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Rental Canoe Rescue

sweeper

sweeper

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Location
Colrain MA
We drove the 700 miles in 13 hrs (2 1/2 trying to clear Toronto) to Killarney Outfitters to picked up 2ea Souris River Quetico 17', 44lb Lightweight Kevlar canoes, one season rentals and all refinished.

http://www.killarneyoutfitters.com

http://www.sourisriver.com/quetico_17.html

After a great lunch of Fish & Chips at the World Famous Hebert's on the dock we put in at Bell Lake


A couple of paddles and carries later we were into David Lake.

It was getting late and we approached the campsite to find it occupied by one of the natives. This fairly good sized Black Bear was digging right next to the site. OK where's the nest one? 200' down. And after that? Across the lake.

We quickly got camp set up and had something to eat in the dark, lit a small fire and wound down from our long day.



The island camp next door



We carried out of David into Balsam then 3 Mile Lake, and back into Bell. We carried thru the parking lot and down into Johnnie. Our next site was on Ruth-Roy Lake, a wonderful emerald green lake with tall white ledge to the north.





The next morning we had a large breakfast.



Then a paddle back up Johnnie to the car.

WE drove south to Huntsville Ont to visit the Haliburton 'Forest Store' for some paddle shopping then on to Peterborough. Sunday we visited the Canadian Canoe Museum. Our 'Rescued Rentals' were a big hit in the parking lot.

http://paddles.haliburtonforest.com/home

http://www.haliburtonforest.com/commercial/forest-stores



They were had Author David Olesen there and some other events, one of which was a viewing of the warehouse and we got a look at all the 'other' canoes that didn't make the displays.







Crossing NY farm country the full moon rose, as we got to Tory NY the eclipse started and finished as I pulled into the yard with a new boat and two more paddles.
 
Nice to get a bit of camping in on a gear-buying/rescue mission! Only two and a half hours to clear Toronto? You got off easy :P , that's a daily commute here. Now you know why so many of us just want to escape to the forest all the time!
 
Yeah, the "four oh one" to "four hundred" can be brutal at rush hour. We live on the west side by the lake so we have to drive through all of it to get anywhere good.
We saw a bear last year in Killarney, too, but it was just hanging out in a reedy marsh minding its own business. Bad bear problems this year in Algonquin and on Georgian Bay... Probably extends to Killarney, too. Blueberries were killed off by a late spring frost and now the bears are hungry and cranky. We've been planning our trips in less-traveled areas to avoid them.
 
Thanks for the report! I really enjoyed the shots on the warehouse of the canoe museum. I have yet to get there, but after seeing your photos, I'm going to have to try harder.
 
That breakfast photo looks awesome. Thanks for posting pics of the Canoe Museum warehouse. They don't allow public access to that very often. Especially appreciate the shot of all the paddles in storage. Really wish they would put some of those on display in the main museum.

Hope you get to thoroughly enjoy your kevlar canoes!
 
I think they are working on a new larger building. There were 5 or 6 drawings on the first landing of new buildings one of which showed very nice display racks of canoes with people looking at them. It was my interpretation that there will be a room in the new building for all the extra canoes. Also the tour guide mentioned that this warehouse room was not the only one. He was not sure which room we would see when talking about a particular Voyageur Canoe that was in the warehouse . The building it is in is at least twice a big as the room we saw.







 
Now I have rack envy. I need to start working with metal and get me some of those!

What are the age ranges of the canoes on display/storeage? Are they all 'originals' or are there reproductions in the mix? Canoes used in Canada only or from around the world?

If I ever find myself out that direction again I guess I might have to stop by. Thanks for posting.

Alan
 
We were given a tour of the second floor with the aboriginal canoes, kayaks and dugouts and the earliest date I remember hearing was the 1850's for a large Dugout at the top of the stairs. Some of the Kayaks may be older but we didn't have the time you need to spend there, we still had 500 miles to get home.

The warehouse was an unguided tour and a lot of the items only had a reference number. It was about 1/2 hour viewing and a bit overwhelming.

There is a mix of everything originals, repos in the warehouse, I saw mostly Canadian Canoes but there were some Polynesian items also some modern racing boats. A lot of it was bought from a museum in NY that went under.
 
earlier..mid 1700's
http://www.canoemuseum.ca/enys-birch-bark-canoe/

A few years ago at the WCHA Assembly members were given tours of the archived warehouse. It was a couple hours.. Of course not nearly long enough. I loved the Linkanoe though cannot imagine using one and also Don Starkells beast.
I wonder if the Museum repainted Bill Masons Prospector. When it arrived under a red and white pizza parlor checked tablecloth it was checked orange paint. I know they did digital lofting on it.

Kirk Wippers collection was the basis for the start of the Museum.. Camp Kandalore just outgrew its space. And it is in Ontario Kirk was such a gentleman and a a font of knowledge. I had the pleasure of speaking with him many times.

http://www.canoemuseum.ca/aboutthemuseum/

I've been there four times, and never bored. There is always something new.
 
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Great trip Sweeper, thanks for this tr. Killarney sure is a park jewel. Yeah, I've read of bear situations in that region (and beyond) for a couple years or more. Good to see you had a good trip. That museum is something I've always mean't to see but haven't gotten round to yet. You've pushed it way up my Must See List now. I love the look of those birch bark canoes. I read about the Bill Mason exhibit, and would love to stand there daydreaming for awhile. (I'd always wanted to sit in his camp in front of the fire and have a long talk with him.)
The 400 series highways (401, 403, 407, 400) are never enough asphalt for traffic at peak times. You must've hit them at a bad time. (I call them the four-oh-ohs.) Rather than sit and park in traffic at these bad times we drive at oddball hours - 1am to 6 am or midweek days. We've also taken to the backroads rather than pay the steadily increasing 407 tolls. We see alot of pretty countryside, eat in some cute little places, and avoid the impatient four-oh-oh drivers.
 
(I'd always wanted to sit in his camp in front of the fire and have a long talk with him.)
Click to expand...

You and a few thousand others of us.

We crossed the at the Falls at 0600 and at a stand still just past Guelph Line or Road.

Since I got a couple Ont residents here, what are those knee high fences they are putting in up on hwy 69? The only thing we could come up with was to keep turtles off the hwy.

Love all the Insukuit along the hwy.
 
Wow, what a trip!! I really need to get eh the canoe museum to on of those days!!
 
sweeper said:
Since I got a couple Ont residents here, what are those knee high fences they are putting in up on hwy 69? The only thing we could come up with was to keep turtles off the hwy.
Click to expand...

I believe it was somewhere in MN they constructed a turtle tunnel under the highway. One stretch of road had an unusually high number of turtle fatalities so they constructed it as a test to see if turtles, or anything, would actually use it. So far mammals, waterfowl, and turtles have made use of it but I can't remember to what extent. I also don't remember if they constructed anything to block them from reaching the road.

Alan

EDIT: Adding a link to the turtle tunnel story: http://www.kare11.com/story/news/lo...rtles-take-tunnel-trek-in-minnesota/29795583/
 
Last edited:
Thanks Alan, we just saw a snapp'ah on our trip into town that won't fit in the Turtle Tunnel.
 
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