Credit
Friday, April 8, 2005
route:
length: 1 day
difficulty: novice
organizer: Jon Laughton
participants: Jon Laughton, Mike korba, Harry Teitelbaum
report:
Ran it Friday with Harry-no mishaps so back for more today.
Started higher up in Meadowvale where there's a handy parking area.
Much gentler there, good place to shake off the cobwebs for any novices.You feel the current building until it becomes C2 quality in a hurry between the 401 and Streetsville.At least you can find room around all the sweepers.Few rocks are any concern.
Funny how you realize everything you were doing wrong After the fact
Like when I discovered my backup paddle was cracked, but differently from the one that broke yesterday as we were about to be slammed into that same bridge support K mentioned.Funny how doing nothing can be the right move too!The rebound current just pushed us away from it.
And why did I let a guy that out weighs me by 40 lbs paddle bow?
I should have known after we took on more water in one rapid than the whole trip yesterday that this partner wasn't ready for this level....
..........So we dumped about halfway between Streets and Erindale. all the lessons from canoe school and all the sage advice from this site suddenly don't work because the shock of immersion in frigid water stole my breath, and the fact you are running a rocky rapid not feet first but headfirst invokes a touch of panic.I saw the paddles floating away faster than me and the boat and despite the situation I sorta chuckled since for once the thing I was losing was almost useless anyway.Then i found my breathing had returned and the water didn't feel as cold.But there wasn't any sign of an eddy and the relentless current wasn't about to let me go.It was hard to go against the lessons I was taught about not putting your feet down but that was the only way to slow down enough to make any headway toward shore.I still had the good paddle in my grasp but I needed two free hands so I tossed it toward shore only to see it slip back into the current.fuddle duddle.I scrambled and caught it by the grip at the last possible second then got ashore.At least I'd had enough foresight to pack a dry bag with a change of clothes and a towel.
There is also an amazing trail system paralelling most of the course so we carried the canoe to a nearby parking lot and hiked the rest of the way to the car at Erindale.All in all it was a learning experience as mistakes usually are.
Hey I even remembered what a high brace is when I was thinking about how I should have reacted to save it.An other CCR post had had me mulling for days.
Bye the way the trout are running.If you live in the area you can see them jumping the dam at Streetsville or running the fish ladder beside it-there are some Big fish in there! Oh and for K, the salmon run in the fall! |
