We were out of bed by 7am, on the water by 9:20am. The pancake breakfast tradition is firmly in place. I feel it nevertheless needs added fruit. Next year.
We did have enough coffee for two cups this morning. Decadence, I tell you.
A stiff crosswind buffeted us through Ox Bay and toward Wanapitei Bay but was at our backs all the way up Wanapitei Bay to Hartley Bay and the Marina, which we hit just after 11am.
We skipped the post-trip swim (too cold), packed up and rolled home, stopping in Sturgeon Falls for a Mr. Submarine. I’m maybe late to the portage on this but the Laurentian Dairy in Deep River (long considered the de-rigeur stopping point for Ottawa canoeists heading west) is now closed, the building up for sale.
Very sad.
We made it back to Ottawa by 5pm. The new foam blocks worked well, keeping the boat reasonably firmly anchored to the roof. Yay. I have another set, now for sale, that would work well on a van or car that has those funny not-quite-roof-rack-rails.
Photos
Just wow.Everywhere you turn, you see scenes like this.Robinson Bay campsite. The woods around this site were littered with it.I think this engine might be a bit more recent than the Voyageur era.It was a hard thing to do, getting out of bed, Saturday morning. We’d been listening to rain on the tent for several hoursCan actually be helpful at timesThey park your car. They’ve got good advice. They know the river.Heading past Cottage Bay ChannelBack home, sadly. Toward Green Island, Wanapitei Bay and then to the car at Hartley Bay MarinaStill see the moonIt’s a rattler. We heard it. Trust us.Some day a tree will grow hereIt’s a long way downYou never want to leaveYeah, pretty much anywhere you look, it’s lovelyView from the promontory. You could camp there, but you’d need heavy rocks and some strong tent poles.Beautiful view, just down river from a fairly major vacation property locusThere are a few leftovers and shallow bitsEverywhere you turn, you see scenes like this.Resolved to take more breaks todayAt least they weren’t portending rainBut that’s pretty cool tooRed sky in the morning, paddler take warning. Isn’t that how the saying goes?For coffee and for wine.After we lost a cup overboard, Martin came up with the idea of using the bottom of a tetra pak. After consuming its contents, naturally.Hey Martin, should I make it my Facebook profile pic?Gotta have one of these.Course we’ll both be running for the rain gear before we’ve finished dinner. But the respite was helpful for getting stuff dry and good for morale,Is this two people resting in their favourite spot?Is this two people resting in their favourite spot?I wanted a good shot of this, it seemsNext to the awesome force of nature? Outer Fox Islands, French RiverI like the subtletyIn awe.Even on a grey day it’s stunningly beautifulRain, hour two.Just east of Devil Door Rapid. Which we portaged. Not a difficult chute but with so much water it was too deep a drop and I didn’t want to risk swamping on such a cold dayYou can see why people come visit the place, yes?Pouring rain. Cold. Great way to start the dayAn “engorged” French River. We decided to portage this one.Old Voyageur Channel, French River.Cottages to the left of me, cottages to the right of me. None that I can see. If I don’t look too closeThis one looked good. Wasn’t on our way back thoughFrench River. I was already in love with the landscape and the riverWe are becoming aware of how under-dressed we areI replaced my old Sony point-and-click with a Nikon AW1. As they say, the music isn’t in the piano, but what do you think?
