Maitland River
Friday, April 30, 1999
route:
length: 1 day
difficulty: beginner
leader: Tim and Naomi
participants: Tripper Dave, Heather McCance, Jessie the Wonder Hound, Juli Mori, Marcie Gibson, Naomi Miller, Tim Miller,
offsite report: http://gallery.vvcc.ca/gallery/maitland99
OR try the Wayback Machine
report:
On Friday, Apr. 30th, 7 members of the Virtual Voayaguer Cane Club made a day-run
down a section of the Maitland River. The Maitland drains a large watershed in western
Ontario and enters Lake Huron at the town of Goderich.
This has been a very dry spring, and couple with a preious 12-18 months of dry weather,
this has meant that many traditional southern Ontario river runs have been impossible this
year. The Maitland was very shallow and rocky, although it was passable.
Shore lunch. The stoney ground on which we are
sitting should be well under water at this time of year!
There were some interesting rapids, mostly of the Class I variety. This one
is at the confluence of the Maitland and the South Maitland rivers.
Marcie and Juli getting wet!
Naomi and Tim making it look easy.
Heather and Willie. If they look a little bit damper than the rest of us, there is a good reason!
The Maitland was Willie's first white water, and even though he's a quick learner, there are some
things that you just have to learn by experience. Like, for instance, the water on either side of an
eddy-line flows in opposite directions. When this current is strong enough, it produces an interesting
reversal of lean in the boat which is quite adept at dumping you into said eddy. Jessie the Wonder
Hound, who was riding in the boat at the time, was clearly NOT impressed by this little manoeuver.
She proceeded to follow us down the shoreline scouting trail until the water calmed down enough
to allow here dignified, if damp, entry into the boat. The Maitland was a river worth doing, the weather
and the beauty of a carolinian forest awakening to spring were fantastic. We were treated to a great
barbecue at VVCC member Tim Miller's parents place in Goderich and took time afterwards to
watch one of those spectacular sunsets that Lake Huron is so justifiably famous for. |
