Scoping it out.

Got home this morning and loaded the canoe up, so I could go scope out an island in question for camping. Closest ramp and island up stream. Wow was the water moving! tucked it into this calm spot to rest. Good greif we had a lot of rain. Worked my tail off to get to this island. One more crossing to get to the big one. Ahh goats! Some one put killer attack goats on my island! I look at another island Got a few geese in the way but we can share. Goat free island. No ticks crawling on me yet. Good. I try video. Hmm I work on that later. Can't figure out how to do it. started to rain as I went down stream to vehicle. loaded and home to bed.

 

Sorry about video. I'll figure it out.

 

A man just has to respect the killer goats! Especially when there's more than one that can gang up on you! Baahaaaa! You didn't mention it, but I thought I notice the geese, I believe they were stealth ninjas in disguise, best move away from them as well!

Looks like you have some fantastic places to spend the night. Not to mention, the views are also fantastic! Wish I was there.

 

I wish you and Northern Dancer and i could get away someday. I think? Are we sane? Working on video.

 

Scoping it out.

 

I did it! I think? Been up for 21 hours now. Going to sleep.

 

I think sanity has nothing to do with it Killeroy. We could all be crazy as loons, but if we respect each other, there would be no problem. Is that oversimplifying things? I don't know. I do know whether we agree or disagree we don't name call and beat our chests. You are patient enough to hear me out, Dancer is patient enough to hear me out. I think I'm patient enough to hear you both out. That's all I ever need. I can say my piece and when I'm done you can roll your eyes and call be whacked, I'm good with that, because you respected me enough to hear me out. Now having said that, I feel very comfortable knowing as whacked as I am, no-one would say a thing about it. One or another might disagree then lay out their format while the other two listened...Oh wait this is sounding rather grown up, we would not have any problems. To many similarities between us to get nuts. You and Dancer would talk canoeing and I'm just an inch away from trying it. You actually might tire of my questions! Oh what a good time we could have. If this were cards, I'd push my pile and say, "All in." I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, I know that, so I can overlook most anything.

 

I enjoyed this. You know, watching quite travel in a canoe looking at beautiful country side just captivated me. I've never been canoeing in my life how can I find something I've never done captivating, all most kindred in nature? Makes me ache to try.

 

The three Loons - or as I already posted, "KBN" Amigos. And you never know.

 

KBN? Is that a representation (amalgamation) of our names? Because if it is, as it stands...I'm The meat! Ha ha.

 

I don't think I should've been out there this morning. I did tighten my life jacket up another notch because the current was very strong. The river was up about a foot higher than normal. I noticed water mark on bank where water already dropped a foot or so. I could see dark water line on the other side in this pic.

 

@killeroy154 ...I noticed that sweeper to the right in your video and the current moving quickly past it. I live fifteen minutes walking distance from the Grand River and it has noticeably changed in the last few weeks. Like parts of the United States - Ontario, Quebec and the Eastern Provinces have experienced serious flooding. Not a good start to the spring season.

I've observed and no doubt you as well that the last number of years we haven't had a gradual predictable spring. It's cold and rainy with lower temperatures and then all of a sudden the thermometer screams to the top of the scale and stays. Winds have increased significantly as well and I have caught myself being a tad frightened by the gusts. I had that last year when I did a solo trip in early June. The winds were fierce and howled through the trees like wolves chasing coyotes most of the of the time that I was out.

On another note - really interested in that Mohawk canoe. I have never [I don't know why] been in a one seat canoe before. So what can you tell me about the weight, amount of pounds you can carry, manoeuvrability, size and that sort of stuff ​

 

It's pretty much my play thing. At 13 feet long it doesn't track as well as my 15.6 Mad River. I think it is only rated at 300 pounds, so I being at 215 pounds I consume most of the weight capacity. It's 29 inches wide, weighs 41 pounds and is made of Royalite (R84). I think the material is exclusively made for Mohawk. It is a little lighter than Royalex which they did offer at the time. It was a little over 800 dollars. My wife and I took a day trip and drove to chattanooga tn to get it. Chattanooga is a good 3 hour drive, one way.

I have no regrets purchasing it. Small rivers and streams it is great on. Once I met up with a canoe and kayak club for an afternoon trip. I met up with them in chattanooga and had a dinner at a park. Everyone unloaded their boats, and then we shuttled vehicles down to our take out point. Most people had kayaks, and the majority of those were the longer sea yaks. The only canoes there was my little ole mohawk and an older couple with a 16 foot mad river. Well I figured this, older couple, with the Mad river just enjoyed the quiet flat water of lakes, yeh was I wrong. While I was coveting their fine looking sleek and longer canoe, I noticed they had the pack tie down anchors glued in, and also a tie down right in the center of the floor beneath the front of both seats. So I asked the lady and her husband about the anchors below the seats. They just looked at each other grinned and replied, well when we hit rough rapids we strap our selves in so we don't get thrown out. Wow.... what a way to spend quality time with each other. They showed me the scars on the bottom of their Royalex canoe, and recounted some of the trips that caused the gouges cut into the hull. I was in awe of this couple they were definitely hard core and I felt like the inexperienced pup that I was.

The little Mohawk is pretty durable, but I take the larger canoe for camping trips. The longer water crafts out paced me in that little Mohawk. I am amazed at how fast those long sea kayaks can move.

 

Thanks for the info - really appreciate that. I've certainly seen them around and may have been a tad tempted. As you know I have a 16 foot Souris Rive ultra light Kevlar Prospector canoe than carries 900 pounds. It doesn't have a keel and so when the winds pick up it can be a challenge especially if you are the lone paddler. I love it and canoe people will often ask about it.

 

It's amazing to me just how technical seemingly everything has become.

 

Yeh it can get interesting.

 

@Norther Dancer I think you mentioned before that your Souris River weigh somewhere little less than 40 pounds? That's less than my little 13 footer. Like camping gear, the less it weighs the more it costs. I'll trade you.

Both mine don't have keels either I had a Coleman Ram X made from the polyethylene, and it was designed with a V shaped keel that ran the length of the canoe. It had a small pipe on the inside for rigidity because the material was soft, and did oil can pretty bad. The keel would catch on rocks and become very tippy, or if it caught when not going straight, you could be going swimming.

Both of mine has a small amount of rocker, maybe an inch and half. The white water canoes have lots more rocker, and they say some of the big tripping canoes have a pretty good amount of rocker, so they can still be maneuverable with a fair amount of heavy weight of camping gear. When I load my bigger canoe with lots of camping gear, It doesn't maneuver as well. Sort of feels like driving a truck verses a sports car.

 

...officially it is 42 pounds and even now it is light as a feather when I have to portage it. The keel is most helpful for tacking but when there are two of us in my canoe it doesn't make a lot of difference. It all boils down to usage and style. There are some mighty fine models on the river these days and just the newness attracts my attention.


A few years back I saw this model coming at me and paused and watched intently. "What the heck..." I said, to the guys paddling it. "What is it"? "It's a holy cow canoe", said this guy with a big grin at the stern. "A holy what?" "Cow!" he said, as both past me laughing. True enough there is a Holy Cow Canoe Company in Guelph, not far from where I live. They actually make a whole different Prospector canoe.

When I saw this model my wido heart jumped a beat and I drooled.

 

I believe that's a Nova Craft? Nice. I have seen the Holy Cow and Nova Craft canoes for sale in magazines, drool here to. If I was good at art work I would love to paint one up. Sure are some nice ones out there.