I have just returned from the park and will probably keep this post short. With two friends, I kayaked around
Beausoliel Island, the one island of the park open to visitors. Georgian Bay, a part of Lake Huron, has more than 30,000 islands; the park consists of about ten. With so many islands, the waterways sometimes look like rivers as in this photo.
Here I am, posing for the camera. Of the three, I had the most experience with sea kayaking and had visited the island a few times previously (six years or more ago).
I said I had the most experience, not that I had a lot of experience. We figured the vultures were waiting for us!
One side of the island is sheltered and the water calm. On the open water side, there is more than a hundred kilometres for the waves to build up. These swells wouldn't look out-of-place on the ocean. We reached this point and studied the waves for twenty minutes before deciding to push on. We had all been competitive swimmers and ironically would have felt safer crossing the open water stretch by swimming than by kayaking.
On the little island is Brebeuf lighthouse. Brebeuf was a Jesuit 'black robe' locally famous as part of Ontario's earliest white settlement,
St. Marie Among the Hurons.
In a post below (I'll fiddle with the datestamps so it appears under this post) I'll write more.
I said I had the most experience, not that I had a lot of experience. We figured the vultures were waiting for us!
One side of the island is sheltered and the water calm. On the open water side, there is more than a hundred kilometres for the waves to build up. These swells wouldn't look out-of-place on the ocean. We reached this point and studied the waves for twenty minutes before deciding to push on. We had all been competitive swimmers and ironically would have felt safer crossing the open water stretch by swimming than by kayaking.
On the little island is Brebeuf lighthouse. Brebeuf was a Jesuit 'black robe' locally famous as part of Ontario's earliest white settlement, St. Marie Among the Hurons.
In a post below (I'll fiddle with the datestamps so it appears under this post) I'll write more.
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9 comments:
Glad to see another update!
Water looks a but rough.
Not only was "buzz" the self proclaimed most experienced but also the most frightened.
Signed a fellow kayaker,
The Sultry Sultan
I'd prefer it if you capitalized the 'B' in my name, sir.
It's damn good to hear from you, Sultan.
I hope this means you are again connected and I can hear, once in a while, what's going on in the Muskokas.
Oh, Nine-toes was upset that once again, you had the better nick-name.
I honestly think I was the most experienced on the trip - at least in the narrow field of most experienced-in-a-sea-kayak-going-around-Beauseliel-Island. Still, perhaps it is time to recognise that my boat skills are fading rapidly, while yours are fresh.
This is fast becoming another adventure area of real interest to me. You didn't happen to find anything on this trip? Some of this pictures look very close to spots where I have mused..........
DSD
"Summit Stones & Adventure Musings By DSD"
Blogger.Com
I haven't made up my mind if DSD is some sort of spammer. S/he claims to have a site on Blogger but never links directly to it. With a google search, I find many mentions of DSD and summit stones and blogger.com but never any actually blog.
From the very superficial research I did, 'Summit Stones' seem to be painted stones or markers of some kind. They are meant to bring a feeling of connectedness or act as a muse and encourage you to..., well, I'm not sure, hike more, paddle more, even write about your adventures, I guess.
This is, prima facia, a worthy goal. However, I don't want to see these marker stones everywhere- I hike and paddle to leave signs of man behind for a while, not to find a new sort of grafitti or deliberately-dropped refuse.
On the same topic, Georgian Bay Islands National Park specifically forbids 'geocaching' - the game of leaving a 'cache' (typically a log book to record your success in finding the 'cache') and posting GPS references online so others can hunt for it. The concept of 'Summit Stones' doesn't sound that different.
DSD, I admit my understanding of summit stones is cursory at best. If you return, please link to your blog so I can learn more. I also admit my response here has been a little cranky, but I am genuinely curious. BTW, we did not find anything that we could recognise as a summit stone. We did pass a little garbage, and we saw several forms of wildlife.
UPDATE:
Summit stones has a blog at:
http://summitstones.blogspot.com/
I have to go out the door now so I'll look at it again, soon.
The painted stones have great scenic landscapes on them.
Hello Again KwandongBrian,
I appreciate your thoughts on the Summit Stones and where & how they are placed. I have given this much thought over the years as to how they may be received...
The vast majority have been placed with summit registers, at established trail heads and campsites, even on another adventurers car windshield in parking areas. And yes, some have been placed in more 'wilderness' locations too. I will certainly muse about this more as I too want to leave much behind me when I head out... and do not want to be intrusive with my efforts...
Maybe we will meet one day out on the water and talk by the campfire...
DSD
I wasn't sure if I left my http last comment as you asked.
DSD
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