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It was a very nice trip our time around and it sounds like you enjoyed it too. Thanks for letting us know. Did you end up camping on Big Thunder? That campsite is strong in my memories for having been a fantastic time!

Excuse my spelling mistakes I'm using voice text and I'm not speaking clear enough I guess lol

What I was talking about as you know, the Thames River

If you have one, putting a drone up stationary about 3 meters above the water and paddling towards it is really awesome.

I agree completely. I have the dvd set from him. I've also watched his videos now that they are on RUclips. I've watched the whole series 20+ times because as I've been progressing I've discovered things I missed at my lower skill levels.

Most of my problems with the boat I used in the video came from it being setup more for a much lighter weight person then me. When I moved to my own boat I had to get a boat fitting to get the boat to work right. Moving the outfitting 2 inches went from a constantly buried bow throwing me in the water to a boat that handled as expected. My skills development improved a lot faster after that change!

@@NobleEndeavours123 I've really gotten good at my offside just from this video. I've done at least 1000 offside strokes in the past two weeks

Mike Yee is indeed in parts of the video.

Technically either bass, brook trout or lake trout although at that point in my fishing journey anything would have been great! :) Just wait until my video about my recent Wabakimi trip and the awesome fishing I experienced there!

Yep, swimmer swam out safely, boat was retrieved as well as the paddles!

True, although many of the assists were by other students as well. MKC is a great place to practice skills while having a strong safety net.

That would have been fun to do back then! If you watch the Fanshawe Dam flow page you will notice there are times when there is more water. Too bad not more often!

I have some more coming in 2023 once I get the rest of the 2022 videos up (still working through processing the 2021 ones). I particularly enjoy exploring the little creeks and rivers around London because I can do them in a day paddle. You might want to watch the Thames River one I posted recently as well. This year I intend to go down Medway Creek at some point because it's less then 5 minutes from home and calling out to me! :) Thanks for commenting! Let me know how your exploring goes!

@@NobleEndeavours123 Thanks for the tips! We're near Windsor but we're going to make an effort to do more paddling this year. Will definitely check it out!

I haven't done as much exploring in the Windsor area yet however I believe I've read about people doing something around Wallaceburg, a loop of some sort I think.

@@NobleEndeavours123 Interesting - we'll have to look in to that! Thanks again :)

It's a very nice paddle. I've gone through there twice now. One important tip. Make a point of taking a good "looking back" picture as you exit the park area where the river becomes bigger. I've found that when returning to the park there always seems to be a number of forks I can take. None of them are particularly long to explore however it's nice to know which one you need to take without searching.

@@NobleEndeavours123 Thanks so much for the advice! Hopefully we can get there this year!

Completely agree with you. 2021 was the first year of really trying to learn Whitewater for me and this video is close to the last video I have for that year but in 2022 I made a bigger push to learn skills so hopefully you will enjoy those videos as they appear too! Thanks for watching and commenting!

It's a relatively simple technique that I find works even better with the lighter weight boats especially if they have less floatation. I picked up the tips from Ray Goodwin on his RUclips channel ( @RayGoodwinCanoe ) . If you haven't checked out his stuff I highly recommend it. Important to note that while I have a decent drybag it's also a lightweight one since my intention is to never use it to carry anything other then water in the situation shown in the video. Thanks for watching, liking and most importantly commenting!

I am glad you liked it! Hopefully we will see you out on the river someday! :) Thanks for commenting!

Technically I started way back in the early 2000s with mainly backcountry trips on flatwater lakes and rivers. My whitewater journey is much more recent starting in 2021 at MKC (as shown in the first series you've been watching). The Thames River day trip happened following my return my that first MKC trip.

@@NobleEndeavours123 that sounds wonderful !

In this video I ended just before Adelaide Street (it's literally just around the next bend in the river). The next video has me doing that section down to Riverside in 12 cms. In this video if you count bridges the first one is Clarke Road and the second one is the Highbury Avenue bridge that you mentioned. THanks for watching and commenting!

Very shallow water with rocks capable of pinning a boat can be a surprisingly tricky situation. One thing I neglected to mention in the video was that at the beginning, when I was recalling big water moves, I was trying to take the best lines. Later in the video I was looking for the deepest currents in the hope that I could navigate around the rocks while not running aground. Bob was kind enough to help me with the shuttle so that I didn't have to figure out how to go upstream (something canoe poling would really help with)

lol@@NobleEndeavours123

I am really looking forward to it since I suspect the Thames will offer some good opportunities for a good amount of the summer

@@NobleEndeavours123 I have some paddling buddies in the area, so I will note this flow level and see if we can work that out!

The next video where I cover the Thames shows the river at 12 cms, which is about double the level shown here. It will likely be the third video from now.

It really is. The nice thing about releasing a video so long after the events happened is when you get to be reminded of the fun that you had when you captured the video in the first place. I am now looking forward to my next time going through that section again! Thanks for commenting and watching!

Nah, His display is fantastic and I really appreciate that they are helping an important charity too. Your display is what made me aware enough in the first place to become inspired to go visit the display so much closer to my home.

The theme song is interesting isn't it? I picked up two poles at Grainger, one 14 feet and one 16 feet long if I recall correctly. I ended up modifying them a bit to cut off some of the metal hook part on the end. Let me know if you want more detail and I can look up the model number etc.

@@NobleEndeavours123 If it isn't too much trouble I'd be interested. Checking out their website never thought to look there, so far my search is overwhelming.

I checked my order history and apparently I actually have a 12 foot and a 14 foot. The longest these come is 24 feet from what I noticed browsing their website again now. If you live in the London area it wouldn't be difficult to let you try one out sometime. I modified them by cutting the side arm off giving me a straight vertical line. I also put a metal bolt in the knob end. Item # KYN09PKPAN14 STRAIGHT PIKE POLE & HOOK W KNOB, 14 FT, 1/2 IN HEAD, ANODIZED CARBON STEEL Item # KYN09PKANST12 STRAIGHT PIKE POLE & HOOK, W/ 1 1/4 IN DIE SET, 12 FT, ANODIZED CARBON STEEL

@@NobleEndeavours123 I'm in Brantford, have to check them out when we paddle the Thames! Thanks!

It's a very pretty area although being so close to the cliff wall undercuts takes a bit of getting used to!

It really was fun.

@@NobleEndeavours123 I am sure it was! I will definitely go back for some spring runs!

@@yoyoc7132 I am just waiting for my friend Ivan to inform me that he's ready to go and has a working drysuit.

@@NobleEndeavours123 Dry suit saves life! I got mine in 2017 for my kayak and it has been wonderful in the past 6 seasons!

That is awesome! They teach extremely well. Did you do the Lower Madawaska or the Ottawa River as your end of class trip?

@@NobleEndeavours123 I had both. I took their solo lesson three times. :) Are you planning to go back to MKC?

@@yoyoc7132 I too have now been there for a total of 3 weeks of lessons. This video shows the first week-long session. I will have more videos coming out soon showing the other two week-long sessions. I am very likely to return again. They are good teachers and they provide a great safety net when trying to learn compared to when doing things solo.

@@NobleEndeavours123 wow! 3 weeks! Did you take all of them within a year? (I took 3 times across 3 years, but I also did tandem with them long time ago, and then kayak and river rescue lesson with them too)

@@yoyoc7132 I took one week in 2021 and two weeks in 2022 (about a month apart). I haven't taken their tandem or kayak courses. I also did a whitewater rescue with Boreal in 2022 and an Elora Gorge based whitewater weekend course in 2022 as well.

I use a 240 - 260 kayak paddle at the 260 position (which is the paddle I think you are referring to) with the Swift Prospector 14. I also use a 260 - 280 kayak paddle with my whitewater Pocket Canyon usually at the 280 position. I should try using the 260-280 on the Swift to see what I think! :)

@@NobleEndeavours123 nice. Good to know what others are using foe their packboat. I personally use a 240 for my 13.6 pack

My friend Bob also has a 13.6 Pack. He also used the 240 - 260 although I think he tends to use it at the 250 point.

I had a good swim in that one!

I am glad you enjoyed the video. First day on a course is always tricky because the other participants didn't take the course to be on RUclips so I end up asking if they are ok with it. In this case it was a relatively new thing to me so I only asked about it towards the end of the first day. I have since taken three more whitewater trainings all in solo whitewater boats as well as a whitewater rescue course so if you enjoyed this one keep an eye out for those! :)

Sorry about the delay responding. I just returned from what I suspect is my last Algonquin Park canoe trip this year. Unfortunately I didn't paddle the H2O so I don't have an opinion to share. I did ultimately purchase a Swift Prospector 14 Pack boat which I like for flatwater with portaging type canoeing!

I had a fantastic trip down the river and it was great to meet you two as I started on my journey! I will eventually have the trip video up here on RUclips but it you would like to see a few pictures of what I saw, I have a Facebook photo album at facebook.com/profile.php?id=100074718040510

Luke and I did this trip back in 2021 too. A few years back started using fast draining boots in the water as well as on land while portaging. It seems to work really well. Getting in and out of the pack boat used to be more challenging until I started doing the one cheek sit into the boat. It makes it a lot easier to get in. It is very different then the techniques I use in my whitewater solo canoes though! Thanks for watching and for commenting!

@@NobleEndeavours123 what boots do you use now?

Sorry about the delay, had to go look it up. For backcountry tripping I've been using the Merrell Men's Moab 2 Vent Mid Hiking Boot ( www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01HFA7WY4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ). I also use the NRS Workboot when I am in my Whitewater solo canoe and expecting a much higher chance of swimming without as much concern about portaging!

This is true in this video. When I eventually get to making the video from my last MKC course on the Ottawa river you will see my offside stroke was far better. On the Elora day it took me awhile to get back to my groove. I suspect it had a lot to do with the bad wipeout I had in shallow water at Gravel Pit on the Middle Madawaska about 5 weeks earlier. I wasn't focusing on my normal good habits and instead recalled some of my bad ones. Thanks for the feedback though.

I am going to have to lookup the Trailer Park boys reference! :) When I got hurt on Gravel Pit back in July I purchased a new paddle to give me a bit more incentive to get through recovery quickly. It's a very nice paddle!

It was a lot of fun. I wondered if I would see you out there when I was paddling!

@@NobleEndeavours123 I got to get back out. Haven’t been on a river in a over a month 🥲 a little bit out on small lakes but it’s not nearly as fun as river running

It's very, very beautiful up there. I imagine the water will be a bit colder for swimming but that makes it more invigorating right! :) Have a great trip, let me know how it goes!

It really was a great trip. It was very hot weather however we compensated with a lot of swimming. I still think about going back to Big Thunder, it was a great campsite. Thanks for watching and commenting!

I really enjoyed his tripping comment too, one of my favourite parts of the video. Bob commented at one point that he could see the difference in the loaded weights in the canoes just by his reduced speed alone. Thanks for watching and commenting!

I remember you telling me about that experience. Kept it in mind when we were coming to the lake although in our case it wasn't an issue. We had a great time with a ton of swimming! Thanks for watching and commenting on the video!

I like both the moments you mentioned too. The seat unexpectedly shifted resulting in that captured moment! :) His clothesline idea is a good one and I can't emphasize enough how important it is to practice the self-rescues before you actually need to do one. I think I recorded about 10 hours of video which was condensed down into the 45 minutes you see here. The nice thing is that the footage actually works pretty well as a reminder especially now that I tend to comment a bit more during the videos!. Thanks for watching, Bob's version is out now on the channel as well. Sorry about the delay responding, just returned from a week on the Middle Madawaska River.

It really was a lot of fun although plenty of hot temperatures to go with the nice weather! Sorry about the delay getting back to you, just returned from another stay on the Middle Madawaska River.

@@NobleEndeavours123 no problem got to try the middle madawaska some day. Looks like it’s got some fun sections to run.

On one of the middle portages on the Otterslide Creek a belt I had hanging around my neck for the portage caught on the canoe as I lifted up in such a way that I lost my balance. Since I was right next to some large and nasty rocks I tripped up against one and went down hard right on top of the canoe. Unfortunately I then cracked a big piece of the white gelcoat off exposing the actual blue cloth underneath. I was tired and hungry when it happened while trying to move too quickly and not taking the proper precautions in lifting in a relatively clear area. Nothing to do with the boat, entirely my issue.

@@NobleEndeavours123 Sorry to hear that. Glad you were not hurt and boat can be repaired.

@@AinlayPhysics I was grateful to the boat for saving me from the impact of a nasty fall. I might have broken a body part that time! I ultimately replaced that boat with the Expedition Kevlar version of the same boat earlier this year.

@@NobleEndeavours123 I have been thinking of the pack prospector 14 myself, what's your ideas on it. I have paddled the canoe version, but it did not have adjustable seat height, also just my 250# body in it, it was tippy feeling at first. Have 2 older flat bottom canoes, they are 64# and 78#, you can almost stand on the gunwales of them. Nice video.

I am in the same weight class as well. I typically start the season around 255 and get down to about 230 by the end of fall when the boat is leaving the water. The Prospector 14 handles the weight well especially if I add up to another 100 pounds of gear. I also take my two "toy cockapoos" on a day trips in that boat without a problem. I like the way I sit in the pack boat for long paddling days (11+ hours). Once in the boat it's very stable feeling and I can get it moving pretty well. It's the take-offs and landings that take some practice especially compared to the wider/longer/flatter bottomed canoes. I typically use the one cheek method for entering the boat with great success nowadays.

I like the more isolated side the best although I haven't been there in water as low as you are describing so far. I also enjoy the far section of the rental canoe area as well since it starts to feel more wild once you get to the bend in the river channel. Another good area nearby is the actual AuSauble River upstream of the straight dredged section.