JOURNEY #9 - July 5, 2002

Rideau River (Thompson's Landing to Carleton U): "How The Mighty Have Fallen"

We were shocked at the drop in water level. We put in at Thompson's Landing (edge of Windsor Park) and had a heck of a time getting in, as our pleasant grassy patch was now well out of the water, leaving the launch muddy and full of rocks. There was little choice but to place the yaks in the weeds and get wet.

We didn't get in until 8:00 pm but we were feeling pretty frisky after some long hours at work, and we ended up going all the way to the O-Train bridge and back in just under an hour.

[Note: Map is the same as Journey 4]

The water has dropped a good two feet in as many weeks. Getting through the area just south of the Bank Street bridge was tricky, we had to pick our way through the middle channel. On the way back we went down the west bank, which was fine, but probably not for much longer.

The most startling difference was in the stretch from Bronson to Carleton U. The current was so weak it was barely noticeable. I easily paddled right up to the O-Train bridge at the foot of the rapids and turned around because it was so shallow. On our way back we checked out the Bronson bridge support I had used to re-enter after a spill a couple of weeks ago. I could barely reach up with my hand to touch the small ledge that I had stood on under the water.

We saw a beautiful blue heron in the reeds here, not to mention what seemed like a hundred tiny baby ducks. We were in a hurry to get back through the Bank St area before dark, so didn't stop to smell the roses much. We got back to the landing and clambered out in the muck just before 9:00. Harry came out and we chatted about the change in water level, and speculated that the recent rise was pretty well unprecendented for that time of year.

The most intersting thing about this paddle was our own bodies! We went a pretty good distance in under an hour, including half of it upstream. It feels great.