2 weeks ago I swam the Ottawa River to celebrate our country 150th.
I started after dark near the town of DeepRiver. The water level is up which makes for a nice steady flow of current. I packed my supplies foods water clothes on my baby Kayak and off I went. The weather started to rain hard with Thunderstorms but I knew storm was going to past. I got into a nice rhythm and before dawn I passed Pettawa then moved to the north side towards Chapeau.
I stopped in this area for a 3 hour break, I made some adjustments and change of swimming suits. I shared my meal with salamanders and frogs. I swam for the rest of the day and decided to make camp on one of the small remote islands on the River, a island before the start of the Rapids area.
After about 6 hours of restlessness sleep and hearing the hungry mosquitoes buzzing over my mosquitoes net for my blood I was eager to get back to swim. I was encouraged of my production.I think I was around half way done. I felt great and little muscle soreness. I think having happy thoughts and good attitude keeps the pain away.
The next part of the swim is the rapids area. I didn’t want to portage this area, portaging at night is dangerous, I can get lost or lose stuff or fall down. I planned for those Rapids months ago. I will gather rocks about 70 lbs or so put in fishing net bag attached to rope, this will slow my progress down as I go down the rapids. The planning worked I safely pass on through the next 6 to 10 kilometres of white loud fast water. The view was spectacular and beautiful, islands in the River, campsites and cottages. The water was steady and felt clean, but not clean enough as I know our Rivers has lots of environmental and pollution issues. I didn’t see a lot of fish or fishermen only a few Kayakers from a distance. There is a lot of grassy weeds I swam over but the water level was high enough that I didn’t get to touch. After about 50 thousand strokes or so I found my way to Westboro Beach, and finally Done, exhausted tired and hungry.
Rank of Difficulty: 8 out of 10
Rank of Danger: 10 out of 10
Overall Experience: Memorable Forever!
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