Pictures from outdoor exercise.
Options
Replies
-
Somehow working in my renovation doesn't seem appealing after looking at these pics...
1 -
I went for a run this morning. It was my second run since I started back up. I tried my new shoes. They're going to work. I ran a little farther than last time. I set my longest run (the previous one was miles I ran playing Ultimate last year) and my fastest mile (the previous fastest was on a treadmill in December 2018). My pace was just a little slower than last time, but I got faster after the halfway point.
I came home, took a shower, spent some time pruning on my tomato plants, and generally doing some garden maintenance.
Then I took the canoe down to the river near where I ran to go fish for a while.
I caught three, all on a #4 blue Vibrax that I removed the treble and put the siwash hook on. All on light tackle and 4# test line. The first fish might have been smaller than the lure. I reeled very gently trying not to put a hole in his mouth. Eventually it was able to swim off about three or five yards from the boat.
Second was a nice smallmouth. Maybe three pounds? Maybe less. I got it alongside the boat, decided I didn’t need it in the net, and released tension. It jumped out of the water and easily spit out the single barbless hook.
About two casts later I hooked that huge one. I thought it might drag me through town. The drag on the reel was letting line out pretty good. I convinced it to the boat and got the net. Then I fumbled around to try to get a picture without dumping my fishing gear. I bet it was at least five pounds. I know what a five pound scuba weight feels like. This was bigger. I laugh because the picture makes it look so much smaller. It was longer than the distance from my elbow to the end of my my hand, at least without my fingers extended.
Sheriff deputies were just taking a break when I arrived. I waved. They were coming back when I was done. I chatted them up. They never asked to see my kit. They did ask about the fishing. One asked about the reflective stickers on my paddle - were they to let people know what way I was going? I told them it was just for fun, and then showed them if I actually held it up, the colors would be backwards. He said, “Oh yeah. I didn’t think of that.”2 -
In a "normal" year, I'd be diving in the California Channel Islands about now. That trip was cancelled back in March or April because... well, you know why. I gave myself permission to spend most of the money I would have paid for the trip on a new (to me) canoe! It's ultra light, so kind of fragile. It's a 17' long Encounter, made to haul a LOT of gear or float a very large human. I was worried it was too much boat for me because I'm used to whitewater boats. This one has no rocker at all and wants to go straight. The seller had bought a Kruger Canoe and hadn't paddled this one in a year or two; he thought it should get back on the water, and I was fortunate enough to get to take it home. He even wanted me to take it paddling before I bought it to make sure it's the right boat for me.
We paddled about 10.6 miles starting on the Middle Fork Willamette and ending up at Valley River Center. There's a few small rapids. I was even able to surf the boat at Pizza Rapid. I was nervous at first because I couldn't make the boat turn, but I started to figure it out, and my butt is starting to grow out to the gunwales, the bow, and the stern.
Near the end of the trip the seller told me I was paddling the boat better my first day than he did after two years. But he had just started paddling at that time; I've been at it for a while. Now I am set up for carrying a week's worth (or a month's worth) of gear on flat water.
It even looks good on my truck.
I need to get a different paddle. I got to borrow a shorter bent shaft that weighs 15 ounces. I'll spend the rest of my vacation money getting one of those.3 -
Oh, man, @mtaratoot - nice boat. First glance at your first photo, I thought "looks like a Wenonah". I love my Wenonahs: Great, efficient flatwater boats. You're right, many of their boats love to fly straight, take a bit more to turn. (Everyone should buy a boat that's a *teeny* challenging to handle at current skill level, at least in the flatwater world, IMO - sounds like you hit it just right, maybe by luck.
).
A few years back, when I was imaginatively thinking I might do solo tripping**, I bought a Voyager (17'6") which was fine for obese Ann and gear, but is big for current Ann. If I take it out for pleasure, I need to get some weight in it, or it sits high enough to be a bit of a sail.
I have an Advantage (retired model, 16'6") that fits better now, might even be big enough for me & gear, but it's a long-retired kevlar racing layup, so a delightfully light 25 pounds to carry, and a pleasure to paddle, but the hull's a little eggshell-ish for tripping/touring, and the gunwales are tiny twig-like wood strips. Voyager sounds good, of current models. (There's also a 18' Sundowner tandem, among other things, in the pole barn . . . have I mentioned that I have a tiny bit of a boat hoarding problem? )
** My late husband and I used to do canoe-camping vacations every year, usually someplace in Algonquin Provincial Park. I'm not ashamed to admit he was the better canoeist, but I'd consider going now with a proper boat and some companions. Unfortunately, my prior canoe-camping buddies aren't up for the portages and long daily paddles anymore, and I'm not really comfortable with pure solo backwoods as an older woman alone. (We had some close calls, even as a couple . . . not paddling, mostly on portages. It's good to have companions to haul one out if necessary.)
Have fun with your new boat (and paddle
) - I know you will! 1 -
@AnnPT77
I actually have been keeping my eye out for an Advantage for a few years. Rumor has it that if you contact Wenonah, they still have the mold, and they will make one for you. I also was looking for USED boats. So I decided the Prism was the Wenonah model that made most sense. I looked at one in a shop, but they wanted way too much cash for it. It was the tougher layup, which would have been fine.
The Universe spun in such a way that this Encounter fell in my lap. If I decide it's too big for me, I can sell it. The advantage of it for ME is if I do decide to load it up. The Advantage was originally a recreational racer; not good for much of a load at all. The Prism can hold a moderate load. I can go all out and bring as much comfy stuff as if I were on my raft. Heck - I can take SCUBA gear across Waldo Lake and go dive Klovdahl Bay! The other advantage for me is that with the high bow and sides, it's a ridiculously dry boat, even in waves/rapids.
I bought the boat yesterdays, so today is my normal buyer's remorse day. Right on schedule I had to question why I bought such a delicate canoe. It's the nicest paddle boat I have.
So today I went out to see how it would go upstream.
I live right near Crystal Lake. So that's my start.
I was surprised that I could get up past the first island. It was still challenging, but unlike in the WW canoe, it was possible. But... that little hot spot I got yesterday? Turned to a blister and then wore through. Oh well. I kept going.
Then I surprised myself getting past the island below the water treatment plant. Then I figured I would go to that big eddy at Willamette Landing where that back channel comes in. That was a little over two miles. Then I figured I would go to 2.5 miles to make it an even five round trip.
Then I just kept going. I got to a shallow shelf right at three miles and turned around.
2 -
Hog's Back Falls with my beloved wife...
A mile downriver from the falls...
4 -
I've been a "boat broker" lately. I was looking for a canoe for a neighbor, and he found one for me. It's that Kevlar beauty pictured above. Then I found a tandem for him and his partner. Then I sold a whitewater kayak I wasn't using. Then I helped his partner sell a boat she didn't use to a couple who was looking for just that boat. It's been fun getting boats under people's butts.
So today the neighbor was going to take out their "new" tandem. Also a beautiful boat, but not quite as light. It was very lightly used on lakes only. Never seen a river. Never spent the night outside except when camping on lakes. We went to the river. Another neighbor came along. It was a nice ten mile paddle. Next time I want to take them up a little farther from town to some really nice sections of the river that are less crowded.
And, of course, now they realize that while they don't need to get rid of the tandem, two solo boats would be really nice
2 -
We lack the glorious mountains and river rapids that so many others post here, but we do have some nice woodlands and streams. This is a glimpse of the creek from the local trail system today, first time I've been on the bike this year: Early on, I was avoiding the risk of road-riding the surface roads to get to the trail, because our hospitals were overtaxed with coronavirus cases; then it turned hot and humid here and I didn't wanna ride. Nice today, still humid, a bit windy, but mid 70s F so pretty pleasant. Kept it short (11.7mi) and easy, for a first recreational ride.
3 -
I took Kev out again today. That name is probably going to stick. It's made of Aramid fiber, commonly known as Kevlar. I'm second guessing getting an ultralight canoe. It would be really easy to destroy it.
I started about 1.75 miles upstream from where I usually start, so I avoided a couple climbs and the "crowded" part of the river. It was work. I don't know if it's worth the difficult put-in to avoid the extra upstream work.
I was able to climb up to (and around) Ambrose Island in my canoe. It was about three miles up, and then back of course. There's usually an upstream wind in the afternoon. Today the wind was downstream much of the time which made it harder to attain.
I saw several Great Blue Herons, a marsh hawk, some green herons, lots of turkey vultures, plenty of swallows, mergansers, and other birds. Plus a family of four mature bald eagles.
I sure like paddling.
2 -
I took Kev out again today. That name is probably going to stick. It's made of Aramid fiber, commonly known as Kevlar. I'm second guessing getting an ultralight canoe. It would be really easy to destroy it.
They told us that kevlar was very resilient for impacts and abrasion but intolerant of sharps/punctures when we were issued soft body armour. The panels weren't sealed; I suspect the lamination process hardens the canoe.0 -
I took Kev out again today. That name is probably going to stick. It's made of Aramid fiber, commonly known as Kevlar. I'm second guessing getting an ultralight canoe. It would be really easy to destroy it.
They told us that kevlar was very resilient for impacts and abrasion but intolerant of sharps/punctures when we were issued soft body armour. The panels weren't sealed; I suspect the lamination process hardens the canoe.
Honestly, IME they're pretty sturdy. They take a surprising amount of bumping and banging, despite the alarmingly translucent material. I have two, one that is an even lighter layup than @mtaratoot's, an outdated olden times true racing canoe that's much lighter than the standard layup like his or my other solo canoe. (The light one is about 25 pounds at 16+ feet: Not much material there.) The second one is a similar layup to his, from the same manufacturer (Wenonah), just a different model, similar length as my racer, but 15-20 pounds heavier.
Now, these are not whitewater canoes. Whitewater models will take huge abuse. The kevlar boats aren't designed for that. They're for speedy, efficient flatwater paddling. The kevlar material is more able to be shaped into the complex curves that efficient hulls require, and deliver the light weights that are convenient for portage. But I've landed mine on rocky shores, accidentally hit hidden rocks or deadheads at normal paddling speeds, and that sort of thing. Not a problem.
I wouldn't take my retired racer out into the backwoods. That one truly is a little on the eggshell-y side, optimized for weight. But I used to canoe-camp regularly in Algonquin park. Mostly flat water, a little whitewater, but very doggone rocky pretty much everywhere, and some areas with (surprisingly) high density of deadheads leftover from logging operations. We had a different boat at the time, but very many of the boats we saw in there were this sort of kevlar boat (various manufacturers), being paddled by everyone from not-too-competent amateurs who rented them from an outfitter (and who seemed to hit every rock and deadhead on their route), to old hand guides who would take theirs out to play in whitewater I wouldn't take any open boat into. I wouldn't hesitate to take these boats there. They're light and strong. The Wenonahs specifically are made by a company up by the Boundary Waters, another flatwater but rocky kind of a place.
You don't want to break one in the backwoods, because they're not the easiest thing to field-repair. But they're pretty hard to break, if a person uses reasonable care. Not a boat for heavy, rocky whitewater, though. (Although some of those crazy guide dudes and dudettes . . . ! 😆)
@Mtaratoot, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm betting your confidence in the hull will grow, with time and experience. It may ask you for different reflexes than the whitewater canoes do (let alone your rafts), but it will also perform in other ways that they can't, of course. Tradeoffs, always tradeoffs! 😉2 -
@Mtaratoot, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm betting your confidence in the hull will grow, with time and experience. It may ask you for different reflexes than the whitewater canoes do (let alone your rafts), but it will also perform in other ways that they can't, of course. Tradeoffs, always tradeoffs! 😉
Oh, I love how it paddles. It's dreamy. Even at 17' long an zero rocker, it's surprisingly maneuverable. You just have to lean it over onto the tumblehome. Unlike in a whitewater boat, it's an outside lean - kind of like a sea kayak. he previous owner installed footbrace straps, so I can totally lean the boat and be in control.
I love how light it is. A couple weeks ago we did a downstream trip. At the end, we were going to run the boats back up to our neighborhood. The racks on my friend's Subaru wouldn't hold two canoes. I put my paddles, PFD, dry bag, and such into the rig, hefted the boat up over my head, and walked the half mile back home.
I like how comfortable it is. Instead of kneeling like in my whitewater boats, I have a nice seat on a sliding rail, and I have an adjustable foot brace. In my whitewater boat, my knees hurt after 20 minutes, and when I get back to shore after a couple hours, I can't even stand up. In this boat (Kev), I can paddle for hours and just hop out. I don't like that I have to hop out into the water. I should carry a pair of rubber boots for getting in/out. Once it's cold out, I can wear a dry suit and the wet feet won't be an issue.
The previous owned did put a hole in it the first day he owned it. I'm sure I've already put some new scuffs and scratches, and I wonder how long it will be before I have to add some patches or at least some resin to protect the fabric. But as Kurt said - paddle it, don't polish it. I do love the boat. It just takes a lot more special treatment. I'm thinking landing the boat in places like Waldo Lake will be limited to places that aren't lined with sharp basalt rock like most of the shore.2 -
@Mtaratoot, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm betting your confidence in the hull will grow, with time and experience. It may ask you for different reflexes than the whitewater canoes do (let alone your rafts), but it will also perform in other ways that they can't, of course. Tradeoffs, always tradeoffs! 😉
Oh, I love how it paddles. It's dreamy. Even at 17' long an zero rocker, it's surprisingly maneuverable. You just have to lean it over onto the tumblehome. Unlike in a whitewater boat, it's an outside lean - kind of like a sea kayak. he previous owner installed footbrace straps, so I can totally lean the boat and be in control.
I love how light it is. A couple weeks ago we did a downstream trip. At the end, we were going to run the boats back up to our neighborhood. The racks on my friend's Subaru wouldn't hold two canoes. I put my paddles, PFD, dry bag, and such into the rig, hefted the boat up over my head, and walked the half mile back home.
I like how comfortable it is. Instead of kneeling like in my whitewater boats, I have a nice seat on a sliding rail, and I have an adjustable foot brace. In my whitewater boat, my knees hurt after 20 minutes, and when I get back to shore after a couple hours, I can't even stand up. In this boat (Kev), I can paddle for hours and just hop out. I don't like that I have to hop out into the water. I should carry a pair of rubber boots for getting in/out. Once it's cold out, I can wear a dry suit and the wet feet won't be an issue.
Perhaps you've considered this and rejected it, but I found goretex socks (ideally un-insulated, when I can get them) and well-draining sneakers (or something similar) to be pretty great combo for paddling in places that involved wading, at similar depths that regular boots would handle. I don't like wet feet, or sandals - ever - personally, let alone in cold weather/water. Neoprene or insulated goretex too hot, for my taste.The previous owned did put a hole in it the first day he owned it. I'm sure I've already put some new scuffs and scratches, and I wonder how long it will be before I have to add some patches or at least some resin to protect the fabric. But as Kurt said - paddle it, don't polish it. I do love the boat. It just takes a lot more special treatment. I'm thinking landing the boat in places like Waldo Lake will be limited to places that aren't lined with sharp basalt rock like most of the shore.
Different automatic/reflex behaviors needed, for sure.0 -
Paddled 15 miles on Waldo Lake.
Launched at Shadow Bay.
Crossed 1.5 miles to the west side, then paddled north.
Took a short walk at the headwaters of the North Fork Willamette River.
Then a long five or six mile open water crossing back to Shadow Bay. Going along the east shore would have added more miles; conditions were fine for an open water crossing.3 -
There's room for a line here about "where's Waldo" but I looked it up on Google Maps. lol0
-
There is a ski resort called Willamette Pass. There's a green run that rambles around the back side called "Where's Waldo." I think it's not really a question, because just a couple hundred yards down from the lift you can get a nice view of Waldo Lake.
It's a real gem and a very special place to me (and a lot of other people). The water is an intense cerulean that, even when you look at it, is not even believable. At 420 feet, it's the second deepest lake in Oregon. Crater Lake is almost 2000 feet deep and is the deepest in the US. Waldo is among the clearest lakes in the world, and when conditions are right, you can see a secchi disk down to 120 feet.
On a related note, a friend who's out of work from the pandemic is doing a three-week backpack trip -- the Oregon section of the Pacific Crest Trail. She had a tough day yesterday, and today is going to hike the rim of Crater Lake.
The outlet of Waldo Lake is the headwaters of the North Fork Willamette, and that's also a very special place to me. This is it:
Maybe I'll get to go back SOON and camp overnight. I'll do it when it's not so crowded as a Labor Day weekend when people aren't traveling. It was NUTS yesterday afternoon!
1 -
Oh -- another thing:
When we were getting set up, I overheard a couple people talking while inflating paddle boards. One had left her paddle in the car when they met to carpool. They were trying to figure out if they could drive back to the highway, find some place (maybe Odell Lake lodge) that might sell a paddle. From what I've heard, there's no paddles to buy anywhere right now as demand has been so high, especially for cheaper paddles.
I keep at least one spare raft/canoe paddle in my truck. Mostly it's to use the T-grip to pull things out of the bed that I can't reach from the tailgate. I went over and asked where she lived. She lives about an hour from me, but has a neighbor that travels to my town. I gave her the paddle and my phone number. It's way too short to be ideal for a paddle board, but it saved their day. I got a nice text last night, and she's coming by in about four hours to drop my paddle off.
It's fun to get to help other people out!2 -
Since we're sharing boat pics, I'll share one, too. But I'm cheating, a little. This is my single shell, on "my" river, on the rowing club's dock. But I didn't row it today. (Not my oars, either. 😉) A friend (former Big 10 champion rower!) rowed my single, while I was rowing bow in the double with another rowng buddy of ours who's a med student at the U. The woman who rowed the single took its picture. I, and the other boat, are there somewhere, but out of frame. (It was a perfect day, partly cloudy, mid-50s F when we started, warming slightly as we rowed, negligible wind - could hardly be nicer rowing weather.)
1 -
I would love to try rowing a shell. It always looks like a lot of fun even if a lot of work. Our past Department Director is "in charge" of the Masters club around here. He tried to recruit me for a while, but it's such a big time commitment, and with a pretty set schedule. Maybe when I retire. A couple who is on my Ultimate team got started a year or so ago; they love it.
But it scares me.
Not because I'm afraid of swimming or destroying the shell, but because I don't need to be tempted to buy MORE boats. I already have a list of new boats for the quiver. A drift boat would be really sweet. I'd also like a much smaller raft to use as a paddle raft with friends and to put a frame on and row on smaller local rivers. My raft is a gear hauler, and it sucks up the Class III rivers around here. Maybe a little sporty cataraft. I'd like to replace my (or keep but add another) tandem canoe. It's a pig. But would I want another whitewater style tandem or flatwater. Both, obviously.
You DO know how many boats one person needs, right?Just one more.....
My padding partner yesterday was in a Hobie kayak that had Mirage Drive, so he was fast and didn't need his hands. He shot a little video of me paddling my dreamboat as we made our first 1.5 mile crossing from Shadow Bay to Klovdahl Bay.
Let's go paddle!
Or row!
2
