With only two days left of paddling, we decided to do another long outing: a trip through the Navy Islands and Raft Narrows to the Thousand Islands Bridge. This was another nice trip even though the outbound portion was my least favorite bit of paddling on the trip. Knowing that this was going to be another trip with long miles and strong currents, the night before the trip we had a group discussion. Since I was a little slower than the rest of the group, to some extent all week I had felt like when we were on the water I had to just paddle, paddle, paddle to keep up with the group. No stopping to catch my breath or take photos. Limited quick sips of water and no snack breaks. And still, I always felt a half step or so behind the group. I asked if we could take breaks every once in a while. Likewise, Rob requested that we stop occasionally so he could stretch his back. With two of the six of us requesting breaks, of course the response was that the remainder of the group ... paddled like they were being chased by f*cking sharks without taking a single break the whole eight miles to the bridge.
 |
| Approaching the Thousand Islands Bridge |
 |
| Happy, despite working hard at paddling |
Actually, the trip started with a sop to me. When we did our re-positioning I had forgotten to reload my pill container and so needed to stop by the car to refresh my supply of meds, so we started the day by paddling back to Misty Isles. Since we were going to the cars we also took the opportunity to transport some gear back - the less we had to pack out on Saturday, the easier it was going to be. So, we paddled to Misty Isles, and then we paddled like we were being chased by f*cking sharks the whole f*cking eight miles to the bridge. In the area just before the bridge, as the river narrows down, as promised in the water trail guide, there were indeed strong and squirrely currents; however, it was nothing we couldn't handle with a little boat control and some extra paddling effort drawn, in my case, from my very minimal reserve.
Fighting the current was kind of tiring. Fortunately, an island in close proximity to the bridge offered a very pleasant spot for lunch, the (technically closed) park on Georgina Island. We pulled out there and walked the island - like all the other camping areas we visited, it was deserted (except for some power boaters anchored in a cove). We spread out in the sunshine on the (technically closed) dock and had a nice lunch, resting up from our exertions. Tom had forgotten to bring his lunch, but fortunately we had lots of extra food (why was Suzanne carrying so many packs of peanut butter crackers??!) and were able to feed him. I had my one meat lunch of the week - perky turkey jerky!
 |
| Me again (Rob's picture) |
 |
| Lunch break at the bridge (Rob's picture) |
On the paddle back it was like I was with a different group. Maybe someone had whispered something, or maybe it was just that the f*cking sharks were no longer chasing us. On the beginning of the trip (against the strong current) we "eddied out" in calm spots sheltered by islands to rest. We took a mid-point break at the (technically closed) park on Mulcaster Island. And overall we set a much more leisurely pace. I was much happier and got to enjoy the scenery on the trip back.
We got back early enough to have a little happy hour and for me to relax in my hammock. We were near the trip and still had plenty of fuel left, so I actually heated water on the stove and added it into the solar shower, which provided me with my second hot shower of the week. Dinner was a camping adaptation of Jen's famous Chicken Marbella.
Friday 9/15
We had one "must do" trip left on our list - a paddle up Landon's Bay. This is a pretty, skinny stretch of water with high rick canyons on either side and a small waterfall at its far end. We had been warned, both by friends who had paddled there just weeks earlier and by Gail at Misty Isles that the creek was chocked with duckweed - a thick aquatic plant. However, when we had driven over the entrance to the bay it looked clear and so we decided to give it a go.
Except that we had to wait. We awoke Friday to dense fog. Thick, can't see anything kind of fog. Our plans for an early start changed to a leisurely breakfast as we waited for the fog to lift. Fortunately, by about 10 AM we began to see the outlines of other nearby islands and by 10:30 it was clear enough to launch. Landon's Bay was not far from Misty Isles and so we had a pretty good idea of how to get there (as well as GPS waypoints, of course). The fog continued to lift as we paddled and by the time we got there it was a bright grey sort of light - actually very pretty for viewing the cliffs.
 |
| Eagle |
 |
| The cliffs at Landons Bay |
As we continue (seeing an eagle along the way) we started to encounter the duckweed and by the time we got to the back of the creek we were paddling through a thick green muck with floating solid blobs. Not super pleasant, particularly when we had to clamber through the stuff to get ashore for a lunch break (I almost gave up finding a place to land that wasn't totally mucky). Still, lunch at the waterfall was very pleasant, and when we got back we all spent time washing, as best we could, the duckweed slime from our boats. The challenge is that duckweed consists of zillions of tiny little leaves which are really hard to completely get rid of.
 |
| Our lunch break spot (Rob's pic) |
 |
| It really was gloppy back there (Rob's pic) |
Our last night's dinner was a pot luck. Rob had actually brought food (some more Tastybite Indian dinners) specifically for the pot luck, but the rest of us just put out our leftover food. Cheese, fig newtons, roasted chickpeas, apricots, peanut butter crackers, bread, trail mix, carrots, leftovers from prior nights, bourbon, more bourbon ... It was like a camping version of an Indonesian Rijsttafel. We always say that no one goes hungry on these trips, and even just eating leftovers made for a good meal.
 |
| I don't remember what day this was but it's a nice group photo |
After dinner we did the dishes* and began to break camp in preparation for heading out the following morning. Down came some of the glamping gear: the shower, my hammock, etc. The solar panels were packed away. And so on. It was a cloudy night, so not much star-gazing to be done. We went to be early.
Saturday 9/16
We once again awoke to thick fog. Fortunately, by this time we had made the trip back and forth to Misty Isles enough times that we were sure we could do it even if we were socked in by fog. Our main concern was crossing the recreational boat channel with zero visibility.
This was the easiest packing and loading of the trip, as we had all used up most of our food and we had already brought some gear back - we all had plenty of room in our boats. It was still pretty foggy when we hit the water a little before 10 AM. We kept our eyes on the compass and the GPS, paddled a tight pattern, and listened carefully for other boats. Rob and Jim were out front. Tom was towing the canoe and Suzanne was once again behind it. Jen and I paddled on either side of the canoe. Rob was doing a good job of setting a course but the current and the canoe conspired to constantly turn Tom, so as I paddled I provided course guidance to him ("turn about 10 degrees right"). If you look at the track you can see that early in the trip we twice actually let the current push us 90 degrees off course before we caught ourselves and corrected course. As we paddled we got better at dynamic course correction and were able to paddle a straight line the rest of the way back to Misty Isles. We did encounter a few power boats along the way. Fortunately we had a loud whistle/horn which we used as a fog horn to alert them of our presence, and we didn't have any problems.
 |
| Pea soup |
Back at Misty Isles we, one more time, unpack the boats and loaded everything into our cars. We held our breath as we crossed the border, still worried that our Canadian check-in experience from Boldt Castle was going to trip us up as we tried to re-enter the U.S.. Fortunately, we had no problem (well, except for the one person who was subjected to a random selection to be pulled over for a thorough search) and we celebrated a great trip with a final meal together at the Watertown, NY Cracker Barrel.
Now, to start planning next year's adventure ...
By the way, here's a link to a map showing all our daily tracks.
*Have you ever wondered how we wash dished on these trips with limited clean water? It's a multi-step process, starting with scraping the plates, then rinsing them in unfiltered water, followed by washing them in warm, soapy, filtered water, and finally a rinse in filtered water with a tinny bit of bleach in it to kill off any remaining nasties. I tried to convince the group that my cardiologist had forbidden me from doing any dishes on the trip, but no one fell for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment