Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Gander River Canoe Trip

This past weekend I was invited on a 4 day, approx. 50km canoe trip on the Gander River, from Glenwood to Gander Bay, to do some salmon fishing (and a little drinking, 85 dozen beer over 4 days). This was the 8th annual trip and it was a blast. There were 7 canoes (14 guys). The group consisted of me, Shawn Reid, Colin Power, Steve Taylor, Mark Gillingham, Wallace Edwards, Patrick Byrne, Leon MacIsaac, Jason Strickland, Derek Dunne, Donovan Simms, Claude Aucoin, Tim Galarneau, and Dion (sorry, I don't remember his last name). The trip is put together by Mark Gillingham of Rodger's Cove, and I must say, he does a heck of a job of organizing all this. The river was higher and colder than it has been in years, however a lot of salmon were running. The weather was awful, we didn't see the sunshine the entire time, but we didn't let that bother us too much. The river opens up into several ponds along the way that you can just cruise your way down, but there were some tricky rapids we had to run, one in particular is called "Big Chute" and it was pretty intimidating. 5canoes ran it, 2 capsized after taking on too much water. I was lucky enough to be in one of the canoes that made it through. the 2 other canoes did different routes to get past the rapid. The water was COLD, around 5-6 degrees and the boys were lucky they got out of the water fast. A passerby in a riverboat was nice enough to help us retrieve the gear that had floated away on us. 2 nights we camped near cabins, as it provided us with as nice beach, fire pit and places to pitch our tents, and most importantly outhouses. We had some great sing alongs around the fire, and excellent food. It was the first time i've ever seen lasagne cooked on a camp fire, and it was damn good. 5 salmon were caught in total* . 3 by Mark, 1 by Colin, and 1 by Claude, good job boys.
*EDIT I forgot all about 1 salmon, the extra one Mark caught the next day. Thanks to Colin for reminding me of this. Guess I was already drunk when Mark got back with it:)

Thanks Boys for inviting me along, hopefully I can do it again sometime.

Anyways, I'll end of with a few pictures of the trip.

Some times I wish I was Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods!
Brian

Starting in Glenwood, under the bridge



All hands getting geared up



Jason and Donovan



Tim and Derek



Getting ready for Little Chute



A rest stop to size up if we will go over Big Chute



Top of Big Chute. An intimadating site to a river canoeing greenhorn like myself.



The bottom of Big Chute



Trying to get everything dry after going into the drink



After the capsizes on the Big Chute this guy in a riverboat helped us retrieve our gear



Colin and Jason



Leon and Patrick in "The Green Monster" what a superstructure she had!



Stopping on the river to chat with Bill. What a spot this guy had, with his fireplace and cots. We had a beer and warmed up while listening to him tell stories. We asked how long he was going to be on the river and his reply was "Until October"



Perfect beach and firepit for a campsite



Our campsite on the first night. What a spot, and what a time we had, except for that damned rain!



Leon and Dion wishing this salmon was theirs



Shawn cooking breakfast....bacon and eggs.......mmmmmmmmm



Mark using the wonders of depth perception to make his salmon look bigger than Colins.



Mark got the last laugh when he came back with his second salmon of the morning



3 1/2 star toilet facilities



One of the many outfitters we passed along the river



FISH ON!! As we were passing by, a lady hooked and landed a salmon.



Rounding the bend



Colin and Steve, and Dion and Claude making good time.



A calm day. Notice my beer holder made from a gatorade bottle and some duct tape



Rafted up on one of the ponds. Drinking beer, taken naps, and having a lunch.



Kevin and Roseanne's Cabin, were we camped the last night. Roseanne was born in Burnt Islands, my home town. Never know who you'll meet on the river!



Leaving the camp on the last day. Toutons for breakfast was awesome



Heading into another rapid, me and Shawn got hung up on a rock, that was the closest we came to capsizing, and was not fun. Hats off to the skipper for getting us off that one


Gearing up for the rock throwing contest. Most Skips: Shawn, Longest Throw: Dion, hitting the target: Wallace, longest underwater skip: Colin



Paddling out of the Gander River onto Gander Bay, wind at our backs



Ending the trip in Gander Bay

Rock Over London, Rock on Chicago

7 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Alison Dyer said...

sounds like a fun weekend. but 85 dozen beer - surely the math is wrong (i'm hoping :)
A

Brian Newhook said...

It was a really fun weekend, but maybe a little too much beer......85 dozen is what we drank as a group over 4 days on the river. Still not quite over that.... :)

Anonymous said...

How did you pack that much beer into 7 canoes?

Brian Newhook said...

Each canoe had 2 coolers, one for food and one for beer. This accounted for about 40 dozen or so. On the second day Marks father and brother met us on the river to deliver the rest. These guys really have things planned out. After a long day on the river, when we got to our campsite, they were waiting for us, with the fire going, supper cooking, the rest of our beer, and they took away all the garbage we had. Can't get much better service than that

Maria said...

Hi Leon Great trip you and yours went on.
Active canoeist and have canoed many places in Canada. Great pictures. Maria

Newfie686 said...

I'm really interested in doing this trip with friends! Do you have a map with camp locations on it? We have done Aidies River the past couple of years and we are looking for another river!