spider

I would say to each their own as far as "going" in a bottle in the tent. ....I'm sure you realize what you will be sleeping in if there is a miss.... I suppose practice, practice, practice for that one ...

It's nice to see different folks figuring out the cold weather camping. I see several things already mentioned (like the eternally long nights) and it's fairly safe to say you won't be wondering where to pack your snowshoes. About the ice...I do want to mention, that sea ice (or perhaps ice in general) will sag and flex under the weight of a kayak and not necessarily break if you try to plow through it. Even the thinnest stuff you might think "Oh I'll break through that no problem it looks so flimsy" but it often sags and you can become extremely unstable, much like being half on land and half in the water. non- ice stuff.. Personally I try to practice everything here at home before heading out for an overnight else where. Though sea water freezes up around 28 degrees, You'll might want to know at what temps do your hands "freeze" up to become numb or useless. Can you use the zippers on the tent and clothing to allow you to use them with you gloves on, at what temp does the fabric claim it's good for etc... I used to call it a day at -25 degrees (camping in general) these days + 20 degrees is fine ... I think some of the novelty wore off over the years. Last "words of wisdom"....never believe the temp rating of your sleeping bag... :->

I just noticed this article today http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x674149833/Officials-mull-how-to-clear-dead-70-foot-whale-from-Rockport-beach perhaps it is discussed else where as well

Looks like there was some rescue activity up there , the other day (fri)...did you bump into these folks ? http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/62-year-old-kayaker-rescued-after-being-stranded-in-Squam-Lake/-/9857858/16977862/-/i2h3vi/-/index.html

Yes, a great time, thanks for organizing it. Sunday morn brought sunny skies, was a nice unexpected surprise. Crow Island was just a chirpin frenzy of Yellow Rumped warblers... Very nice folks.... a pleasure to be with. !

Oui, 10 o'clock sounds good to me I'll bring some hand tools just in case they come in handy. Maybe we'll even get some sunny skies :->

I'm good for any time either day, .. 9 am Sat...is okay...or any versions thereof ... "I used to be plastic now I'm elastic, I'm flexible..." Martin Mull

When I think of Nova Scotia I think of Scot Cunningham, Sea Kayaking Nova Scotia. I think he spoke to Nspn at the Gould Barn a few years ago. I see the link in the other replies is for coaching so I might be a bit confused if that is what you are looking for. Perce Rock very nice, (You can walk out to it at low tide just in case you didn't know )....but if you're there, it is also really about going over to Bonaventure Island for the huge Gannet Colony, Quebec City...depending when you go ....sometimes you see teams practicing for the winter crossing the St Lawrence amongst the ice floes race...wild and crazy

Next time around I would opt for wrist gaskets, though no neck gaskets, relief zipper, but no booties. (For me the booties always leak so if your going to have wet feet why bother). ...however any item on sale would skew my list of preferences a fair amount....

We went with ... Odyssee Minganie...last time. It was the 1st time we ever took a trip with an outfitter/guide, though we have used some for shuttles etc. We found these folks with a nice review in Explore Magazine, Canada's outdoor magazine. We had great luck with the guide and after years of visiting Quebec we were able to ask all sorts questions of things that had puzzled us for years . We also learned what to look for and ask for in hiring a guide service...we were very lucky to have someone who grew up there, new where there is fresh water that are not listed in books, where there is warm swimming etc etc. Seems the Mingans are divided into 3 regions with different Outfitter for each or go on your own as you did. All boyfriends are "Chums" all girlfriends are "Blondes" So our guide and his blonde or she and her chum were our guides along with her parents made up the trip with us. It was a great trip. Fresh vegies from their garden, smoked fish that they had done earlier in the season. Lot's of talk about the hydro projects and the damming of rivier Romaine. One of the best things that they had was not only a chart of the Islands but also how the tides strike each Island in relation to the various stages of the tide and which portion of the shore or shoals for me that was invaluable info. we always read your trip reports, also any info you might want just let us know. Happy paddling

Nice trip report, photos et al. Happy Birthday...! (it's our "big birthday" this year also....) Nice paddling location for your trip. Been to Newfoundland a couple of times but never to paddle as yet and never to that region. I remember cold July weather years ago but mostly I remember...Cloudberry Pie... and Molasses on warm yummy bread We remember the people not the 1st to start up a conversation but exceedingly friendly and helpful once the conversations get going. The soil is so thin there that it was all about where to dig for worms if that was what you were looking for. Telephone calls were made....someone remembered some one who used to know someone who kept a garden...and they could call and see if you might be able to do some digging there...etc ...etc. Very kind and helpful. I enjoyed the paradox between eating when paddling solo or travelin with others. I'm all freeze dry food..It's a done deal by the time others are just gearing up..... but ........ for us ...next year, back to Sagenuay and Mingans... hopefully .with a guide who cooks..... Congrats on a very nice trip and great report !!

Sounds fine to me. Haven't been out there yet this season.

Kind of an overview on how the trips shaped up so far this year. Winter was a bit tough for me so I set my sights for an August/Sept La Verendrye 14 day trip. La Verendrye is north of Montreal/Ottawa. (About 4 hrs from Montreal). This is my 3rd trip in as many years and the 2nd trip with my wife Marilyn in her tandem, which we love for these kinds of trip. More and more I tend to think of it as a decked canoe and tend to pack accordingly. So to prepare for this years trip...I rested from Oct to May particularly my arms, this was the 1st year of no winter paddling since I don't remember when... May finds me doing a 5 day solo trip up in Moosehead Lake Maine. Sometimes it's easier for me to travel solo and this was one of those times. I was weak from the extended rest but found that if I indeed traveled in the morning rested in the afternoon and paddle again when the wind settled down I could easily make my destinations. Mostly I learned.. ...that the nice rolled up thing was actually a sleeping pad and not the tent I thought it was. Camping 5 days without a tent..in Maine in May is doable.... but a head net and a sleeping bag isn't quite the same. Once I realized my tent was else where I opted to bring the nice thick sleeping pad...60 years old I figure I'll treat myself. Great idea !! Never will I go back to the thin hiking ones.... 40 years with them enough is enough I re-discovered how comfortable sleeping on a picnic table can really be. I had forgotten over the years but sometimes they are the only level places around...just don't roll over to muuuucccchhhh...!! It was a nice practice but not quite the wilderness trip I'm always searching for, nice to practice navigation and getting into the routine of it all. Mooselookmeguntic...also in Maine and also fresh water. We do a 2 night practice camping "shake down" trip .It's a good thing as it turns out to be our only practice trip before the real deal. I think it was last years trip that we decided we really do enjoy the fresh water trips a bit more. After years of hiking, snowshoeing and winter camping. I am far more a person of the forest rather than a person of the marine environment, though we paddle both of course. La Verendrye, Cabonga Quebec I live for these trips it was what got me through the winter http://fms.ws/9UCcB/47.05649N/76.4086W should link to the area and the daily message we send when on those trips A portage on the 1st day with a fully loaded boat...we used logs for rollers and kept her fully loaded...nice Otters to greet our 1st stop of the day....very cool animal we like them a lot. I pay the price big time for the lack of paddling in the boat. I'm a hurtin unit "day 3 I'm like "I don't know how many of these trips I have left in me" which translates to Wha ..Wha ..Wha I would say that was the low point after... the 1st week things improved I got my mojo back and was a happy cruisin guy by the end of the trip. We made banock the times on the trip we're getting the hang of it...yum yum ....I high count of 75 loons at one gathering...this years bear was smaller than last year..a great viewing it was unaware of us. ....Same with a group of otters slip sliding away as they hustle bustle themselves along they look comically hunched backed ...things that scream in the night....we think a disagreement between some mink if we believe the mornings prints. ...things that go bump in the night...we think hoofed animal..as opposed to "non retractable claws animal" The water was lower this year so more sandy beaches..we discovered our waterproof birthday suits are still remarkably water resistant...though may need some ironing before to long....

Nice report indeed ! That must have been one hard slog to retrieve the boat...a lot of hard work trying to inch along in that stuff. You did great getting permission and registering where necessary. Good thinking looks like you did a lot of "homework" thinking it through. Congrats...happy paddling !

Thanks for the info, I'll look him up as we are over in Candia a fair amount. Looks like a really nice repair. Trust only the boat got crunched up and not yourself as well.

Very nice report. Watching the seals sounded great as well. Excellent you got to see the full moon et all. Moon shadows quite nice on moonlight nights. (I also made a point to be camping for the full moon. ...inland on an island on lake Mooselookmeguntic, loons to voice their thoughts...) Sounds like you had some of the best of the years paddling. Great to be out early in the season before all the other folks show up. Congratulations on the trip !!

oh I'm thinking all right... I just think I'll leave my thoughts unsaid on this one.

Thanks for the recommendation. I just ordered a copy from the Maine Historical Society museum store. Looks quite interesting.

I know that early on I was all about feathering the paddle and bought expensive paddles that I could feather in any direction to most any degree. My wife was unconvinced about feathering. Funny thing was that after a few years expounding the virtues of using a feathered paddle, I swapped over to her style of paddling without a feathered angle. So what I wound up with were 2 very expensive paddles that we used unfeathered. I remember getting tired of the wind always catching the paddle an near taking it out my hands...though I don't remember at what angles the wind grabbed it the most. So here we are a few years later... thing is we don't even use those paddles any more. The most expensive spares we have kicking around. So I think the gist of what I'm trying to say is whatever way you do decide to paddle, don't be surprised if a few years later you change your mind..and of course I would recommend not to forget the "fun factor" in paddling. My thoughts are you do not want to drift over to a situation where you come off the water thinking I did this wrong and I didn't paddle properly etc. etc Many times a beautiful day on the water is simply that...a beautiful day.

Thanks for the responses. It looks quite promising. I know remarkably little of that area so it will all be new for us. The limestone cliffs sound nice and the islands on the Vermont side sound enticing and a nice place to practice some navigation as well. We are good for passports and either language is fine for us, for that international feel to it. I think each of us always wants to paddle in the others country, so we could have some fun with that as well. (My friend who paddles Lake Memphremagog learned you can paddle the waters on either side of the border it's all about where you make your landings) I think I will follow through with the link and get the paddling trail guide book, at 1st it seemed a bit pricey but as I think it through MITA is along the same price, so I might just redirect that expenditure this year. It's nice to see how the Maine Island trail has inspired the concept of water trails all these years. Woods island area sounds nice ,think my wife is quite interested in checking it out with me at the nearest opportunity. Been off the water, for the most part, since last Oct..the longest time in years, heading for Azicohos Lake Maine in a couple of days for a few paddling overnights to see how that goes. ....thanks again for the ideas...

I think some folks, perhaps like myself, tend to scan the topics see one like this and say that's nice and continue to search for a subject of more interest to them. I didn't read this one till I noticed it had some 20 responses and thought what the heck is all the talk about. Checking it further I wasn't overly surprised to see it was a discussion between 4 or 5 people who were interested in it. That's also fine by me and moved onto a subject that I thought might get no responses but you never know there might be a person or two interested then again maybe not which again is also fine.

I was wondering if anyone has done any kayak camping on Lake Champlain. Also wondering if the lake is mostly industrial or if there are favorite sections where one might see wildlife etc. Any 'dead zones' in the lake? I was surprised when my friend said it was only a couple of hrs from Sherbrooke Que, so was wondering if we could squeak out a multi day trip or better to hold out for the Great Lakes. thanks

That's ok.. ...it takes Marilyn and I out of the equation (as we had no plans to attend the cam stuff) but will probably free up the time for others to do the clean-up. As long as the Islands get cleaned up all is good. any chance things will loosen up enough to clean any fishing buoys and what not that wash up nets,ropes etc. I know that's kind of a general question.... but did a 5 day coastal trip last year with a friend and had a hard time convincing him that we weren't allowed to clean up "sacred fishing stuff" Which made it difficult to explain why I wanted him to poop in a bag and paddle around with it..he would just look at all the debris and shake his head in disbelieve. (they were not Bangs and Crow but much the same general idea)

Marilyn and I are good for the clean up, like last time we will plan for an overnight.

Well good for you... glad you went to check it out. Thanks for the info. It's very interesting. I'm sure it would also be interesting to compare Aluetians style to Greenland style boats. I have seen pics of 3 person Aluete kayaks in the old days there and it is said that the Russians also added a rudder to indigenous designs as well as an extra cockpit, but I am weak on how it all fits together chronologically or how wide spread a practice it might have been. I can see why an original warriors kayak would be a pretty exciting find or re-find as it may be.