I haven't been sleeping well for a week or two, waking up at 7 am & instead of falling back asleep, I've been lying in bed dozing & listening to CBC for hours & hours. Too much CBC radio, with all the program repeats now, is enough to make any listener a little cranky. When I got to ZenRiver Gardens I checked under the new Sube again, & it looked better than when I checked it 2 days ago. Then while I was admiring the Sube, I noticed a parking lot dent in the driver's side front fender. Arrggggh! I've left it unattended only once, at Value Mart a few days ago while I shopped. The dent isn't horrible, same place as the one on Silver, altho the paint isn't broken, & it's about a third or less the size. Still a pissoff, tho : (
So Chase & I headed to the shack, where I watered the transplanted pines & knocked back a beer. Then I decided to take my third kayak trip downriver. Great idea! I decided to try launching in front of the shack & see how it handles over the little weir dam before the bridge. Now that I've taken it for 2 test rides, I wanted to see if it would get all dented up when I take it over rapids. Not too much hassle getting over the weir dam - I decided to walk it over - & then clambered into the kayak by Dan's. I slowly headed across the millpond & downstream towards the first major set of rapids. The river makes a lazy S bend past the millpond, with thick woods on both sides. Last week large patches of white trilliums distracted me from the spring flood detritus, but this trip the trilliums had faded, & I everywhere I noticed
ghost white grass clumps
high above my head
clutched by bleached snags
I've always turned back when I've reached the rapids at the end of this relaxing but somewhat melancholy stretch of tea brown river, but emboldened by the beer & my pissy mood, I decided to shoot the rapids, which are very fast moving & perhaps 200 yards of whitewater rocks & shallows.
I made it thru OK, altho I hit a number of large submerged rocks. Feeling like a pro I paddled another quarter mile to the next set of rapids, which aren't as fierce as the first ones, & again made it through without a problem. Then I hit rapids number 3 & was feeling very proud of myself & my $200 kayak! When I reached rapids #4 I decided to turn back, & I was able to easily paddle back across the first 2 sets of rapids.
The final rapids are very dangerous, & I immediately realized I'd have to portage along the steep & heavily wooded bank- there's a bit of a trail, prob. from other canoeists & kayakers. The mosquitoes were fierce:
fur blanket
on my bare back:
mosquito portage
I almost lost one of my water shoes in the thick muck, but ignoring the bites I managed to lug the kayak the couple of hundred yards to the final stretch of the rapids. The way the rapids & the river are situated, I had to put in before the rapids ended, but after my successes paddling across the first sets of rapids, I didn't anticipate a problem. Oh Boy - was I wrong!!!! The strong current immediately turned the kayak, flipping me out onto sharp rocks, both my water shoes came off, while the kayak slipped out of my grasp. I was tumbled by the current, & I got some nifty fresh cuts, nothing requiring stitches, but:
new scars
on my scars
duelling with the river
I kept shouting NO! NO! as the little blue kayak tumbled 200 yards back over the rapids. Then, it paused in a small backwater while I splashed over the rapids. It broke free again, & sailed merrily downstream with the current. Free at last - SHIT!!! - I decided the portage trail was my only faint hope of retrieving my new blue toy, which danced further & further from view.
Fortunately the kayak was swept into another back eddy, & I jumped into the river, half walking, half swimming - until it was within reach. Then as a tease one of my water shoes floated by - just out of reach - I grabbed at a small branch for support, but the branch broke & I decided rescuing the canoe was more important than retrieving one water shoe. I lugged the kayak up a steep bank, & left it near the Malone Road. I went back to retrieve the paddle, my hat & sunglasses, & then decided to lug the kayak the half a mile back to the millpond.
big blue beak
hobbling along Malone Road
on pale white legs
So I made it back to the millpond, & after a chat with my neighbour whose property I was trespassing on, I paddled the kayak across the pond to Dan's place. What a frigging adventure!!!!!! I feel like I was in the movie DELIVERANCE, or RIVER WILD ; )
So Chase & I are home safe, with the kayak tucked back into the shaman shack awaiting future adventures, & I'm now digesting my favourite dinner of wine baked haddock & curried rice. Oh, the kayak survived with just a nick in the paint - it suffered far less damage today than my battered old body, or even my lovely new blue Subaru.
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On 2014-06-01, at 10:49 AM, Don Gordon wrote:
Your kayak story is gripping! Could have ended badly you know,
so breathlessly glad you are safe, wiser, and survived to write so cogently
of it. It is still too wild here to assault the Eramosa. Katherine.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Hi Katherine,
Thanks for your concern & compliment ; ) Doing something 'mildly' risky has often been a way I've dealt with more important & major stressors in my life. I've always survived, this morning a bit battered & bruised, & with a few new slices on my hands & feet to keep me focused for a few days, but basically unharmed & feeling a bit cathartic.
I was so inspired by your Tutu poem that I revisited my kayak tale & added a short paragraph and a haiku about the detritus from this spring's major flood. I've always found reading great poetry inspires me to write - thanks!
The river makes a lazy S bend past the millpond, with thick woods on both sides. Last week large patches of white trilliums distracted me from the spring flood detritus, but this trip the trilliums had faded, & I everywhere I noticed
ghost white grass clumps
high above my head
clutched by bleached snags
I've always turned back when I've reached the rapids at the end of this relaxing but somewhat melancholy stretch of tea brown river, but emboldened by the beer & my pissy mood, I decided to shoot the rapids, which are very fast moving & perhaps 200 yards of whitewater rocks & shallows.
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