Canoe Trippin

Well, it's been a long winter and even longer since my last post but since spring is just a couple of months away I thought I'd share my canoeing adventures from last summer. 

As usual we did our annual thanksgiving canoe trip.  This time we went to a long time favorite, Robertson Falls on the Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan.  We've camped at this spot many times for Thanksgiving and on more than one occasion it has snowed on us and this trip was no exception.  The weather was cool and damp pretty well the whole weekend, if it wasn't raining it was snowing.  Finally on the last day, half an hour after we broke camp, packed the canoes and headed for home the clouds disappeared and the sun came out.  Again this weather pattern has happened on other Thanksgiving trips.

We pretty well stayed close to camp and even closer to the camp fire for most of the time, staying warm and dry for the most part.  The rain was mostly mist so as long as we had a large fire burning it evaporated before it hit the ground.  We had three tarps set up to duck under in case the rain came with force and we even had a wind break set around the fire which helped deflect some of the heat.

In order to maintain a large warm fire we made several wood runs with the canoes.  In all we brought in 5 canoe loads of wood, of which we burned around three.  

We did venture out one afternoon, when the drizzle stopped, to take a tour over to Twin Falls for some photos.

As usual the food was second to none, we usually have a large pot luck style Thanksgiving meal.  As usual everyone out did themselves.

The fog offered some very nice views considering the cool temperatures.

As a distraction from the cold I taught the group how to light a fire in the soaking wet woods using a fire steel.

Our camp showing the many tarps used as wind breaks and to store items under.  We had a full days worth of wood stashed under the orange tarp.

Zoe and Taiga in front of Robertson Falls.

Taiga had a great time exploring the woods around camp.  Here she is recovering a bone that she buried earlier.

Group photo in front of the fire.  

Chocolate chip cookie carnage.

Thanks giving meal.

Resting in the warm sun on the trip back to the vehicles.

Trapper Paddles and snowshoes

Lately I've been keeping busy in the shop working on another small order of paddles.  These all have the same blade design as well as a modified north woods grip.  The lengths vary from 55 inches to 59 inches.

I've also been working on a pair of Ojibway snowshoes for a client in Fond du lac.  The frames are ready for  the filling.

Artwork

I was digging around in some old papers the other day and came across some drawings that I did between 2001 and 2003and thought I'd post them here.  Hope you enjoy

 Fly fishing reel

 Green Tree Frog

 Mountain Chickadee

 Old Prospector (concept sketch for a drawing that is hanging on my wall)

Owl

A bunch of paddles

It has been a while since I last posted so I thought I'd show some of the paddles that I've been working on.  These are to fill an order that I received, they are available to purchase at Classic Outdoors, a paddle sports store in Saskatoon.  They are made of walnut, cedar, and birch and have an oiled finish.

Fun in the Sun with good friends

On Sunday May 20 a group of us headed up to the Torch River for a day of paddling.  We do this trip almost every year as long as there is enough water in the river.  Most of the water in the Torch River is run off from snow melt.  So getting there at the right time is important.

This year there were 12 of us on the water.  We really lucked out with the weather, when we left Saskatoon at 7 am the local temperature was -4 degrees but by the time we drove the 3 hours and shuttled the vehicles to the take out the sun was high in the sky and warm.  The wind was very strong but luckily it was from behind.  I was very surprised at the amount of green on the trees.  Most years the trees are almost bare with only a hint of green.  Spring certainly came early this year.

On the drive up in the morning we saw two black bears in the Fort a la Corne forest.  The first one ran across the road and into the forest before we could get a photo, but this guy didn't mind us at all.  Both had very light colouring, brown almost like a brown bear.

Here's the entire group (minus myself, I'm taking the photo)  From left to right: Eddy, Thorsten, Grant, Valery, Gord, Judy, Jeff, Bryan, Zoe, Taiga, and Karrie

This was Zoe's first white water trip other than a weekend we spent a couple of years ago paddling white water.  By the end of the day she was doing very well, we only left green paint on a couple of rocks.

The day was sunny and hot and by the end quite a few of use were the colour of lobsters.  We got real lucky with the water levels this year.  The water has been a little high the last couple of year but this year it was just about right.  There were tons of rocks poking up out of the water creating hundreds of eddies and waves to practice our white water skills with.

It was difficult finding a suitable spot to stop for a snack.  All along the river the banks were strewn with debris.  At this particular spot there was a lot of moose sign (droppings and tracks in the mud). 

Bryan and Karrie sitting in one of the many eddies on the river.  In the back ground Gord is enjoying his usual paddling position.

Taiga is a perfect canoe dog!  She just turned one and loves swimming and chasing sticks in the water.  In the canoe she spends her time laying nicely in the boat, soaking up the sun.