campsite pics..lets see um

[EricM]

Camp host at P J Hoffmaster state park Michigan for 2 months.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Hi PNY
Thx for the nice comment.

Yes, we have a blog that is going to be receiving considerable attention from us once the dust clears from our trip. It is called "Paddle Strokes for Old Folks".

Funny you mentioned "field research". This trip had considerable aspects of research, all well hidden within a faulous trip. We were documenting the huge changes to the water level in the lake, same having gone from record highs a few years ago to unseen before low water this year. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nort...rritories-record-low-climate-change-1.6980937) This was to report on the new reality of recreational paddling on the 9th largest lake in the world after upwards of a 5 ft drop in water level.

We were also doing a bit of "seniors centric" experimenting on oursleves by doing an intense 80 or so day, hard wilderness expedition. We are strong believers that for a bunch of good reasons, older folks should and can (with some obvious adaptations..) still "get out there". Paddling flat water or modest rivers ensure no need to lug stuff around too much, thus saving backs, hips, knees, etc.

My partner is quite a well known BC artist and part of the trip was for gathering photos and sketches for a winter's work of creating a body of work depicting the amazing fauna and flora of the Great Slave Lake area.

Although my peak bagging/chasing first ascents days are ancient history, we were pretty sure that no one had ever paddled the entire circumference of GSLake in a single, uninterrupted trip so we thought, what the hell, as a secondary objective, why shouldn't we be the first? So the trip was planned for Hay River to Hay River, counterclockwise, leaving just after the ice had cleared in June.

PNY, you may appreciate this because of your profession....

Up until day 68, we were crushing the trip, sitting at 85% of the total distance (1332.2 km to be exact in the bag). On this day while waiting for the crazy winds to calm down, I was walking when I toppled over in the sand. It was weird but I got up and a couple of feet later, did it again. A self exam showed I had numbness and complete lack of dorsiflexion in my right ankle, this right out of the blue. I suspected at worst, a stroke or TIA. The winds were nuts but with InReach, I was able to get a helicopter to pluck us off the beach and fly to the hospital in Yellowknife, leaving all our gear on the beach. The great news was that I had damaged the Peroneal nerve in the leg (most likely from strain/overuse/positional abuse by sitting and bracing while operating the rudder pedals) so no brain injury but a wonky foot, hopefully only for the short term. The bad news is the trip had to be terminated. There was just no way of carrying on as my foot could not work the rudder in my boat and with fall winds and water picking up, controlling the loaded boats was demanding more and more effort. Recovery of the gear was also impossible as basically, no one would look at going into that stretch of water with either a boat or float plane.

The pictures below were taken just before we left. The little birch is holding it's own but thank goodness for 4 season tents!

Anyway PNY, that was a long answer to a short question! I will post some more stuff here on ExPo a little later.

I look forward to checking it out! I think its because I prefer field time, versus my job in the office. And miss the days (usually) when I was always in the field. But things change.

TIA, or Stroke would be unfortunate. However, the vast majority of the time, these will present with a neuro deficit as well. The Cincinnati pre hospital stroke scale, can easily be performed anywhere. And if you don’t already know it, could help put your mind at ease. As most things medical, its not definitive. And I suspect you know each other well enough to tell between normal/ no.



Well, the good news is that’s usually easily treatable with PT, and possibly inserts. As well as just an adaptation to the movement causing it. Even something like, take 1 day breaks every week, etc
Yall were making great time though! I 100% Agree, with the staying active thing.

 

[Fishenough]

Hi PNY
Thx for the nice comment.

Yes, we have a blog that is going to be receiving considerable attention from us once the dust clears from our trip. It is called "Paddle Strokes for Old Folks".

Funny you mentioned "field research". This trip had considerable aspects of research, all well hidden within a faulous trip. We were documenting the huge changes to the water level in the lake, same having gone from record highs a few years ago to unseen before low water this year. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nort...rritories-record-low-climate-change-1.6980937) This was to report on the new reality of recreational paddling on the 9th largest lake in the world after upwards of a 5 ft drop in water level.

We were also doing a bit of "seniors centric" experimenting on oursleves by doing an intense 80 or so day, hard wilderness expedition. We are strong believers that for a bunch of good reasons, older folks should and can (with some obvious adaptations..) still "get out there". Paddling flat water or modest rivers ensure no need to lug stuff around too much, thus saving backs, hips, knees, etc.

My partner is quite a well known BC artist and part of the trip was for gathering photos and sketches for a winter's work of creating a body of work depicting the amazing fauna and flora of the Great Slave Lake area.

Although my peak bagging/chasing first ascents days are ancient history, we were pretty sure that no one had ever paddled the entire circumference of GSLake in a single, uninterrupted trip so we thought, what the hell, as a secondary objective, why shouldn't we be the first? So the trip was planned for Hay River to Hay River, counterclockwise, leaving just after the ice had cleared in June.

PNY, you may appreciate this because of your profession....

Up until day 68, we were crushing the trip, sitting at 85% of the total distance (1332.2 km to be exact in the bag). On this day while waiting for the crazy winds to calm down, I was walking when I toppled over in the sand. It was weird but I got up and a couple of feet later, did it again. A self exam showed I had numbness and complete lack of dorsiflexion in my right ankle, this right out of the blue. I suspected at worst, a stroke or TIA. The winds were nuts but with InReach, I was able to get a helicopter to pluck us off the beach and fly to the hospital in Yellowknife, leaving all our gear on the beach. The great news was that I had damaged the Peroneal nerve in the leg (most likely from strain/overuse/positional abuse by sitting and bracing while operating the rudder pedals) so no brain injury but a wonky foot, hopefully only for the short term. The bad news is the trip had to be terminated. There was just no way of carrying on as my foot could not work the rudder in my boat and with fall winds and water picking up, controlling the loaded boats was demanding more and more effort. Recovery of the gear was also impossible as basically, no one would look at going into that stretch of water with either a boat or float plane.

The pictures below were taken just before we left. The little birch is holding it's own but thank goodness for 4 season tents!

Anyway PNY, that was a long answer to a short question! I will post some more stuff here on ExPo a little later.


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View attachment 851312

Wow, thank you for sharing your story! Despite the ending, your trip is how we'd like to spend our retirement in a few years! We spend a ton of time in the north!

 

[NOPEC]

Wow, thank you for sharing your story! Despite the ending, your trip is how we'd like to spend our retirement in a few years! We spend a ton of time in the north!

Fishenough

The ending was fine, just part of the game.

In 68 days, we did not see another recreational paddler. We felt basically that we had the place to ourselves even though we knew there were a few other folks out there somewhere. With Great Slave Lake, there are lots of options on various durations of trips, both self organized or guided. I'll be writing up some stuff during the winter, especially regarding the new reality of paddling with the lower water. As you already know, this is spectacular, virtually undisturbed wilderness just waiting for you!

 

[Fishenough]

Fishenough

The ending was fine, just part of the game.

In 68 days, we did not see another recreational paddler. We felt basically that we had the place to ourselves even though we knew there were a few other folks out there somewhere. With Great Slave Lake, there are lots of options on various durations of trips, both self organized or guided. I'll be writing up some stuff during the winter, especially regarding the new reality of paddling with the lower water. As you already know, this is spectacular, virtually undisturbed wilderness just waiting for you!

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That is a amazing trip again, and can't wait for your write up.

Having canoed and aluminum skiffed parts of the lake, but only for a night or 2, can say you will have your part of GSL to yourself. And the fishing is great

 

[NOPEC]

I look forward to checking it out! I think its because I prefer field time, versus my job in the office. And miss the days (usually) when I was always in the field. But things change.

TIA, or Stroke would be unfortunate. However, the vast majority of the time, these will present with a neuro deficit as well. The Cincinnati pre hospital stroke scale, can easily be performed anywhere. And if you don’t already know it, could help put your mind at ease. As most things medical, its not definitive. And I suspect you know each other well enough to tell between normal/ no.



Well, the good news is that’s usually easily treatable with PT, and possibly inserts. As well as just an adaptation to the movement causing it. Even something like, take 1 day breaks every week, etc
Yall were making great time though! I 100% Agree, with the staying active thing.

PNWY

Thanks for posting the video. It was great and I hope a few folks here saw it. Actually, I didn't know about the tests but as you mentioned, hopefully you would be able to recognize at least one of the symptoms but the tests are quick and sure make it easy. Funny about most of the First Aid training I have taken over the years is that it always is about the "ABCs" but nothing about neruological issues, which I guess does make sense. I guess with your advanced training and experience, you certainly are on top of it. I guess when were younger, strokes were something our aging uncles or fathers got, not us but alas, here we are in the mine field of aging, ugh!!

 

[NOPEC]

No mention of Site C in article. Did you hear work there being a factor for GSL water levels ?

Klahanie
Some folks up there mentioned site C as well, especially as it is currently being filled up. (for those who may not know, Site C is a new and somewhat controversial hydro electric dam on the Peace River in northern BC) I don't know the exact jurisdictional relationship between upstream and downstream users of such a huge watershed but surely they must have some agreement. The north, especially around the GSL, has had at least a two year drought and being semi-arid to start with, hasn't helped matters much. Thus all the incredible fires in the Hay River/Yellowknife areas over the last while.

The Peace/Athabasca/Slave watershed accounts for 70 percent of the annual water going into Great Slave Lake most of which originates from the spring runoff in the Rockies. Two low snowpack years in that area I think have had the biggest effect on water levels but you have to guess that climate change is definitely in the mix somehow.

Two years ago, we did a paddling trip from Ft. Resolution into the East Arm. When we were in the Slave Delta, four of us ended up sleeping on a log the first night because there was no ground to pitch a tent on. This year, there were insane shallows and new 3 and 4 kilometre sand spits that were not there before. Here are a few pics.

Putting the damn wheels on, again..


Once out of the water, the challenge was to find somewhere dry to camp, well beyond the saturated sand.


NW of Yellownife is dotted with hundreds of islands in generally pretty shallow water. This year, pre-existing islands became "ex-islands" making GPS and paper maps on some levels, useless. You can see the old water levels bathtub ring on the granite in this "ex-channel".


The low water in this same area exposed all sorts of new prime growing areas for a variety of vegtation, not the least of which was this green, dreadlock like, almost impossible to paddle in, agae bloom. Lots of smoke too.

 

[Fishenough]

Seriously want to see more of NOPECs trip! Thank you

Do love the isolation of area.

Camping beside Comox Glacier last week

 

[NOPEC]

Seriously want to see more of NOPECs trip! Thank you

Fishenough

I'll do another post in a while over in the activities section. Don't want muddy up this photo thread with too much chitterchatter. cheers

 

[NOPEC]

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ITTOG
I am about to redo the back door drip guard on my camper. I really like the look of the one you did on your pop up. Is it bent Aluminum? Screws? Sika? etc.... I would be interested in any info you would be willing to share. Thx NOPEC

 

[FAW3]

Carson National Forest, New Mexico.

Comanche National Grassland, Colorado.

 

[kai38]

Arizona camping

 

[ITTOG]

ITTOG
I am about to redo the back door drip guard on my camper. I really like the look of the one you did on your pop up. Is it bent Aluminum? Screws? Sika? etc.... I would be interested in any info you would be willing to share. Thx NOPEC

What I call the drip guard is the 1/8" steel plate that extends across the back and is angled down. I think it is 10" wide and angled down about 30 degrees. Given you mentioned bent and sika I assume that is not what you are talking about though. Thus, lets talk about the trim in the door jam and on the door. All trim on my camper is 2" 16 gauge steel. I had a local shop bend it to create a 1" by 1" angle. I did this because I do not like the look of the 1/8" thick aluminum angle that most companies and DIY'ers use. the 16 gauge is almost 1/16" thick and I didn't feel aluminum would be strong enough. All trim is affixed with VHB tape and Sikaflex.

 

[NOPEC]

What I call the drip guard is the 1/8" steel plate that extends across the back and is angled down. I think it is 10" wide and angled down about 30 degrees. Given you mentioned bent and sika I assume that is not what you are talking about though. Thus, lets talk about the trim in the door jam and on the door. All trim on my camper is 2" 16 gauge steel. I had a local shop bend it to create a 1" by 1" angle. I did this because I do not like the look of the 1/8" thick aluminum angle that most companies and DIY'ers use. the 16 gauge is almost 1/16" thick and I didn't feel aluminum would be strong enough. All trim is affixed with VHB tape and Sikaflex.

Thanks ITTOG. Looks like I am going to get overrun by winter so will have to stick with what I have for now. Indeed as you mentioned, I was looking at bent aluminum plate glued/screwed onto fiberglass backer which is glued to the Composite panel. Like yours, mine will go right across the back. hadn't thought too much about the strength as I felt it would be pretty safe back there.....

 

[Ozarker]

Party Time!