Well I have finally done it, I have stuck my thumb out and climbed abord the blog wagon. For the last year I have slowly watched my friends succumb and start blogs for a verity of reasons. For my me, this blog serves as a way for family and friends to catch up on my adventures. So buckle your seat belt, and tune in to the adventure... For those that have not been in my immediate loop I will run through a quick recap of the last few months starting in the spring. Last spring I finished second year ODA, moved out of my Mackay St. house and began the emotional prep for planting (I had been training physically all year). However, before I left to stick dimes into the ground, and with the ice quickly melting I had to go paddling. As the ODA end of year party wound to a close myself, Tony A and Nick S. began the drive from Pembroke to Marmara ON. for MACK fest. In Marmara we stopped at a McDonald's and by chance met up with several friends, Jesse and Brittany and JayDay. Our convoy lengthened as we headed to the put in of the salmon. The Salmon is an easy classic highway 7 run, with several great C2+ rapids the day was sunny and we stopped frequently to play with Brittany's paddle board and to accommodate a first time paddler. At the take out, beers where enjoyed and we relaxed chatting with people at the takeout. We then made the hour long drive back to Marmara, not with out a stop at the LCBO, witch was closed. The next day arrived bright and early at the crack of noon, when we finally got to the crow. The water was way to high to run the upper dam section, but we put in to enjoy the great C3+ water bellow. The run is short enough to do multiple laps on, however, every time I have run this river it always takes the rest of the day. I was having back problems, after a poor nights sleep in the back of Nick's truck so I decided to take it easy and not play on the way down. After take out beers, at the takeout and helping a couple of prospectors clean up there beach we parted ways, Nick Tony and I would be heading back to Marmara to paddle the beaver the next day, the others would be heading back to Pembroke. The next morning we headed out bright and early to enjoy the blue bird day and kayaking. The Beaver is an amazing C3+ river with lots of long beautiful canyon sections. mid way through the day Tony and I began to feel the effects of not drinking any water on a hot day. so with a short rest in the shade and the rest of Nicks water we recuperated. The end of the run arrived as always it was to soon,. there we parted ways, Tony and I heading back to Pembroke and Nick heading to Toronto. After MACK fest I packed up the rest of my things and headed back to Ottawa, not before enjoy prime Big Smoothly on the Ottawa river. Arriving in Ottawa I spent the next week waiting for plant to start, and surfing at baits island with Rory M. So You want to go Tree plant eh? I will attempt to keep this quick as there is not much to bending over two thousand times or more a day for dimes, however here is a quick snap shot. The ride up was considerably less uneventful in comparison to last year, I was however super stoke to meet up with Chris M at the buss terminal, I had not seen Chris in several years and I was excited to here his stories. We bused the 16 hours to Hearst On. Along the way we stopped in Timmins to pick up Harris F, another man I was very excited to see. The bus arrived in Hearst at 2 AM so we spent the night in the new company bus! The next day we met some more planters, then drove to our camp and began to set up what would be or home for the next 4 weeks. As I said before I will keep it short, so here are the highs and lows of the season. Highs: New PB!, convinced my brother and several of my friends to plant with me (there all rock stars). Lows: None its planting why would there be anything bad about it. Camp life I left early from plant this year, so I did not complete the contract. From plant I got on the 4 AM bus south after a sleepless night and much stress. Thanks Brian L and Harris for seeing my off. From Hearst it was a long and painful ride to Temagami On. Were my brother and I were getting picked up by the Millers, who would then drive us into camp. Arriving back to Camp was such an amazing feeling (those that have waked the Jackpine Trail and have emerged on to the Camp grounds). Those that haven't that's OK. Seeing people, some of whom I had not seen in almost a year or more was a very exciting and emotional time. After a much needed shave and trim I went to meet the rest of the gang at Camp. Over the next two weeks I learned lots of new things at precamp, However it would another 10 days of paddling before I got actual campers. Arriving back in the city, during a heat wave was a very unpleasant experience. So I pack up my paddling gear and hoped back on a bus headed for the valley. There I was picked up by Tony A, and so ensued a week of paddling on the Ottawa river. At the end of the week I Traded personal boating for teaching, and headed to MKC for a great weekend of teaching kayaking. From there it was back on a bus and back to the city for the three days. Then My brother and I were busing back up to camp. During the first two weeks of July I helped lead the wee folk, this was so much fun. I got to be a little kid again, we played games like grounders and tag, I also read aloud to the at night. Mid way through each section we went on a 2 night canoe trip. The first two weeks of August I lead the next age group up. This was such a fantastic group to help lead. On our 5 day canoe trip touring around Temagami we had blue bird sky and I got a great tan (that's with sunscreen, no burns for me). great people, great food , great times. It was definitely sad to see the campers go. Last two weeks of August I was the canoe instructor as well as on boat repair. I spent much of the my 2 weeks repairing boats. A time consuming yet very rewarding job, refining my canoe repair techniques was a lot of fun, each day I would add another tool to my tool box. Unfortunately the last few days I was unable to do major work as I had cut my thumb. Between the end of camp and before officially leaving North Ontario for the summer Harris F and I decided to do a hike in the Temagami area. We had planed to go all the way to the town of Temagami from the Camp, however it took a day and a half to find the trail. By that time we had realized we had way to much gear so headed out to Red Squirrel road to try and Thumb our way into town. We quickly got a ride (just be for the rain hit) into town, were we feasted at a local greasy spoon. From Temagami we stuck out our Thumbs and got a ride from a lovely man to North Bay, where we stuffed our selves full of burgers and beer. From there we headed to North Bay's finest gentleman's club (not before leaving our gear at the North Bay bus terminal), unfortunately do to free cover and 2$ beer we missed or respective buses home. This fall, starting in September I moved back to Pembroke, and into a house whose drama resembled a 90s sitcom. Aside from the sitcom I spent much of my time paddling the Ottawa and her respective tributaries. At the start of October I got the news that I would be traveling to live and work in New Zealand. Over the past month I have been busy planing and preparing for the trip.
I leave for New Zealand at the end of the month, until next time -Fraser
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AuthorHi there! Archives
February 2021
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