Run Down Sluice Falls by Fishing Boat

I saw this on facebook this morning. It is a local fishing guide running down the Sluice Falls channel and avoiding the 1 km portage I've slogged over a few times. It was great to see the rapids from this perspective.

Post by Devin Daniel Bernatchez.

How to Survive after a Paddling Accident

This has also been posted on Bryan's other blog at http://pawistik.blogspot.ca/

Last week while packing for the annual NSE canoe trip I was contacted by Global Saskatoon to comment on how to survive after a mishap on a paddling trip. In addition to being a paddling instructor, I am the Paddle Canada representative for Saskatchewan, and am a co-author of the AdventureSmart paddling safety awareness program called PaddleSmart.

The interview follows on the recent tragic death of David Dice along the Churchill River, a section that NSE paddled in 2010. I do not know the details of what happened, but according to news reports David was found below Needle Falls on Kinosaskaw Lake. Shortly after David was found by fishermen, his wife Enid Dice was found upriver somewhere along Needle Rapids. She had been there without supplies for 8 days. The reports don't offer much for details, though they do mention she had a fire going (it will make your life easier to have some reliable means of starting a fire on your life jacket or in a pocket, and redundancy is good!). The Dices are very experienced outdoorspeople and paddlers, and David's early death is a loss to the paddling community. My condolences go out to all of those grieving David's death.

http://globalnews.ca/video/1533357/surviving-eight-days-in-the-wilderness



A few more details were reported via CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/details-emerge-on-sask-couple-s-tragic-canoe-adventure-1.2750011

One of the first people to speak to Enid after the ordeal was Ric Driediger, owner of Churchill River Canoe Outfitters, who was also one of the last people to see the couple before they set out on their trip.

He says he learned, from Enid, that the couple's canoe capsized as they were navigating a set of rapids on the lake known as Needle Falls*.

They were separated and Enid swam to shore with her husband's backpack that had a sleeping bag and an emergency fire-starting kit. There was no food, however.

*I wonder if this statement as reported is correct. It seems more likely that they were running Needle Rapids (C2+ to C3), about 2.25 km above the falls, or the outlet from Sandfly lake (C3), a further 1 km above Needle Rapids. It seems unlikely that they would have been running the falls (C5), but the earlier sets of rapids are manageable for the canoeist with skills in rapids. This also makes sense since Enid had no gear other than what she swam to shore with and was separated from her husband who was reportedly found on Kinosaskaw Lake in the eddy below the falls. Were the capsize to actually have occurred at the falls, she would have been mere meters from her late husband, the overturned canoe and much of the gear including the SPOT. 

A map of the region:

Open this map full screen.

Aerial view of the rapids at the outlet of Sandfly Lake. We portaged these.

Class 3 rapids at the outlet of Sandfly Lake.

Uppermost portion of Needle Rapids from the spot where we scouted the set. This is the river left channel. 

Jay & Rod scouting Needle Rapids. 

David & Enid's Blog: David and Enid's Travels


Here are some items you should consider having with you, or on you, whenever you head out paddling. Most of these items can be fit into a small pouch that can be attached to the life jacket or contained in a pocket. These items are described as "The Essentials Plus" in the PaddleSmart program:

• Transport Canada Required Items:
1. Life jacket
2. Whistle
3. Throw bag
4. Bailer
5. Waterproof flashlight
• Other Essential Items:
1. Fire making kit
2. Signalling device (e.g. whistle, signal mirror)
3. Extra food and water
4. Extra clothing
5. Navigation & communication devices
6. First aid
7. Emergency blanket or shelter
8. Knife
9. Sun protection

In the pocket of my PFD I have a small pouch that in the video linked above has had the contents spread out. The contents include a signal mirror, granola bar, fishing line, snare wire, ~20' of thin cord, orange bandana, emergency blanket, lighter, & fire starter. In the canoe or kayak I also almost always have extra clothing, rain gear, some form of shelter (tarp &/or a bothy bag), extra food, water (though we can usually drink our water from the lake), first aid kit, more lighters, matches and fire starting stuff. 

Kayak Asshole

This is pretty hilarious. Enjoy! Thanks to the Kayak Yak blog for sharing! http://kayakyak.blogspot.ca/2014/08/kayak-asshole.html

Inspiration for Rod

NSE member Rod often tells the story of falling a large tree in his back yard much to his neighbour's chagrin. Well, we think Rod will enjoy this precision tree-falling video.

CRCO Whitewater Festival

Northstar Expeditions had a great meeting in Bryan's back yard last night working on canoe outfitting and discussion various trip issues.

Here is a just-released fun video showing some of the awesomeness of the Churchill River Whitewater Festival. I keep missing it but the event is growing and just as cool as ever. NSE should plan to attend in 2015, maybe we could show those young whitewater punks a thing or two.


Whitewater Festival 2014 from McKinno on Vimeo.
Churchill River Canoe Outfitter's annual whitewater festival. Shot over the Canada Day Long Weekend at Surf City, Staircase Falls, Sluice Falls, The Shelf and Barker Island. A big thanks to CRCO for putting on the festival and to Canoe Kayak Saskatchewan for sending me!

Includes the song "The Walker" by Fitz and the Tantrums

Quick Release

Camp Coffee

This one's for Rod, who takes his coffee very seriously.

The refrain starting at about 1:43 is especially apt for Rod. I totally agree with him, but you don't wanna mess with a coffee-less Rod.

Kevin Callan put together this video about making camp coffee and is pretty much what we do on our trips, including the Littlebug Sr. stove. The video is pretty good, despite his sense of humour. ;)



Happy birthday, buddy.

Ski to Sea Race, A Goal For 2018?

I learned today about a pretty awesome looking race in Washington, the Ski to Sea Race. It's a relay race involving 7 different sports:

1. cross country skiing (4 mile loop), 
2. downhill skiing (2.5 mile loop), 
3. running (8 miles), 
4. road cycling (42 miles),
5. canoeing (18.5 miles),
6. mountain biking (13 miles) and
7. sea kayaking (5 miles)

You'll note that I mentioned that the first two events are loops. That should make the downhill ski section pretty interesting! 

I mentioned 2018 in the title because I think it'll take me a while to get into race condition, though Jay should be nearly there since he's an experienced adventure racer and is competing in the Dirty Donkey this summer. 

Maybe our Montreal River/Otter Lake/Churchill River trip from 2009 could be considered our warm-up event (cycling, packing up, paddling, driving, more paddling, for a single day total of 77 self-propelled kilometers, with a hangover).

Northern Saskatchewan "Highway" Shuttle Service

Wherever we end up going for our 2013 trip, it looks like we can rely on Churchill River Canoe Outfitters to pick us up!

Kayaking The Great Bear

What do you think guys, a trip to BC and the Great Bear Rain Forest?


KAYAKING THE GREAT BEAR, a Search for Wilderness from Kayaking the Great Bear on Vimeo.

The Fishing Bet

This is a great video about some friendly competition between father and son on a fishing trip. As a group of fathers, Northstar Expeditions approves!



www.loonislandoutdoors.com

The Shuttle, Explained

Most of NSE's trips have been circuit trips requiring no shuttle, except that year with the infamous bike shuttle. However, we may want to expand our repertoire so this video by Paul Mason may offer some helpful tips.

p.s. Not to brag, but I met Paul on Tuesday of this week and watched him playboat in the icy Ottawa river for a while. I also met Becky Mason and Joyce Mason this week, and stayed in the home of Joyce and the late Bill Mason (OK, so I am bragging).

Scarred For Life

(I suspect her dropping her paddle didn't make a lick of difference.)

Drope Lake Timelapse

This was shot on the last night of our canoe trip this fall on the Churchill River.  We were camped at Big Stanley Rapids overlooking Drope Lake in Lac La Ronge Provincial Park.

Drope Lake Time-lapse from Rob Kunz on Vimeo.

Gnarly Sailing

On the recent Northstar Expeditions trip to Nistowiak Falls from Stanley Mission, we did a little downwind sailing for a few kilometers. Our sail rig was as simple as it gets: with the canoe in the centre and a kayak on each side, we held the a tarp erect with paddles to catch the wind. Sometimes hard to hold, hard to see where we were going, and with strictly downwind capability, this tarp sail was rather limited in it's efficiency. We sailed a little slower than we would have been paddling, but didn't need to paddle (that's not to say we weren't working at it).

It looks like we could learn a lot from Mr. Gnarlydog. Check out this post on the Gnarlydog News blog to see some fantastic sailing in small paddle craft. http://gnarlydognews.blogspot.ca/2012/08/video-kayak-sailing-in-bay.html

Kayaking in Some Hairy Stuff

This is way beyond NSE, but it's pretty exciting to watch. Interesting to see how they got out in the end. This is from Neptune's Rangers who are the California coastal kayak equivalent to Northstar Expeditions. (No, not really.)

Potato Gun + GoPro

Don't show this one to Rod.

Johnny

This one's for Jay. I heard this tonight while listening to Fred Eaglesmith and I thought of Jay. I was able to find this video of a couple of guys in a bar, but I'm pretty sure they're covering a Fred song, they sound like they're trying to sound like Fred Eaglesmith. Maybe they're a couple of Fredheads.

To hear Fred sing it properly, find it here: http://www.robspotter.com/jukebox2/120121_knoxville/ (21 minutes in if you want to skip the opening acts, which are also pretty good).

Friends

It's Almost Time

The folks at Churchill River Canoe Outfitters in Missinipe, Saskatchewan obviously have a great sense of humour. Check out this video from earlier today (May 3rd, 2012).