Canoeing the Coldstream/Becaguimec/St. John
Whoot. Life in Windsor... bah. Boring! Luckily, this past week has been a lot more interesting. Erick van Til, from Summit, was down for a wedding last weekend, and he stayed with Rachael and I for the past week. It was so good to see him, it'd been over a year since I saw him last. Anyway, Erick and Rachael were at my house for three days. We did a bunch of stuff. Toured Woodstock, checked out the waterfall in Lower Brighton, went to Maine so I could apply for my US Passport (whoot whoot, I am a dual US and Canadian Citizen), went thrift shopping, cooked food, watched X-Files, drank my two Mike's left over from New Years 2004, and hung out at my house a lot. With Willie. My dog. Rachael and Erick fought over her affection. And the best part of the week..... canoeing. Tee hee.
Ben Kent, called us up and wanted to go canoeing. Well he wanted to go climbing but it was raining, so this was plan B. So he borrows a canoe from some dude, since he only has one and there's 4 of us, picks us up and off we go!
Our plan: Put in at the Coldstream behind Rebecca and Courtney's, paddle down to Coldstream and meet up with the Becaguimic, and paddle down to the St John River, and then take out at the Hartland Church, where Ben's truck would be waiting. Takes about 3 hours, give or take.
Alright, so off we go. Erick and I in Ben's canoe, and Rach and Ben in the other. Now... their canoe was a lot bigger.... not a lot a lot but enuf that they floated higher. Makes a big difference when you're going through strainers. Also, they wore their life jackets. Erick and I... didn't. They were those nasty old school orange ones with the big floaty thing behind your head. So, we figured we prolly wouldn't drown on the Coldstream. Anyway. Did I mention it was raining? And had been for a few days now? Yeah, the water was pretty high. And moving pretty fast. There had obviously been some serious flooding on the Coldstream, cos there were trees and strainers and crap EVERYWHERE!!! It was crazy. Yes, Erick and I tipped. There was this big tree, full across the water, and it was about three feet off the water. We thought, man, we can just slide right under that. So we come up to it, and I lean back, and pretty much fall in the canoe, so I'm basically laying down in it, with my arms and legs out, haha. Anyway, I slide right under, but we drifted too much to were the tree was lower, so it totally clotheslined Erick. Oh yeah, Erick is like 6'4, and doesn't easily duck under stuff in a canoe. So anyway, we go over, and oh man... the water was frigid. We couldn't feel our legs practically right away. Ben and Rach went downstream to catch my runaway paddle and life jacket... tee hee... while Erick and I flipped the canoe over. The current was so strong too. We didn't even get out of the water. Just rolled the canoe over and lifted it out of the water. It was only like waist deep water. Anywho... we got back in and off we went. Tho we were pretty much freezing the rest of the day, cos it was cold and drizzling so we didn't dry at all. And this was like right at the start. Twice more we almost got smoked by strainers, but we managed to get out. Once, we were right under the top of a tree, so it was all branches and crap, and oh man, I was NOT going over. Erick said I was doing some crazy Matrix moves, trying to not get caught by the tree. I knew if I did, then we'd be done for sure, cos if we both got caught... a swimming we could go. But we made it. And the other, lol.. it was right on a turn, and most of it was obstructed by a strainer. So, we had to try and stay as close to the middle of the river as we could, then paddle like mad to get to the right to get around this strainer. Well, good luck. we all went all the way to the left, and there was this big like 3 foot diameter stump thing sticking out over the water. Back I go into the canoe, slide under it, and guess what, Erick gets caught. And we're going over. I'm flailing and carrying on, trying to get to the left so we don't go over. Finally we're stable, and I look back at Erick.. lol. The stump is between is, and he's just got his arms around the tree. Tee hee. Ben and Rach come by and hit us, but we hold them steady and then they go on. So anyway, for Erick and I to get loose of the tree, he had to climb over it, lol. The whole time, he's like "This goes against anything I've ever learned about canoeing." haha... but there was no other way.
Friggin Rachael and Ben squeaked past everything. Coincidence? I think not. Obviously the ones wearing the life jackets wouldn't flip.
It was a great day tho :) We had so much fun! And once we got off the Coldstream, which was over half of the trip, almost, then it was clear sailing. The Becaguimic was AWESOME!! oh man!! Great big wavey things, we were getting some serious air with the front of the canoe! Prolly because A. Erick was in the back and weights a lot more than I, and B. by this time there was so much water in the back of the canoe from our almost tippings that Erick's feet were pretty much submerged. And every time we hit a good wave, I got splashed. Frigging cold. I couldn't feel my feet, haha. So yeah, it was a wicked trip. Way harder than the Buffalo. We were expecting a pretty easy paddle, that that was teh hardest (and more fun) I've ever had canoeing. Then of course we went to Matt Grahams and I sat soaked and freezing. lol.
But now they're gone :( Erick has gone back to Ontario for a week, and Rachael has moved to Ottawa. I am once again alone.
Ben Kent, called us up and wanted to go canoeing. Well he wanted to go climbing but it was raining, so this was plan B. So he borrows a canoe from some dude, since he only has one and there's 4 of us, picks us up and off we go!
Our plan: Put in at the Coldstream behind Rebecca and Courtney's, paddle down to Coldstream and meet up with the Becaguimic, and paddle down to the St John River, and then take out at the Hartland Church, where Ben's truck would be waiting. Takes about 3 hours, give or take.
Alright, so off we go. Erick and I in Ben's canoe, and Rach and Ben in the other. Now... their canoe was a lot bigger.... not a lot a lot but enuf that they floated higher. Makes a big difference when you're going through strainers. Also, they wore their life jackets. Erick and I... didn't. They were those nasty old school orange ones with the big floaty thing behind your head. So, we figured we prolly wouldn't drown on the Coldstream. Anyway. Did I mention it was raining? And had been for a few days now? Yeah, the water was pretty high. And moving pretty fast. There had obviously been some serious flooding on the Coldstream, cos there were trees and strainers and crap EVERYWHERE!!! It was crazy. Yes, Erick and I tipped. There was this big tree, full across the water, and it was about three feet off the water. We thought, man, we can just slide right under that. So we come up to it, and I lean back, and pretty much fall in the canoe, so I'm basically laying down in it, with my arms and legs out, haha. Anyway, I slide right under, but we drifted too much to were the tree was lower, so it totally clotheslined Erick. Oh yeah, Erick is like 6'4, and doesn't easily duck under stuff in a canoe. So anyway, we go over, and oh man... the water was frigid. We couldn't feel our legs practically right away. Ben and Rach went downstream to catch my runaway paddle and life jacket... tee hee... while Erick and I flipped the canoe over. The current was so strong too. We didn't even get out of the water. Just rolled the canoe over and lifted it out of the water. It was only like waist deep water. Anywho... we got back in and off we went. Tho we were pretty much freezing the rest of the day, cos it was cold and drizzling so we didn't dry at all. And this was like right at the start. Twice more we almost got smoked by strainers, but we managed to get out. Once, we were right under the top of a tree, so it was all branches and crap, and oh man, I was NOT going over. Erick said I was doing some crazy Matrix moves, trying to not get caught by the tree. I knew if I did, then we'd be done for sure, cos if we both got caught... a swimming we could go. But we made it. And the other, lol.. it was right on a turn, and most of it was obstructed by a strainer. So, we had to try and stay as close to the middle of the river as we could, then paddle like mad to get to the right to get around this strainer. Well, good luck. we all went all the way to the left, and there was this big like 3 foot diameter stump thing sticking out over the water. Back I go into the canoe, slide under it, and guess what, Erick gets caught. And we're going over. I'm flailing and carrying on, trying to get to the left so we don't go over. Finally we're stable, and I look back at Erick.. lol. The stump is between is, and he's just got his arms around the tree. Tee hee. Ben and Rach come by and hit us, but we hold them steady and then they go on. So anyway, for Erick and I to get loose of the tree, he had to climb over it, lol. The whole time, he's like "This goes against anything I've ever learned about canoeing." haha... but there was no other way.
Friggin Rachael and Ben squeaked past everything. Coincidence? I think not. Obviously the ones wearing the life jackets wouldn't flip.
It was a great day tho :) We had so much fun! And once we got off the Coldstream, which was over half of the trip, almost, then it was clear sailing. The Becaguimic was AWESOME!! oh man!! Great big wavey things, we were getting some serious air with the front of the canoe! Prolly because A. Erick was in the back and weights a lot more than I, and B. by this time there was so much water in the back of the canoe from our almost tippings that Erick's feet were pretty much submerged. And every time we hit a good wave, I got splashed. Frigging cold. I couldn't feel my feet, haha. So yeah, it was a wicked trip. Way harder than the Buffalo. We were expecting a pretty easy paddle, that that was teh hardest (and more fun) I've ever had canoeing. Then of course we went to Matt Grahams and I sat soaked and freezing. lol.
But now they're gone :( Erick has gone back to Ontario for a week, and Rachael has moved to Ottawa. I am once again alone.
posted by Hannah at 8:46 AM
2 Comments:
I found your site while googling Becaguimec. Nice canoeing story. You're lucky no one was hurt. I plan to paddle the Becaguimec this spring, when it's warmer. Hoping for rain.
Check out my Canoe New Brunswick website at http://www.nanookofthenashwaak.com.
I found this site googling Becaguimec too... hope to do it this weekend although I'm not sure where to put in and whether it will be high enough.
Funny... Courtney is working in my office building so now I know I can just go and ask him! I graduated with Rebecca and know Ben as well.
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