The Crew at the Church on 6/30
And again in Cleveland
Ditto again. Nice look Gregs.
7/1/7. Hartley Bay Marina. Our Starting point to Canoe Base
Waiting our turn to get on the water taxis
Because Keith and Greg are wearing red life jackets, they had to clean and cook all week. Chris didn't have to do anything because he wore a blue one. At least according to the guy running the boat.
The rest of the crew joins us at Canoe base
7/1/7. After stowing our gear at base, we took a quick swim test, loaded up the canoes and headed out. Our first lunch spot.
A quick lunch of crackers, peanut butter and jelly.
7/1/7. We reach our first camp. Here we setup and go fishing.
Justin coming back from the lake behind our camp.
Cooking our first dinner. Making PUDDING!
7/2/07, leaving on our first full day on the river.
This a sunken tug at the head of the rapids. It was used to push logs down river.
The rapids we ran. actually not too bad.
We wanted to check them out before we ran them. Another group went down before us (non-boy scouts). They made it okay but when they tried to paddle UP the rapids, they flipped their canoe.
7/2/1. Lunch of the spicy hot chile cheese nachos.
Garrett Ripa, our guide. An Eagle scout from Troop 269 in Aurora.
Out the western outlet of the French on our way to Sandy Nook, our campsite.
View from our campsite. The island in the distance on the center left (wayyyy out there) is Ride out Island, part of the Bustard Island chain.
Our campsite on 7/2/7.
Sunset at Sandy Nook.
7/3.7. We approach the Bustard Islands. In the distance are the light houses.
Josh and Justin at the top of one of the lighthouses. The 2 older inactive ones had entrances to the top. The active one did not.
a view from the lighthouse island. Similar to Maine at low tide.
View from a top one of the lighthouses. The smudge at center left is actually a spider. The windows at this lighthouse were covered with webs and spiders.
Greg C a the top of one.
Greg and Keith.
Our campsite at the Bustards. Nothing like sleeping on granite. The tent on the left is actually in a runoff ditch. The boys would find out tonight why not to sleep there.
Canoe Merit Badge work. The boys here have to jump out, climb in, swamp the canoes and bring them to show. The water temperature here is about 10 degress colder than the river (we are in the Georgian bay).
Jumping into the water to swamp the canoes. I'm not sure if Josh is coming out after feeling how cold the water was!
7/4/7. Happy 4th of July! On dry land after a hairy crossing of the Georgian Bay. Breaking swells around 2-3 feet, partially swamping one canoe. The Island in the background is the one with the lighthouses.
This was a neat part of this day (7/4/7). After crossing the bay, we went into a series of canal-like channels, working our way towards the Bad River
A directional Cairn. This markes the correct passage through.
A view of one of the channels. Much better to be in these than out on the bay.
One of the many cabins in the French River basin. This dog was greeting us with a howl.
Devils' Door Rapids
Devils Door. We had to portage the canoes up this about 150-200 feet.
View from atop Devils Door. In the background is a large anchorage area for larger boats.
View from Devils Door.
Our campsite on 7/4/7. Trying to dry some things out from the previous nights rain and the crossing of the bay.
Morning of 7/5/7.
Our first rattlesnake. This crawled into the space where the adults camped. This was taken minutes after our tent was taken down.
More Canoe Merit Badge work. Here Greg is jumping in the water to pull himself in later.
Greg C's completes a requirement: getting into a canoe by himself.
T-Rescue begins
Next group does the T rescue
Greg H with Garret (our Guide) practice's steering.
Garrett works on his potatoes!
Trophy Fish!!
Sunset along the river.
7/6/7. Sunrise along the river.
7/6/7. Our guide says goodbye. From here on we are on our own.
Camp at Pike Lake
7/7/06. The crew at camp after we had cleaned up. backrow: Dave Hooper, Karl Crook, Josh Brown, Justin Miller, Garrett Ripa (guide). Front Row: Greg Hooper, Chris Carter, Greg Carlise, Keith Crook
