canoe day 2011 saturday, july 16
La Vase Portages Canoe Day on Saturday, July 16, saw over 50 paddlers this year cross the height of land portage between the Ottawa and French Rivers.
Meeting at Champlain Park and shuttling across North Bay to Trout Lake, the modern day Voyageurs took about 6 hours to make a leisurely crossing back to Lake Nipissing.
the voyageur spirit lives
One of the highlights of this year's canoe day was a handmade and brightly painted birchbark canoe. Brought all the way from Peterborough by former North Bay resident Neil Dellandrea, the bow detail was based on a painting by Francis Hopkins in the 1800's.
great day for a paddle
Dan & Andree paddle through the purple arrowhead plants along the shoreline. With clear blue skies and warn temperatures it was a great day for a paddle.
Neil Dellandrea adds some flair
Neil travelled all the way from Peterborough (by car) to join us this year for canoe day. Beautiful birchbark canoe and he also wore period clothing and used hand crafted paddles (but we made him hide his sunglasses for the pictures)
Almost made it!
Marc & Nadine almost made it through a small rock chute on the lower La Vase but ended up with a refreshing dip on a hot, muggy afternoon.
Thank you to Billy Bob's barbeque team
Billy Bob & his crew did a great job on the barbeque - always a highlight of the day. The Voyageurs would have loved to have such service on the portages.