2014 Sydenham Canoe Trip Video

Here is a compilation of some of the video we took on our Canoe Trip

Final Thoughts - Sydenham 2014

No Race

We didn't make the Canoe Race, everyone was just too tired, and so much stuff was still wet either from the falling out into the Sydenham events, or during the lightning show we had last night.

More Media to Come

There are many more pictures and video to be posted, from Adrian's camera, Kenny's phone, Philip's camera and Kevin's GoPro.  We'll be collecting them all within the next few weeks, and adding them with the corrects tags and time stamps to more more of our complete adventure that took place this weekend.

Swimmin in the Sydenham

Out of 9 people, 5 people went into the water.  It wasn't as bone chilling as we thought it was going to be, but it was still so cold that where we went in... that's where we setup camp one for the night.

Stars!!

It looks like we're going to have to keep some stars/stats going for things now.  People going swimming in the Sydenham, longest running attendance streaks, all sorts of stuff like that.

Few things that come to mind right now; Kenny has longest running streak for consecutive Sydenham canoe trips at 6 times, and Adrian is now 3 for 3 for going for a swim...

Things we did Right!

Tying a rope from the front of the canoe, to the front whiling looping all backpacks, dry boxes, etc.  Sure we did lose a few things that we're not tied in/through, but we kept all the important things.  This is probably the biggest thing we did right this year.. with the amount of people loosing canoes and filling with water, but having the gear intact was mint.

Getting ready for launch.. Day 3

More stream

Stream through camp

Packing up

Storm coming..

Taking cover in tent.. Going to play some cards.

Camp 2 is up.

Only 1 portage today. Everyone dry.

The old tracks

Group shot

Top: Philip, Adrian, James, Scott, Kenny, Randy, Corwin

Bottom: Kevin, Josh

Leaving Alvinston. Going back to the water.

Pepsi and water please

Lunch at Lou's

Drying clothes and feet

Day 2 Morning

Philip: Still in sleeping bag writing this.. Adrian woke me up since he left tent so early.. And I'm surrounded by snorers.

What a day

Well.. That was crazy. Randy and Josh had a yard sale earlier today into the river.. The other two canoes luckily were able to chase everything down.

Then later only a few turns away from normal camp one.... Just a weird bottleneck obstacle resulting in Kenny and James going in, then Philip and Adrian lost their canoe as well.  Kenny and Philip went for a good swim trying to catch loose gear, and keep the canoes tied to something close.

With good preparation most gear was tied with the canoe.. But the canoes proved to be super heavy when pulling them up out of the water full of water and everything waterlogged.

It's about 1AM and we've been up all this time drying clothes and sleeping bags.. Most gear is OK. But just a few things wet.

Anyway. All are OK now. Time for some must needed rest. I may throw a few pictures up after this post if I don't fall asleep with the phone in hand.

Camp 1

At camp and all is well... updates soon

A Portage

Loading gear back into the canoes after the portage.

Going in

Holding gear down

Unofficial Sponser

Adrian sporting his new gear.

1puglife shoutout!!

Thanks 1puglife.com for the shout out!!!

We'll try to keep the feed going during the day. Just depends on the signal out there... But we'll update a bunch when we get to the camps ;)

Some canoes ready

Now to get the others and the kayak

Good Morning!

Launch Day of our Annual Canoe Trip!!

Some got up early, and woke people up by dinging everyone's phone this morning through Facebook Group chat messaging.. Adrian....

But anyways, some are doing some running around, getting last minute gear, items, etc. Josh is readying the trailer for the transportation of the canoes.  Kevin still probably getting his beauty sleep.

We'll post some picture updates soon.  I'll be giving some author rights out for the blog to a few us and setup the 'secret email' for some to email to the blog for auto-posting :)

Thought I'd give an update on the weather situation. (theweathernetwork)

One Day Until Launch

Hello Everyone! One More Day!

Feeling less prepared for this Canoe Trip compared to previous years seems to be the consensus when talking to all the others.  Everyone has been so busy this year with work, stuff, other stuff, and more stuff.  I think we nailed down the arrangements for tents last night.. maybe.  With more people going it's always harder to accommodate.

Last post I started with the weather, then on to the group information.  This time I'll start with group information then weather.

As of Today, here is the group.

Kevin (7th Time) - Kayak
Scott (5th Time) & Corwin (1st Time) - Canoe
Kenny (6th Time) & James (5th Time) - Canoe
Philip (5th Time) & Adrian (3rd Time) - Canoe
Randy (5th Time) & Josh (2nd Time) - Canoe

As for the weather, this snapshot was from TheWeatherNetwork.com 

It's going to be B-E-A-Utiful weather for this trip, especially compared to previous years of dark clouds, snow, rain, hail, and little sunlight.

Regarding the blog, we've probably lost many followers which we had on Tumblr.  As a result of Tumblr's support staff not fixing a bug in their blog time stamp post order that I forwarded to them, we have moved here.

Use the Share This! links to spread the word about our journey.  We hope to keep people informed and entertained while we battle the elements on the twisted and untamed waters of the Sydenham.

3 Posts added 2011

As I was going through my camping gear, I found my camera which I took some pictures on in 2011 for our Trip.

• 3 new posts added to 2011 Trip
• Hanging Around Camp 2
• Randy's Catch
• All of us (Group Picture)

Also, going through my Dropbox, I have found more pictures and videos from 2011, 2012 and 2013 which I have to add.. so many more updates to come... I've got to start updating these right after the trips.. uff.

I'll do the updates some time, and list them after I'm done.. there's some goodies that haven't been seen yet :)

3 Days To Launch

Let's take a look at the weather and all else that's going on in regards to our trip.

The current weather forecast looks great!
At the time of writing this using Sarnia Weather - Ten Day (.. the weather network site was down)

• Friday
• High: 12 C
• Low: 3 C
• Chance of Rain: 10%
• AM Clouds / PM Sun
• 14 km/hr S Wind
• Saturday
• High: 16 C
• Low: 8 C
• Chance of Rain: 10%
• Partly Cloudy All Day
• 21 km/hr S Wind
• Sunday
• High: 18 C
• Low: 6 C
• Chance of Rain: 30%
• Few Showers
• 29 km/hr SSW Wind

If you've been on this trip with us, or watched this blog before, you know that this weather is some of the best we've ever seen... and we're going earlier than we usually do in April because the St. Clair Conservation Authority had pushed the canoe race to an earlier date this year.

Largest Group Ever?

At time of writing this, we have 9 people on the roster.

Kevin (7th Time) - Kayak
Scott (5th Time) & Unknown Person at time of writing (1st Time) - Canoe
Kenny (6th Time) & James (5th Time) - Canoe
Philip (5th Time) & Adrian (3rd Time) - Canoe
Randy (5th Time) & Josh (2nd Time) - Canoe

This could change at a moments notice, we could have 10 people with 5 canoes, or 8 people with 4 canoes, anything can change, but an updated list will be posted morning of the trip.

River Check - Alvinston

Went into Alvinston.

Water was highest we've ever seen it, and it was moving quite fast.

Some snow still on the ground....

River Check - Dieppe

Went to the end of Argyll Rd to check out the scene at 'Dieppe'.

Lots of water around.

River Check - Hardy Creek Rd

Ken and Philip went out for a cruise to check out the current water levels of the Sydenham, see if there was any ice/snow around, and to see how cold the water felt.

This was the scene at Hardy Creek Rd.  Water looks high, water felt VERY cold, and found a potential portage for day 1.

Potential Portage

Looking West from Bridge

Looking East from Bridge at Portage

Josh Digging Canoe Out

Well.. we've had a long winter.. and it's still staying quite cold at night.
Josh left his canoe outside all Winter, open side up.
Lots of ice was the result...

Blog Moved Here

Hello Everyone.

We used to use Tumblr for this blog but a bug in their system was found. When trying to view entries in chronological order, some entries would fail to show and/or be in the wrong order. I messaged them last year, they've had a year to fix it and have not fixed anything.

So we've moved to blogger. A far superior blog for stability and simple use.

We are already preparing for our canoe trip this year, and will be posting as we go once again.

When the trip is done, i'm sure we'll be having to fix some labels, spelling mistakes, and do on, but our main focus is to keep people entertained, and others updated that we're still OK.