First Canoe of the Season

Ah.... spring, and a young man's thoughts turn to.... canoeing!! We actually got our first outing in May, it's just taken me a while to get the pictures on to the computer.

We enjoyed a picnic and day-trip with two other families up Sixteen Mile Creek. The creek comes down from somewhere (??) to Lake Ontario. As the day was windy, we were fortunate to have a breakwater between us and the lake because there were white caps on Lake Ontario! Here is the group getting organized and setting off:



First, you paddle under the QEW, and into a large, lake-like area. As we headed south, the creek became narrower, and part-way down we stopped to explore an island, where we found goose eggs!!



Carrying on, we approached a railway bridge:



After the bridge, the creek becomes very narrow and windy - in one spot we had to scrunch down to get under a fallen tree.



We reluctantly turned back around Fourth Ave. On our way back, we saw an eagle near "Goose Egg Island" - very impressive! We also noticed herons, swallows, red-winged blackbirds, and I'm sure there were other birds that real birders would have spotted. Tim was pleased to see a number of turtles basking in the sun on logs. Here is a shot of the back of our canoe - everyone is pretty happy, except for Pip who sucumbed to sleepiness on the way back. Warm sun, gentle rocking motions, full tummy, pleasant wind whispering sounds..... zzzzzzz