily lives up I here in the great white north.

Yours in paddling,
Richard Culpeper
http://my.tbaytel.net/culpeper/
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