Tag: paddle

  • Kayak Paddle & Portage Frozen Ocean to Big Dam At Kejimkujik Nova Scotia

    Labour Day is a busy time of year at Kejimkujik National Park in Nova Scotia. It is one of the last weekends to enjoy summer like weather in the backcountry. As a result a good chunk of the backcountry sites were occupied as many were opting to canoe camp across a few sites.

    So I opted for a day trip of paddling starting at Portage Q at the Big Dam parking lot. The game plan was to make it as far as Portage S, or to Frozen Ocean lake.

    The morning was cold, 11C with stiff winds. Getting to Portage took a little over an hour. Portaging to the start of Still Brook took another 30 minutes.

    The brook was sheltered from the wind so I meandered along another hour to reach Portage S. Campsite 5 was nearby however, pretty much every site I passed was occupied so I found a stump to enjoy some lunch and wait for another couple that were having their lunch at Portage R before attempting the brook.

    As I was sending out tweets via my inReach, I was asked by a follow (Chris) to check out the crossing along Channel Lake Loop. I walked over and noticed a water level ruler, the water level was around the 65cm mark. Honestly, it looked like you could paddle instead of portage or if you were hiking across the brook, to wear some sandals and a extra pair of shorts.

    The original plan was to paddle out further to the ranger station on Frozen Ocean, but the wind at the beginning wore me out, so I decided to head back to start. I had made an error in my distances and did not include Still Brook in the scope of things.

    GPS track via Garmin inReach Explorer+

    At this point, I had a little over 8kms on my Garmin inReach Explorer+ Trip Odometer. It was time to turn around.

    Luckily the sun had come out and the wind started to die down.However there was enough wind in my back to cut off 45 minutes, which was good as Portage R felt longer as my arms were getting tired.

    Once back at the truck, the trip odometer was a tad over 17kms. Not a bad day. Quick change into some dry clothes. The parking lot at big dam seemed more full than usual. I stopped at visitor centre and picked up a keji coffee mug.

     

    Gear I Used

     




  • Carving A Cherrywood Voyageur Style Canoe Paddle At Lee Valley Tools

    If you are into woodworking, there is a chain of stores in Canada called Lee Valley Tools that’s been around for a number of years specializing in traditional wood working tools.

    They had a series of canoe paddle events due to Canada 150 celebrations so I decided to sign up for the event held in Halifax a few weeks ago.

    The class was small with most people driving in at least half a day from neighbouring provinces to attend.

    Type of Canoe Paddle

    We had three types of paddle to choose from

    • ottertail
    • modern beavertail
    • voyageur

     

    Canoe Paddle Wood Selection

    The type of wood varied, you had birch, ash, maple, walnut and if you were the right fit there were a few spotted maple & curly birch pieces.

    Most of the work was done as many blanks were pre-cut. So the first task was to size a paddle and hopefully the type of wood you wanted.

    I ended up getting a cherrywood blank in voyageur style.

     

    Tools Used

    The only tools we needed were: pencil, rasp, hand planer and some other tools from Lee Valley. This one worked very well for me as I started to shave down the wood.

    Veritas Spokeshaves

    After marking a number of guidelines, you spent the next six hours working your piece of wood into a paddle. By the end of the day, you should have something finished that you can either finish sanding at home or varnish.

     

    The Finish

    Three coats of Spar Varnish for the wall, five coats for the water. I finished off using 220 & 400 grit sandpaper.

    It wasn’t until I started sanding that the paddle came together. I was very happy with the end result. Yeah sure, you could buy something cheaper at the store, and once you look closer the paddle isn’t perfect but I like it.

     

    Spar varnish is really bringing out some nice color out of this chery wood canoe paddle

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