my trip to Canada... or was it really just a road trip?
so yeah, i got back from my week long trip this afternoon... we was supposed to spend about 4-5 days in Canada canoeing on the Bonaventure (sp), however we only ended up spending one day on the river, 2 days camping, and a hell of alot of time riding around. now i suppose that deserves some sort of explanation...
first... for those of you who don't know the people who went on the trip... the people along were: Karen Hershfeld, Chris Coleman (i think, last name doesn't really matter) Uncle John (Mr. Mallin), Jeremiah and Elisha Mallin, Jonah Thornton, my dad, my younger sister and brother Anna and Joseph...
so everything was going as planned up until we actually got on the river, which was Sunday afternoon, we set out on the lake right around 1 p.m..... got to camp between 6 and 7, and went all of a mile and a half, most of that time was spent rescuing people, boats and equipment. the water level was rather high and the river was moving between 10-12 mph. there was a tree down across the river and really no place to get to shore and Jeremiah and Chris hit the tree straight on and then slide sideways, rolled their boat and went under the tree. Their boat washed out down stream, we weren't sure where it was at that point. my dad told me to pull my boat forward and get the saw out of it, well that disturbed his boat which still had Elisha in the front of it, and the front filled with water so his boat got out and he almost got stuck under the tree, he most likely would have if he wasn't already so low with water in his boat. so his boat was then stuck under the tree, thankfully he washed out and got into shore not too far down stream. when his boat knocked out Jonah and I had no chance of staying in to shore and we hit the tree on the side and leaned into it like we were supposed too... well because Elisha's boat was stuck under the tree it was pushed up higher so jonah and i got pushed under the tree upright. when we got back up for air we were still in our boat but rolled right after that, however we were able to get our boat to shore because we were close enough to it to grab a rope. after that it was alot of making sure people were safe and getting the boat out from under the tree in the middle of the river.
when we made camp right after we hit the second 'lake', which was not very large at all, we had enough time to get the tarp and tents set up before it started to drizzle. We then ended up hanging three clothes lines that cris crossed under the tarp to hang up all the wet clothing and three wet sleeping bags from a barrel that had been in one of the tipped boats and the seal broke. it really looked rather comical if you ask me.
anyway, the next morning we got up, had breakfast, worked on some stuff, repaired the damaged boat, and then it was decided that seeing as the water we paddled the day before was supposed to be a class 1 and was really a class 2-3, and what was coming up was supposed to be 2-3 and would probably be 3-4, it was decided that with loaded boats it really wasn't safe for us to do on this trip with. so Uncle John, Jonah and Karen hiked out to go to the nearest town and call the outfiter who was running the shuttle for us. if we didnt hear back from anyone by thursday we were going to have to hike out due to being out of food. they hiked 9 miles and then got picked up by some people who didn't speak any English of course, it was all French since we in Quebec, but they took them the next 20 miles.
so we were in camp all day that day and the next day till lunch with nothing to do. most of the time was spent getting more fire wood to keep the firing going because it was pine and that stupid stuff burns up very quickly and is smokey. so Jeremiah and i spent a ton of time getting, sawing, and hacking wood up to burn. so we may not have gotten our exercise in boating or hiking, but we still did quite a bit of work. Uncle John and company had left on their hike monday mid morning. they showed back up tuesday right past 12 noon. we were soooo happy to have them show up... for one it meant they were all safe and nothing had happened to them when they were hiking around in the middle of nowhere, but also so we didn't have to sit around in a camp anymore not able to go anywhere or really do anything.
when we got back to the camp at the outfitters we stayed there that night in the tipi they had (we slept there before we started the trip as well) and then the next morning headed to Eastport Maine.... from there we did camping and hiking and more fun stuff like that, stopped at L.L. Bean in Maine again and i got a new knife, sorta like my other small black Gerber but this one is Silver and a different design and slightly different size. I also picked up some great books at the Chicken Coop which is a huge used book and antique store... if you want to know more about Maine... ask me later, i'm going to bed so i can be up in the morning to go canoing on the leghigh, which will officialy end our trip... but to end this let me just say, i'm very happy to be alive and that all my friends are alive. i more fully appreciate how quickly that can change after my experience in Canada.
first... for those of you who don't know the people who went on the trip... the people along were: Karen Hershfeld, Chris Coleman (i think, last name doesn't really matter) Uncle John (Mr. Mallin), Jeremiah and Elisha Mallin, Jonah Thornton, my dad, my younger sister and brother Anna and Joseph...
so everything was going as planned up until we actually got on the river, which was Sunday afternoon, we set out on the lake right around 1 p.m..... got to camp between 6 and 7, and went all of a mile and a half, most of that time was spent rescuing people, boats and equipment. the water level was rather high and the river was moving between 10-12 mph. there was a tree down across the river and really no place to get to shore and Jeremiah and Chris hit the tree straight on and then slide sideways, rolled their boat and went under the tree. Their boat washed out down stream, we weren't sure where it was at that point. my dad told me to pull my boat forward and get the saw out of it, well that disturbed his boat which still had Elisha in the front of it, and the front filled with water so his boat got out and he almost got stuck under the tree, he most likely would have if he wasn't already so low with water in his boat. so his boat was then stuck under the tree, thankfully he washed out and got into shore not too far down stream. when his boat knocked out Jonah and I had no chance of staying in to shore and we hit the tree on the side and leaned into it like we were supposed too... well because Elisha's boat was stuck under the tree it was pushed up higher so jonah and i got pushed under the tree upright. when we got back up for air we were still in our boat but rolled right after that, however we were able to get our boat to shore because we were close enough to it to grab a rope. after that it was alot of making sure people were safe and getting the boat out from under the tree in the middle of the river.
when we made camp right after we hit the second 'lake', which was not very large at all, we had enough time to get the tarp and tents set up before it started to drizzle. We then ended up hanging three clothes lines that cris crossed under the tarp to hang up all the wet clothing and three wet sleeping bags from a barrel that had been in one of the tipped boats and the seal broke. it really looked rather comical if you ask me.
anyway, the next morning we got up, had breakfast, worked on some stuff, repaired the damaged boat, and then it was decided that seeing as the water we paddled the day before was supposed to be a class 1 and was really a class 2-3, and what was coming up was supposed to be 2-3 and would probably be 3-4, it was decided that with loaded boats it really wasn't safe for us to do on this trip with. so Uncle John, Jonah and Karen hiked out to go to the nearest town and call the outfiter who was running the shuttle for us. if we didnt hear back from anyone by thursday we were going to have to hike out due to being out of food. they hiked 9 miles and then got picked up by some people who didn't speak any English of course, it was all French since we in Quebec, but they took them the next 20 miles.
so we were in camp all day that day and the next day till lunch with nothing to do. most of the time was spent getting more fire wood to keep the firing going because it was pine and that stupid stuff burns up very quickly and is smokey. so Jeremiah and i spent a ton of time getting, sawing, and hacking wood up to burn. so we may not have gotten our exercise in boating or hiking, but we still did quite a bit of work. Uncle John and company had left on their hike monday mid morning. they showed back up tuesday right past 12 noon. we were soooo happy to have them show up... for one it meant they were all safe and nothing had happened to them when they were hiking around in the middle of nowhere, but also so we didn't have to sit around in a camp anymore not able to go anywhere or really do anything.
when we got back to the camp at the outfitters we stayed there that night in the tipi they had (we slept there before we started the trip as well) and then the next morning headed to Eastport Maine.... from there we did camping and hiking and more fun stuff like that, stopped at L.L. Bean in Maine again and i got a new knife, sorta like my other small black Gerber but this one is Silver and a different design and slightly different size. I also picked up some great books at the Chicken Coop which is a huge used book and antique store... if you want to know more about Maine... ask me later, i'm going to bed so i can be up in the morning to go canoing on the leghigh, which will officialy end our trip... but to end this let me just say, i'm very happy to be alive and that all my friends are alive. i more fully appreciate how quickly that can change after my experience in Canada.