Paddling - Finally
Started the morning as usual. Beautiful day. Bright blue sky and ok wind. Paddle Time! Hit the water around 9am and the plan was to paddle to The Pines which is a stand of ancient red and white pines on a long sandy beach. My site is at the far end of French Lake, so I’d have to paddle to the other end, then through Pickerel River to Pickerel Lake and then paddle a bit on Pickerel Lake.
The wind was directly in my face but it wasn’t too strong so I dug my paddle in and glided through the water. I was thankful that I’d have the wind at my back to help push me home. My canoe is one of the lightest on the market and even a small breath of air moves it so when the wind is at my back, I’m sailing - so to speak. When I finally reached the mouth of Pickerel River the fragrance of sweet grass hit me and as I turned the first bend, the noise of the wind dropped off and all I could hear were birds and toads.
Took a while to paddle through the river and by the time we got through, I became aware of the time. I love being in the canoe because it’s meant for slow travel - to take in everything around me, so I was slightly annoyed by this. Since I’m moving campsites today, I have to vacate by 2pm at the latest. It was now about 11am and calculating how much time it would take to get back, I decided to skip The Pines and just hit up the beach that was close by. We had a much needed leg stretch and swim. Wish we could have stayed longer.
I have surrendered to the biters and no longer fight it or get frustrated by it. I light my thermacell and put on spray or get under a net and if they bite, they bite. In today’s case a leech grabbed me as I was setting off in the canoe. I didn’t notice until if was fully latched on so I surrendered to it too. I figured I was contributing to nature so let it have its morning Bloody Mary. It took a while but I watched it getting fatter and fatter and finally it started to wiggle so I stuck my foot in the lake and it popped off. My legs and arms look like I have chicken pox but it is what it is.
The return trip wasn’t as easy as I’d planned because the wind had died completely. Also Jubs almost sunk us as she was doing whatever should could to dodge the deer and horse flies which were vicious through the river section. She finally climbed over the thwart and hid in between my legs. She has yet to surrender.
Every time this damn dog moves in the canoe, which is like every minute, she changes the trim of the boat. I’m paddling all nice and straight and then she throws her weight to the side and which makes it dip and then all of a sudden we’re turning because the boat is no longer flat. If I didn’t have to spend half my time correcting the boat for Jubs, I’m sure I’d get places quicker. But alas, slow travel right?
Made it back to my site with an hour to spare before I had to be out. Jubs was happy to be back and jumped out of the boat to swim the last 50ft to the delight of the neighbour kids.
I packed everything into the car, completely disorganized as I was just moving three doors over. I couldn’t fit the dog bed or my chair so I just walked back and threw them in the canoe and paddled them to the site.
I started to put the tent up and I couldn’t for the life of me find my damn tent pegs. I remember putting them into a pile and then into the car but I had no idea where in the car they were. I really hate living out of the car!
This spot is much better than my original one so I’m happy to move. The view is beautiful, the waterfront is nicer, it’s less buggy and it has power.
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