I am thankful to have my Dad, Earle, updating this for me. The posts would be very far and few between if not for him posting what he can glean from our short conversations or a few text messages.
We are home in Danville at the moment. Last night we stayed at my Grandparents camp on Daniel's pond in Glover Vermont, not terribly far from Newport VT and the remaining stretch we have through Vermont.
We came home to get a few things, and most importantly, wash our clothes. We were both starting to stink a bit, after 12 days wearing the same things.
Anyways, from where my Dad last updated our progress.
Wednesday morning we woke up in Davis park in Richford Vermont. A campsite pretty close to the main road, but about the only place to stay. Woke up to a pouring rain. Great. Really our first poor weather of the trip, we have been fortunate (or unfortunate with low water) from the lack of rain. Had to bail the canoe out before we started portaging. We packed up in the tent, and made our oatmeal in the park's bandstand, and attempted to wait the rain out a little bit. No luck there, it just rained harder, so we packed the tent up in the rain, and portaged through town. Got onto the river, and the current was pretty swift, making our upstream paddle on the Missisquoi river even harder. Swift current, added with still low spots in the river, made for very tough paddling. The river was so muddy we couldn't see where we were putting our feet to line up the river either. Expending alot of time and energy to not go very far, it was frustrating to say the least. So we made the decision to take out on the main road, and portage the canoe to the border. The last thing I wanted to do was walk further, but we were having such a hard time paddling, it had to be done. So we wheeled the canoe across the border, and began looking for a place to put back in the river, as the Missisquoi is deeper on the Canadian side. We must have missed the put in, and wheeled 2 miles into Canada before we found a place to launch. Then it was hard, but very doable, paddling to Carrefour campground, an RV park on the river and one of the few places to stay in Quebec. We got put into a large field, with only one other tenter set up, so it was a peaceful, although buggy evening.
Thursday morning we put back on the river, and paddled up to the North branch of the Missisquoi, and took that to Mansonville, Quebec where we portaged through town, and went through a big fiasco trying to get some Canadian cash to pay for a boatwash on Memphremagog. We got some eventually. Back on the river for a stretch, until we came to chemin peabody, the road the Grand portage goes over. 5.7 miles over the height of the land, traversing two seperate watersheds. It was not nearly as far as some of the walks we had, but it was quite a climb, a very steep dirt road.
We made it to Lake Memphremagog, got our boat washed, and attempted to put in the water. We paddled around to the motor boat wharf, and the waves were really tossing us, they were a good 3-4 foot swells. Scared me that we were going to swamp the canoe. Thinking of both our safety, we elected to pull out and wait on the wharf. The lake didn't seem to be calming down, and a local gave us a forecast of increasing winds. OK. Options- stay at the wharf all night, leave early morning, MAYBE the lake would be calmer. Or, get picked up at Perkins landing, where we were, instead of Newport, where we had planned. We elected to get picked up at the landing, and got shuttled to my Grandparents camp where we stayed. I feel this was a safety decision, just like when we got shuttled up a good portion of Lake Champlain. Big water, big waves, big boats, makes our canoe feel very small. I feel no shame in missing these parts, I honestly feel it was a matter of our safety.
So, here we are, back home in Vermont, taking a few needed rest days. The blisters on my feet need some time to recover from all of out walking (canoes go IN the WATER not over ASPHALT!) we are getting some solid home cooked meals, a nice bed, and showers. The next leg of our journey beyond Vermont is getting into the heart of Maine, and I am very much looking forward to paddling in Maine. I think it will be the best part of the trip. Vermont, my home state, is known to be one of the hardest sections to paddle. With the two big lakes, Champlain and Magog, along with 73 miles upstream on the Missisquoi, and upstream on the Clyde river, the very twisty Nulhegan river, and add in few options for camping, it is a trying section. The next few days we will be doing day trips based out of my Grandparents camp. We will leave in the morning, paddle to a spot, and come back to Camp. This will probably go on until we reach the Nulhegan river, which dumps into the Connecticut river. Then we will be right back into it.
I am feeling very good about the trip so far. New York was very enjoyable, with the exception of low-water on the Saranac river. Vermont was a challenging stretch, but very gratifying to conquer the Missisquoi, even though it almost kicked our butts. We are now enjoying a few rest days, and looking forward to Maine, still with over half the trip to go. I am confident we will finish, and believe it or not, I am enjoying myself immensely. Even with the blisters, the sunburns, the bug bites and swarming black flies, the unplanned long portages, I am having a great time, and I am very happy to have Meghan along with me as a paddling partner.
~ Chris
No comments:
Post a Comment