Your canoe trip plans, hopes, dreams for 2022

[PaddlingPitt]

I have with some success been able to point the bow to the outside and back paddle and let the current turn me. This was a technique taught back in the fifties for river running I do believe.

On narrow, twisty rivers, with tight bends, Kathleen and I do a lot of back paddling, just as you describe. This keeps the canoe off the bank/obstacle, with the current doing most of the work to push the canoe around the bend. No need to hit an eddy, which often times doesn’t exist. It’s lottsa fun.

For a while, Kathleen and I became overly enamoured with back paddling, and started running down rock-strewn rapids back paddling to line up with down stream vees. This worked ok, until we broached on a rock. This was not serious, as it was on a day trip with our club. Even so, broaching is not ideal. We went back to running rapids mostly with forward strokes, with timely draws and prys.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I have with some success been able to point the bow to the outside and back paddle and let the current turn me. This was a technique taught back in the fifties for river running I do believe.

Back ferrying is almost a lost art but it shouldn't be. It's a very valuable technique in whitewater and swift currents. Back ferrying around a bend can not only keep you closer to the inside of the bend, but it also slows your forward speed way down so have a lot more time to see and react to anything ahead.

 

[enelson8]

Plan on a 10 day trip to Algonquin park in September. Currently researching "old guy" routes neat Kiosk / Brent.
Suggestions appreciated!

 

[Mason]

And back ferrying is particularly useful when using fast boats (e.g. Wenonah) that are difficult to turn. Also, the added hull speed allows you to get out of trouble quickly. Stern eddies are your friends in such boats.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Plan on a 10 day trip to Algonquin park in September. Currently researching "old guy" routes neat Kiosk / Brent.
Suggestions appreciated!

Algonquin means walking as you know.. Do you want longer and fewer portages or shorter and more frequent? And do you wish every day to be on the move? Perhaps, as there will be many suggestions, you would like to start a new thread.

 

[Erica]

I was going to ask if anyone had heard about taking a curve by back-paddling with the bow to the outside. That is what I was taught first.

I have taken a boat, tandem, backwards through the rapids. We missed the eddy, but were turned around. That was exciting.

 

[Mason]

I have taken a boat, tandem, backwards through the rapids. We missed the eddy, but were turned around. That was exciting.

We did that fully loaded on a remote trip. Yeah, exciting. Not recommended. Pulled it off though.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Erica,

Here is a link to a Trip Report posted on myccr about a trip down the Upper Liard on August 2021. They encountered log jams, but they didn’t seem too worried. Obviously i don’t know anything about their skill level or experience. But you might be able to exchange personal messages with them.

Upper Liard River | Canadian Canoe Routes

www.myccr.com

Good luck!

Michael

 

[Erica]

We did that fully loaded on a remote trip. Yeah, exciting. Not recommended. Pulled it off though.

Yes, ours was the same...a very, very remote area long ago before all the cell phones, roads, etc got up there.

We pulled it off too. I felt pretty good about it, even as it was happening. There is no time for fear or fuss in a rapids. It was a rather long stretch of class 2 and we were scouting it piece by piece from the river.

 

[Erica]

Michael, thank you for the link. That is a fairly recent posting and I did not see it when I last looked, last spring probably. When I first started to research this river, there was no one on it. Maybe one or two parties a season.

I so appreciate your help.

 

[Roybrew]

I've always wanted to do a spring canoeing squirrel hunt.

Spring squirrel season in Va. is June 4-18 this year (gray squirrels only, fox squirrel is closed).

There is a 4500 acre wildlife management area that borders the Rappahannock River. The City of Fredericksburg owns ~5000 acres along the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers. All of these lands are open to public hunting and primitive camping, except for a few closed safety zones, etc. Fishing should also be good that time of year.

So....two or three days floating down the river and living off the land. Fulfilling Huck Finn fantasies but close to civilization, readily and inexpensively accessible. Mostly Class II rapids with a couple of IIIs.

Anybody interested?

Sounds inviting to me. River fishing and camping along the way. Not sure about class 3 water tho. But I'm interested.

 

[Erica]

Erica,

Here is a link to a Trip Report posted on myccr about a trip down the Upper Liard on August 2021. They encountered log jams, but they didn’t seem too worried. Obviously i don’t know anything about their skill level or experience. But you might be able to exchange personal messages with them.

Upper Liard River | Canadian Canoe Routes

www.myccr.com

Good luck!

Michael

I did contact the poster and got a very nice reply, with some photos. Thank you for the suggestion.

There are log jams and sweepers blocking the river on the southern rivers I’ve paddled solo. The current will be faster, but I’m confident enough that I can back paddle to the inside, or even stop ahead to scout if needed.

I think that report of a helicopter rescue threw me.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

I did contact the poster and got a very nice reply, with some photos. Thank you for the suggestion.

There are log jams and sweepers blocking the river on the southern rivers I’ve paddled solo. The current will be faster, but I’m confident enough that I can back paddle to the inside, or even stop ahead to scout if needed.

I think that report of a helicopter rescue threw me.

Great news, Erica. You can always get off the river far upstream. Probably no need to get close to any log jams or sweepers. Did the poster try at all to discourage you? Or did (s)he say something like “Go for it?”

What’s the recent status with Yukon allowing non-residents in?

 

[yellowcanoe]

Great news, Erica. You can always get off the river far upstream. Probably no need to get close to any log jams or sweepers. Did the poster try at all to discourage you? Or did (s)he say something like “Go for it?”

What’s the recent status with Yukon allowing non-residents in?

Just the usual paperwork Arrive Can etc and a within 72 hrs PCR test if fully vaccinated and a quarantine plan if selected. We may try for Newfoundland this summer and our quarantine plans are to go home if selected. We have been vaccinated over a year. Expect that the regs may change to reflect the need for booster shot though.. We've had that too.

 

[Erica]

Great news, Erica. You can always get off the river far upstream. Probably no need to get close to any log jams or sweepers. Did the poster try at all to discourage you? Or did (s)he say something like “Go for it?”

What’s the recent status with Yukon allowing non-residents in?

Poster said I needed to make up my own mind. She just said I’d have to be able to move the boat.

 

[devils son in law]

This is the time of year when I start looking at maps and realize there are plenty of areas right here in my home state of Michigan that I haven't paddled and could easily be done on weekend over - nighters. Then I find myself look at trips a 1000 miles away!!

 

[tomo]

I am really hoping to paddle the Albany river this summer.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

The Northwest Territories will open its borders to Leisure Tourism on March 1. After waiting for two years, Kathleen and I are back to the Barren Grounds this coming summer!

 

[Valin6210]

Taking our Scout Venture Crew on a week-long trip up Long Lake and the Raquette River with a side trip up the Cold River with plans to complete the Tupper Lake Paddling Triad. We will also plan a weekend shake-down trip in July once the black flies have calmed down.

Otherwise, haven't planned anything else but do a lot of weekend treks in the Adirondacks. Open to CTN group trips.

 

[Mason]

The Northwest Territories will open its borders to Leisure Tourism on March 1. After waiting for two years, Kathleen and I are back to the Barren Grounds this coming summer!

Where ya headed?