| Equipment » Rib patching » 4/22/2024 7:15 pm |
Yea, I put Glad Wrap on top of my kevlar felt keels, they came out nice and smooth.it worked well. good point about doing it on the ribs.
| Equipment » Rib patching » 4/21/2024 7:48 pm |
Hey Gord,
I've patched the ribs on the Souris River 18" canoes. There is a small drilled vent hole in each rib, and that seems to be a weak point.
The repair was pretty easy - Just the West epoxy and the kevlar. You can definitely see the patch. Also, you can see the frayed fibres of. the kevlar patch. If you wanted to make it look nicer, you could put a piece of fiberglass or carbon on top, then sand it. But it's just more weight.
Lemme know if you have any questions
M
| Trip Planning » Abandoned Railway? » 2/07/2024 10:51 pm |
Gents, good to see the forum going.
I did a winter trip in Kiosk last year - travelled the rail. Looks like it's being used by snowmobiles in winter infrequently. It's great for winter, as it's flat. There are reasonable sites for setting up camp along the route as well.
But yes, it would be good to be able to legally use it.
Understanding about the CN ownership is that it was more of a F-U move because the government didn't wanna pay up
Cheers!
Marko
| Trip Planning » Portage Campsite Inventory » 5/03/2023 7:20 am |
@Martin, I agree...
Except when tripping with kids. It sure is nice knowing that the day will end on a nice spacious site where they can run around. The PCI has been really, really helpful with that over the last 15 years.
| Trip Planning » I know this is early but I have an ice-out question anyway.... » 4/22/2023 7:46 am |
FOAP announced ice out on LOTR as of Apr 21, and looks like it's rain and 10-ish over the weekend.
I'm thinking Opeongo ice out by Tuesday, they open the park on Friday??!?
| Equipment » Best footwear for canoeing/portaging » 4/19/2023 11:41 am |
Astral Rassler is the best shoe in my opinion.
| Sell and Swap » 16’ Swift Prospector Royalex Canoe for sale » 3/31/2023 6:06 am |
Great looking boat, and Royalex is a unicorn. Great deal. If I didn't have 10 boats already....
Did you post it on the Guelph club FB gear swap page? I feel like that would get interest.
M
| Trip Planning » Max 7 night stay in Algonquin front country » 10/19/2022 9:06 am |
So it looks like MNR announced there is a max 7-day stay in some parks including Algonquin front country campgrounds.
This will prevent people from pre-booking popular lakes (ie book a 21-night trip 20 days before your desired one-night stay, then change to a one-night stay later).
Seems that backcountry won't be affected.
Quite frankly, they should do something similar for the hwy60 corridor backcountry, there's too much demand and too many yahoos
Link to Ontario Parks statement:
M
| Equipment » Where to acquire durable long-wearing cord/rope? » 7/31/2022 7:38 am |
I use the 3/16" Amsteel for my tarp Ridgeline. It's durable, light and even floats. Low stretch. 5000lb tensile strength. But it is a bit slippery and expensive, so it's only for the ridgeline. I got mine from Binnacle:
The 1/8" stuff would likely be good for most things (even the ridgeline tbh) and seems a lot cheaper.
The slipperiness is my only complaint, but it does the trucker hitch just fine, and I use prussiks to keep the tarp tight on the ridgeline - these bite just fine
But if anyone found good 1/8-3/16" cord, I'd be verrrry interested
M
| Trip Planning » Jeff's Maps » 5/20/2022 1:30 pm |
wow, so the domain expired. that's the end of an era, much like the demise of wintertrekking.com...
here's my Dropbox directory with a wall map and the KMZ map.
Cheers
M
| Trip Planning » Possibility of Site-specific Reservations and Increased Fees » 4/20/2022 6:10 am |
SeekingSolitude wrote:
Opeongo (and probably any other motorboat permitted lakes) I think is a prime candidate for site specific booking. Even with the different arms, when the lake is full (despite unbooked sites) you could still waste a lot of time paddling the lake to find a free site & that can be tough at times due to distance & a big lake that can get Windy.
This seems like a reasonable approach. Make all lakes within a single day's paddle site-specific. Or alternatively, all lakes that are accessible through a 750-m portage or less (or maybe 1km?).
These are the highest-use lakes, and are the lakes where new campers would go.
It would also not be too intrusive for us who prefer deep interior camping - book a site-specific site the first night and last nigh, lake-based reservation for the rest of the trip.
Site specific would be better for Tom Thompson, Ragged, Rock, Opeongo, Ralph Bice etc etc.
But there is very little sense for deep interior lakes, and would significantly reduce the quality of the experience for people who do use those lakes.
| Catch-all Discussions » new park now open north east of bancroft 10k membership fee » 4/09/2022 8:42 pm |
Lenin tried a social landownership , history has shown that ain't the best fer every day common folk with a choice .
Sooooo... what your saying is that public parks and crown land are a failed communist experiment? That's a weird take, given... you know... the public parks of Algonquin, Temagami, etc. and you know... public Crown Land.
Here's my huge problem with this insane private park:
1. We need more parks, especially closer to Toronto
2. The lands were/are owned by a logging company. At $1mil/year total gross income, the profit will be peanuts. So clearly this isn't making money for Domtar. So the only result of the arrangement is more opportunities for the rich, and fewer for the poor.
3. The special features (backcountry Butler) are so absurd that they could be satire
In fact, can anyone confirm that this is NOT an April Fool's joke?!!?
| Catch-all Discussions » new park now open north east of bancroft 10k membership fee » 4/07/2022 9:58 pm |
Wow. Sickening. 100 memberships, $10K/year. That's only $1mil. They're not making money at that rate (given land acquisition costs etc). Rich people just denying access.
Oh also, can purchase a "Backcountry Butler". I'm physically ill.
| Catch-all Discussions » Social Media? » 2/28/2022 10:51 am |
This is interesting -- probably interesting to some but also detrimental to the long term future of this forum.
Agree completely. Personally I like the forums, I worry the days are numbered. Hopefully not, but Barry is likely in the best position to know the changes in numbers over the last few years.
| Trip Reports » Kiosk Lake Feb 13-16 » 2/17/2022 7:28 pm |
Every time I see a winter trip report I think "okay, it's time to get into winter camping!".
Going across a remote lake on skiis when it's -20 is one of most unique experiences I've ever had in my life, it's like a flow state. I have recurring visions of these days throughout the year.
The park discourages on-ice travel for obvious reasons. And running water or even lake narrows are dangerous.
But... oh man. Open ice is... magical.
Even if you get out for a day trip or stay overnight in Huntsville I feel like it's really worth it.
Snow Walker's Companion is the bible for winter camping. If you have the means, Lure of the North is a husband/wife team that do traditional winter guided trips. well worth it. lovely people.
| Trip Reports » Kiosk Lake Feb 13-16 » 2/17/2022 7:51 am |
Back in APP winter backcountry after a 2-year hiatus. With extremely cold temps on Monday morning, we decided a hotel in Huntsville on Sunday night was a better choice.
We did a day trip to Minnesing and Canisbay Lake on Sunday. Temps around -20, colder as the sun went down. There were several recently-used backcountry winter sites at the start of Minnesing. We started on the trail, then bushwhacked across to Canisbay Lake. 
Monday morning was -31. My 2012 Honda barely started, and the ABS/VSA decided to turn off. This is a known Honda issue, but it also disables the ability to open the side doors. Honda dealership wanted $135 to clear the error codes. The Internet said that I can use a paperclip to short-circuit the OEM reader and clear them. Was able to do this with a free paperclip from the Honda dealership, and without killing my car's ECU.
With this delay, we got to Kiosk by noon. We actually met some rangers who were going out on a snowmobile patril. The road is always plowed to the end of the Kiosk road, and usually all the way to the lake access. Great to know.
We set off east over Kiosk. The narrows under the CN rail bridge had open water as expected. Climbing up the railroad was a bit hard, but not a huge problem even with xc skiis. We found a lovely spot in the bush on the east side of the lake, even found a dead maple - what an incredible winter score, as it burns much longer than spruce or pine.
The next two days saw temps of -20ish to -5 by Wednesday morning and beautiful blue skies. Snow was dry and lakes free of slush. Pics below.
Cheers!
Marko
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| Trip Planning » Kiosk road this winter » 2/05/2022 11:19 am |
Thinking of going to Kiosk in a couple of weeks for a bit of backcountry.
Does anyone know in the road is still plowed this winter?
Cheers!
Marko
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