Day 6 of the Magnetawan - a special place in my heart, and in my backyard. (that's where the boat is)

Here is another trip excerpt. It's my break from marking exams. Drifting down memory lane. . . or chute rather.

Day 5

Pressure finally seems to be rising. Let’s hope it keeps going. After they laughed at us, we let the boys try their hand at cooking good pancakes over a fire, so we could have a turn to laugh, and laugh we did. It’s 10:48 though and we need to go.

· A dark cold morning. Mountain Chute portage went over perfectly, and we paddled hard to get to Three Snye. We were worried because we saw a group from yesterday pass us as we were getting on the water. We paddled and portaged quickly and wondered why we didn’t see the other group with their 2 Grummans and mojoing campers. When we got to the Three Snye portage, a kind pair of ATVers informed us that our target site was free. What a relief. They also told us a French couple wrapped and snapped a boat on $30 rapids yesterday. I told them I thought that was typical for $30. Hopefully it’s not typical for us. Apparently we are lucky to get this site as it is in high demand these days. We are told a couple stayed here for 2 weeks straight! Why, we can only guess. As for the other group, who we certainly should have seen. . . It is possible (after consultation of the map) that they ducked out right after our campsite for a jaunt on the South Magnetawan River, which pencil markings on our old Topo indicated has been done by Kandalore in the past. If they paddle hard on it they skip $30 and end up on Miner Lake sooner than we do. This is if they don’t head further south to a road and take out. I hope our Miner Lake site is free, it’s my favourite.
Three Snye is an indicator of how low the water really is. It’s frightening. The middle and river right channels are gone – no water is moving through them. Kind of sad – more like One Snye. Oh well, it is August. It’s too cold to swim and the sky is grey. There’s a sullen beauty over everything and morale remains high.

· Later in the day I borrowed Tyler’s magnesium block and tried my hand at starting a fire and found it quite easy in these ideal conditions. I will invest in a block of it myself. If all fails it will light even after being wet. Very practical. I used the method of scraping chaff from a cedar trunk, in combination with birch bark it was very effective. Some milkweed in a film canister would make a great survival kit with this. Hopefully the pressure will rise over night. $30 will be better with sun, and Miner Lake has beautiful sunsets. . .



Day 6

This day has always been ceremonial to me, but this was legendary to match no other. We woke up at Three Snye to high pressure which promised a final break in the darkness. Morale was super high, with ridiculous songs and jokes all the way. The weather cleared as low water gave way to easy carry overs, and lines where there used to be portages. Jeff and I did a professional grade line around decapitation rock, and the boys handled their boats well through all obstacles. I rounded a point and found 1 raincoat, 1 pair of rain pants, and one pair of rain overalls, which of course fit jeff perfectly to match his styling Tommy Hilfiger dress shirt (also found). We deduced that these probably belonged to the Quebec couple that were rumoured to have lost their boat “snapped in half” in $30. We thought they took of their things to go deal with their boat. As we came up to my favourite place, where intense portaging followed by a drop-in happens, I was running up the shore to scout the portage and saw the bow deck of an ABS boat sticking out. I knew we were right about the raingear. As we ran up, we realized the boat was not snapped at all, but just very badly pinned, wrapped, wedged and submerged. The water was shallow enough in the boat to walk across the river here, which was as wide as the boat’s length. We immediately got excited about the prospect of a new boat for me. I think Jeff was more excited than I was! After spending 2 hours trying every angle and vantage point, and many different strategies of rigging mechanisms for mechanical advantage, trying to use the water to our gain, Jeff and I looked at each other. He perched on a cliff up in front of me, and I standing in the boat, water rushing around my knees, we hit on the solution at once. It wasn’t the water that was keeping the boat from flipping. It was the yoke and thwart distributing the force. After tying a safety line to the bow of the boat as with earlier attempts, I went to work with the saw on my Swiss Army knife. I cut through the yoke, and the boat settled. The same occurred for the thwart. The boat immediately lost its integrity, and after I scrambled up the cliff, Jeff and I gave the bow everything we had. It rose up backwards, folding the boat in half. Rearing it’s head like a beast, it immediately popped free, and the boat was mine. We howled like warriors as it wrenched free, and we gave wilder screams as we pulled it into shore, victorious. We have still not stoped smiling all day. I have my very own Swift Dumoine ABS boat. With about 2.5 hours of seat, yoke, and thwart work, it will be a perfect whitewater boat of $2000 value, with no more than a creased hull to show for our trouble. I shot the rest of $30 rapids with my prize tethered in tow. Here we are now, full of perogies, perched on Miner Lake, enjoying our last evening of trip, watching the sun go down on our warm rocky home. We enjoyed the legendary status of Day 6 of the Magnetawan, and we are 1 boat, 3 pieces of raingear, 1 plaid shirt, and 2 whitewater paddles richer, not to mention a bailer, some rope, quick dry pants, and a bad ass bandana. This trip will not soon be forgotten.







Day 7

A legendary summer, hopefully to be followed by another. Ending on a high note, I will write no more, as I am back in camp now, I am home.