Saturday, October 29, 2011

A summer in the parc, part 3

Final catchup post . . .

Parcmap google 11sept11 2

September 11, 2011

This was the day I got on the water shortly after 9 am, and came off in time to catch the 4:30 pm bus, setting a record of 7.5 hours. A still, warm, brilliant late summer day, in which I went out of bounds, paddling half way around the basin beyond Ile de Mai, and then - daringly - back across the middle. Here's the view the eastmost, or at least up-stream-most point . . .

Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 2011, view west towards Île de Mai

It was one of those glassy water days, when despite the effortless paddling, progress is exceedingly leisurely because of all the photo-pauses to capture all the lovely reflections, starting with the - now quite low - tunnel under the bridge to Île Gagnon, the red house, and blue boats docked alongside.

Parc de la RiviereParc de la RiviereParc de la Riviere

Pause to take the first of many panorama shots, looking towards the north bank. That's the De Laurentides bridge on the left of the photo, disappearing behind Île Langlois. Île des Juifs/Île des Fraises lies, just to the right of my bow, then Île Gagnon. I don't know the name of the islet with the sparse trees and the yellowish beach.

Parc de la Riviere des Mille Îles, September 11, 2011

Parc de la Riviere-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 11, de Laurentides bridge

I paddled under the de Laurentides bridge, under the footbridge to Île Locas, and up the shallow, water-lily strewn channel between the river bank and Île Lacroix, towards the marsh. The water was very shallow and very weedy.

Parc de la Riviere

Obligatory panorama shots of the marsh itself: From the approach to the the south . . .

Parc de la Riviere-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 11, looking towards the marsh from the south

Looking directly at the marsh . . .

Parc de la Riviere des Mille Îles, September 11, 2011


Towards Île Chabot . . .

Parc de la Riviere des Mille îles, September 11, 2011

Looking east from the marsh, towards Île Locas and Île Lacroix.

Parc de la Riviere-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 11, view east from the marsh

I could get only a little way into the marsh, via a channel that I suspect had been dug out, before running into a bank of debris. Water was very shallow, and I stirred up black mud and marsh gas with every stroke, no matter how careful.

Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 2011, poking my bow into the marsh

So I left behind the marsh and glided through through the narrow channel between Île Chabot and the promentary from the south bank, and along the channel between the bank and Île Desroches.

Parc de la Riviere-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 11, river bank by Île Chabot and Île Desroches

. . . up the south side of Île de Mai, hardly noticing the current that on past paddles had nearly stalled me before the top. At the top, I eyed the vista before me and then decided to go for it, working my way up the south coast past people's little river runabouts . . .

Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 2011, riverboats

To where the river began to narrow again, at which point I turned around and headed back towards Île de Mai. Discovered I am out of practice for paddling long open stretches. (Yes, I hear you say, that is not a long open stretch; it only felt that way.)

Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 2011, view west towards Île de Mai

And then sauntered downstream on the north side of Île de Mai. This is the junction at the downstream end of Île de Mai. The eastern channel is on the left, the western channel, which joins in a T-junction, in front of my prow, strewn with rocks, and the channel between the northern bank and Île Morris on the right.

Parc de la Riviere des Mille Îles, September 11, 2011

The wildlife was enjoying the sunshine as much as I was: herons, out and about along the side of the river.

Parc de la RiviereParc de la RiviereParc de la Riviere-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 11, heron

And turtles, alongside Île Chabot . . .

Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 2011, turtlesParc de la Riviere-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 11, turtles

And an as-yet unidentified bird which held still long enough in the trees of Île Chabot. 

Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 2011, bird (TBD)

Down the north side of Île Morris, under the bridges - where the swallow's nests were all silent and empty (and unphotographed).

bridgesIleMorris_11sept11_v800

Big panorama that starts on the north bank and swings around to take in, I think, Île Lefebvre, in shallow waters full of water-lilies.

Parc de la Riviere des Mille Iles, September 11, 2011

Cirrus cloud moving in, marking a coming change in the weather.

Parc de la Riviere des Mille Îles, September 11, 2011

More turtles, east of the bridge behind Île Ducharme . . .

bridgesIleDucharme_11sept11_v800

turtles4_11sept11_v800turtles3_11sept11_v800

With a detour for a pit-stop, I then completed the circuit by paddling underneath the Boulevard Curé-Labelle and around Île Bélaire, then back between Bélaire and Darling, back under the bridge, and in to home dock, approaching from the east.

dock_11sept11_v800

pontcurelabelle_11sept11_v800mapondeck_11sept11_v800

Phew!  And then I went home, via La Popessa, for pasta.
 

The marsh through the summer

Just to show the changes in river and vegetation through the summer, here are my marsh-panoramas, with an attempt at alignment.

In May (May 22, 2011)

Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, 22 May 2011


In July (July 1, 2011)

Parc de la Riviere-des-Mille-Îles, Canada day 2011, marsh

Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Canada Day 2011

In September (September 11, 2011)

Parc de la Riviere des Mille Îles, September 11, 2011

In October (October 10, 2011)

Thanksgiving on the river

Thursday, October 27, 2011

A summer in the Parc, part 2

Second digest post of trips to Parc de la Riviere-des-Mille-Îles this summer.

ParcdelaRivier GoogleMaps

July 1, 2011

Kayaking seemed a fitting way to celebrate Canada Day, and the weather was ideal, so off I went on my usual schedule, 0829 De Laurentides bus from Cartier to the Parc. There were already a few groups getting ready, and I knew there would be many more by the end of the day.

I turned west from the landing, under the bridge to Île Gagnon - already noticeably shallower in comparison to May - and out onto the river.

Parc de la Rivière des-Mille-Îles, Parc docks, Canada Day 2011Parc de la Rivière des-Mille-Îles, Canada Day 2011

The water was still high enough for an easy trip through the tunnel underneath the south side of the des Laurentides bridge.

Parc de la Rivière des-Mille-Îles, tunnel under de Laurentides, Canada Day 2011

Then under the footbridge to Île Locas, and up the north side of Île Locas to the marsh, with the birdwatching lookout clearly in view.

Parc de la Rivière des-Mille-Îles, Canada Day 2011

Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Canada Day 2011

The water level was still high enough that I could poke my prow into the marsh, though all around me I could hear herons muttering and whuffling, and I figured by now they might well be nesting, so I didn't push it. (On the map, if you draw a line from the tip of the promontary just west of Île Chabot to the bank just west of Île Lacroix, everything to the west of that is filled in with marsh and reeds. This photo has me towards the northern margin, just below Île Chabot. That stand of trees beyond my bow marks the little island. I really ought to come back and annotate these maps, but if I wait to do that, these posts won't go up until December).

Parc de la Riviere-des-Mille-Îles, Canada day 2011, marsh

Then I crossed to the north side of the river, to go up the north side of Île de Mai, loop round the top, and come down the narrower, quicker-moving channel. No photos from this side.

And swung back around the north of Île Morris, to check on the progress of the swallows nests underneath the De Laurentides bridge. Clearly, I'd missed the building stage completely: the nests were built, and already occupied by something hungry, if the constant activity of the parent-birds was anything to go by.

Parc de la Rivière des-Mille-Îles, swallows, Canada Day 2011Parc de la Rivière des-Mille-Îles, swallows, Canada Day 2011

Here's what the north bank of the river looks like, around Île Lefebvre,

Parc de la Rivière des-Mille-Îles, Canada Day 2011

Then I paddled back across to the south side of the river (with a pit-stop at Île de Juifs) and worked my way up the shallow, increasingly narrow side-stream just to the east of the de Laurentides bridge. I'd noted it on the way up as a potential side trip. I was stopped by a minor logjam, but on the other side, in a shaded pool, I spotted a mallard with her milling clutch of ducklings, visible more as motion than shapes in the shadows. To my pleasure, the little things bumbled up and over and around the obstruction, towards me. I started poking my way backwards, trying to stay out of their way at the same time as I took photos. Unfortunately, my autofocus was keener on sharp edged grass than cute fuzzy ducklings, so I have a number of fuzzy photos of cute fuzzy ducklings. The best ones were taken against water.

Canada day paddle, duck and ducklingsParc de la Rivière des-Mille-Îles, ducklings, Canada day 2011

Parc de la Rivière des-Mille-Îles, ducklings, Canada day 2011Canada day paddle, duck and ducklings

I've been startled by the speed with which ducklings skitter back and forth across the water, but it occurred to me that I was thinking from the perspective of a naked ape who has to slog along with most of its volume immersed, instead of a little ball of waterproof down and trapped air that displaces a fraction of its body-weight and therefore has negligible resistance to the thrust of its (comparatively) big webbed feet.

. . . And then back past the house with the red roof, and through the tunnel (this willow is to the left of the tunnel), and back to the landing.

Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, 11 September 11, willow on Île Gagnon

August

August seemed to consist of a whole month of sunny, calm Tuesdays or Wednesdays or Thursdays, glorious for kayaking, miserable for working in an office that never seemed to get below 82F on the thermostat despite the loud wheezing of our antiquated air-conditioner, while the weekends were rainy and miserable, or had a strong wind warning. Or worse.

Decided to split this post into to two, otherwise both its production and its length were going to become exceedingly protracted. Stay tuned for the longest paddle yet.