For those who haven't yet been to the Beaver weekend and don't know what its about, here you go:
Beaver Trip Report
Left Ottawa on Saturday morning early with Adrian and arrived at Soft Maple Campground near Croghan to meet up with other Ottawa and meet some new Montreal paddlers. Wendy S. Sandra, Annie V, Ray, Mike M, Mike R., Larry, Joanne, Alex, Louie and various Montreal paddlers (who Sandra/Annie/Wendy got to know on the Kipawa) had come up the night before and were finalizing for departure for the 10 a.m. release on Taylorville.
Saturday
Saturday started and stayed hot and muggy. A day of sliding and boofing down a river was the perfect answer to Saturday?s mugginess, which was stifling in town. It was also a great warm up muscles for the Sunday on the Moshier section.
This year there seemed to be fewer swims in Beaverator than in past years, but I was on scene when one unfortunate father of three, who eventually was spit out after being under more than a minute and several rope throws failed to reach him. When he was released and able to speak after awhile, he said he was fairly certain that if the hole had held him in any longer he was done. That feature just doesn?t look as bad as it can be. Others with good speed punched right through with no problems.
A paddler in our group did visit the Beaverator, for a much shorter swim (not witnessed by me). Others had unsuccessful runs on the slot that you carry up and run after you run the dog leg (mindscrambler?), which is the next rapid after the slide.
The next rapid has several options and we hung out there for a bit while people explored various lines, then down the next pourover , avoid the hole and boof the left side of the drop (not right side) before paddling to the playwave at the take-out.
After the paddle, several of us congregated at Wishy?s for various forms of ice cream goodness as it was 30C when we took off the river.
Saturday night was gorgeous and most people stayed on site for dinner and conviviality. Although, I was thinking that it was a lot quieter than some previous years.
Christmas Sunday on the Moshier
Sunday on the Moshier section did not disappoint. Weather was predicted to be bad, but it turned out to be great. The predictable horde of paddlers materialized for this one day per year release and they descend on the put-in all at the same time like the swallows at Capistrano. Many paddling vehicles, a 10 a.m. release, a one-lane road and paddlers who are sketchy on rules to begin with and amped to run Class IV plus, well you can imagine the cluster flub at the put-in. After that snarl was out of the way, we moved down river. My paddling sub-group, loosely, was Mike R., Larry, Annie, Wendy, Sandra, Adrian, me. Ray joined us in transit after the second rapid.
Sandra, after much inner searching, (I thought she left us and went on a retreat to Tibet and then came back ? or at least it seemed that long), finally pulled the trigger and paddled over the horizon line into nothingness before landing in the fluffiness below without incident. I didn?t see her run because by that time I had paddled over to river right, ran the river right slot and then paddled downstream and was scouting the next drop. I came back from my scout to see Sandra out of her boat being towed to shore (more on this later). Once she caught up to us, we did the scout and identified the landmarks for running the second drop, which is a two-parter: a slide/falls into an eddy on river left, followed by a ferry over to river right, stay close to the right wall to miss the hole, ferry more right after the hole and paddle down the rest of the drop.
Sandra ran this drop successfully as did Wendy and others. There was some carnage on the second drop which has teeth ? I know from direct personal experience in past years.
After the two-stage second drop, everything moves fairly quickly down to Moshier Falls. Given the long hiatus in my paddling over the summer, I opted for the very conservative land line. Ray styled the drops (hope there are photos) and was cool as a cucumber. Adrian and Louie were all grins after having survived unscathed (rather than styled) their runs down Moshier falls as well.
Some folks continued onto the Eagle Section. I went back to the campsite for a swim before the Saturday night for into Lowville and Jeb?s for dinner. It was a popular spot with the kayaking crowd that night. Wendy, Sandra, Annie, Ray and I enjoyed hearty portions, followed by, yes, another milkshake. Our little cadre had shrunk somewhat as Adrian, Mike R., Larry all departed back for Canada that afternoon opting out of paddling on the Monday.
Too bad for them because they missed quite a sight on Saturday night! We get back to the campsite and found those Montreal paddlers transformed! Party hats, fake Rockstar hair ( think Rocky Horror Picture show goes camping ? either it was weird, or I?m old), a picnic table covered in booze and they were just waiting to pounce on Sandra and others when they arrived. Their kayaking ?friends? from Montreal had video evidence of Sandra?s swim , in fact there were two. So, after considerable chanting and prodding, Sandra and others experienced the unique twisted (who came up with this anyway) add insult to injury experience of downing booze from your smelly neoprene bootie (x2)! Her humiliation and that of others was gleefully digitized by their Montreal ?friends.?
Sandra and Annie had been telling me earlier about how fun loving this crew was. Now I understand!
Monday
Taylorville redux, for myself, Wendy and Sandra. Annie took pictures and ran shuttle. Water was higher and crowds were lower (It had been pouring for more than 12 hours by that point). The place seemed deserted by comparison with Friday, although most runs I?m on, I might see one other paddling group on the river, if at all. The water was pouring over the dam instead of coming down the right channel, making the start of the run a little different. Wendy was psyched. Sandra was looking a little green and not recovered from last night?s initiation. The gifts from her Montreal friends were still giving I think.
Wendy?s line down the big white slide was picture-perfect, exactly as she envisioned it and she eddied out cheering in victory. Sandra must have been more focused on her tummy than her line. She got eaten by the big hole at the bottom of the slide.
The rest of the run was more slides and boof goodness, before heading home and capping of the summer.
Another great Labour Day weekend on the Beaver!
