Vacation...on the St. Croix
Finally, I get around to posting a few of the several hundred pics we have from out canoe trip on the St. Croix. My DH, three friends and I all drove to the canadian border here in Maine and did a four day three night river trip. DH and I had done the Croix once before a few years ago, and LOVED it, and couldn't imagine anything more fun than doing it a second time with some of our close friends!
As you can see in this first pic, two canoes and a kayak on a pick-up looks a bit top-heavy. This is actually the night before the river, we camped at a local campground so we could meet the outfitter (who was excellent) early the next am. It also happened to be one of our canoers birthdays, so we celebrated with lobster, steak, and corn, topped off with a pino noir and the first sips off the trip liquor. Let me tell you- lobsters steamed over a coleman stove have never tasted sooo good! To top it off, the trip had a slow start with some car trouble and a swing through the mechanics after switching subarus so all of us actually making it to princeton was something to be celebrated indeed.
The nice thing about DH and I doing A LOT of canoing together is we have out system dialed in perfectly. This is our canoe (an old town tripper that my parents bought in the early 80's that we have on extended "borrow") all loaded up and on the river. Everything we need is loaded in, I think our fishing poles and the map bag is all that's missing. Generally we don't tie anything down, but when we've got a whitewater section (the croix has 2) to do, we lash everything in via d-rings so IF we go over, we won't spend the rest of the day swimming after an aquatic yardsale. To give you a brief tour, those ACE buckets are fitted with screw-top gaskets, and hold our food and kitchenwear and some camping stuff. DH and I each have a yellow bag for all our clothes, personal stuff and sleeping bags/pads. The green bag is the tent, camp stuff like a lantern, machette (much more useful than an axe), water filter, coffee press, ect. Then there's the coleman stove, a small cooler for lunchies, a bigger one for fragile/cooled food, and our red day bag with field guides, sunscreen, bug spray, sunglasses, and all that type stuff. We also have a pelican box for the camera and binocs.
Now for the fun part. This is DH and I on Little Falls, a class three drop on the Croix. This section is able to be portaged, so you can either unload your gear and walk around so you can run it with an empty boat, or you could bring your whole boat around. We ran it full and lashed down, it was actually much easier than last time. There are two sides of the rapids seperated by an island and what line you pick depends on water level. We pulled up pics from last time at the same place and figure the water is about 1-2 feet higher this year. No rocks to aviod, just lots and lots of water. And FYI, the water is WAYYYYYYYYYY bigger in person-our pics make it look wimpy but it was a big class three!
I just like this pic. At a campsite during happy hour of iced gin and tonics with fresh lime after a long day on the river. And no, I did not intend to match my shirt and hair.
To end, i leave you with a pic of our other canoe party "canoing". It was so windy they decided to use a groundcloth to sail. And they were moving...check out the bow wake!
As you can see in this first pic, two canoes and a kayak on a pick-up looks a bit top-heavy. This is actually the night before the river, we camped at a local campground so we could meet the outfitter (who was excellent) early the next am. It also happened to be one of our canoers birthdays, so we celebrated with lobster, steak, and corn, topped off with a pino noir and the first sips off the trip liquor. Let me tell you- lobsters steamed over a coleman stove have never tasted sooo good! To top it off, the trip had a slow start with some car trouble and a swing through the mechanics after switching subarus so all of us actually making it to princeton was something to be celebrated indeed.
The nice thing about DH and I doing A LOT of canoing together is we have out system dialed in perfectly. This is our canoe (an old town tripper that my parents bought in the early 80's that we have on extended "borrow") all loaded up and on the river. Everything we need is loaded in, I think our fishing poles and the map bag is all that's missing. Generally we don't tie anything down, but when we've got a whitewater section (the croix has 2) to do, we lash everything in via d-rings so IF we go over, we won't spend the rest of the day swimming after an aquatic yardsale. To give you a brief tour, those ACE buckets are fitted with screw-top gaskets, and hold our food and kitchenwear and some camping stuff. DH and I each have a yellow bag for all our clothes, personal stuff and sleeping bags/pads. The green bag is the tent, camp stuff like a lantern, machette (much more useful than an axe), water filter, coffee press, ect. Then there's the coleman stove, a small cooler for lunchies, a bigger one for fragile/cooled food, and our red day bag with field guides, sunscreen, bug spray, sunglasses, and all that type stuff. We also have a pelican box for the camera and binocs.
Now for the fun part. This is DH and I on Little Falls, a class three drop on the Croix. This section is able to be portaged, so you can either unload your gear and walk around so you can run it with an empty boat, or you could bring your whole boat around. We ran it full and lashed down, it was actually much easier than last time. There are two sides of the rapids seperated by an island and what line you pick depends on water level. We pulled up pics from last time at the same place and figure the water is about 1-2 feet higher this year. No rocks to aviod, just lots and lots of water. And FYI, the water is WAYYYYYYYYYY bigger in person-our pics make it look wimpy but it was a big class three!
I just like this pic. At a campsite during happy hour of iced gin and tonics with fresh lime after a long day on the river. And no, I did not intend to match my shirt and hair.
To end, i leave you with a pic of our other canoe party "canoing". It was so windy they decided to use a groundcloth to sail. And they were moving...check out the bow wake!
posted by Sssarahevt at
3:17 PM
2 Comments:
It looks like you had a fantastic time.
That looks like LOADS of fun. My hubby and I are avid paddlers too. We have two canoes and a kayak. I've only used the kayak once, but we canoe whenever we can. :) Next Spring we'll be buying another canoe ... something to beat on in the river. Right now we have a Langford Nahanni and a yellow fiberglass something we bought for $150 at a garage sale a few years ago. Neither of which make good river/rapid boats, though we have run some rapids in them anyway. *lol*
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home