Pine - Turtle - Talon Loop

For now--this is our favourite 5-hour canoe route.  I've written before about Talon Chutes and Pimisi Bay--definetly on our list of places to go, so for now, our new fav route is the Pine - Turtle - Talon Loop.  We stared this trip where the road bisects the portage from Lake Talon into Pine Lake.  We pulled over to the side of the road (Point A), unloaded and portaged the 20 m to Pine Lake.

Pine Lake is a small pristine lake found about 20 minutes west of North Bay along the waterway from North Bay to Mattawa.  There are a few small islands in the middle and a couple of nice camping spots.  We have been here many times.  It is a sheltered lake with high hills on the south side.  We paddled west to the portage (Point B) and spotted some turtles.  It is a short portage into Turtle Lake.

Once into Turtle Lake we travlled about 100 m before we bumped into an impressive beaver dam.  John and I climbed out and we ferried the boat over and admired the work of the beaver.

The last time we were in Turtle Lake was a couple of years ago with Bob Milling and his boys (Gabe and Luke).  We discovered the same campsite that we had visited with the Millings.  A beautiful site at the east end of the lake.  The site had a pair of Merlins nesting and they let us know that we were welcome as long as we kept our distance. 

We kept trying to capture their call--but whenever we started the camera--they stopped.

Turtle Lake has a dam at the western end.  It was fun to run this little set of rapids and explore the narrow lakes that followed.

There is a nifty little swift between Werwolf Lake and Moosegrass Lake (D).  It was fun to move through it and play.  Easy and fun.  At the end of  Moosegrass Lake we encountered a short difficult portage (E).  The terrain and condition of the trees reminded me of a scene from a WWI movie.  It looked like the area had been hit with an artillery barrage.  It would be cool to go back at night and walk through the area.

There is one campsite on Bigfish Lake facing southwest.  We made note just in case we're looking for a one night adventure.  The final lake before Talon is Tillard Lake.  It joins Talon through a narrow winding river.  It was very enjoyable to paddle through this area.  The banks and bottom of the river were sand and the trees along the shoreline were more scrub than the typical mixed forest for this area.  As the river entered Talon the sound of the crickets was almost deafening (F).

The final leg of the journey took us along the western shore of Lake Talon to the portage (A).

This was an excellent 1 day trip.  It took us 5 hours and we loved every minute.

Pimisi Bay -- Ice-Breaker

Today was a great day for an adventure.  The temperature was about 16 and the sun was bright and warm.  A perfect day for our first canoe paddle of the season.  A great place to start a paddle adventure is Pimisi Bay.  Pimisi is about 25 minutes west of North Bay and is part of the Mattawa river system.  It is a popular spot--one of our favourites. 

The topo map view shows where our journey started at A.  Our plan was to head west to Talon Chutes, but the slushy ice-pellets we were paddling in turned into thicker ice at point B and we decided to change direction and head under the tunnel at point C.

 We bumped in more ice in the small bay south of Hwy 17, but were able to skirt around it and find a nice sunny spot for lunch.  John steadied the canoe as I climbed out from the stern.

We enjoyed the warmth of the sun and our picnic lunch.  A little tour around and we discovered a trail that had to be explored further.

The trail led through an area that had some evidence of logging and it meadered past a beautiful small pond.

The trail eventually led to a natural gas pipeline.  The high point of the land gave us a terrific view of the surrounding territory.

John spotted a cool beaver dam, so we crossed it and explored further.  The area south of the pipeline is an impressive wet land.  The satelite photo shows the pipeline and marsh lands.

Point D is our sunny lunch spot.  You can see the thin line of the trail leading to the cute pond at point E and the beaver dam located on the pipeline at point E.

We spotted this structure.  Hunters apparently can spend hours sitting up there waiting to kill something.  With our binoculars we were able to spot one furry creature about 300 metres away.  I'm not sure what it was--a large ground hog perhaps.

We both enjoyed the walk out.  The sun was warm and the snow was bright and crunchy.

It was great to get out for our first paddle.  The boat looks good resting on the shore with the icy water in the background.

A super trip.

Sanctioned Weight-Lifting Competition

On the weekend John participated in his second weight-lifting competition.  This was his first sanctioned event; officials from the Ontarion Weight-Lifting Association monitored the event.

Each event starts with a weigh-in.  John's time was 7 am--so we got up early, had a good breakfast and headed up to the College.  The main event area was empty and impressive looking.

 
After the weigh in we drove down to the water front to relax and enjoy the view.  The sun was bright and shining and the ice was shifting creating a beautiful "crunchy" looking picture.

The snatch--this looks tough to me.

John did very well in his lifts.  He earned the Silver Medal in his weight class.  Well done John.

Coyote Rock Climbing Gym

We started the March break off in Ottawa.  One fun thing we did was visit the Coyote Rock Climbing Gym.  John was eager to scamper up the wall and Erin was cool to belay.  It turns out she is of course an excellent person to have holding your safety line.

Erin on belay!

John scampers to the top.

Rock climbing is such a cool activity.  It's one of those sports where there are no losers--just people working together--to explore together.

Erin and John were excellent.

Weight Lifting Competition -- North Bay Norsemen

On Saturday March 5, Sharon and I enjoyed watching John participate in his first weight lifting competition.  This is not a typical adventure I would write about, but it involved the family, it was fun, and it was tool cool on a lot of levels.  I'll touch on some of levels here.

Larry Sheppard runs the Norsemen Weight Lifting Club in North Bay.  Larry helped me with some students about 10 years ago.  I will never forget his contribution and I am forever in his debt.  I was elated when I heard that John had joined the club.  John's coach is Matt Blanchard.

One thing I like about weight lifting is it is 99.5 percent training, .5 percent competition; it's about training and discipline.  There are no losers.  Everyone pushes themselves to their limit and if you go there and fail--everyone celebrates.  Too cool of a metaphor for life.  I could go on--but I'll save my thoughts on that for another forum.

This local competiton was a smooth operation.  Some of the video highlights Larry's unique way of speaking to athletes, and parents.  He has rapport with everyone.

John was understandably nervous about his first competition.  But his training paid off.

He competed in two competitions: the clean and jerk, and the snatch.

 This event was publicized with possible awards ranging from golf-claps to maybe a handshake and hug from Larry Sheppard.  It was nice to see John win a special award.

Weight lifting is a life-long activity;  it helps with all sports and leads to a healthy and active lifestyle.  I'm looking forward to John's next competition.

Lake Tomiko - Snowshoe Hike

I'm behind in my blogging.  That's not a good thing.  Not a bad thing either, but the point of writing a blog is to get it out there.  So I'm writing three posts this morning--before breakfast.

On Feb 27 Chris Beatty called early in the morning--looking for adventure.  "You up for a hike?"  I surveyed the family--everyone was still sleeping--so I was clear to go.

Without a map or much planning we headed up to Lake Tomiko.  This is adventure based on the Nike slogan--"Just do it."

This was a short hike because we both had to be back to spend time with family on a Sunday afternoon.  Point A is the starting point.  We headed roughly west across, what appeared to be a lake, but the topo shows that it is a swampy area.  I broke through the ice into the mud near the shore.  You could smell the decaying muck.  It was -23 on a bright winter day and the smell was out of place.

The snow had a thick crust on the surface and it made walking difficult.  At some point a strap on my left snow shoe snapped.  I think it was due to the repeated breaking through of the snow.

We hiked across the swamp and climbed to the high point in the area, which was the railroad bed.  The climb up was about twenty feet at probably 65 degrees. It was like climbing a ladder,

A nice short hike.  Very enjoyable.

"Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself."   (anonymous)

Laurentian Ski Club

This has been a fantastic weekend.  The weather was awesome.  Today John and I headed to Laruentian Ski Club for a day of skiiing.  John had written on the refridgerator, "Bernie and John skiing Sunday."  So--there was the pressure--I had to do it.

We had taken lessons last year at Laurentian and thoroughly enjoyed every outing.  Today was my first ski of the year.  I was excited but a little apprehensive.  On the way to the hill I told John that it is just like riding a bike--you never forget.

Once I started down the main hill I realized I had forgotten.  I said to myself, "Am I supposed to be enjoying this?"  Yikes.  We quickly retreated to the bunny hill for a few "runs".  The fundamentals I and learned in my lessons returned and I was confident to head over to the main hill.  Lots of fun.  We ran in to Jarred Reid and he toured with us for awhile.  He showed us a cool route down the hill which included the run named after Steve Omischl.  We managed to take a couple people down when we disembarked from the chair lift.  I blame it on John--we were able to laugh this one off.

The weather was mild when we started at noon and it continued to get warmer as the day went on.  At one point it was snowing quite heavily but eventually the snow subsided and a fog rolled in.

The day was perfect.  John was a great ski companion.