Instalment V

The Colorado Group

After all the rain in Minden, we were glad to move on to the Ottawa River where the sun was shining and the water was even warmer. We competed in the Junior Olympics freestyle competition. After waiting 3 hours for a feature to come in, the rodeo got moved from one wave to one just upstream on McCoy’s Rapid. Rodeos happen quite quickly, but we stayed to watch all the events. The sun was brilliant and everyone wanted to soak up as many rays as they could before another storm dampened our depressed tans.

We moved on to MKC a couple of days later. My ankle had swollen to the size of a cankle thanks to all the bugs biting its circumference. We raced slalom and DR sprint a at the chalet rapids and were able to enjoy hot showers and wonderful meals. Next river, Ottawa’s Pumphouse. Another storm had moved in. Ottawa’s Pumphouse may have a good location, but when it rains a lot, all their runoff flows directly into the slalom course. As we were paddling, we could see the colour change and smell all the shit. All the paddlers were rushing to get off the river and they shut the pumps off.

The next day was sunny and there were no identifiables floating in the water. It was the last race of the Junior Olympics series.

I said goodbye to all the Colorado boys and joined up with the Alberta group for the last leg of our journey, Valleyfield.

Taking shelter