The Squamidian Report – June 13 / 09

 

Issue #368

 

Including:

The Ontarion

 

Hi All,

 

You may recall that last week I mentioned the heat and how it was accelerating the springtime melt of the upper snow packs. Melt water from the snow pack tends to have a green tint to it for various reasons including suspended mineral particles. Glacial melt water tends to look bluer, at least in my opinion. Right now in the Coastal Mountains the snowmelt is greater than the glacial melt so the local rivers are all running green. Those streams and rivers around here empty into Howe Sound where the cold fresh water slides out over top of the heavier salt water giving the Sound a very pastel green look. The layer of green fresh water over lays the salt water all the way out past Lion’s Bay before wind and tide action mixes them together. Until the mixing takes place, the boundary between the two can be very sharp and clear giving an ‘oil on water’ effect. Looks pretty cool.

 

Unfortunately, those fast running streams from the melting snow can do little to quench the bone-dry tinder conditions of the BC forests. The fires I referred to last week have all increased in size by many hundred percent. That one west of Lillooet is now so big that they figure it will take ALL summer to put it out. For a brief few minutes last Wednesday we thought we might get a bit of rain to help the surrounding forests but all it was, was a quick thunderstorm that barely wetted the pavement. However, it did contain some rather hard sharp lightning that put a scare into everyone. That lightning had to strike somewhere. I watches several strikes hit the mountains off to the east of here. Luckily, the strikes were not followed by telltale plumbs of smoke.

 

At least not any of the close by strikes… However, I was talking to a retired forestry guy and he told me that there were half a dozen ‘local’ fires started by the lightning including one in the Upper Squamish Valley.

 

Now here is something that is related closely to the forest fire situation. A very popular and some think stylish roofing material around here is the use of cedar shake shingles to give that exclusive ‘west coast’ look. Problem is, under hot dry conditions those shingles are a fire hazard and act like a big invitation for any wayward sparks. During interface fire conditions where a forest fire sweeps into a built up area it is the houses with the cedar shake shingles that cannot be saved. They go up like a torch. There was a very good example of this in the city this past week, only while it was not the result of a forest fire it was a good lesson on just how undesirable it actually is to use cedar shake shingles. A major fire broke out on a construction site and the resultant flames lifted burning embers high into the air. Some of these embers traveled almost 2 kilometers before raining down on the surrounding neighborhoods. Most of the homes in those neighborhoods were ok but several had cedar roofs and before anyone could do a thing about it, those homes where instantly turning into fiery internals. Poof.. Gone!

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Now this is pretty cool, just to bad I didn’t get to see it. At about 3pm on Thursday afternoon a cougar was spotted on our street. Even better, it was spotted sitting on OUR driveway. It was probably checking out all the house cats and family dogs that roam at will around here. So while I was slugging it out at work up in Whistler, all the homebody neighbours were able to see the big cat.

 

doug

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THE ONTARION REPORT

 

Hello everyone!

 

Well, the ride last weekend was a success. Two of us rode for a total of 8 hours stopping on the way a couple of times for a break. The odometer on my bike read that I had ridden 489km by the time we reached Eganville which is up at the east end of Algonquin Park. On the ride up, I noticed that the surrounding countryside was much like the Tennessee Mountains but our “mountains” are about half the height of those in Tennessee. Not to mention that they are bumps in the road when compared to the real thing out in Doug’s habitat! Having spent all of my motorcycle riding years in the KW area, I’m used to relatively flat land with some gentle hills. This route to our destination was an amazing thrill of ups and downs with curve after curve and hairpin turn after hairpin turn. It was quite an experience to negotiate these roads for the first time. I had never had to lean my bike over so far before. The dealers I talked to when researching the purchase of my new bike all told me that this machine will have no problem scraping the foot pegs on the road and still sticking to the pavement. Well, I wasn’t any where near scraping the pegs but I sure was a long way from upright many times! In motorcycling they call this style of riding “doing the Twisties” and was a real thrill to experience. I was surprised at the lack of wildlife on the ride through such wild and wooly country. I figured we’d at least see a lot of road kill on the ride. I think I saw two unfortunate porcupines near Beaverton Ont which is on the eastern shore of Lake Simcoe. We road up to the north east corner of Lake Sincoe and then headed strait east. Did I say “Strait”….??? Hardly! We had planned our ride around the weather of course and couldn’t have had better weather for the whole trip. Once we stopped in Eganville to say hi to my riding partners friend for a few minutes we made plans for the next day with him and headed another 35 km to Renfrew to find our motel. We located the motel and then headed back into the main part of town to find a pizza joint. We ate at a place called Milano’s Pizza and it was terrific! Of course we were pooped out from the ride so we were back in the motel room and ready to nod off by 8:30pm. Luckily the motel we stayed at had a great free breakfast included in the stay and it was a nice way to start the next day.

 

We didn’t plan to meet with Dave in Eganville until around 1pm so we had the morning to check out the area. We decided to ride up to Pembroke to a large multi make motorcycle dealer and look for shirts and other souvenirs of the trip. It took us a little over an hour to get there and we couldn’t help notice the lack of police presence during the entire day and a half of riding. Not ONE Cop did we see on the ride! We did pass a few OPP offices but no cops on the road at all, curious for sure! Anyway, we found the dealer that someone had told Randy was the biggest in the area and grant it, they did have lots of bikes but mostly ATV’s for the local hunters. I’d say they had maybe 20 bikes in the showroom but next to no accessories such as clothing. It turned out to be an uneventful stop. Oh well, it was still a nice ride back from there to Dave’s in Eganville.

 

Once back there, Dave asked us to take him to his local ATV dealer as he had arranged a surprise. He road on Randy’s Harley back seat to the dealer. Upon our arrival there was a salesman standing in front of the showroom. He welcomed us and told Dave his ride was ready. Dave had dealt with this company before to purchase his ATV and had asked to borrow a motorcycle for the afternoon so he could show us around the area. As it turned out they set him up with the strangest machine I’ve ever seen. They gave him a CAN AM Spyder for a couple of hours. If you’ve never seen one of these things, they look like a snowmobile with wheels on it instead of runners and a track. I’ll include a picture of this weird rig so you can see what it looks like. As it turned out, it went like crazy and handled the “twisties” like it was stuck to the road with magnets, it was amazing how well it handled.

 

We followed Dave to his “Gun Range” for a look at the new building he had built. It seems that everyone east of Hwy 400 is an avid hunter and shooter! In the morning of the second day, we had taken our machines to the local car wash and cleaned all the bugs etc off for the day. Well, Dave just happened to take us down the dustiest road I’ve ever seen. It was a private road about 2 km long that lead to his gun club. My bike went from shiny black to a dusty grey in a matter of minutes. It seems that the plastic parts of the faring and fenders attract dust like a magnet. Not getting around it we were in for another washing session after this ride! Well, the rest of the afternoon was just more riding through the back woods of south central Ontario and we finally settled back at Dave’s place for a visit. We decided to wash the bikes while shooting the breeze for a while. Randy and Dave were boyhood friends here in Kitchener and get to see each other only once a year so they yacked while I washed the motorcycle. Around 5:30pm we were getting a little hungry and decided to take Dave and his wife Joan out to eat. We went to a nice restaurant only two blocks from their house. It’s a place that specializes in Schnitzel but I didn’t feel like following suit and making it four plates of the same. I decided to indulge in a platter of liver and onions. The other three at the table smirked and said “Yuck” as I ordered. That just made me enjoy my selection even more!

 

With dinner over with, we toured the town in Dave’s Impala. That took about 15 minutes to see the points of interest. I guess it was a big deal for them to show off their bridge and rapids and their new firehall to strangers. It really is a nice town but small! We made our way back to the motel where we talked to two other guys about what else, motorcycles. They were biking through the area as well and had stopped at the motel for the night. In the morning we were up at 6am and got ready for the ride home. We decided to take the northern route along Hwy 60. This highway takes you right through Algonquin Park and I think it is the only road in the park. Of course this route is more of the same country side but is a two lane highway rather than back roads. Up there, there isn’t much in the way of traffic at the heaviest of times so it was a nice ride. Once we hit the park, I figured we’d have a better chance of seeing some wild life. It took about two hours to ride from one side of the park to the other and we were sifting along at about 100km/h. I actually was wishing we had driven slower since at that speed I had to concentrate on the road rather than the beautiful surrounding landscape. I was hoping to spot a dear or something as we passed the miles and miles of bush country. The lakes and rivers in the park are the most beautiful sight and seem to beckon one to stop and build a cabin in which to stay and enjoy for eternity. I could just imagine settling by one of these lakes and relaxing on the deck overlooking such beauty for years to come. On the other hand, I’m a city boy and would probably tire of it after a day or two! LOL!

 

As we continued our ride, I noticed a yellow float plane tied up at a dock on the one lake must off the highway. It was a ranger station and rest stop for travelers in the park. For a moment I wished I had stopped to take a picture of this tranquil sight. However I wasn’t leading and didn’t want my partner to think I had ridden off into the woods and gotten eaten by a bear or something so I kept riding. I was sure we’d probably ride right through the park and not see a sign of wild life. All of a sudden, we were on a long strait stretch of road when I noticed a few cars on the oncoming side of the highway that had stopped. Randy then pulled over to the shoulder and stopped as well. He motioned to me to look ahead! I looked ahead about 50 yards and just off the side of the road was a huge cow Moose. She was grazing in a mud bog about 20’ off the road and people had stopped to take pictures of her. I grabbed my camera and walked up to where I could take some pics. As it turned out, she must have been used to people because she just stood there and ignored the tourists. At the closest I’d say I was maybe 25 feet away from her and she just stood there and looked at me for a second or two and when back to munching reeds in the bog. I’ll include a few shots of her with this write up so Doug can post them for your viewing. She finally meandered up onto the highway and across to the other side and into the bush. It was a satisfying adventure for me to actually see a moose in the wild. She was the size of a good sized horse only with a 3 foot long head. I didn’t realize how large their heads were until seeing this one up close. Once she was up on the roadway, I’d say her back would have been about up to my forehead in height. They are very tall and gangly animals and this one was pretty dirty and soggy looking from being in the bog I guess. But, she was a beauty none the less!

 

Back on the motorcycles and away we went! We managed to make our way down to Orillia to drop in to see another friend of ours that is a retired OPP Sgt. We visited with him for about an hour and then continued on our way. We arrived home at approximately 7 pm and were very tired. It had been a very long day but a good one! The ride was a first for me and I look forward to doing it again some time. I’m very happy with the way my bike performed and wouldn’t want any other make or model. Not for a few years anyway until I wear this one out! LOL! I’ve actually got a little over 5,000 km on it now and it’s feeling more like part of me every time I ride it now. I’m sure I’ll be taking more rides this summer but none of that length. Once a summer is enough! I usually like the toots out into the country side for a couple of hours or the rides around town to do some errand running and that’s it for me. This long distance stuff is fun but I wouldn’t want to be doing it every weekend.

 

Well, that’s it for this week folks!

Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report!

 

Bye for now… Greg.

 

PS: Something To Think About>

How heavy can a moose get to weigh?

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This article plus the pictures on the web…

http://www.thedougsite.net/F&F/Greg/Eganville.htm

 

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Have a good one..

the doug

http://www.thedougsite.net

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