Left Wellsboro August 4
about 4 am. Met Mike Alspaugh and Larry in Buffalo then completed the drive
up to Sundog Outfitters near Dowling.
That night we stopped by a local water
fall on our way out to get dinner. |
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Stayed in tent cabins at
the outfitter's place. |
They were comfortable for
the night. |
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The morning of the 5th
Sundog drove us north to Duke Lake put-in.
We got a nice geology lesson on the
way up from the driver who was a retired geologist at the nickel mines
in Sudbury.
The first order of business was to get
those shoes and socks off. |
The put-in at Duke Lake |
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The trip starts with a long
chain of narrow lakes. |
Native American pictographs are seen on 4th lake.
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We've always avoided
whitewater of any kind on our previous trips but this greatly limits the
places you can go as many trips feature some whitewater.
The Spanish River was a trip designed
to break new ground for us. The trip features class I and II
whitewater so it's a good trip to learn on.
In the upper reaches the water was
shallow so we had trouble in the first rapids maneuvering a loaded canoe
around the
rocks and mostly we ran aground.
Tom and Larry are stuck on a rock in
the rapid. |
Mike and Bill are stuck on
a rock in the rapid. |
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Our first night's camp on
Eleventh Lake I think.
The camping was mostly good although
there were relatively few good sites. The outfitter circled the
good sites on our map and we didn't really see that many other good
sites.
But, the sites he circled were all
good and all were available when we arrived. |
Tom brought a camp stool
and Jim, Jeff, and Mike have the fold up type camp seat.
This triggered an ongoing and endless
debate about the merits of each type of chair as opposed to using logs
and rock or the ground as an alternative.
No clear decision was reached after
days of discussion. |
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Jim and Jeff are still
trying to figure out exactly how a canoe works. |
Mike and Bob were the only
ones in the group with the nerve to run this rapid. Fortunately
they made it ok. |
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Later on in the day Bill
and Mike successfully navigate a rapid. |
Our second or third
night's camp |
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The next morning the weather
held clear and sunny as we prepare to shove off. |
As always the scenery was
great. |
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We all made great strides
in getting the hang of whitewater canoeing.
Larry and Tom do well in one of the
bigger rapids. |
Mike is happy that he and
Bob also had a good run. |
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Along the Elbow part of the
river it gets narrow and rocky and there are a few portages to get over.
The 80 pound river canoes are heavy
for portaging and some of the exits and entrances were difficult. |
Mike and Bob take a
shortcut along the river with their canoe. |
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The rocks and rapids did
provide a nice spot for lunch. |
Our fourth night's camp |
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We put in a few very long
days to start the trip mostly because we couldn't find good camping
except at the sites the outfitter designated and they were far apart
upstream.
On the fourth day we had very little
distance to travel and in fact were in camp at 10:30.
After lunch I organized an expedition
to bushwhack up to the top of Eagle Rock which was across from our camp. |
The hike up was a bit
rugged as we couldn't find a trail but it was fun.
The views from the top were good. |
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Besides, it was an
interesting place and it passed the time. |
Our last night's camp at
mile 10 |
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The next morning we had an
easy paddle out to the Agnew Lake Lodge were Sundog met us with our
cars.
The trip home was uneventful except
for some detours that cost us a couple of hours of travel time.
No problems getting through Toronto
and across the border. |
The End
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