My little brother's high school graduation in June brought me back to Boston for a long weekend. As usual, my visit home provided my mother and stepfather the opportunity to ask boat-related questions and favors. Last time it was "can you help us buy canoe paddles?" This time it was "can you fix the canoe seats? My brothers and I spent an afternoon measuring and drilling holes in the new canoe seats, bringing the old green canoe back into service.

Moeke (= "mom" in Flemish) and I took the boat on it's maiden voyage, version 2,  down the Sudbury River near our house in Lincoln, MA. Here's a map:

Warning, it's a long one. I wanted to be explicit so I would actually remember the things I learned! See previous post for Heather's account of the trip!
  
Ok, it's taken me about 15 minutes to figure out how to start this post so as to accurately profess my excitement about the past weekend. I guess I'll just start from the beginning! This weekend, Heather Adams (fellow Rough Rider from Rochester) and I headed up to Bracebridge, Canada, for the first annual Ontario Greenland Camp, hosted by LearnToKayak, Kayak Ways, and The Complete Paddler. 

Day 1: The Drive Up & First Impressions
After an overwhelmingly stressful week of classes, work, TAing, and homework, I departed Ithaca on Friday morning for Rochester. Upon arrival at Heather's house, we loaded my boat onto her car and started the 6 hour drive to Bracebridge, Canada! The drive up was fairly uneventful, and we made it to Camp Tamarack around 5pm. We were feeling a little daunted about meeting a whole new group of kayakers, but we were very excited to meet so many Greenland enthusiasts and kayak lovers like ourselves! After a warm welcome by some of the camp organizers, we settled into our bunk beds (a strange experience since I never went to camp as a kid) and headed over to the main cabin for dinner.

Day 2 AM: Yoga-for-Kayakers, Greenland Strokes, and Rolling Demo
The next day I got up super early for some yoga-for-kayakers. Cheri had us doing all kinds of funny maneuvers on the ground to mimic rolling in our boats. I can only imagine how goofy we all looked, but she kept a straight face! After breakfast we headed over to the beach where all the kayaks were ready to play!

It’s a cute little lake located about ten miles southeast of Watkins Glen. It's named after the Senecan Princess Kayutah, whose mother filled the lake with tears after her daughter was kidnapped. The east and west shores are lined with houses and trailers. The put-in is at the north end.

We canoed around the lake, stopping to check out the inlet and outlet at the north and south ends of the lake, respectively. We saw some big beaver dams (one completely blocked off the outlet channel). The ferns were beautiful in the evening sun. I would show you a picture, but I decided it would be a good idea to set my camera on the back of my car before driving away along the bumpy dirt road. oh well. maybe it will turn up.

Thunderstorms were in the forecast, so it was quite exciting when the wind picked up and the temperature dropped just as we reached the far end of the lake. Click "Read More" to see a map of the route.

Sometimes I go canoeing too. I thought about adding a “and sometimes canoeist” clause to the title of this blog, but that was just too long. On May 11th the Cornell Outdoor Education (COE) Wizards circumnavigated Dryden Lake (a great feat). Here are some photos (click "Read More" below to see many more!):