See Through Canoe?!

Of course Charlie found this amazing and ridiculous canoe. He writes, "Guys I think we should reconsider our boat choice. Oldtowns are fine, don't get me wrong... but I think we can do a bit better. How about a couple of these?"

Of course this boat was featured on the site: Dude I Want That. Lol, I included the link below. The ad reads "The See Through Bottom Canoe seats two, and provides the perfect setting for a romantic, yet adventurous, date of paddling the high seas, and taking in all of its technicolored fishies, regally swaying anemones, and hammerhead sharks fixing to sink their teeth into the thin layer of polycarbonate Lexan covering its lovebirds' asses."

Pretty cool looking boat if you're in the tropics I guess. Sorry Charlie, maybe next year we can paddle the Bahamas together.



http://www.dudeiwantthat.com/outdoors/watersports/see-through-bottom-canoe.asp

Blackfly Tandem

It's been a really busy week for me as I have been preparing for my thesis show at MassArt this May as well as preparing for our Kickstarter project launch this weekend (April 1st). That being said I am somewhat behind on my daily posts and for that I apologize. Stay tuned for the official video launch this Sunday (fingers crossed). Until then I have some fun posts before I share more details about the trip and the project we are launching.

Enjoy this fun play boat video. Surfs up.

Canyon view

Churchill Falls canyon

Churchill Falls

Churchill Falls are waterfalls named after former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. They are 245 ft high, located on the Churchill River. 4 miles above the falls, the river narrows to 200 ft and negotiated a series of rapids before dropping into MacLean Canyon, from which sheer cliffs rise several hundred feet on either side. The total drop from the rapids above the main falls to the end of MacLean Canyon is 1,038 ft.

Since 1970, the waters of the Churchill River have been directed into the nearby Churchill Falls hydroelectric power station dramatically reducing the overall waterflow.

Smallwood Reservoir

The Smallwood Reservoir is a large reservoir located in the western part of Labrador and is the source of the Churchill River. Unlike other reservoirs, water is contained not by a single large dam, but by a series of 88 dikes that total 64 km (40 mi) in length. It is the largest body of freshwater in the province and the second-largest reservoir in the world!


A spillway on the Smallwood Reservoir. This one is used to vent exess water from the reservoir while other similar structures are also used to manage levels throughout the reservoir.

(http://www.jassilks.com/Tools/gallery/Labrador_Gallery/aaw)

These boots are made for walking

Photo of the day

Triple bag it

With our return plane tickets booked and the canoes bought our next big planning challenge will be outfitting. Last year, for our Moisie River canoe trip we used a food dehydrator to prepare pasta sauces, beef jerky and various other dried fruits. It turned out to be an amazing addition to what is usually a fairly familiar and bland meal plan. Hoping to add some variety to our trip diet and experiment with the menu now while we have time. Ideas welcome.

Old Town

The good news continues this week! We just purchased three Old Town Penobscot 174 canoes for our adventure down the George River. Thankfully we got an amazing deal on the boats- roughly three for the price of one! Now we just need to arrange a contact in the village of George River who will receive the boats as a donation once we compete the trip. Stay tuned.

Postcard home

Lone Pine

Come fly with me

One way tickets have been booked! This trip is happening! Now to just do all the planning, outfitting and launch my KickStarter to help publish my photo book.

August 4th: Kangiqsualujjuaq to Kuujjuaq (spending the night). August 5th: Kuujjuaq to Wabush.
You know what they say- "What happens in Kuujjuaq stays in Kuujjuaq." Yes, people say that.


Air Inuit beechcraft twin turboprop... riding in style. Minus canoes.


Our flight pattern.


Spelling challenge

Climb the highest hill

View over Labrador City. Pretty inspiring.

Road home

Spring Break

Excuse the lack of posts this past week. I was off for Spring Break and will resume blogging starting... now.

North West River, Labrador

Welcome to Labrador

Follow the only road

After spending a night in Baie-Comeau, Quebec I started the long drive to Labrador City via Hwy 389 N. The road starts off following the Manicouagan, or Manic River. There are a number of power stations along the highway, the largest being massive Manic Station 5, positioned below the Manic Reservoir. Here I differ to wikipedia and recommend you read a bit more about the "Eye of Quebec" because it's just cool: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manicouagan_Reservoir

Also from the great wikipedia: the 52nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 52 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. In Canada, part of the border between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador is defined by the parallel. At this latitude the sun is visible for 16 hours, 44 minutes during the summer solstice and 7 hours, 45 minutes during the winter solstice. I love the interwebs but not as much as I love 16 hrs of summer sun.

Crossing St. Lawrence River

Over the course of the next few days I am going to be posting a few photos from June 2011 when I drove from Boston, MA to North West River, Labrador. The goal of my trip was to spend 2 weeks making photographs with my large format camera and exploring eastern Canada. I was doing all of this while reading Great Heart: The History of a Labrador Adventure by James West Davidson (which I highly recommend) and thinking about the canoe trip of Leonidas Hubbard and companions. The book had an enormous influence of my image making and was definitely the inspiration to paddle the George River.

Here are a series of photos I made on the ferry while crossing at Trois-Pistoles to Les Escoumins, Quebec. Only wish the whales we spotted were closer... enjoy.