Paddling with Dragons

Zoe and I spent the day paddling on the Hillsborough River which flows through the Wilderness Park Wildlife Preserve in Tampa Florida. The preserve occupies 16,000 acres right in the middle of Tampa and is recognized as one of Florida's best places to view wild life. We rented a canoe from the local canoe outfitter Canoe Escape and decided to paddle 8.5 miles on theHillsborough River from the put in at Sargeant Park to the Trout Creek Park. The trip started out sunny and dry but after just 10 minutes on the water it started to rain. It poured again!!!! It seems that each time I go paddling it rains. What is with that, Sheeesh. We remained soaked for the rest of the day but fortunately the temperature was warm, around 80 degrees F (26 degrees C) so we stayed warm. Despite the rain we had a fantastic day on the water. The river is very picturesque as it winds lazily through swamp land. Much of the river runs under a thick canopy of vegetation, trees thick with Spanish Moss and vines hanging down into the water. There were many trees that had fallen into the water that we had to maneuver around and a couple spanned the entire river. One we had to get out and drag over and the other we were able to lay down in the canoe and float under. We saw lots of turtles, alligators, and many different species of birds. All in all this was a great way to spend the day and Zoe and I enjoyed it a great deal.

Long the river we came to a nature center called, Natures Classroom. There must have been 50 or 60 Black Vultures in the trees and on the ground.

There were many cormorants along the river. This one was particularly cooperative and stayed still as we floated by.

I am not sure what this one is but he was very focused on his fishing.

We saw many alligators on the river. This was one of the largest. The only way past him was around the end of the log he is on. He was not happy with us as we approached. He slowly slipped into the water and was not seen again.

The vegetation was amazing with all the Spanish moss hanging from the trees.

We got close enough to this alligator that we could have tapped him with our paddles. We didn't but he was still not pleased with us and he started hissing. At this time of year is their breeding season and the male become very territorial.

We found these little guys sunning themselves on a log. We didn't stick around too long cause we didn't know where the mom was. Female alligators take care of their young for up to 5 years.

Spanish moss on a tree.

We saw many turtles sunning themselves along the way. This guy was close to 12 inches long.

We had to maneuver around and under many fallen trees.

Google Earth image of the Wilderness Park Wildlife Preserve.

I got wet! Again!!!

Thunder storms and torrential down pours seem to be a running theme for most of my out door pursuits this year. This time I wasn't paddling on a river, rather I was out scouting for deer. Actually it was more of an excuse to get out of the city. We had just got out of the car at one of my favorite hunting spots when I noticed a couple of nice white tail bucks only 75 yards away and as we were watching them threw the binoculars a cotton tail scampered by so close that he could have tripped over our feet. We took these two sightings as a good omen as we excitedly organized our selves. We had anticipated a bit of rain later in the evening but what we were in for was entirely different. As I made my way to a little clearing in which I wanted to sit I flushed out a nice looking doe that didn't seem all too concerned about me. She busted out of the brush and stopped maybe 75 yards away and stayed there for nearly 10 minutes watching me.

I had just settled into a nice little hiding spot when the rain began to fall. It started as a few drops and slowly increased until the rain seem to be coming in sideways. Man it rained hard. By the time I ran the 1 km back to the car I was soaked! We decided that we should get out of there before the field got too soft to drive on.

The storm however was short lived and when it passed the sky was quite amazing. There were interesting cloud formations as well as a great sunset. In total we saw 15 deer, one bunny, and a couple of coyotes and a really great sunset.

An amazing sunset after the storm had passed

Some interesting cloud formations

At times the rain seemed to be coming in sideways

This doe stood and watched me for nearly 10 minutes. I wonder if she had a fawn near by.

Maliceet Paddle

Here are a few photos of the Maliceet paddle I just finished this evening. It is made of the same stock (cherry and ash) as the voyageur paddle that I posted a couple of weeks ago. I haven't weighed it yet but it measures 59" long and has a 28" blade. The finish this time is a combination varnished blade and oiled shaft and top grip.

Two Rivers and a whole lot of rain

On Sunday June 12 myself, Grant, Thorsten, and his dog Yagger drove the 2.5 hours to the Torch River for a day of paddling. The forecast called for a chance of showers that was only supposed to amount to two or three millimeters of rain. Boy were they wrong! It absolutely poured on us, we were like a bunch of drowned rats. There were thunder clouds all around us but none were close enough to cause us to get off of the water. Now the grid roads in this area were a bit rough on the drive up, when they were dry. But the whole time we were on the water i had a nagging concern in the back of my mind that they would get worse with the rain. A couple of years ago while paddling the same river it rained so much that the roads turned to slop and we had to wait for an entire day for the roads to dry out before they were even close to being passable. Luckily, though, we had used the put in on the north side of the river where the roads were somewhat better and after a bit of slipping and sliding we got both vehicles off the dirt track that runs from the grid to the put-in and back onto the road. There were lots of wildlife on the river that day, we saw 4 moose, a couple of deer, bald eagles, and many ducks.

Yagger wasn't at all happy about the rain.

Even though it rained for most of the day I still think we got luck with the weather, it could have been windy as well.

It absolutely poured.

The sky over the Torch River.

The following weekend, June 18th, I joined a small group of paddlers from La Ronge for a day trip on the Montreal River. The day started off relatively nice with only a few drops of rain and a bit of a tail wind. As the day progressed the wind got stronger and seemed to switch directions. As we were nearing the take-out the clouds darkened the thunder began and without warning, for the second weekend in a row the rain came down like crazy. It rains so hard that the surface of the water became blurred. Again, the wildlife was abundant, this time we saw 3 moose, bald eagles, and many ducks.

Martin and Ellen paddling in the rain.

The Montreal River from the top of a high embankment.

Martin's hand built 15 foot Bob's special weighs 35 lbs

Rachel and Cam

Here are a few photos of a traditional voyageur paddle I just finished. It's based on the paddles displayed in Frances Anne Hopkins painting "shooting the Rapids" The blade shape of these paddles tends to be long, narrow, and curved as apposed to the more modern paddle with the same name which tends to also be long but has straight lines and is much wider. My version also has a modified northwoods grip. This time I chose to use ash for the shaft and cherry for the blade and grip. The paddle weighs 24 oz and has a blade the measures 32" X 4.5", the over all length is 63". It is a very long paddle so it will be interesting to see how it paddles. The finish is oil-varnish, which I have not used before so it will be interesting to see how well it stands up to the elements. As with all my paddles the edges of the blade are very fine to allow for silent paddling.

The overall length is 63". The blade is long an narrow at 32" X 4.5".

Here's a close up of the modified northwoods grip.

Shooting the Rapids by Frances Anne Hopkins