BaffinPaddler - http://baffinpaddler.blogspot.com

Why is hindsight always the smarter part of your brain that you discover a little too late . . . ? When packing up to head for home after a great three-day kayak camping trip to Camelot Island in the 1000 Islands on the St. Lawrence River in Ontario, Canada last August, I had a little mishap. At the time, it felt like a BIG trauma! The paddle buddies were all out on the water waiting for me. All my gear was secure in its proper place in my Boreal Baffin sea kayak, except for one last little important thing. I put my Olympus Stylus Tough waterproof camera on the front deck of my Boreal Baffin and opened up the day hatch behind the seat. When I turned to reach for it, the camera, and its bright orange camera float, suddenly slid off the front deck of my kayak and dove between the dock planks. “THERE GO ALL THE PHOTOS OF THIS TRIP!” OK, I added a few four letter words to that sentence first. I couldn't believe it was possible. Look at the photos. The spa...

To spring paddle or not to spring paddle? That is the question. In a Canadian spring clime I have to think twice about hauling out all the kayaking gear I need to paddle cold water so . . . the bike gets more action at this time of year. The legs don't get much work in a kayak, so it's their time to play in spring. Biking is awesome at this time of year. Fewer people on the paths. Cooler temps. I cycled to a pretty cool place to do some outdoor yoga along the shoreline of the Deschenes Rapids with views of some dam ruins, if you can call them views. They are really dangerous industrial decay that they don't know what to do with in Aylmer, Quebec, Canada. The rapids are extremely dangerous here. Not for paddling or swimming but spectacular to view from a safe spot. I wanted to climb up on a piece of rock, actually dam ruins along the shore, to strike a few yoga poses and stretch out. But the gulls rule here. The sentries said, "HEY. It's our rock!...

Tree pose in Gordon Island's historic 1904 Gazebo, 1000 islands, Ontario, Canada The first time I walked around Gordon in the summer of 2011, it reminded me of a war zone. At first sight, it was a wasteland of many tall, dead trees and burned out trees from a controlled burn on parts of the island by the St. Lawrence Islands National Park in the Spring of 2010 in their efforts to restore natural habitat and rejuvenate oak tree growth. The tallest trees weren’t burnt, but they were dead and barren. Almost all of Gordon Island's mature red oaks have become victims of short-horned oakworm , ice storms, and not enough rain in past years. Part of Gordon's trail was lined on both sides with a dense tangled mass of the tallest wild raspberry bushes I’d ever seen. I felt like I was walking through a three-foot tall corridor of barbed wire . All the proliferating wild raspberry and blackberry bushes on the island shade out the struggling oak tree seedlings, a...