Monday, April 28, 2014

First Canoe Expedition of 2014!

A friend and I got out today for my first paddle of the season, the earliest I think I've ever paddled, in spite of the late cold winter.  We paddled down the flooded Wodehouse Creek, into the ephemeral Wodehouse Lake, where the sinkholes back up and the creek overflows.  It creates quite a lake that only lasts for a few weeks in the early spring.

I paddled my small pack canoe, and my friend his kayak.  This flooded lake is the overflow that creates the ephemeral waterfall 2 km. downstream which I featured in a post two weeks ago.  Note the bit of snow still left, on the northeast lee slope of the hill where it only disappears slowly.

We started from the flooded bridge on the 7th Sideroad, just east of the hamlet of Wodeshouse.  All of this is just a small stream for the other 10 or more months a year, and it felt very strange to paddle straight between the trees while we knew the creek underneath us was winding back and forth.

Soon we were down into the wider 'lake', and here we're paddling directly on top of three of the main sinkholes - nearly 20 feet beneath us at this point. You can see pictures of these sinkholes and the flooded fields below in my post from last October - the 7 first photos in that post are all underwater in these pictures!

The back-up of water is so high that you can paddle past the sinkholes, through the old fence, and south over the flooded fields downstream.  At this point I'm paddling right on top of a walking trail that is about 4 feet beneath me!

We paddled across the flooded fields, scaring some ducks and geese in the process (see the first picture above), and then paddled back through the old fence and into the one area of this unusual system that retains water all year.  Ahead of us is the perched pond of about an acre, sitting 18 feet higher that the nearby sinkhole.  Obviously there is no hydrological connection between them - except right now, when the flood connects them.

And this is the picture that answers one of my key questions about how this system works.  I'm sitting on the perched pond, looking out toward the flooded sinkholes (the water drops to about 20+ feet deep just beyond those trees).  The trees and shrubs are growing on a ridge of land between the pond and the much lower sinkholes, where I have stood to get pictures of the sinkholes in the summer.  Currently it's under about 3 feet of water.  So I have proven to myself at least that this pond gets recharged during the spring flood.

Pretty soon we were headed back up the creek to our vehicles, on a very beautiful afternoon for paddling.  The sky just got more spectacular as we went, so maybe I'll add some sky photos tomorrow.

By the way, my canoe (one of them anyway), is a very small lightweight model, only 13' long, and only about 36 pounds.  You paddle it in a kayak seat, with a kayak paddle (keeping my camera out and ready for use in front of me).  It's just a dream to paddle!

Linking to:
http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.ca/

15 comments:

  1. Interesting post. I love to paddle, canoe or kayak. We still have patches of snow on shady hillsides, too, and will have snow and ice in the morning. (Minnesota, US)

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  2. so peaceful out there, very relaxing scenes.

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  3. Beautiful shots!

    I photographed a guy kayaking on the Rideau River... above an area where beneath was supposed to just be ground.

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  4. Very brave of you to paddle such cold flooded waterways. I was looking at my local river last week, thinking about going paddling, but the rushing current was hurling flotsam around with such force that it would be like getting torpedoed if any crashed into my canoe. Nice canoe you have! Who made it? I have a 10-foot Hornbeck carbon-fiber canoe made in the Adirondacks, weighs just 12 pounds. I can easily carry it for distances to hidden ponds back in the woods. But I'm waiting for quieter waters and warmer weather, when more plants are up and blooming along the banks.

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    1. There was virtually no current here, and it's not really very large, and we were certainly careful -lifjackets on for a trip at this season! The canoe is made by Swift here in Ontario. I was aware of yours from a post sometime last year, but I still can't believe a canoe only 12 pounds! I too am hoping we'll see some plants in the woods soon!

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  5. Great photos and it all looks beautiful. It would be fun to canoe/kayak around there with all that spring flood water around - but really I much prefer my kayaking to be in much warmer water - and to be in swimmers instead of all that extra clothing!!!

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  6. Nice day for a paddle! How long does this area stay flooded?

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    1. It varies year to year depending on how much snow we get and how fast the spring melt is. Last year it was only a few days; this year it's been 3 weeks so far. I'll be posting more pictures as it subsides and the ephemeral waterfall dries up.

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  7. Lovely scenes from your outing. You can see that the water level is high.. A beautiful day to go canoeing. Thanks for sharing, have a happy day!

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  8. Very interesting. So the sinkholes don't create a current that pulls at the canoes?

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    1. No, the sinkholes aren't big enough to create any current when it's flooded, though there is a current when it's just a stream plunging in to the rock. We weren't worried about being sucked under!

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  9. Looks like a great day to be out and about!

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  10. Still pretty cold for a paddle, but I bet it was great to get out on the water. Lovely scenery.

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  11. It's so interesting to see these photos an imagine what lies beneath the water when there is no water.

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  12. What nice photos on your day out in the flood waters!

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